Summer's End

[sirmyghin]

I have been working on this all summer, but just this month got around to doing the guitar work. Recorded the bass in July, and it has been an ongoing project. I sort of had to grow into it from the guitar perspective, as I thought it was way out of my league. I don't think I did too badly, I like how it turned out.

This is my first recording stint micing amps, so it is a much quieter mix than I am used to, as in levels not overall. Although I think it might be a good 70% as loud as my other stuff. I took a more proper approach to mixing, tried using high/low pass filters, only decreased volume to level never increased over the original, etc. Getting some of the bass to come out right was a challenge, some reverb on the chords, and delay on the fast run helped thicken it.

There are 5 or 6 movements to this one, incorporating jazz, rock, classical, and maybe a bit of metal voicings. The moral might be never right something from the perspective of my bass playing. I feel it really helped ground a lot of what I have learned on guitar however, mapping progressions/landmarks for moving around etc. It is a bit long, but I feel each part has merit, the most consistancy probably starts around 2:30-5 min, as it is all 1 chord progression (a freaking odd one at that, 1 6 5 2), but I like it.

The Gear was:
Bass - My LB 75
Bass Amp - fender BXR 100
Guitar - my C66C
Guitar amp - Mesa Mark V
Mic - Carvin CTM100
Drums = EZ drummer, painstakingly programmed piece by piece

Enjoy or don't, either or I am pleased with the outcome, I would have liked to have the amps a bit louder for the mics sake, but that is not exactly plausible in my apartment. I have never had a complaint but would like to keep it that way. My friend described it as 'very fusiony' but made it through the whole thing and actually gave it a compliment (we usually rip pretty hard at eachother ) Then again we both push from different directions musically, and avoid standard heavily.

Sound click may have ramped up the bass a bit in their compression.

Summers End:
http://www.soundclick.com/bands/page_so ... ID=9607818


Edit: try to ignore the run away kick drum I was having a lot of trouble with the drum software, I cannot fix it (it also caused the a bit too quiet drums over the rest of it due to that run away, it is ridiculous.)

[blargfromouterspace]

I like where you're going with that, kind of a King Crimson vibe there. With a bit of ironing out it could be very good indeed. Keep at it sirmy

I really like the bass playing!

[sirmyghin]

Thanks for taking a look Blarg,

I have still not figured out how clicking a record button magically saps your ability to play guitar, but I will one day.

[blargfromouterspace]

Thanks for taking a look Blarg,

I have still not figured out how clicking a record button magically saps your ability to play guitar, but I will one day.

I know exactly how you feel. They should call it 'the sad, ugly reality button'. Still it's a great tool to have, especially now where you can do it so easily on a computer. Very helpful in hearing yourself play from the audiences perspective.

I really like prog - have you listened to 'The Lamb Lies Down On Broadway' by Genesis? It's pretty awesome.

[sirmyghin]

I have listened to it, I tend to prefer Yes, Rush, Dream Theatre and King Crimson for my proggy needs. One band that people like to call prog (that I would say is decidedly not prog) is Porcupine tree. They are just not straight up rock, they are not the shifting time/variance prog needs.