Recording Challenge #5 (One Condensor Mic!)

[rayc]

There's a certain splash panache to that cymbal though.
I LOVE the mono mix...it's sounds a) ACE & b) authentic.
Yep, guitars sound wonderful but the whole thing does even with the splashy Rude boy.
I'll trawl through the challenge stuff today.
I didn't participate becasue, as always, I'm not really bale to see a song through to completion solo.

[musicturtle]

[mention]Greg_L[/mention]

Fun man!

You are right the guitar kicks ass on this one. The vocal is stellar as well.

Snare and kick are great, and you and the others said the cymbals are just kinda weird, but not necessarily bad.

Great job.

[Lt. Bob]

Well I just realized I inadvertently broke the rules on this one. I used a ribbon mic. Didn't even think of it. I got "use only one mic" on the brain and didn't remember that it's supposed to be a condenser mic. Sorry, but it's done, here it is anyway, and I aint redoing it.

So what I dun is record drums, bass, and guitar mono. Single track each. I did multi-tracks of vocals. Then mixed it totally mono, did a lot of shit with compression and tape saturation simulation, then added stereo reverbs to everything for space.

Blitzkrieg Bop.mp3

well poo .... my 'puter is suddenly not playing anything ... the speakers work because I get the various chimes and such for hooking up a device ..... but it's not playing files.

I'll fix it at some point.

[Greg_L]

There's a certain splash panache to that cymbal though.
I LOVE the mono mix...it's sounds a) ACE & b) authentic.
Yep, guitars sound wonderful but the whole thing does even with the splashy Rude boy.
I'll trawl through the challenge stuff today.
I didn't participate becasue, as always, I'm not really bale to see a song through to completion solo.

[mention]Greg_L[/mention]

Fun man!

You are right the guitar kicks ass on this one. The vocal is stellar as well.

Snare and kick are great, and you and the others said the cymbals are just kinda weird, but not necessarily bad.

Great job.

well poo .... my 'puter is suddenly not playing anything ... the speakers work because I get the various chimes and such for hooking up a device ..... but it's not playing files.

I'll fix it at some point.

Ha thanks dudes. You too for trying, Boob.

[WhiskeyJack]

Man, kudos on the monomix. I can't even get stereo mixs to come through like that. lol.

Also i don't know what the hell is going on here but your guitar is sounding so ramonesy right now it isn;'t even funny. I get it is a cover but even the tone is covered. You typically have a great guitar tone that always smacks of rock and roll but this one here. It sounds pretty carbon copy of older ramones records. It has "that" sound way more than any of your other stuff does?

Why am i hearing that? Is it the way it is mixed to suit the mono with ribbon or is there some other witchcraft at play here.

[Greg_L]

Man, kudos on the monomix. I can't even get stereo mixs to come through like that. lol.

Also i don't know what the hell is going on here but your guitar is sounding so ramonesy right now it isn;'t even funny. I get it is a cover but even the tone is covered. You typically have a great guitar tone that always smacks of rock and roll but this one here. It sounds pretty carbon copy of older ramones records. It has "that" sound way more than any of your other stuff does?

Why am i hearing that? Is it the way it is mixed to suit the mono with ribbon or is there some other witchcraft at play here.

Haha thanks dude. Yeah, I think this is my best effort at a true Ramones tone. Or at least an early Ramones tone, anyway. No witchcraft, just the right equipment - Mosrite and Marshall. And I know the playing style "tricks" to make the chords sound right. It's a little bittersweet for me because while I love the sound and I'm happy with it, it's also just a fun throwaway cover for the challenge and I can't take any kind of technical or engineering credit for any hard work. I just threw the mic in front of the cab and let er rip. It wasn't even fucking supposed to be a keeper track. It was just a test run. Boom, my best Ramones tone.

[Greg_L]

For anyone that might give a fuck, this is the inspiration. The Ramones debut album 40th anniversary mono mix. They re-did the whole album in mono and my lord it's so much better. So raw. This is the tone. It's like a relentless buzzsaw.

[BBvideo=560,315]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EelKZn-TteY[/BBvideo]

[Lt. Bob]

yay .... puter decided to play again.

Man those are raw sounding guitars ..... perfect for this style .... really raw and live sounding.

What amp is that ? ............... ah never mind .... Marshall.

And you can take credit for it ..... you did what they did back then.

Studio sounds have been so analyzed nowadays that everyone thinks they did all this deep thinking about how they'd record stuff.
Mostly they just said, "Let's stick a mic here and see what that sounds like".

[Tadpui]

[mention]Greg_L[/mention] I agree, the guitars sound awesome. I guess I took that for granted, since your guitar tracks always sound great

[Greg_L]

yay .... puter decided to play again.

Man those are raw sounding guitars ..... perfect for this style .... really raw and live sounding.

What amp is that ? ............... ah never mind .... Marshall.

And you can take credit for it ..... you did what they did back then.

Studio sounds have been so analyzed nowadays that everyone thinks they did all this deep thinking about how they'd record stuff.
Mostly they just said, "Let's stick a mic here and see what that sounds like".

Thanks dude. Yeah mostly for me it just often turns out that when I don't give too much a shit about something is when it comes out the best without much effort.

[mention]Greg_L[/mention] I agree, the guitars sound awesome. I guess I took that for granted, since your guitar tracks always sound great

Ha thanks. I'm usually happy with my guitars but for me this one was especially on point for the song. I was especially pleased with the sound.

[JD01]

Greg, this sounds fucking great. Unless I knew this was a single mic challenge thing I probably wouldn't have even thought about it.

