Golden Smoghead

Update... I kinda think these vocals are better than the first round. I am having a little trouble hanging with this key (D), it's a little lower than I usually sing. However I still can't tell if I like the color vs. detail tradeoffs, still. What I mean is, I feel like the tubepre smooths out my vocals but also eats up some of the detail (could be the same thing). 256k mp3 and streaming at myspace on myspace, it's the one that plays as of today, but I put up new songs alot and i'm still working on this one so who knows a week from now. called "rock n roll messiah" -- and actually,

I agree with all the comments, and I know both are derived from the Irish-folk traditionals, but this main guitar riff in "Shady Grove" sounds a TON like the Steve Earle song, "Taneytown" just about 15 bpm faster or something. (I couldn't quickly find any audio of earle's song to post, sorry.)

That's kinda how I feel about Rickenbackers (sp?).

Don't mean to derail this thread further, but I bought my Gretsch last year with my tax return (low-end but pretty money sounding). Good luck on the p'n'c any chance we can get an actual clip of you playing it eventually???

Just goes to show, it ain't easy being an analog man in a digital world.

Jesse Malin - Brooklyn (Acoustic), Brooklyn - Fine Art of Self Destruction I think this album is super-underrated, by the way.

So I googled this b/c I didn't know what you are talking about, and pretty quickly ran across this thread: http://acapella.harmony-central.com/archiv.../t-1842574.html Kinda weird to get referred back to the forum you started with!

Wow -- that really DOES sound incredible! Good stuff!

The rest of these folks are better to ask than me, since I'm basically just a hobbyist, so take this with a grain of salt. But one thing I have learned along the way is that I shouldn't throw away all the shitty little songs I come up with all the time. Basically, I'm advising you to not be as lazy as I used to be: actually take the time to write out songs if they come to you, even if they're pretty straightforward G-C-D'ers. Because for me, the best way to get out of a rut is to take an unpolished song from awhile ago and just improve it slightly / try to record it / add some new parts t

Thanks, O-man. The guitar does run through the mic but just as bleedover, meaning you can hear the guitar part going through my monitors on the vocal track. I think what you are hearing that sounds "alive" is probably the drones in this song (strings that ring a certain pitch throughout), but I'm not sure. I intend to try to learn the guitar part a little better too, I should've used a song I know better but I actually needed some scratch parts for this song, I've been letting these song-chunks float around too much. And this is actually a bit better than what I came up with right out of

Pretty amazing song. BTW I know Eels are a one-hit-wonder because of "Novocaine for the Soul," but I swear that is their worst track. I highly recommend people check them out if you have not. My additions: "Bad Reputation" - Freedy Johnston "Dyslexic Heart" - Paul Westerberg "Banditos" (everybody knows that the world is full of stupid people, so meet me at the mission at midnight, we'll divvy up there) - The Refreshments "Blackwater" - Meat Puppets And maybe this should be a separate thread, but I sometimes get very nostalgic for 90s trashy pop-country: "Small Town Saturday Night" -

Update to say that I got this working... Uh, kinda. After a lot of experimentation, I've still wound up with a signal that's probably a little too saturated, so it's a matter of continuing to look for that sweet spot. This is where I'm at so far: http://download.yousendit.com/3EDEB7ED6DD951C1 Which is to say, not very far. I really was feeling pretty ill though, so I don't think those vocals would've cut great either way. Anyway just wanting to say: plugging away at it continues, status normal.

I think the remix sounds pretty solid. Agree with rowboat that it sounded mono on my laptop speakers, try placing the parts left or right a little and you get less of that effect where things kinda smash together at a few frequencies (like your snare and acoustic guitar have a high-end freq in common for instance). I'm a literal moron at mixing though so maybe take a grain of salt with my input. I did like the song itself pretty well though, definitely a Beatles vibe there.

Haha, classic.

What's funny is that even this is not new -- did you know that there was a banjo craze in the UK back in the 19th century, based on American influences? From the wikipedia article (I cannot find the better explanation I saw elsewhere recently):

- Steve Earle is a much better songwriter than Townes Van Zandt. - My Morning Jacket is the most overrated band of the millenium. - I would rather lose my collection of Wilco albums than my collection of Kanye West albums. OK well maybe not including AM... - The two best Counting Crows albums are better than the two best Shins albums. - Bob Dylan is NOT overrated, at all.

I think it's a-ok to miss ND and be sad that a mag you like is going away. However, posts like this are just out of touch when they decry iPods and people who don't read magazines / newspapers. A couple thousand years ago, Buddha supposedly said, "Everything changes, nothing remains without change." I do not own an iPod and still buy magazines on the regular. However, it's just your ignorance about what those kids are doing that depresses you. In fact, they're on their iPhones and laptops going to places like viachicago or their favorite blog to hear about up-and-coming music. They're l

This really floats my boat. I may have to track down that "country album" he referred to. That Guthrie cover was money.

Good article -- honestly though, in places it kinda drifts towards the whole "is music criticism worth a damn?" thing that comes up sometimes. I walk away from the article saying, "yeah man, fuck Rolling Stone and the other music rags," so you convinced me. However, as far as those parts of this article go... While it's definitely a good deconstruction of that other crap, where do you end up? Yes, music criticism is always pretty reactionary and snarky and often way off in hindsight. Kinda cool to see it broken out in a literate, analytic way, but I dunno -- those parts of the article alm

Definitely agree. I know it's not how JT plays it, but for this song I really like that drop-D version of G that goes: 3 3 0 0 2 0 Also I like that you can lift up the ring-finger on the B-string (like 2 ... 0-2) when you play the A chord, for a little 2-note run on the chorus lines like (...from Halloween...)

That guitar looks really cool, especially the pickguard. What is it made from? And btw I agree with you two, very much!

Yep, that's the one. Kinda my fault though, I knew it was a display unit, I should've known it would have a blown tube. The power supply is definitely broken as well though, I got it to work by using the power supply from my Korg board. Just tons of noise, no matter where I turn the dials. Superloud static, random pops. I tried it with both my condensor and dynamic mics, same deal with each. Also really quiet (the mics are louder going into my USB device by themselves than with this thing). Pretty frustrating, but I blame stupid Guitar Center rather than PreSonus. I'm going to take i

His tracks do sound like a Sub Pop final record. That's half a compliment, half a complaint about SubPop production values. Seriously though, good stuff. I can see how fans of the Shins, Iron & Wine, etc would just eat your roomie up. Bueno, thanks for sharing.

OK so I played a low-key show tonight, couldn't wait so I ran out and bought the PreSonus TubePre (ART wasn't in stock anywhere within a two-hour drive). Fucker didn't work at all, I think the power supply was jacked up or something. Damn. So I think I'm going to return the little bugger and see how it goes from there. Pretty disappointing though, my PA is pretty flat/tinny and I was hoping to add some flavor to my vocals with the little guy. Whatever though, show went pretty well.

I kinda agree with that. For sure, the pedal steel sounds cool as hell. You almost feel like they've been playing that song for five minutes before the fade-in, but we just didn't get to hear it.