Bare Knuckle Pickups Forum
Forum Ringside => Players => Topic started by: carlaz on December 19, 2007, 09:19:24 PM
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This is a sort of "folk metal" version of ye olde Scottish border ballad "Twa Corbies" that I knocked out on a whim over the last few days.
Edit: An improved mix over the originally attached version:
http://www.carlaz.com/music/Twa_Corbies.mp3
The pups are my early 2006 Crawler set -- there being some question over what stats current and past Crawlers have, as far as I know the bridge is ~15k A5 and the neck 7.6 A4 -- in my '92 Gibson LP Standard. The wah parts are through a stock Dunlop JH-1, and otherwise it's directly into my Intel Mac Mini through a Tascam US-122 USB audio interface. All the parts are recorded in Apple GarageBand using the built-in amp simulators and effects.
Nothing fancy: just riffs and thrashy wah abuse (to "make up" for my total lack of practice or technical skills ;)). Most of the guitars use the bridge pickup, with the opening wah bit using both pups.
For the record, the bass is my '76 Ric 4001, likewise straight into GB, and the drums are ns_kit7 samples programmed in Doggiebox to create a single stereo AIFF file that I dropped into GarageBand. Naturally, there are cheezy samples of rain, wind, and crows. :)
I apologize for the voice, but it's the only one I've got. :lol:[/b]
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That's some nice Crawlin'! :D I've been struggling to get a good metal tone myself, but you seem to be nailing it.
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just wanted to say that your crawlers clip -together with ratrod's- are the reason why i leaned toward those pups. And this clip doesn't disapoint me, it's awesome!
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Awesome. Shame about the accent though, not Scottish enough. Great tone.
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Shame about the accent though, not Scottish enough.
;) I started out intending to put the Scots lyrics back into standard English, but when I tried it on, it didn't really work for me somehow .... But no way I was gonna risk fake a Scottish accent! It woulda been like a very dodgy Star Trek imitation! :lol:
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Shame about the accent though, not Scottish enough.
;) I started out intending to put the Scots lyrics back into standard English, but when I tried it on, it didn't really work for me somehow .... But no way I was gonna risk fake a Scottish accent! It woulda been like a very dodgy Star Trek imitation! :lol:
Damn shame, the world needs more dodgy Scottish accents... I might dig out the lyrics and have a bash...
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I really like it! It's got a good atmosphere to it, it's slightly like Jethro Tull, and even Ian Brown in bits! very good mix of styles, it's one of the best clips I've heard on here actually for originality.
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Damn shame, the world needs more dodgy Scottish accents...
Heh, well, perhaps I might give it a go sometime -- but I might not publicize the results! ;)
As an aside, though the guitars are tuned down to D, I found I was really pushing the limits of my vocal range there! Scared the hell out of the cat ....;)
Probably shoulda tuned down to C# or C .... :twisted:
I might dig out the lyrics and have a bash...
Do it! Record a WAV or an AIFF that matches the track, FLAC it, and send me it. :) I'll drop it in.
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Great atmosphere-enjoyed it a lot.
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Damn shame, the world needs more dodgy Scottish accents...
Heh, well, perhaps I might give it a go sometime -- but I might not publicize the results! ;)
As an aside, though the guitars are tuned down to D, I found I was really pushing the limits of my vocal range there! Scared the hell out of the cat ....;)
Probably shoulda tuned down to C# or C .... :twisted:
I might dig out the lyrics and have a bash...
Do it! Record a WAV or an AIFF that matches the track, FLAC it, and send me it. :) I'll drop it in.
Might be easier if you give me the chords you're using and I work out a version that is less belting... Your voice is awesome, and you hit the notes dead on, just I'm a bit lower than you, range wise. Plus I have an idea to play it just as heavily on my acoustic...
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That's going in my iTunes :)
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I really like this :) Garageband has some pretty good sounds it seems. This kinda reminds me of Tool in some places. You're making me want another LP with Crawlers again :lol:
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just wanted to say that your crawlers clip -together with ratrod's- are the reason why i leaned toward those pups.
That's some nice Crawlin'! I've been struggling to get a good metal tone myself, but you seem to be nailing it.
I really like this Garageband has some pretty good sounds it seems.
Ratrod's clips played a big part in steering me towards the Crawlers! They don't get as much press as the Mules or the higher gain metal pups, but are certainly some of the most versatile in the BKP arsenal. I love the combo of vintage vibe with extra power! They'll give a great metal tone even with low-budget amp sims like GarageBand's (which aren't really too bad if you tweak around with them a little -- though I use the stock "Classic Rock" preset on the lower volume lefthand rhythm guitar track, I use my own settings on the louder righthand rhythm guitar and the lead parts). Not that I'd want to recommend that over a decent proper amp, but one works with what one has! :)
The Crawlers clean up very nicely, too (not surprisingly), but I'm not skilled enough to show that side of them off very well! :lol:
It's got a good atmosphere to it, it's slightly like Jethro Tull, and even Ian Brown in bits!
