"Recollection" (rock guitar instrumental) (mkIIb)

[gonzo]

"Recollection" (rock guitar instrumental)


(guitar instrumental with 3-part guitar, drums, and bass)

http://soundcloud.com/bats-brew/recollection-09-12-10

available as download:
https://www.yousendit.com/dl?phi_action=app/orchestrateDownload&rurl=https%253A%252F%252Fwww.yousendit.com%252Ftransfer.php%253Faction%253Dbatch_download%2526batch_id%253DUFVybUpTTk01R00wTVE9PQ


this is the 1st song i've recorded using my vintage Ibanez Artist i just purchased.

the story behind the song, is that back in 1979, i bought a brand new ibanez artist, and gigged with it for about 5 years, before i sold it to purchase my carvin. i had always regretted letting that guitar go, and just a few weeks ago, i found a 1977 ibanez artist, almost just like my original one, and i just had to nab it.

so, the song is telling the story in 3 parts...
1st part, the search for the guitar
2nd part, the recollection of the sound and feel of the original guitar
3rd part, celebration of the new found guitar.
hehehe
simple.

all the guitar parts are the ibanez artist thru a '81 mesa boogie mark2b head, avatar closed back cab with a Heritage Celestion g12-h55.

all guitar parts are double miced, using a ADK Hamburg as a 'room mic' on one side, and the Palmer Junction direct on the other side, typical for all 3 guitar parts.
the mic signal is fed thru an analog DBX compressor and tube mic preamp before hitting the convertor.

bass was double tracked, using the Sansamp Bass DI as a splitter- one track straight off the Sansamp, and the other split to my mesa boogie (tweaked for the bass)- mic was fed thru an analog DBX compressor and tube mic preamp before hitting the convertor., and the 2 tracks were blended to one bass buss, with compression and limiting on it.

the '77 artist:

 

[Neptical]

Yo, Gonz! Killer my friend. That jazzy middle section sort of reminds me of Scofield type of style. You pretty much rocked this one straight up. Probably one of my favz so far. Way to go man.

~Nep~

 

[mrd]

Killer **** dude, your stuff is always top notch. I like how you post your process each time, very informative. The beginning section actually reminds me a lot of Steve Vai, lol. Both the chords and the tone (IE: Ibanez!) 8)

Cool that you reunited with this guitar :mrgreen:

A question: How do you find the Carvin? I've always wanted to buy one but I've never even heard of a place to try one out and I'm semi-paranoid about laying down cash for a guitar I've never even seen let alone played. I have heard good things about them though so what are your thoughts?

EDIT: BTW, do you have a CD I can buy?

 

[Blaklynx]

That was seriously some good stuff! Excellent. If you don't mind me asking, what do you use for your drums? Do you sequence them all in midi and trigger samples? If you sequence the drums, that's pretty darn good drumming!

That Ibanez Artist is a beautiful instrument. I've wanted one for a few years and I did get one late last year. It's a '78 and same colour and finish as yours (beautiful colour). Picked it up for $680AU which is a bargain here in Oz. Used and played; the binding is cracked and some pieces of the binding have broken off around the body in about 4 places. Shame, but I love it. I may get it re-finished but I hesitate to change it from original as-is. Amazingly, finish-wise it's pretty good, just a couple of small dents and the guitar is very solid. The bridge p/u is not original, though. Front is, same as yours.

The tailpiece on mine is not one piece. Mine has grooves slotted in and the 'cloud' is a seperate piece. The bridge on mine is slightly different, too. The saddles on mine have a longer travel, the difference at the bridge p/u side. Yours has more material across the bridge making it look chunkier, reducing the saddle travel. Mine has material about 1.5mm wide.

Here's a link to what I'm trying to descibe (not my guitar):
http://farm1.static.flickr.com/4/5436130_162404a2c6_z.jpg

Enjoy this classic guitar. It's a ripper.

 

[gonzo]

neptical
thanks man
scofield, i was just thinking about him... he played at a free outdoor concert here in salt lake about 3 years ago...
and he always has played those ibanez semi hollows, they play every bit as nicely as this artist does.

this was a fun song to put together, it took me about 4 hours to track all the parts.



