Author Topic: Crawlers spacerockin' (Read 9778 times)

carlaz · « **on:** August 04, 2006, 06:00:37 PM »

This is new recording of a song I wrote with my first band -- well, I wrote the music and the keyboardist (now a US congressional candidate!) wrote the words. Anyway, I liked the song, but as a band we sucked :), so I've always wanted to do a new version, and the attached file is the "rough draft" from what I've been working up recently. It totally indulges my shameless spacerock fandom 8)

All guitars are my 1990 Gibson LP Std loaded with Crawlers. The very echo-y clean-ish bits use, I think, the pup selector switch in the middle position (which I don't usually do, but decided I liked here). The main overdriven rhythm part is the bridge pickup, and the lead bits are a bit of a mix of neck pickup and middle position. It was all recorded with the guitar going straight into my iBook via a Tascam US-122 USB audio interface; all the amp-sims are tweaked up from different GarageBand settings (the whole thing is recorded in GarageBand).

As for the rest .... The bass is my '76 Rick 4001 (using GB amp sims). There's some very simple keyboard (using GB presets), and a stock Apple synth loop. There are a bunch of other samples of wind and seagulls and spaceship noises and stuff (all stretched and warped and filtered through whatever effect seemed good at the moment). I programmed all the drums using Doggiebox, with ns_kit7 samples. I apologize for my awful singing! :) I should have tuned down a further half-step or so .... ;)

EDIT: The attached MP3 has been updated 2 times since first posted.

CaffeineJunkie · « **Reply #1 on:** August 04, 2006, 06:05:07 PM »

koOol

seagulls are always kool in music :D

guitar sounded amazing too :p

daveirl1 · « **Reply #2 on:** August 04, 2006, 08:57:25 PM »

i really like that!

38thBeatle · « **Reply #3 on:** August 04, 2006, 10:35:39 PM »

Atmospheric.

Tellboy · « **Reply #4 on:** August 05, 2006, 11:25:17 AM »

Quote from: CaffeineJunkie

koOol

seagulls are always kool in music :D

Not so kool when you've just washed your car - we call them shitee Hawks in this part of the country 8)

Carlaz - really like the recording.

Ratrod · « **Reply #5 on:** August 05, 2006, 11:49:27 AM »

Great song! I really liked it. If the rhythm guitar was a bit more upfront in the mix it would be great as a driving song in my car.

The U2-ish solo is great.

carlaz · « **Reply #6 on:** August 05, 2006, 11:54:34 AM »

Quote from: Tellboy

Quote from: CaffeineJunkie
seagulls are always kool in music :D
Not so kool when you've just washed your car - we call them shitee Hawks in this part of the country 8)

Remember, friends and neighbours: Seagulls belong in your music, not hovering over your vehicle 8)

carlaz · « **Reply #7 on:** August 05, 2006, 12:04:20 PM »

Quote from: Ratrod

Great song! I really liked it. If the rhythm guitar was a bit more upfront in the mix it would be great as a driving song in my car. The U2-ish solo is great.

Thanks Ratrod -- and all -- for the positive comments! :) It's a "rough draft" sort of demo, so I plan to mess around with it some more.

The main rhythm part uses GarageBand's absolutely stock "Classic Rock" amp sim preset, and I'll probably yet tweak it up in the mix or change the amp sim settings to make it stand out a bit more. (Likewise, I expect to keep messing around with the drum programming, which has a few distinct parts, but is mostly looped "verse block" and "chorus block".)

The solos are ... funny, actually. I used some 3rd-party amp-sim preset that seems intended to have given a Van Halen-ish tone, but of course doesn't come out that way in my (very sloppy) hands! Then solos themselves were recorded in several chunks of varying length whilst I hunched over the laptop eating my breakfast. Every few bars I'd stop and take another bite of cornflakes, then I'd go back and record a few more bars of soloing .... Not very natural! :roll: But hey: one works with the circumstances that one has! :)

carlaz · « **Reply #8 on:** August 09, 2006, 10:15:09 AM »

Quote from: carlaz

Quote from: Ratrod
If the rhythm guitar was a bit more upfront in the mix it would be great as a driving song in my car.
The main rhythm part uses GarageBand's absolutely stock "Classic Rock" amp sim preset, and I'll probably yet tweak it up in the mix or change the amp sim settings to make it stand out a bit more.