This kinda reminds me of Tool in some places.
Definitely (undeserved ;)) compliements. :)
Some Tullishness is bound to creep in, since I'm a long time Tull fan -- and most of the song is in 3/4, with occasional side-trips to 2/4 or 4/4.
Ian Brown! :) Though the Stone Roses never really hit it big in the States (where I lived when they were big in the UK, though I think they might have eventually caught on in the US if they'd toured hard and played it right), I definitely have some in my collection that must have seeped into my brain.
Tool! Fab band. of course! :)
There always seem to be some vibes in the compositions I wouldn't have guessed at! :)
Might be easier if you give me the chords you're using and I work out a version that is less belting...
I'll have to see if I can figure out what chords I played! :lol:
My starting point was the hoary old Steeleye Span version, itself based on a version by Maurice Blythman (aka the Scots poet "Thurso Berwick") that combined trad lyrics from Sir Walter Scott's collection Minstrelsy of the Scottish Border with a traditional Breton tune called "Alar'ch" ("The Swan").
I rely heavily on the "modal drone" of folk music :) singing much of the melody over a main riff in D, with the little hammer-on kinda wibble a G-to-A thing, I think. (Everything tuned down a whole step, here ....) The bit in the verse where it goes up (e.g. "... the tane unto the t'other did say-o ...") is, I think, going from the main D then up to F, G, A ... A, G, F, A, G G ... and a slide down to finish the verse riffing on the D.
The little vaguely Sabbath bridge bit that crops up and the end of some verses is my own invention, just a little figure going:
D Db A D Db A C ...
D Db A D Db A F ...
D Db A D Db A C ...
A Ab F A Ab E D ....
Your voice is awesome,
No, what's awesome is the amount of reverb and echo that I piled on there to gloss over the flaws. :lol: (I think I remember a quote from Billy Bragg about that! :))
I'm a bit lower than you, range wise. Plus I have an idea to play it just as heavily on my acoustic...
Oh, yeah, there is much heaviness in acoustics! I wish I could play properly, with finger-picking and all. I remember going to see Martin Carthy once and he was just brutally heavy -- musta had strings like telegraph cable on that thing, and he just ripped and clawed at it like anything. Frightening!
Someday I'll learn to play ... someday!
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I'm a bit late for the party, but by gosh and golly that's a great track!! :D
I'd love to hear more of that kind of stuff.
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:oops: :oops: :oops:
Wow! That my clips have had such influence. Maybe I should some again sometime. My sound has changed alot since I recorded those clips. More vintage sounding.
When downtuned Crawlers get doomy and gloomy Sabbath style. I think Carlaz's clips show that very well.
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Excellent clip :)
I enjoyed that a lot, cheers!
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there neeeeeds to be more of this on this forum
EDIT: that was fvcking fantastic
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i can't say enough good stuff about this song man! I can't stop listening to it, i know this is sort of old news now, but goddamn. You just hit everything, i mean i know you said you masked your voice with the reverb and such, but hey, the end result is what counts. I stuck this bit on my iTunes, i doubt i will stop listening to this for a while. If you ever put out a Metalized Scottish Folk album, with songs similar in nature and genre to this one, i will be the first to buy it. 8) (please put out some more stuff like this!)
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Hey guys, I totally appreciate all the positive comments -- track seems to have come out better than I expected!
Have to see if I can come up with anything else that works in a similar vein (though at the moment, I'm stumped). One great thing about folk music: it saves ya from having to start from scratch! :lol:
And since this is the BKP forum, after all, I should add that it seems to me that having good pickups in the ol' axe is a noticeable help even when working with fairly minimal equipment (this track being all guitars plugged straight into computer). Awesome amps and technique would no doubt help ;) but BKPs sure do their part. 8)
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This is a strange kind of self-promotion ;) but I couldn't resist mentioning that on 03 March 2008 a lecture entitled "Border Ballads, Past and Present" by folk-music researcher and professional singer Poppy Holden (who sang on, for example the classical/early-music Hildegard von Bingen Feather on the Breath of God CD) for the Music in the North East and Borders module of the International Centre for Music Studies, University of Newcastle upon Tyne played clips from this version of "Twa Corbies" as an example of living border ballad tradition. Not something I ever expected to have happen to any of my music -- but there ya go! 8) I get a kick out that, really. :)
Alas, she probably didn't plug BKPs while she was at it ....
Meanwhile, I uploaded a slightly improved mix to my web site at the beginning of March (the guitars a little clearer now, I think).
Traditional music never dies: it just gets louder! :twisted:
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DUDE THAT IS AWESOME - great voice.
On the subject of folk metal - Can you do some other border reiver songs - especially Tam Lin would be awesome.
