I got my first outsider help at the weekend. A buddy who is a competent ivory tickler popped round to put down the 'central movement' of the third song being recorded, namely For longer than a day should last.... (the song I am in the process writing and writing about) He duly accepted my instructions on what was to be achieved and pressed on with the part, he even recorded an optional coda by taking a little melodic walk on the chords in half-time.
However, none of this is why I am posting, the remarkable moment occurred after he listened to Sweet Beauty - as it currently sounded. His appraisal included a throwaway remark about the drums being a bit 'Northside'.
This led to a rethink of what I was doing drum-wise, he was right I had let a drumloop dictate the sound of the whole song. It was supposed to sound kinda dirty, not sexual like Marvin Gaye, more like Nirvana but served as a summer pudding. The path that the song was travelling down was making it sound more like a 70's rock radio affair than I had ever planned. This was evident when the grindy bass sound I had selected ages ago no longer fit [Note: I had spent a week after the bassline debacle previously described working out a decent bass guitar part and learning to play it] and was unconsciencously being replaced with a soft Andrexish ditty. 'Whew! a timely rescue' I hear you say and you would be correct cos this little comment led me to rip the drums out and start from close to scratch, completely change the lead guitar and allowed me to get back to the pudding I wanted.
During the next week(by Mojave the weeks are passing quickly, my 'song a month' strategem is crumbling like a ginger biscuit from the farmers market) I dabbled in drumage most nights for about 20 mins to 1 hour and by about wednesday I was happy with all parts except the chorus.
So I sent an email to a drummer friend of mine asking for some assistance, which I still awaiting a response (give the guy a break, he travels around, he may not even had access to a computer). I worked out the final touches to the bass and laid it down all nice and dirty like.
So it was on to the retake of the vocals but thats a another blog for A.N.Other (what does that mean? almost everyone says it, is it supposed to be a persons name?) time...
Stay Frosty!
This led to a rethink of what I was doing drum-wise, he was right I had let a drumloop dictate the sound of the whole song. It was supposed to sound kinda dirty, not sexual like Marvin Gaye, more like Nirvana but served as a summer pudding. The path that the song was travelling down was making it sound more like a 70's rock radio affair than I had ever planned. This was evident when the grindy bass sound I had selected ages ago no longer fit [Note: I had spent a week after the bassline debacle previously described working out a decent bass guitar part and learning to play it] and was unconsciencously being replaced with a soft Andrexish ditty. 'Whew! a timely rescue' I hear you say and you would be correct cos this little comment led me to rip the drums out and start from close to scratch, completely change the lead guitar and allowed me to get back to the pudding I wanted.
During the next week(by Mojave the weeks are passing quickly, my 'song a month' strategem is crumbling like a ginger biscuit from the farmers market) I dabbled in drumage most nights for about 20 mins to 1 hour and by about wednesday I was happy with all parts except the chorus.
So I sent an email to a drummer friend of mine asking for some assistance, which I still awaiting a response (give the guy a break, he travels around, he may not even had access to a computer). I worked out the final touches to the bass and laid it down all nice and dirty like.
So it was on to the retake of the vocals but thats a another blog for A.N.Other (what does that mean? almost everyone says it, is it supposed to be a persons name?) time...
Stay Frosty!
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