MRD
appreciate the listen, glad you dig it!
steve vai, well, i don't know, vai is great, and i like some of his stuff.... when he's not posin' or playing silly stuff, he's really awesome. i suppose anything outside of the box, with a little weird tonality to it, has gotta drift past Vai land, whether you like it or not!
LOL

the carvin?
man, that's still my number one axe, even with 2 unique custom builds, and the ibanez.

the deal with carvins?
they don't hold their re-sale value, so you can pick up a used one on the bay for very cheap.

or, if you want to order a custom guitar (and buddy, they've got custom everything) you can order, you got 10 days no questions asked to return it.


and yes, i have a CD.
email me at
[email protected]

 

[gonzo]

Blaklynx
thanks for listening.

the drums are toontrack EZDrummer.
it's a sampler that triggers wav off of midi.
works great.


i'd leave the artist you got as is.
there's not much point in making repairs, if it's just an aesthetic thing.
you can find used ibanez pickups that are age-model correct, if you shop.
they aint cheap!

that model you show, that's beautiful.
that's one of the models that steve miller used to hawk, with the active eq section built into it.
really sweet.

 

[stephen sawall]

Very cool :mrgreen:

 

[Blaklynx]

Blaklynx
thanks for listening.

the drums are toontrack EZDrummer.
it's a sampler that triggers wav off of midi.
works great.


i'd leave the artist you got as is.
there's not much point in making repairs, if it's just an aesthetic thing.
you can find used ibanez pickups that are age-model correct, if you shop.
they aint cheap!

that model you show, that's beautiful.
that's one of the models that steve miller used to hawk, with the active eq section built into it.
really sweet.

hey gonzo...

Yah, I think I'll leave the guitar as is. It's aged nicely. I will search for pickups but later in the year..... out of a job at the moment.

I've seen EZDrummer. Seems pretty simple to use but I feel it doesn't allow a huge drum kit. Unless you can load up multiple instances of EZD, so I could be wrong. I use Cakewalk and Reason linked via rewire. In Reason I have three drum machines active (8ch each machine), one for toms another for crashes/percussion and the third for snares, kicks and some percussion. I use three machines because I was limited in the number of toms, symbols, snares, kicks with only one drum machine active. 8ch per machine x3 = 24 piece drum kit! It's awesome. Works a treat. Of course, I can always add more drum kits! :lol:

Sorry to ask again but do you sequence your midi drum track or do you find something off the net and copy/paste and tweak a little? I ask because your drum sequencing is really, really, good. I'm currently working on a song but I need to be more creative and think like a rock drummer.... (am about 80% happy so far). Hard to do. It's not that simple. I adjust velocities, don't have over 5 notes in any snapshot of time (drummer only has 4 limbs), it's not in 'perfect' time (to allow timing inaccuracies) and the more basic stuff of midi. Any tips to 'be and think like a drummer'?

Thanks.

 

[kiff]

really cool tune, gonzo. keep up the good work!

 

[mrd]

I've seen EZDrummer. Seems pretty simple to use but I feel it doesn't allow a huge drum kit. Unless you can load up multiple instances of EZD, so I could be wrong. I use Cakewalk and Reason linked via rewire. In Reason I have three drum machines active (8ch each machine), one for toms another for crashes/percussion and the third for snares, kicks and some percussion. I use three machines because I was limited in the number of toms, symbols, snares, kicks with only one drum machine active. 8ch per machine x3 = 24 piece drum kit! It's awesome. Works a treat. Of course, I can always add more drum kits! :lol:

EZDrummer is a VST plugin which allows you to load multiple different types of drumkits into it. Stock, it comes with a basic Pop/Rock kit. You can also buy the "Drumkit From Hell" which is modeled after Tomas Haake's drumkit (of Meshuggah). The guitarist from Meshuggah actually had a hand in helping to create EZDrummer, I believe. That band used it for all the drums on their Catch 33 album, which if you're into extreme progressive math thrash technical death metal (from hell), then you should check it out. lol. Anyway, EZDrummer allows you to output the drums into a basic stereo mix, or out into 8-tracks. One for kick, 2 for snare (top and bottom), hi-hats, toms, overheads, and room mics. Pretty standard setup for recording drums. It also lets you load up multiple different drum types for each drum in the kit. It's pretty customizable. If you know what you're doing with it, you would never know it's not a real drummer. Check it out if you can, I recommend it.

