Pancho and Lefty LOL @ country songs

[Greg_L]

Wow! What an awesome cover! Townes Van Zandt meets GreenDay (the early GreenDay!) or The Ramones, ha, ha! I'm a fan of the song, Emmylou Harris does an awesome job of it. . . this is SO unique and I love uniqueness

Ha thank you. Blame my wife. She always throws oddballs at me to cover.

Ok, I finally got to listen to it. I've been listening to Townes a lot lately, digging in. I haven't even listened to the Willie version in ages. So coming from Townes' dark original version to a rock cover is jarring. I don't think the lyrics can really be anything other than a country song.

That being said, you did great with everything. The guitar solo is really cool. I don't know if it was on purpose, but it kind of sounds like a slight nod to Willie's lead style while being completely rock.

Thanks dude. Yeah I only based this off the Willie/Merle version. I like the kind of flamenco-ish solo so I tried to copy that with a surfy style solo.

Well done as always [mention]Greg_L[/mention]

I had never listened to any version of this song before tonight, it is quite a good ballad, especially when turned on it's ear as you have done.

Thanks man.

[JD01]

This sounds ace!
Love the drippy drippy after the intro.

Never heard the original, but this is cool.
The bass is a little loud, when the guitars aren't in. But its a good sound.
I actually think drums are a touch quiet. Maybe that's cos you normally have them a bit more prominent. Particularly in the bits where you're leading with the snare - those cymbals sound ace but they don't seem loud enough.

Love the clean tone solo over the massive overdriven guitars.
The rhythm guitars sound brilliant.

You've explained this to me before but I can't remember: What's your vocal chain? i.e. mic, compressor, reverb impulse any other effects. I always like they way you get them to mix.

[Greg_L]

This sounds ace!
Love the drippy drippy after the intro.

Never heard the original, but this is cool.
The bass is a little loud, when the guitars aren't in. But its a good sound.
I actually think drums are a touch quiet. Maybe that's cos you normally have them a bit more prominent. Particularly in the bits where you're leading with the snare - those cymbals sound ace but they don't seem loud enough.

Love the clean tone solo over the massive overdriven guitars.
The rhythm guitars sound brilliant.

You've explained this to me before but I can't remember: What's your vocal chain? i.e. mic, compressor, reverb impulse any other effects. I always like they way you get them to mix.

Thanks JD. I will take all that into consideration when I remix.

My vocal chain was really complicated and unique for this one. A friend of mine lent me his Pro MPA II tube preamp that has been heavily modded. A lot of tube preamps are "tube" in name only, but this one's been reworked to actually get something out of the tubes. I told him I'd give his a shot and see how it goes. I must admit it does add a little something to the vocals. It didn't do jack shit IMO for anything else, but with a nice vocal mic it added some warm smoothness that I like. Anything to help my voice is probably a good thing.

So, looking at the project now, here's the vocal chain...
AT4047
Pro MPA II
Ferric TDS
ReaEQ - 1db high shelf cut at 2k
Antress Modern Compressor
Classic Delay - this one is ancient, but I always like it. It's the only delay plug I ever use for anything. Set at a 1/4 note sync'd quick slap-back delay
Reaverb "Voc Ambient Sus" impulse from the Lexicon Rooms files.

[WhiskeyJack]

AT4047

Jesus i had no idea you had this mic dude?!?! That's like a dream mic.

[JD01]

Cheers.

AT4047 - prohibitively expensive
Pro MPA II - bespoke and modded
Ferric TDS - Ooo, free.
ReaEQ - 1db high shelf cut at 2k - I have it!
Antress Modern Compressor - Can never get these 32 bit plugs to work
Classic Delay - this one is ancient, but I always like it. It's the only delay plug I ever use for anything. Set at a 1/4 note sync'd quick slap-back delay this one? https://www.kvraudio.com/product/classi ... rhus_audio
Reaverb "Voc Ambient Sus" impulse from the Lexicon Rooms files - Nice, I have that. I normally use "Live - Great Room" for everything.

So, I might be able to replicate tiny some bits of that chain. I'll probably try Antress again. I think it might have been an old computer where they kept glitching on me.

[JD01]

AT4047

Jesus i had no idea you had this mic dude?!?! That's like a dream mic.

That's what I was thinking - I know he must have mentioned it before but it didn't really register with me that its a proper nice high end bit of kit.
https://www.thomann.de/gb/audio_technica_at4047sv.htm

[Greg_L]

Jesus i had no idea you had this mic dude?!?! That's like a dream mic.

Yo holmes....this is where it pays off to be in a big-city "scene" with other musicians/gearheads. I got this thing for 300 bucks from a guy that desperately needed the cash. It's like brand new. Box, case, shock mount, mic, the works.

Cheers.

AT4047 - prohibitively expensive
Pro MPA II - bespoke and modded
Ferric TDS - Ooo, free.
ReaEQ - 1db high shelf cut at 2k - I have it!
Antress Modern Compressor - Can never get these 32 bit plugs to work
Classic Delay - this one is ancient, but I always like it. It's the only delay plug I ever use for anything. Set at a 1/4 note sync'd quick slap-back delay this one? https://www.kvraudio.com/product/classi ... rhus_audio
Reaverb "Voc Ambient Sus" impulse from the Lexicon Rooms files - Nice, I have that. I normally use "Live - Great Room" for everything.

So, I might be able to replicate tiny some bits of that chain. I'll probably try Antress again. I think it might have been an old computer where they kept glitching on me.

I do like what the nice mic and preamp did for my vocals, but is it necessary? No. I've recorded a jillion songs without them and my vocal tracks are good enough. I'm not Frank Sinatra. Gear is not the limitation when it comes to my voice. I think I've done just fine with much less.

None of the plugins I use are particularly special. And yes, that's the delay. Get it. I don't know what it is about the Antress Compressor that just works for me, but I like what it does for vocal compression. I have about three dozen compressors and I always end up with that one on vocals.

[JD01]

None of the plugins I use are particularly special. And yes, that's the delay. Get it. I don't know what it is about the Antress Compressor that just works for me, but I like what it does for vocal compression. I have about three dozen compressors and I always end up with that one on vocals.

I did like that compressor when I used it... and I even less idea what the fuck I was doing then than I do now. It was weird. Whenever I reopened a project those plugins would no longer work and I couldn't save a preset, so I had to retweek it every time. I'll try it again.

Maybe it is time I finally got a nice vocal mic though.

[Greg_L]

Maybe it is time I finally got a nice vocal mic though.

What do you use now?

[JD01]

AKG D5. Its the one I've found best so far.

[Greg_L]

AKG D5. Its the one I've found best so far.

Oh man throw that thing away and get an MXL V67G. I think it's maybe one of the best budget LDCs out there and I know for a fact it works good for vocals.

[JD01]

AKG D5. Its the one I've found best so far.

Oh man throw that thing away and get an MXL V67G. I think it's maybe one of the best budget LDCs out there and I know for a fact it works good for vocals.

Cheers for the recommendation. That's cheap! I've been deciding whether I reckon I could stretch to 500 quid on a mic!
Sorry. Hijacking a thread here which is actually about one of your tracks. Ill start a new one later.

[Greg_L]

Cheers for the recommendation. That's cheap! I've been deciding whether I reckon I could stretch to 500 quid on a mic!
Sorry. Hijacking a thread here which is actually about one of your tracks. Ill start a new one later.

No problem. I actually used a V67G on vocals with a loud rock guy that swears by the SM7b and the V67 killed it. I hate the SM7 so I told him before we started "buy a V67 and if it isn't better I'll buy it from you". He did, and it was, and he kept it for himself.