Testing the waters...

[PelliX]

Here's an old Friday favorite of mine, The Stones' Happy... well, actually it was a Keith Richards song. According to legend he went into the studio and tracked guitars, bass and vocals in an afternoon. Taylor and Jagger then came in to add some fills and backing vocals. Not sure when the wind section was done. It's an amazingly uplifting song and so much fun to play, particularly if you do the whole "let go of the guitar on the open B" thing.. ahum. I'm not sure if I did it like the man himself, there's quite a bit going on but I ended up tuning the E string on the bass down to get the bottom D#. I feel that's probably how Keef would have tackled the situation. The guitar tracks are pretty much what I hear on the record, give or take, not going for absolute note by note accuracy. As we don't have a wind section, I replaced the little trumpet fills in the chorus with a digital one from an old Roland Sound Canvas. Not the most convincing trumpet I've ever heard, but I think it works alright in the mix. It was a lot of fun to sing, too... but I'll spare you and let the singer do her thing!

SndUp | happy_trio

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[PelliX]

Oldie but goldie... well, I liked it, a nice little tune with a catchy chorus. We did this about three years ago, I think. In the original album version there's no piano but I added one after we did the rest of the tracks to give it a little swing. Smokie's Oh Carol...

SndUp | oh_carol

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[PelliX]

It seems sndup is having a lot of issues recently. I've reached out to the owner and bought him another coffee. It's a great service but getting less and less reliable, I feel.

Here's a little something we did a while back, not long ago. @Valves probably remembers it, but I thought I'd share it here anyway. This wasn't exactly on 'my' list but then the singer came with the idea we all agreed to it. Most people know the song and probably a lot of youngsters think it's a Junkie XL track... well, I can't fix that. Listening to the original on the record, it felt rushed. Even old Elvis himself seemed to struggle a little with the tempo late in the track, plus it's a very short number as it is. I decided to pace it a little differently, giving it some more room to breath. Still somehow unsatisfied with the length [yes, insert a joke there] we decided to simply do the little breakdown/interlude twice, building up a little more energy along the way. Here's A Little Less Conversation...

https://soundcloud.com/pellie-705702263%2Fa_little_less_conversation_tri

 

[PelliX]

So, while it's been hard not to pick up the new Gretsch and give it some, I've done a bit of a mix of Rain. Vocals and drums have minimal processing, much like the rest though there's a bit of reverb on the drums, particularly the kick. I'm still doing backing vocals fairly deep in the mix, where I belong. Also added a tambourine, just to add a little something to the crash and hi hat. Not a finished, polished product but getting somewhere...

SndUp | rain_trio_3

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[PelliX]

This was a lot of fun. We (I) sort of set out to make it a slightly more 80's rock version, but I couldn't quite get it work with the bridge. We settled on just giving the original a little boost here and there, nothing too special. I've also promised this was the only Blondie song we would do....

Call Me

SndUp | Call Me

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[Valves]

Here's an old Friday favorite of mine, The Stones' Happy... well, actually it was a Keith Richards song. According to legend he went into the studio and tracked guitars, bass and vocals in an afternoon. Taylor and Jagger then came in to add some fills and backing vocals. Not sure when the wind section was done. It's an amazingly uplifting song and so much fun to play, particularly if you do the whole "let go of the guitar on the open B" thing.. ahum. I'm not sure if I did it like the man himself, there's quite a bit going on but I ended up tuning the E string on the bass down to get the bottom D#. I feel that's probably how Keef would have tackled the situation. The guitar tracks are pretty much what I hear on the record, give or take, not going for absolute note by note accuracy. As we don't have a wind section, I replaced the little trumpet fills in the chorus with a digital one from an old Roland Sound Canvas. Not the most convincing trumpet I've ever heard, but I think it works alright in the mix. It was a lot of fun to sing, too... but I'll spare you and let the singer do her thing!

SndUp | happy_trio

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Nice. It's quite difficult to emulate the Stone's groove. If it's all too tight it's not like the Stones. Can't be too loose neither.
I would have brought your guitar forward a bit in places - but that's just how guitar players think. Your mix is probably more true to the spirit of the song.