A version of Blackleg Miner like that on the first Steeleye album would sound awesome too - copying that detuned banjo line would work so well with metal.
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On the subject of folk metal - Can you do some other border reiver songs - especially Tam Lin would be awesome.
A version of Blackleg Miner like that on the first Steeleye album would sound awesome too - copying that detuned banjo line would work so well with metal.
I'd love to do "Tam Lin"! Been wanting to do it for years, really. The last band I was in actually played "Blackleg Miner" a few times (and "Ye Jacobites by Name", as the drummer and myself were closet folk fans ;)), though you're right that adapting that banjo line could work well ....
I've haven't tackled any other trad pieces yet simply because I haven't been sure about the arrangements. I don't really feel like I did any work to arrange "Twa Corbies" -- I just woke up one morning and there it was, asking to be played like that. :) I would definitely need to think about how to approach "Tam Lin", since even Fairport's pared-down version is pretty lengthy, and I think I'd want to vary the vibe a bit during the song ... though maybe the sensible thing to do would be to treat it in an epic metal way, like Dio-era Sabbath's "Heaven & Hell" or "Sign of the Southern Cross" vibe meets some of the proggier, more Tull-like bits of Iron Maiden from their last album .... Hmmmmmm! :)
I've long thought about a slow 4/4 version of "Scarborough Fair", sort of in the vein of Fairport's "Sailor's Life". And, though this isn't trad., the last band I was in also played a heavy rock cover of "Did You Like the Battle, Sir?" by John Richards and Bev Pegg, following Paul Downes's cover version. That works pretty well in a metalified context, and I'd love to revisit it .....
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do new folk metal man, i'm still waiting to put more of your songs on my iTunes! :wink:
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do new folk metal man, i'm still waiting to put more of your songs on my iTunes! :wink:
Yah, I do the same! :lol:
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I thought I had posted how much I liked the track when it was originally posted (but I hadn't). Anyway excellent track I like the whole thing so much.
An epic version of Tam Lyn would indeed be excellent
I always thought that the songs "She walks through the Fair," "Matty Groves" and "John Riley" could take heavier updates
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An epic version of Tam Lyn would indeed be excellent
Some vague possibilities for a folkishly metallic "Tim Lin" arrangement have started to glow dimly in the depths of my mind. I'll have to keep letting it ferment, but something will probably splutter out into actual music eventually! ;)
I always thought that the songs "She walks through the Fair," "Matty Groves" and "John Riley" could take heavier updates
"Matty Groves" would be good -- though I'd have trouble tearing myself away from the bones of the so-well-known Fairport treatment. Though that reminds me of Martin Carthy's version of "Famous Flower of Serving Men" which uses a similar tune -- that song's got infanticide, matricide, cross-dressing, spirits of the dead and other supernatural entities in animal form, and burning at the stake for good measure. How metal is that? :twisted: It'd be worth a go .... "John Riley" could work as well; I hadn't thought of that one before.
Bizarrely, when I was in grad school in the UK, a band I was in that never quite got going rehearsed a version of "She Moves Through the Fair" that was mostly awesome piles of guitar echo and feedback with female vocals over it that segued into Solitude Aeturnus's "Falling" (also with female vocals!). No particular reason those two things got stuck together -- they just sounded cool :) and it was great fun to play!
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On the subject of folk metal - Can you do some other border reiver songs - especially Tam Lin would be awesome.
It's taken some time, and it not at all finished, but I've at last got the first part of a demo for "Tam Lin" that is starting to go in a direction I'm liking:
http://www.carlaz.com/music/Tam_Lin.mp3 (http://www.carlaz.com/music/Tam_Lin.mp3)
It's definitely unfinished: at the moment, the story only reaches the point where Tam reveals that "the Queen of Fairies, she caught me when from my horse I fell" -- and it's already over six-and-a-half minutes long! :o
The BKP content doesn't start until 42 seconds in, and not properly until 1.38. The electric guitars are my Crawler-equipped LP Std, of course. Guitar and bass amp models are courtesy of some Amplitube AUs in GarageBand. (The bass is my trusty ol' Ricenbacker 4001, and the drums are programmed using ns_kit7 samples).
Sorry about the singing! It's really just the guide vocal, plus some double-tracking in the chorus since I couldn't stand to listen to the solo vocals there even just while editing! :lol: My version of the lyrics is kind of a mash-up of various attested variants; the music and riffs are mostly my own as opposed to based on anything actually folkloric or traditional, though I reference bits of the arrangements made famous by Fairport Convention and Steeleye Span.
If/when I do finish it, I'll post a separate proper topic for it in the Players section -- it's really quite sketchy and unfinished as it is now, more a footnote to the Twa Corbies recording than anything else!
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Nice but Crawlers would not be my first choice for this style to play...
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That's awesome - I'm still thinking about Crawlers in my own LP.