Demo of a song with MKIV

[mrd]

Hey everyone,

I recorded one of my songs this morning with my MKIV. I've had this amp for about 3 months and I'm still learning how to tweak it for the best results. This is quite an old song of mine, still a demo though. The drums are (for the most part) a repeating loop that is just there to keep time for me. I need to come up with some lead bits and flesh out the song more, as well. But this is the basic progression/structure of it.

I ran the MKIV through a 2x12 recto cab, and I have an old TS-8 between my guitar and the amp. Mic'd up wth a Sennheiser e609 and some unknown mic that I got off a buddy at work. Ran it through my 20 channel Mackie into Cubase.

Let me know whatcha think of the song, tone, anything.

I didn't get to turn the amp up too loud to record this since there are other people home and I don't wanna piss them off too much. I ran the lead channel on full power with ouput at 6 and channel volume at about 1.5 so the power tubes weren't really juicin' as good as I like 'em too.

Enough babble, here's the link:

http://members.shaw.ca/mrduplicity/tank.mp3 (7.60MB)

 

[PreventThis]

Tone sounds really good. The song is pretty cool too. Things seemed to work pretty good although it gets a little repetitive but adding lead parts or vocals or even some changed up drums would help that out. Very good though. Would you mind checking my stuff out http://forum.grailtone.com/viewtopic.php?t=16141. Thanks.

 

[Mrmot]

cool! song is like a modern trash metal, or something, i like it :wink:

tone is pretty good, altho it's somewhat on the thin side, i dunno where you put the mic, but i think that it would sound better if you put it a bit to the edge of the cone, this sounds like it was dead center

 

[MetalMatt]

N i c e! Looking forward to hearing a completed version. I really liked the tone. The song, so far, seems a little repetitive. I'm sure it will rip when you get all other parts down.

Good Job! and thanks for sharing.

 

[18&Life]

About tone = too harsh to my tastes,I prefer a more mesa darkish tone.
I can only hear guitars,where's bass?
Drums are so low !

 

[Greenevil]

Very good example of how clean the Mark IV can sound! Very tight and close crunch, I really dig the tone. As far as the music, I like the riffs alot and they way the track progresses. Very, very solid and tight rhythm playing, good stuff bro! As stated earlier sounds like modern thrash...

 

[Mr_You]

I agree the tone is a little dark (specially the lead), but doesn't sound bad.

I really like the entertaining (read: not boring or cliched) rhythm. IMO, this clip is more fun/enjoyable than most posted. And I'm a hard sell. Good job.

 

[mrd]

Wowzah! Thanks for all the comments guys:

@PreventThis: Thanks man. I agree it is a tad repetitive. Like I said, I need to work out some lead melodies for this. I have some ideas in my head, I just have to try some stuff out and see how it works. The drums for 75% of the song are literally a one-bar repeating pattern over and over again. I'm not the greatest at writing drums, so it's usually the absolute last thing I do when I make a song. I wrote some comments in your thread.

@Mrmot: Modern thrash, sounds like a genre I'd like to be a part of. I used two mics for this, e609 on the edge of the cone, and that "unknown" mic in the centre of the other speaker about a foot back. I think it sounds kinda dry because I didn't really have it up loud enough. I did another re-recording of it this morning with it up quite a bit louder and the tone is a bit fuller. I'm still learning how to EQ everything properly, though.

@MetalMatt: Thanks. I'll be sure to put up the completed version here when I'm done.. whenever that is. I work full-time so I don't have too much time to put into writing and recording. But I do it when I can.

@18&Life: I think the harshness is partly my mix and partly my preference of tone. When I play my MKIV I run it fairly low and high heavy. Obviously it sounds a lot better live, but getting that sound into the computer is tricky... Like I said before, I'm still working on EQ tricks, etc. Forgot to mention... there is no bass in this recording. I did some bass this morning.. it's a bit wonky, as I improvised the entire thing, but once I work out an actual bass track I'll record it and throw it up here. I always have trouble telling how loud to mix the drums. I used to mix them too loud now apparently it's too quiet. It's a fine line, I tell ya...

@Greenevil: Agreed. One reason why I love this amp. Doesn't matter how big of a chord you are chugging, every note rings through at equal volume and definition. The louder you go, the more this amp sings. Thanks for the comments.

@Mr_You: I'm not very happy with the lead tone on this song. It lacks something, not entirely sure what. I get a nice lead tone when I run my RK and MKIV together, so maybe for the final of this song I'll run them together for the lead work. I appreciate the comments, they mean a lot. I've always thought that I've been pretty good at making neat rhythm sections. My weak point (which I'm still working on) is transitioning between sections. In all my songs, the transitions are always the weak points.

Anyway, thanks everyone, let me know if you got any more comments.

 

[soundpurist]

Gas attack! :shock:

 

[Nick_cor]

What's your recording setup? what kidn of mics and preamp you using?

 

[eltrain858]

What's your recording setup? what kidn of mics and preamp you using?

Mic'd up wth a Sennheiser e609 and some unknown mic that I got off a buddy at work. Ran it through my 20 channel Mackie into Cubase.

 

[mrd]

Forgot to mention that I'm running each mic through a small 12AX7 tube preamp before the mixer, as well.