 

[Valves]

Oldie but goldie... well, I liked it, a nice little tune with a catchy chorus. We did this about three years ago, I think. In the original album version there's no piano but I added one after we did the rest of the tracks to give it a little swing. Smokie's Oh Carol...

SndUp | oh_carol

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I did not formerly know of this song.
I see you can bring some country licks when needed.

 

[PelliX]

I would have brought your guitar forward a bit in places - but that's just how guitar players think. Your mix is probably more true to the spirit of the song.

It's always a matter of opinion. "Oh, but the tambourine", "and what about the backing vocals", "should the bass be more dominant?", etc. I always try (and sometimes fail) to give the rest of the band a bit of the spotlight in recordings, because I'm doing the bass, keys, guitars, arrangement, production, engineering, etc. Sometimes I feel like it's 'PelliX and his Sidekicks' which is not the intention so maybe I overcompensate in that department a little. Different songs have different focus of course, too. After some elbowing from the singer, we're recording Rolling In The Deep, which is a great example of the voice being first and foremost. The bass drum and the vocals "are" that song, the bass follows the piano more or less and both are supporting the vocals, really. The guitar is waaaay back in the mix and could be omitted without much trouble. In the case of Rain (see above) it's very much a back and forth thing, during the verses the vocals are leading, the rest of the song is pretty guitar-centric. The final mix actually includes vocals in the outro which makes rounds the whole thing off quite nicely until the final fade, I think.

did not formerly know of this song.
I see you can bring some country licks when needed.

Really? I thought it was a bit of a classic. I also *love* that quirky little solo. Thanks, Valves!

 

[Valves]

This was a lot of fun. We (I) sort of set out to make it a slightly more 80's rock version, but I couldn't quite get it work with the bridge. We settled on just giving the original a little boost here and there, nothing too special. I've also promised this was the only Blondie song we would do....

Call Me

SndUp | Call Me

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>>> slightly more 80's rock version,
I like what you did there.
They would have played guitar like that in '77 if they had settled in with the right amps. Bands probably played the song like that on stage in the following years.

Meanwhile you're messing with my nostalgia P.

>> this was the only Blondie song we would do
There's no shame in it, to my mind.
We would play Blondie songs alongside Sex Pistols songs.
I mean, 'back in the day'.
Here in NZ we were more attuned to UK punk than anything from the USA.
Still, I kinda thought that the bands at CBGBs had some of the same spirit as UK punk - but Americanised.
The USA was too prosperous to germinate something as visceral as real, angry, UK, working class punk.
But the USA had it's own 'we're with you in spirit' thing going on.

As for Blondie, I always just thought that Chris Stein had a special gift for songwriting. (I know that other people must have helped bring the magic.)

Well, we used to play the crowd pleasers: Heart of Glass, One Way or Another and Call Me.

I really wanted to play my fave: Atomic.
But I never did play it live.
I always thought that I'd need a Tele, a big amp and a study of on-stage reverb and delay options. I mean, we would need that to do justice to the signature licks.

I still don't even have one single Tele. Such is life.

 

[PelliX]

>> this was the only Blondie song we would do
There's no shame in it, to my mind.

I wanted to do Atomic (but then more galloping guitars and so on)... but there was some, ahum, 'pushback'. Yes, let's call it that. Apart from those two I'm not really into much of Blondie. Stuff like Heart Of Glass may be good songs, but done to death. One Way Or Another isn't a bad track, but it lacks something distinctive to me. Some signature "something". As it happens, Call Me wasn't written by Blondie at all, it was part of the soundtrack for a film. They got the band in, but the finished result we know from the record (and film) includes none of their playing. Only Debbie's voice and session musicians. I've always wanted to hear 'their' take on the song before it became a hit and they had to do it live 1:1.

I really wanted to play my fave: Atomic.
But I never did play it live.
I always thought that I'd need a Tele, a big amp and a study of on-stage reverb and delay options. I mean, we would need that to do justice to the signature licks.

Wow, what a coincidence, I really love that song, too! I had it 'mapped out' for Teles indeed, but I don't see that it wouldn't work with something else.

I still don't even have one single Tele. Such is life.

I didn't own a semi-hollow electric until a couple of days ago...