The main thing it demonstrates is that guys who made these old records with very limiting analogue gear where they couldn't have a tone of VSTs, as many takes and tracks as they wanted really knew what they're doing. You've really aced this, you've managed to get it sounding like proper authentic pro recording... albeit an old one! Except the vocal - that sounds modern and really good. You always make a good job of vocals.

[Greg_L]

Greg, this sounds fucking great. Unless I knew this was a single mic challenge thing I probably wouldn't have even thought about it.

The main thing it demonstrates is that guys who made these old records with very limiting analogue gear where they couldn't have a tone of VSTs, as many takes and tracks as they wanted really knew what they're doing. You've really aced this, you've managed to get it sounding like proper authentic pro recording... albeit an old one! Except the vocal - that sounds modern and really good. You always make a good job of vocals.

Thanks a lot dude, I appreciate it.

The funny thing about the Ramones in that time period is that they did have enough budget and access to big studios to go full diva if they wanted to. They just didn't. They used pro studios, but they recorded live, fast and quick and cheap, and kept the rest of the recording budget for themselves. Their debut album, a major release on a major label and one of the most historically significant debut albums in the history of rock and roll, cost $6400 and took about a week to finish. So yeah, you're totally right by basically saying the source material matters most. Good song, good sounds, know what you're doing, and the rest mostly takes care of itself.

[JD01]

So yeah, you're totally right by basically saying the source material matters most. Good song, good sounds, know what you're doing, and the rest mostly takes care of itself.

I think its a particular problem with home recording and modern DAW recording in general. You can have as many goes as you want a punch in and glue together as often as you like.

Something I consider to be an advantage of my limited recording time is that I actually have to practice my parts so I can nail them in a take or two and thats really to the benefit of the final track. You can tell straight away that you really know how to play blitzkrieg bop. I know it's a simple song with only a few chords, but you still have to know in your hands how you're gonna strum, mute and pick each part.

[Greg_L]

I think its a particular problem with home recording and modern DAW recording in general. You can have as many goes as you want a punch in and glue together as often as you like.

Something I consider to be an advantage of my limited recording time is that I actually have to practice my parts so I can nail them in a take or two and thats really to the benefit of the final track. You can tell straight away that you really know how to play blitzkrieg bop. I know it's a simple song with only a few chords, but you still have to know in your hands how you're gonna strum, mute and pick each part.

Totally. Your stuff is getting more advanced too. I can't imagine that you could just wing it through that stuff for a 5 minute track and have it be good. You need to have it down cold.

Blitzkrieg Bop is as technically simple as they come. Yet....no one does a good cover it. No one. No. Fucking. One. Ramones songs are very easy to play, and very difficult to play correctly. Have you heard Metallica do Ramones covers? Oh man, it's so bad.

[musicturtle]

Blitzkrieg Bop is as technically simple as they come. Yet....no one does a good cover it. No one. No. Fucking. One. Ramones songs are very easy to play, and very difficult to play correctly. Have you heard Metallica do Ramones covers? Oh man, it's so bad.

No one until now!!!

You have got the perfect voice for this and of course you guitar tone is always spot on.

As you and [mention]JD01[/mention] were talking about...

It help immensely to know your material cold.

Like in sports, in particular golf, the less you have to think about mechanics the better the result is gonna be. Being able to really focus on the big picture and not think about where to put you hands, fingers, etc. What chord/lyrics are coming next and so on.

I found when I started doing my little acoustic video project. I found that I wasn't as good on the guitar as I thought I was, I would try to review/learn a song quickly and start recording, it would take me forever with mounting frustration. And the end result wasn't as good as I would like. I can really tell the songs I "thought" I knew well enough to lay down and the ones I dedicated more practice time to.

[JD01]

Totally. Your stuff is getting more advanced too. I can't imagine that you could just wing it through that stuff for a 5 minute track and have it be good. You need to have it down cold.

Blitzkrieg Bop is as technically simple as they come. Yet....no one does a good cover it. No one. No. Fucking. One. Ramones songs are very easy to play, and very difficult to play correctly. Have you heard Metallica do Ramones covers? Oh man, it's so bad.

Yeah, it is getting tricky. Some of the new stuff has ended up with the typical modern metal shifting time signatures too... and that sounds fucking shit if it sounds like you're actually having to think about it. It's really benefiting my playing, particularly as I have limited playing time too - like enforced practice!

Yeah, I've heard some awful covers.. Metallica rarely do good punk covers. I did like their anti-nowhere league cover though.

[Greg_L]

No one until now!!!

You have got the perfect voice for this and of course you guitar tone is always spot on.

Thanks, this was definitely one I know like the back of my hand.

As you and JD01 were talking about...

It help immensely to know your material cold.

Like in sports, in particular golf, the less you have to think about mechanics the better the result is gonna be. Being able to really focus on the big picture and not think about where to put you hands, fingers, etc. What chord/lyrics are coming next and so on.

I found when I started doing my little acoustic video project. I found that I wasn't as good on the guitar as I thought I was, I would try to review/learn a song quickly and start recording, it would take me forever with mounting frustration. And the end result wasn't as good as I would like. I can really tell the songs I "thought" I knew well enough to lay down and the ones I dedicated more practice time to.

Yeah it's tricky with covers. Do you wanna play it exactly perfectly? Or do you wanna make it a little different? If you wanna play it perfectly you may realize that it's hard to do right. It's much easier to "make it your own" and just coast through it. Either way is valid.