Get You (Rock Out)

Wes, was this done with a band or did you create and add the parts separately?

Bish

I played everything except the drums, for those I wrote a very simple drum pattern on the Zoom HD8. Actually, recording with the Zoom is super easy, I have the most trouble writing the drum parts. I still haven't fully learned how to insert rolls and cymbal crashes.

I used my Les Paul Studio for the bass and guitar parts. Channel 1 has the bass panned very slightly left. Then I recorded a normal Blues boogie rhythm panned full left. Then I played the crunch type rhythm (copying Marc Bolan's tone on the old Baby Boomerang song) panned right. The vocals are center and have a very short gated reverb that seems to work for my terrible voice, covers up a lot. :D

The only thing I did for the lead guitar was switch to the neck pickup, add a very short delay with the Danelectro PJ & B, and turn up the volume a bit. I used about 50% gain on the Behringer TO800 for all the guitar tracks. It is really a superb overdrive, if you crank the song up a bit you can hear just how great it is. Very smooth tone on all settings, my favorite pedal ever really.

So, that's it, bass, two rhythm guitar tracks, vocals, lead guitar, and drum pattern. I try to keep songs very simple, I try to capture a live sound. To really hear the sound I was after you need to use headphones and crank it up a bit. It is supposed to sound like you are standing in front of a live band. :twisted:

I am not that original of a songwriter (obvious), I usually take an old song as inspiration and alter it a little. I don't feel too bad, the Beatles and Led Zep were known for doing the same things. As I said before, my inspiration for this song was the old T Rex song Baby Boomerang. Of course, Bolan was paying tribute to Chuck Berry. So it always goes back to the original great Rockers. Gotta stay with your roots. :D

Couldn't find a video of Baby Boomerang, but here is Metal Guru, another great hit of Marc's. I was, and still am a huge fan of his. Very underated as a guitar player, absolutely amazing on rhythm guitar especially.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tcbm1kaAU-k

Nice one Wes. Yeah it totally has that T-Rex feel. Got flashbacks of Cultas lake and roller rinks. :lol:

Thanks for the details!!

You did a really good job on this.

I was listening to it at work so I couldn't crank it or use headphones.

I'll give another listen at home this evening.

Hey,
I really liked your song! I didn't know what a ZoomHd8 was so I looked it up. I wish I could afford something like that. I have no way of recording my songs. One day....

Catherinee

I couldn't afford it either. :D

At the time I was getting lots of overtime, that's how I afford my toys. But the last month and a half they have cut us back to 40 hours, they are trying to reduce inventory until after New Years. Now I need money for Christmas. That caught me by surprise.

Hueseph, yeah T Rex was one of my favorites. They never hit it real big in the States, but they were huge everywhere else. And many modern Rockers have cited Bolan as a big influence, most notably Slash. He even covered Buick MacKane.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=whJeB0WrlxQ&feature=related

Pretty good, but not as good as Marc played it. He even copied Marc with the tophat and hair.

Gettin off subject. One thing that I find difficult about this recording is that the songs sound very different through every device you play them. I will burn a CD and play it through one stereo, it sounds great, I'll play it through another and it sounds terrible. And then they sound very different on SoundClick. So that makes getting a good mix difficult. Oh well, I just mix it so it sounds good in headphones. :D

One thing that I find difficult about this recording is that the songs sound very different through every device you play them. I will burn a CD and play it through one stereo, it sounds great, I'll play it through another and it sounds terrible. And then they sound very different on SoundClick. So that makes getting a good mix difficult. Oh well, I just mix it so it sounds good in headphones. :D

This is the issue that everyone deals with. People in the engineering circle sometimes refer to this as poor translation. The problem is with your monitoring system. In your case headphones. Of course headphones can't reproduce a lot of the frequencies that a larger stereo speaker system can so, if you're having trouble hearing bass, mids or highs you will have a tendency to add those frequencies.

The next step of course is to buy a reasonably accurate monitoring system or at least the most affordable facsimile of what might be trying to present itself as an accurate monitoring system. Then there is the issue that the room will also effect how your hear your mix.

In the end the only thing you can do short of fully outfitting a room with proper absorption, is to learn how your particular monitoring system reproduces sound. The best way to do this is to listen to an album on your system that you are familiar with and that is in a similar style to what you're trying to mix and try to get your mix to sound that way. No matter how good your monitors are or your room is it will never be perfect.

That is excellent advice. I have some monitors for the Zoom, these Behringer MS16s:

Berhinger MS16 Studio Monitors

For the unbelieveable low price these monitors are fantastic, read the reviews. But even at home (very small apartment), I have to keep the volume very low. So, I don't know what others are hearing.

I think I have tended to boost the bass a little too much. My recordings will sound good through the headphones, my home stereo, and these monitors, but they sound super weak at Soundclick. So I have been boosting the bass a little too much I think.

But I really have no idea how these songs sound to others, I am sure everybody has different speakers on their computer.

Oh well, I am new to recording, I'll improve with experience. I think from now on I will go for a great mix with my stereo and monitors and quit worrying about how the songs sound at Soundclick. :D

Thanks for the advice, that really helps a lot. :D

Don't worry Wes. They sound fine to me. You're doing a great job really. Something to be proud of and I'm sure it will get better.

Thanks. :D

I am really glad I got this recorder. My band has not been playing for awhile, and frankly I don't care. Burned out I guess. I really enjoy recording though, I can play the kind of music I like.

Looking for Baby Boomerang I ran across this great video of T Rex, never seen it before. It's great because it's real, no lip-syncing. Of course the camera-person films everything but Marc's hands when he plays a very cool solo. He finishes it off with his classic vibrato, very unique sound.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gDXGN55jz60&feature=related

But I always loved this boogie shuffle type sound, still turns me on. :D

Another great song Wes! I enjoyed it very much. 8)

Dan

Thanks Dan

I'm working on a new song now, played on acoustic in Open C tuning. So I gotta give Jimmy Page credit for the next one. I learned lots of open tunings from him and used to play this style a lot. I am a little out of practice. Might take a couple weeks, I want it to be a quality song, might even write some serious lyrics. :D

great stuff wes.
I too wonder how my recordings sound to others. it is a great question with a lot of answers and no conclusion.
my monitors are low end berringer Truths. passive. nice big woofer. they sound great. better than my stereo.
when I burn a CD and lay it on my computer the desk top speakers sound different. not bad because they have a sub woofer on the floor. in my truck with a good quad system my mixes stand up. on the computer at work with computer speakers there is absolutely no bottom. sounds empty.
so how or what do I mix to? primarily I mix to my good monitors then check how it sounds on a hifi stereo and truck CD player.
I tend to cut the low ends sometimes to reduce the boom , I keep my mids at line zero sometimes bringing them up and the highs are increased.
we cannot be completely responsible to what others have for listening. so I mix to what I heasr for the most part.

in the old days Buck Owens used to have tinny car speakers in the studio. he would check his mixes on them. if the bass were too high the speaker would rattle. so he would reduce the low and boost the highs. the DJ's all loved his records because they all sounded better on the air waves. they had a clarity that stood out.

Dogbite

Yeah, you guys are right. You just have to make the recording sound good on a good stereo and then hope everybody else owns a good stereo. :D

That's what I'm going to do from now on.

Not to change the subject again, but I don't know if you checked out that old T Rex video. I was kinda trying to capture Marc Bolan's old style. The singing I was trying to sound a little like Elvis. I did it all in fun, but I do try to make it come out good.

But anyway, here is that video again, and I promise you will enjoy this one. :wink:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h6OAzMyAe8U&feature=related