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2011 Milestones


Eddie

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Posted

As a follow up for the 2011 thread I thought we could share some of our milestones this year and help keep each other motivated.

I wanted to record this last December, and finally was able to spend some time on it. It's a rough version, and I'll update it in about 2 weeks, once my former bass player records the actual bass part.

Things to fix:

Re-record guitar tracks, or at least some rhythm parts to make them cleaner.

Create a real solo for the outro in case we don't get to record the vocal part.

Work on a better mix.

 

http://soundclick.com/share.cfm?id=10094669

 

Thanks for listening :)

As always, your feedback is welcome.

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Posted

Eddie,

 

Good thread follow up. Be nice if we could post our results to our goals for the group.

 

Really enjoyed your arrangement nice job. Looking forward to hearing the polished piece.

There is a lot of good but let me point out some of my areas that could use work.

 

Critique: (in the interest of building up not tearing down.)

- I think your vibrato could use some attention. There was almost none and the notes at points had a just 'sitting there' feel. Especially at the end those are some nice vocal style melodies but your playing isn't 'singing' I think this is why. Your speed and control seems oddly out of balance with your touch... you have good chops but almost no vibrato from what I can discern. Your playing is good, your note choices are good. You clearly understand how to get around but it lacks some sensitivity somehow.

- Your guitar tone is very harsh and digital sounding. Not sure what you are using to get the sound into the computer but it has a rough edge to it. It's very biting and harsh. I dont like that setting but to each his own. I assume there is compression running ... sounds like far too much for my ears. There is no dynamics which creates a flat excitement line. It needs to breathe more IMO.

- Your timing wavers through the fast lines. You are dragging the tempo at points (which is cool) but not in others which makes it sound like it is just outside your comfort range. I would rather hear you slow the global tempo down and nail it than push it and slip around.

 

Mostly good playing, but those are my thoughts for consideration before final tracking.

 

Cheers

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Posted

I enjoyed that Eddie! :thu:..I would agree however, with Jeremy's comments on the lack of vibrato and the tone isn't to my taste..good playing overall though!.

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Posted

Thanks for listening. I'm going to record all the guitar parts from scratch keeping your comments in mind. Thank you very much for the feedback.

 

For the sounds I'm using Overloud's TH2, and some things don't work in my PPC Mac so I just used a couple of their presets. Hopefully Overloud will fix things soon. I often use Recabinet when using digital modeling, but I did not use it on this mix (yet).

The noise gates on those presets are a bit strong, so there's also little sustain. I'll play around with the different gates and settings and will add some vibrato and sustained notes too.

I thought about slowing down the song, recording the guitar at a slower tempo, and then putting everything back in its original tempo of 160 bpm. What I'm doing now, though, is practicing up to 166 bpm. That way once I record it at 160 bpm I'll be more comfortable. It's a challenge since I'm not a fast player, but I'm loving it!

 

My former bass player lives in another country and he's recording against the original track, so my main work has been getting a Guitar Pro track into MIDI, making the MIDI file follow the original song's tempo, adding some variations in level since every single MIDI note had the same velocity, and finding some sounds for the instruments. It was supposed to be piano and drums as a backing track for us, but I later decided to use strings as well.

 

Attached is a sample of the original file I have, exported from Guitar Pro to Audio :D

I think I must have split the audio file into probably 60 smaller segments, and then aligned them with the original song piece by piece.

 

Once I'm done with eq. and stuff I could also post the full backing track I'm using. That way others can also have fun with it. :)

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Posted

So far this year I've transcribed the chords for Tightrope by The Stone Roses, and I'm currently trying to record it on my acoustic. I say transcribed, but I used the Complete Chord Songbook, however I've worked out all the chord durations etc and put them on a staff so it's easy to follow.

 

My stumbling block so far is that my playing has hit a bad period and I can't strum clean or play in bloody time. Something to work on:facepalm:

 

I've also managed to get up to 65% speed on This Charming Man by The Smiths, 100% seems a long way off but I'm getting there. That Johnny Marr was a bloody good player, and he's a tough act to emulate.:thu:

  • 2 weeks later...
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Posted

Best of luck on reaching your goals NorthernPaul!

 

Here's an updated file. It has some mistakes. I was having some problems with latency, CPU usage and Disk usage. Very strange.

http://soundclick.com/share.cfm?id=10176661

 

I will record it again, hopefully tomorrow. I will work more on the vibrato, since it seems to be noticeable only at 4:59

I did work a bit more on the mix and the overall sound. What do you think? Are the guitars still too harsh? Is the one in the solo at the end too dark? Do you recognize the songs I used for the solo? :D

  • 1 month later...
  • 4 weeks later...
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Posted

This tour coming up will definitely be a milestone for the year. Working a 40+ hour a week job, raising 4 kids, etc...it'll be a gigging vacation!

 

My 2011 goal of getting reacclimated to The Grateful Dead is in full force. I've learned a lot about not only their style and music but also about their stylist approach to the music of others. A milestone for the second quarter of the year is to listen to their discography in chronological order. This has been a very enjoyable goal.

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