OK, so I haven't messed around with the rest of the mix or arrangement, but after spending few minutes playing with the amp sim settings, I decided that just making the guitar louder was the best way forward. :) So the new MP3 has ... louder guitar! And that can't be all bad .... :)

Johnny Mac · « **Reply #9 on:** August 09, 2006, 06:20:01 PM »

Listening now Carlaz. :D Very good mate! It is very atmospheric as Mr 38th said! I do like a sound effect now and again meself'! 8)

:D Now then, the breakfast solos, are we talking shredded wheat or a full English? I've never tried this method before but if I'm stuck for inspiration I'll give it a go cos they sound cool! What solo could you come up with with Cinnamon Grahams? Proper intense? Or at the other end of the spectrum you could try full on Mrs 38th's pipe cleaning muesli!! That could be a more note economical with gritty tense under-currents!

All joking aside I thought that was really good! I'm hoping to have a better grip on my recording appendages in the near future!

:lol:

8)

Edit Cornflakes, sorry missed that bit! Now I get it!

[/b]

carlaz · « **Reply #10 on:** August 09, 2006, 07:07:24 PM »

Weeeell, the truth is that it was some kinda organic muesli bran flaky thing -- "cornflakes" was easier to write -- but, mmm, yes, different breakfasts could have different effects. Perhaps my organic crunchy flakes contributed to a hippy speackrock vibe. Didn't check to see if there was hemp seed in 'em .... 8)

Quote from: Johnny Mac

All joking aside I thought that was really good! I'm hoping to have a better grip on my recording appendages in the near future!

Thanks, man! I do like the vibe from the recording, unpolished though it be. :)

I'm getting better at using my "short-notice recording" setup; I might get a chance to do some stuff for a couple of days, then not again for a month, but it doesn't take too long to get crankin'. I won't claim that GarageBand amp sims sound better than a roaring stack, but a roaring stack is tough to keep set up in a small apartment and one of the incentives towards upgrading my guitar with BKPs was that a better-sounding guitar would sound better with a roaring stack or amp sims (whichever happened to be available at the moment, though so far only the latter ;)).

Johnny Mac · « **Reply #11 on:** August 09, 2006, 09:34:54 PM »

Quote from: carlaz

Weeeell, the truth is that it was some kinda organic muesli bran flaky thing -- "cornflakes" was easier to write -- but, mmm, yes, different breakfasts could have different effects. Perhaps my organic crunchy flakes contributed to a hippy speackrock vibe. Didn't check to see if there was hemp seed in 'em .... 8)

Quote from: Johnny Mac
All joking aside I thought that was really good! I'm hoping to have a better grip on my recording appendages in the near future!

Thanks, man! I do like the vibe from the recording, unpolished though it be. :)

I'm getting better at using my "short-notice recording" setup; I might get a chance to do some stuff for a couple of days, then not again for a month, but it doesn't take too long to get crankin'. I won't claim that GarageBand amp sims sound better than a roaring stack, but a roaring stack is tough to keep set up in a small apartment and one of the incentives towards upgrading my guitar with BKPs was that a better-sounding guitar would sound better with a roaring stack or amp sims (whichever happened to be available at the moment, though so far only the latter ;)).

Top Man Carlaz!! :D :lol: 'some kinda organic muesli bran flaky thing' I'm picking up on that vibe dude! I'm going to have to check out holland and barratts for that one.

JM 'Excuse me Madam do you have some kinda organic muesli bran flaky thing for breakfast guitar solos please?'

Assistant Is that hemp seed or un-hemped seed, Sir?

JM ' We'll go un-hemped please madam, what's good enough for Carlaz is good enough for me!'

Assistant Absolutely sir.

:roll: Anyway!

It sounds really good mate!

I know what you mean about small apartments! I'm thinking of ditching my bed!

:lol:

JJretroTONEGOD · « **Reply #12 on:** August 09, 2006, 10:33:53 PM »

hello there,

thats a rather nice tone, and I like it a lot, it's beefy and mellow at the same time. without cutting my ear off, like some pickups.

I've never heard anything like this before, it's kina speed techno meets U.2 crossed with the music and something a bit heavier like a submarine.

I particularly like the clean tones in this recording, maybe it could be a little less delayed though?

for your first band that's brilliant, you should heard the state of my first band! I recommend becoming a solo instumentalist like me lol it's much harder to get your tunes liked by a wide audience. bye.

fps_dean · « **Reply #13 on:** August 11, 2006, 01:08:15 AM »

I was expecting some Deep Purple..... what gives? :)

carlaz · « **Reply #14 on:** August 11, 2006, 08:35:39 AM »

Quote from: fps_dean

I was expecting some Deep Purple..... what gives? :)

Duuuuuude, that's spacetruckin' .... 8) (though the Purp song I wish I culd play is "Highway Star" :))