 

[gonzo]

stephen-
thanks man


blaklynx
the superior, does have a huge kit.

but i have this with ezdrummer:

how big of a kit do you want?!!
LOL
do yourself a favor, go to the site, and do some homework.


the way i program, is to use many variations of the clips provided in the drag and drop function in toontrack, either ezdrummer OR superior.
i apply different velocity settings to every clip i bring in.

then, i edit the entire midi data track, from beginning to end, in the piano view in sonar.
i'll move individual hits, take them out, put them in, i'll edit the cymbals to be where i want them, and it's dirt easy to do.
takes a little time.
the more time you spend, the better the track.
i'll edit velocites and length times on individual hits, it's just endless what you can do if you want.

or, you can just take the stock groove clips (loops) and just run with it.

i've even done songs, by playing to nothing but a click track triggering a kick drum.
no time even, just 1/1, with a kick on every one.

then, i'll go back after i've recorded guitar parts, figured out the arrangment, track some different parts, put it all together, and THEN i'll go find the drum grooves i want, and bring them in to suit what i tracked on guitar.
works great.



kiff
thanks man! i'm a workin'...........


mrd
yes, what mrd said!

 

[gonzo]

i had some questions on stuff used here, old pics i've posted before:


current recording rig

the pedalboard is MINUS the Fulltone Fatboost III i've added, and used on 'recollection'

 

[Blaklynx]

Hi gonzo,

Thanks for the reply. Great kit that EZD Drum Kit from Hell...... It's got 4 less pieces than what I have set up.....LOL. I don't see a tamborine or cowbell, though.. :lol: an advantage I have with 4 more pieces available...... :mrgreen:


I edit similarly to you....the entire drum track in piano roll in Sonar. I split the kit in different midi tracks, ie. kick in one track, snare in another, crashes in another, toms in another and then run those seperate midi tracks into their respective audio tracks, ie. if I have 4 midi drum tracks I'll have 4 audio tracks. This way I can apply effects in the audio tracks which allows me to EQ or add effects for kick or snare or toms, etc. These midi and audio tracks are grouped in folders respectively. Then I may send 1 or more of these audio tracks to a buss(es) and then from there to a drum bus (full kit) and then to master track. Works well. This way I control the kit fairly well. Do you apply the same 'logic' if you can call it that, or is it 'madness'?.....LOL.

Interesting way you record guitar parts etc. with a 'kick click' and then apply the full drumming later. I usually have a simple 4/4 drum pattern saved as a template (kick/snare/hhat/cymbal). Then I'll add/adjust/edit a fuller drum kit sequence. I guess it's the same thing as what you do, just my way sounds better with a snare/hhat/cymbal... :lol:

All in all, I think I'm on a similar curve to you insofar as editing. I think I need more practise in 'thinking and playing' like a drummer does. The little nuances and the 'realistic' playing is where I need to improve more. Getting there.

Thanks for the tips, suggestions, help and insight. Appreciated.

 

[gonzo]

Blaklynx
good idea about splitting out the pieces of kit

i can totally see the advantage to doing it that way.
hell, you could grab the ENTIRE snare input, drag a a few milliseconds to the left, and have instant super BACKBEAT!

LOL

well, the idea behind the 1/1 count, is simply so i can arrange without being locked into chunks of 4.

i like to do time sig changes.....i'll mix up half measures, i'll throw in a 6/8, stuff like that....
with the single count, i can throw in waltz time, do a weird 5 count turnaround, whatever.

plus, with a KICK as my counter, it makes me rock all the time.


LOL