Motorhead Ace of Spades

Inspector #20

Inspector #20

Ambassador of Tone
Fallen Star
Country flag
Ok, fellows....I think I gave you some background on this in another thread. I was asked to produce a cover version of the original, that can be licensed for use by a local business for an upcoming commercial. Licensing the original song is very expensive, but covers are often much, much less to licence through The Harry Fox Agency.

My colleague (Fej Rednil) laid down the incredible drum track while jamming to the original song. I added the bass track after studying a number of Lemmy videos. I used an Arion Metal Master Effect Pedal (leftover from the 1980's) to create some gain on the bass. It's nowhere as good as Lemmy, but it's close.

Guitars - I used my stock 2016 Gibson and my Blackstar ID-Core 100 for the entire recording.

There are two rhythm tracks panned left and right at 80%

Two more rhythm tracks panned 40% left and right and played an octave higher

Two lead fill tracks panned at 90% left and right.

I sang the vocals (as best I could) and they were digitally doubletracked

The only thing left is to rehearse the original lead and add the ending bends.

I thought you guys might enjoy this...I just finished it.

The guitars are heavy, man...listen at the end where all 4 tracks play the outro notes.

Ok, as previously stated, I am not a great vocalist, but I can usually get by and I have sang this song live when a vocalist didn't show up.

I hope Lemmy would approve, even though nothing can ever eclipse his original.

Here it is. All guitars, drums, bass, vocals were cut in single takes. There has been no mixdown so the volume spikes are all over the place.

Ace Of Spades

Let me know what you think...
 
GREAT work, Robert! Can’t wait to hear it with a guitar solo!

No need to be ashamed of your vocals here; you did a great job.
:cheers:
 
DonP said:
Nice work Robert. It has all the drive of Motorhead. And none of it could have happened without that amazing drum bed.
Click to expand...

Yes! When we embarked on this effort, we spent hours listening to all the tracks we could find. Phil's drumming borders on both brilliance and madness!
 
Bocc69 said:
Fantastic. Killer vocals!!!!
Tone wise, hits the Mark...Awesome.
Rock on :dood:
Click to expand...

Thanks, Man!

Now, I did change the arrangement some and used guitars played an octave apart for the syncopated rhythm. The low octave guitar more or less blends in with the bass and I wanted the guitar to jump out.

On the verse, for the low octave, I'm playing a G power chord. On the higher octave, I'm playing a form of open G with emphasis on the brighter strings and there is a distinct up/down stroke you can hear if you listen close.

I made a chord change mistake at the entry to the solo section and just decided to leave it...
 
RVA said:
Excellent work! The vocals are spot on and killer tone as usual.
Click to expand...

Dude! Thank you! This Les Paul 50's Tribute and the Blackstar are like a Swiss Army Knife - they just do everything well!

The vocals are tricky in the break section where everything stops! I even added Lemmy's 'grunt' at the end of the vocal section as an Easter egg of sorts.

My favorite part is the ending. It just sounds massive!
 
  • Like
Reactions: RVA
Mr Grumpy said:
Shouldn't Fast Eddie be playing bass?
Click to expand...

Fast Eddie was handling the guitar duties. One thing interesting about Lemmy is he actually played rhythm and bass simultaneously. I learned more than I ever knew previously about Lemmy's playing while studying for this project.

This music is so energizing for me! My ears are still ringing from the drum tracks, but I wanted to 'feel' the drum work and get into the right mindset to play it with the same level of madness!
 
Juicy tidbits...

The only studio effect I added was an repeat echo at the end of each vocal phrases, and you can't really hear it in the mix unless you know its there.

Guitars have nothing added. Whatever reverb that's there came from the Blackstar.

I might mixdown some of the basic tracks to MP3's because there's more going on in here than meets the ear!
 
Listening to the playback this morning, I realized i made a mistake after the "snake eyes watching you" phrase. Instead of hitting the high octave part, I played the descending riff....
 
DonP said:
There's mistakes, and there's mistakes. Nobody will know that. One day I'll tell you the story of Queen Victoria and the sailor. But not today...
Click to expand...

Indeed! Sounds like a whale of a tale!

Its necessary, I think, to leave them in because its more faithful to a true live recording.

One thing though...the lower octave guitars are masked by the bass...I might pull the two low octave guitar parts just to make it cleaner.

What do you guys think?
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top