A track ..caution home recording

[6STRINGS 9LIVES]

It never fails every time I have ever submitted a tune I end up wishing i'd done this or that to the mix but anyway , what do ya think ..This is my basement/ garage writing band called 28 DOVES, the track is called HEAD OF A PIN ... 6S9L..OOPS ERROR MESSAGE FILE TOOLARGE EXCEEDES 2.0MB , ROBERT THE FILE IS 2.27MB..

 

[6STRINGS 9LIVES]

head of a pin

Had to edit out over a min to get it under 2.00 mg.. but i guess you'll get the idea recorded at home in my basement...6s9l

 

[Nelskie]

6S9L - Wow. That's a really cool tune!!! Kinda' has a Kim Mitchell dynamic to it, if you're familiar w/ his stuff. Did you play all of the instruments on that track? If so - double wow! All you need to do now is post the part of the song with the killer solo . . . !! Thanks for sharing it.

 

[6STRINGS 9LIVES]

Thanks Nelskie I appreciate it , no I didn't play all the tracks, this is a track recorded by my group 28 DOVES , basically we are a group of friends that have been playing together and in different bands for the last 20 years ,we get together to write when we can , generally i do most of the writing with everybody bringing something to the tune , we record with real drums , bass and guitar ,and have a blast doing it . We have about 20 tunes in the can and are waiting for the right time to demo the stuff .. life is timing ,, and yeah now that you mention it there is a little kim mitchell / max webster vibe there ..love that band ..I have written tunes for different groups and have had some get national air play in the mid 90's, but the business has changed so much that there is not much room for straight ahead canuck rock so these writing sessions we do are more for our own enjoyment than anything else , we are all over 40 and dont have the pretty faces needed to make it anymore..hahah , our intention is to shop the tunes to a publisher and hopefully have someone else record and perform them ..the moneys in the royalties Nelskie..anyway heres the other part of the tune with the breakdown and the solo and outro.. cheers 6S9L

 

[Nelskie]

6S9L - That solo really glues it together. What guitar were you playing on that? Sounds like a Strat (the one picutred?) Also - I like the slide fills towards the end, too! I look forward to hearing more tracks from 28 DOVES.

Yeah, I agree with you on the lack of "real" rock in today's music market. I attribute that in large part to the infusion of bubblegum boy/ girl band pop, hip hop, and grunge. To some extent, each of these musical styles played a part in knocking straight-ahead rock right out of the picture. Although there are a few bands still doing it, and even a new band now & then, it does seem like that genre of music is a very distant memory. I grew up listening to Canadian rock in the late 70's and early 80's (living right on the US / CAN border in ND), and still consider it a vital part of my regular listening regimen. Bands like April Wine, Triumph, Rush, Loverboy, Red Ryder, Kim Mitchell, Bryan Adams, The Guess Who, Neil Young & Crazyhorse, and the Tragically Hip all seem to have a bit of that no-frills, in-your-face rock n' roll attitude.

Anyways - it'd sure be nice to see music move back into that element. Hell, I'd maybe even celebrate by buying some new CD's, rather than pointing my XM radio to the "Deep Tracks" channel for months on end.

 

[6STRINGS 9LIVES]

hey Nelskie thanks again ... yep your right strat tone on the solo .. its a 1993 made in japan fender 58 reissue with texas specials played through a 65 vibro champ and a 2-12 bandmaster cab loaded with celestions, the melody guitar line is a crafted in japan 52 tele reissue with texas specials played through a 64 bassman and a 2-12 bassman cab with jensens lots of jangle there ..i love old fender tone..its very cool that you listened to 70-80's canadian rock , there was some great stuff back in the day ..regarding the tragically hip i've seen them several times and their shows are a little hit and miss , sometimes great sometimes brutal..saw them in moncton in sept when they opened for the stones in front of 85,000 people they were brilliant and gordie was coherent for a change ..
music today seems to be a flavour of the month type of thing and to be honest i have not realy heard much in the last 10 years to make me take notice , i think the best /hottest players are to be found in country music ..and i have a theory as to why ther are not as many great players evident today . wheni first started learning to play in a serious way in the early 70's if i was going to jam with other players i had to learn everything from the beatles to zep,pink floyd , yes etc so as a player you developed a sense of melody and gained chops that a new player who lets say 10-15 years ago would not have needed to master if he was digging nirvana or pearl jam etc , 3-4 chords and let'er rip , I think grunge in general set back the skill level of players greatly , god i sound like an old fart , but thats my take .. 6S9L

 

[Robert]

Hey, 6S9L, that is great! It's a really cool song, well done. The solo fits great, and it reminded me of Angus Young. I thought the guitar sounded like an SG! You must have been using the bridge pickup?

