Author Topic: we tried something new: "Insomnia" without keyboar (Read 1773 times)

hunter · « **on:** June 06, 2008, 06:17:28 AM »

Guys give me a heads up here, we tried this last rehearsal, should we keep refining it or give up trying techno with guitars?

I had the goosebumps when we played it but not sure now when I listen to the recording...

http://www.thegutbusters.com/temp/insomnia2nd.mp3

hamfist · « **Reply #1 on:** June 06, 2008, 07:32:51 AM »

I think it sounds pretty good, although personally I'd cut down the slow building intro sequences a bit, to get into the more "beaty" bits earlier.
I don't know the original song, to compare it to. Oh, also maybe something extra going on with the guitars during the "vocal" might be nice, just to fill it out a bit sonically.
Overall, well worth keeping and working on I'd say.

Oli · « **Reply #2 on:** June 06, 2008, 08:02:51 AM »

Overall, i think it's pretty good, i liked it :) I think the intro sequence (upto about the first minute) could be improved, as could the outro, but the majority of the track is cool and well executed without the keys.

Roobubba · « **Reply #3 on:** June 06, 2008, 08:10:20 AM »

Echoing what the others have already said, the intro and outro could use some work, but I really enjoyed the track, and you've got that middle section absolutely nailed. Pretty good recording for a band practice too!
Good tight playing for the majority, which is always pleasing on the ears.

I think it works just fine without the keyboards!

Personally I'd try making things a little heavier with some nasty deep guitar grunty-riffs (fairly low output) under the vocal sections, and maybe just after that too. I know it's a cover, of course, but you're making it your own and that's great.

BTW I didn't particularly like the original so you've done a cracking job here ;)

Roo

_tom_ · « **Reply #4 on:** June 06, 2008, 08:36:30 AM »

Sounds pretty good, I didnt know what song it was until the keyboard riff came in though so you may want to shorten the intro unless loads of people you're playing to will recognise it. Great playing and that recording quality sounds great through my laptop speakers :) A heavy riff of that main keyboard riff would sound great with the bit you're allready playing over the top of it.

sgmypod · « **Reply #5 on:** June 06, 2008, 08:42:15 AM »

think a vocal would enhance it and make it more recognisable at the start....but yeah is cool

hunter · « **Reply #6 on:** June 06, 2008, 09:58:00 AM »

Thanks all, this is great feedback!

Yeah recording quality is pretty good, it's all in the fingers you know :O)

LOL no, it's the Tascam DR-1 which is really perfect for rehearsal situations. I was not so happy with it on further distance recording on a recent concert, but maybe would need some extra mics for that.

I will check with the other Gutbusters whether we couldn't cut the intro by half, song is anyways very long as it is now.

On the vocal part I am currently using an ebow, but I applied far too much finger vibrato on this recording. Maybe I could experiment with an extreme synced tremolo-effect to make it more "techno" in that part ... let's see.

I used to love insomnia back in the days, the hook has something that kicks out happy hormons or sth. - hard to describe ....

sgmypod · « **Reply #7 on:** June 06, 2008, 10:12:19 AM »

Yeah Faithless were/are still a good band

gwEm · « **Reply #8 on:** June 06, 2008, 11:35:11 AM »

the introduction sounds very joy-division-y and i quite enjoyed it! might good idea to make it a bit shorter though. maybe the outro could be shortened a bit, but it thought it was fine myself. maybe an aim could be to make the track about 5mins long overall.

at 2m44s when the main riff first comes in i would personally have slashed it out with big straightahead 80s metal power chords. you can always use the current more tasteful way of playing the riff later in the track at 5m11s.

maybe the drummer could experiment with a 4/4 kick at some point in the track for emphasis.

you could finish the track more abruptly for a bigger round of applause when you play this live. it ought to be a big crowd pleaser

its a really original idea, and i think you should keep working on it. its experimental and cool, but techno is cheesy and maybe its nice to add a few of those elements back in.