Circling back to Atomic... my singer is probably going to refuse point blank (despite it including absolutely beautiful vocal harmonies, "oooh, your hair is beautiful", etc). I can do the guitar(s), bass, keyboard(s)... feel like giving it a stab? You take a/the guitar part(s)? Maybe get someone in for the vocals? Lord knows I'll sing it drunk, but he also knows it's best to keep that for myself... I can knock up a prototype fairly quickly, I think I still have a 'rough sketch'.

 

[Purpleplexi]

My Blondie tune I've always wanted to do is Rapture - esp the rap at the end about the man from mars who eats guitars I've considered stealing the rap and pinning it to the end of another song.

 

[Valves]

I wanted to do Atomic (but then more galloping guitars and so on)... but there was some, ahum, 'pushback'. Yes, let's call it that. Apart from those two I'm not really into much of Blondie. Stuff like Heart Of Glass may be good songs, but done to death. One Way Or Another isn't a bad track, but it lacks something distinctive to me. Some signature "something". As it happens, Call Me wasn't written by Blondie at all, it was part of the soundtrack for a film. They got the band in, but the finished result we know from the record (and film) includes none of their playing. Only Debbie's voice and session musicians. I've always wanted to hear 'their' take on the song before it became a hit and they had to do it live 1:1.



Wow, what a coincidence, I really love that song, too! I had it 'mapped out' for Teles indeed, but I don't see that it wouldn't work with something else.



I didn't own a semi-hollow electric until a couple of days ago...

Circling back to Atomic... my singer is probably going to refuse point blank (despite it including absolutely beautiful vocal harmonies, "oooh, your hair is beautiful", etc). I can do the guitar(s), bass, keyboard(s)... feel like giving it a stab? You take a/the guitar part(s)? Maybe get someone in for the vocals? Lord knows I'll sing it drunk, but he also knows it's best to keep that for myself... I can knock up a prototype fairly quickly, I think I still have a 'rough sketch'.

Cheers P,
>>> I didn't own a semi-hollow electric until a couple of days ago...

I had a hollow Yamaha for years. Once I sold it I realised how well made it was.
The pickups could not reproduce all the popular sounds for the time.
A few years ago I ran into a guy who was buying those guitars for $200 each and putting P90s into them. They sounded very good.
I would not have gone for a P90: I would have been thinking about a humbucker and making the guitar sound like a Casino or Sheraton.
But whatever, those Yammys we nicely built.

I'm just procrastinating here...

>> feel like giving it a stab?
Well, now you say that - I don't think I have any other option but to say CHALLENGE ACCEPTED!

Riders and Caveats:
Please bear with me if I am slow moving.
I already have an unfinished project here - with the best will in the world - we can't seem to co-ordinate with my best friends with a simple song.

>> I can do the guitar(s), bass, keyboard(s).

What about drums?
It would be good if we could get a solid bass and drums at the bottom end.

Meanwhile, you know my vocals girls are good for it...

Don't put your hands on me:

Dropbox

www.dropbox.com

Voodoo Woman

Dropbox

www.dropbox.com

We just set up a Zoom recorder for these.
I know it's a different world if we want to make a 'real' recording.

Keep in touch P. I would love to make a recording with you. But you will need keep the pressure on me.

 

[PelliX]

A little too 'hip-hop' for me, honestly. If I'd have been exposed to it 'fresh' when it was released I might have a different opinion. After surviving the 90's, 00's and so on with all the 'gangsta rap' blasting from every streetcorner I have a hard time dealing just about anything going in that direction. I'll say 'just about' because there are always exceptions, but all the 'rap' music I appreciate would fit on a single audio CD. In fact, probably on one side of a 90 minute casette. To me she doesn't have the voice for it, but I'll be very careful about making such statements as I have a face for radio and a voice for silent film. My vocals are on display earlier in the thread, they speak for themselves [pun vaguely intended]...

I would not have gone for a P90: I would have been thinking about a humbucker and making the guitar sound like a Casino or Sheraton.
But whatever, those Yammys we nicely built.