I agree about the Grunge and skill of players. I grew up listening to guitar players with chops too.

 

[6STRINGS 9LIVES]

Thanks Robert, yeah that solo does have a little angus influence in it , the tone however is all fender , just a little 6 watt blackface vibro champ on 11 and a 2-12 cab , bridge pickup and a durham electronics sexdrive boost pedal.. thats the thing about small amps though , for recording they are amazing , jimmy page did lots of the early stuff with champs and clapton did layla through a tweed champ, the breakup is so sweet ..ah well if you get the idea i'm a champ fan ,you'd be right ..and the sexdrive is one of the best boost pedals i've ever heard..neat combonation..6S9L

 

[Nelskie]

69SL - Nuttin' like vintage Fender tone. It's a big reason why I bought a Cyber Twin - lotsa' of those cool sounds from yesteryear. Have you ever played through a CT? True, the CT sounds are not "exactly" like those obtained through the "genuine article", but I must say that the overall vibe and sound aesthetics are are certainly there. I have a couple Bassman settings ('58 / '59), and a Vibro Champ setting as well (not sure of the year, but it's very tasty with a Tele!) That bugger is LOUD, too!

 

[6STRINGS 9LIVES]

Hey Nelskie the cyber twin is a realy interesting amp tons of toys to fiddle with and yeah its mega loud , noodled with one for about 2 hours at a shop , the champ pre-sets are real nice , and overall the amp is versatile , check out the 59 bassman setting with a les paul and a slide ..wooah ,, i bet the thing looks great in the dark too.... 6S9L

 

[Nelskie]

Sounds great in the dark, too!

 

[Nelskie]

6S9L - Hey, what type of process did you use to record / track your song? It really has a nice "live" feel to it. Do you have a stand-alone recording device, like a Boss or MXR; or, are you using a software program like Pro Tools?

 

[6STRINGS 9LIVES]

We recorded most of that track at a friends basement studio,a small set up really , 24 track fostex digital , 16ch mackie , some type of cd mastering deck, and your standard outboard gear, we borrowed some real good condensor mics from other friends , and recorded the drums at another friends club on an off night, we set the recorder and board up at the club and recorded the drums in the middle of the dance floor over a bed track of bass and a ghost vocal track, I think that is where the live feel comes from that room sounds good.. the rest we built up a track at a time in my friends basement, I have an old 4-track tascam that i use for ideas and have cake walk on my pc .. been looking at the yamaha aw16g and the tascam 2488 and thinking about taking the plunge , maybe santa.... do you have any experience with the stand alone digitals , any advice... 6S9L

 

[Nelskie]

69SL - I'm a total "rookie" when it comes to home recording. But that hasn't hampered me from tracking stuff using my "tried & true" boombox-to-boombox method!!! Yeah, pretty archaic, but hey - at least it's an effective way to save ideas and such. I have, literally, a good-sized shipping box full of cassettes - - so when it comes time to put my debut CD together, I should have ideas o' plenty. To assist me in my first "real" professional solo recording effort, I purchased a Zoom MRS-8 digital recording station, and Sony Acid Music Studio - both of which I am still "learning". As soon as I can afford them, I'm going to get (2) Shure SM-57 mikes, and perhaps a couple of other mikes to use for ambient sound. Any recommendations? After adding a few mikes, and doing a few trial samplings, I think I should be set to go!!! I'm very excited about the whole idea of recording original music at home, and can't wait to get fully acclamated with its ins & outs.

 

[6STRINGS 9LIVES]

You'll be well served by the 57's they can do it all very well. For about 500.00 you could get a matched pair of RODE NT-1A" condensors with shock mounts , these are killer mics for the money, lottsa reviews on the web.. 4 good quality cables and 2 good quality stands ans 2 studio style booms and bob's your uncle.. the other necesity would be a good mic pre amp, and for reasonable money you could make it a tube pre amp ..the one thing that i've observed about recording is that you need to know the limititations of your gear and the recording environment, what i've noticed is that you can spend hours trying to perfect the recording and then the mix or you can know your gear well enough to be able to realize when you've got the most out of the space and your set-up..as for being a rookie , with the way recording technology advances on a almost monthly pace , i think everyone is on a pretty level playing field..we are all rookies.... 6S9L

 

[Robert]

I'm getting some gear too for home recording, and I'm getting a SM57 right away. I'll need a mic stand too. It's a never ending process, this buying gear stuff....

 

[Nelskie]

Thanks for the gear rec's 69SL. And yes, Robert, buying gear is a never-ending process. And sometimes, spendy one at that. But it sure is a lot of fun, isn't it??!!