Hmmmm, humbuckers... I actually have a clip-in humbucker for acoustics, but zero acoustics where it fits in the soundhole. Ironically, one of those is my old Yamaha APX. Maybe it's my honeymoon phase, but semi-hollow + P90's seems to be the ticket for me for some stuff. As soon as I fit the new roller bridge on my Gretsch I'll do a couple of recordings with it.

Well, now you say that - I don't think I have any other option but to say CHALLENGE ACCEPTED!

You have every option to tell me to get knotted, and history will bear me out on that...

In this case, YOU'RE ON!

Riders and Caveats:
Please bear with me if I am slow moving.
I already have an unfinished project here - with the best will in the world - we can't seem to co-ordinate with my best friends with a simple song.

One? Oh, that's not too bad. I have a handful of projects we're "semi actively" working on as I'm trying to knock that number down. Do it or scrap it mode. I really had a mind to do Status Quo's Little Blue Eyed Lady, but the singer veto'd that hard. Chances are the drummer and I will do it and it will just end up as a "fun little thing on the shelf to look back on". I could play that rhythm all night and the end solo is so much fun... ah well.

What about drums?
It would be good if we could get a solid bass and drums at the bottom end.

I actually have a canned drum track ready from my quick prototyping session. I'm going to have to check out the bassline, honestly can't remember much of it right now. Do you want to do the bass or should I give it a crack? I could knock up a prototype bass track to go with the drums, send it over and you can have a think about tempo, swing, etc? I'm not the fastest cat on bass, but I can play things to work in a mix. I can also send you the drums, then you set the tempo how you like and put the bass over them - let me hear what you're thinking, you know?
Agree on getting the rhythm section up and running first. If I send you the drums as a MIDI score, does that work for you or would you prefer audio?

Don't put your hands on me:

This was nice! Guitar is tasty and the vocals are spot on!

Voodoo Woman

Yup, I dig it. Lead guitar is awesome... and the end - hehe... can't quite make out what was said, but someone was talking, haha!

Keep in touch P. I would love to make a recording with you. But you will need keep the pressure on me.

Likewise - let's do this! I've been unintentionally, inadvertently managing this band... how hard can it be.

 

[PelliX]

Here's a little something unexpected; waaaay outside the comfort zone... but while we'd never do it live, good fun. Sometimes you need to jump into strange waters to learn a thing or two, and I think I've figured out a couple of tricks for vocal processing. They remain to be improved, but the gist is there. This was (who guessed it) the singer's request but I thoroughly enjoyed the piano and bass parts. The guitars are are just fillter overall with a couple of licks thrown in. For the piano sound I dusted off the JV-80 and ended up running the capture back through an EM-10 to layer the two together. There's also a fairly long 'spring-y' reverb tail on the main piano. Lead vocals are, depending on position in the song, going through a Digitech FX unit for a tape delay effect and/or a MIDIVerb II plus a software delay. The tambourine track is actually dual mic'd; one LDC which is in the foreground and one SM58 with a long reverb tail deeper in the mix.

After setting this all up as best I could, trying to sort of replicate the original I went looking for the actual chain used - something I never really do, but given this song is practically brand new by our standards, I figured it might be interesting. Well, it starts off with a Neumann U87, of course. Bummer. I opted for a RODE NT-1000 because it's not quite as sensitive or bright as for example an NT-1. That smoothes the (very dominant) vocals a little and with a tiny touch of EQ you can get that high end roll-off from the U87. Well, you know, sort of in the ballpark. If I recall correctly there's a CL1B and a Neve 1081 in the real chain. I sort of skipped those in favor of a little EQ in the DAW and finally at the desk. The CL1B isn't working hard from what I'm hearing on the record, though I could do faux LA2A for a few dB of shaving. Less is more, I moved on. I have a pair of 1176's for compression on there anyway.

Then I saw an interview with the guy who did the production of the song and he not only demonstrates the individual effects he's using but also clued me into the parallel compression for the final chorus at the end - I missed that one. Apart from that I was actually pretty close, given this kind of modern pop music is not exactly something I know a lot about.

This is not the final vocal take but the state of affairs right now. I think the rest is pretty much OK except for mixing/leveling, etc. Vocals are intentionally a little prominent in this mix.

Rolling In The Deep...

SndUp | rolling_in_the_deep

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