At 6/14/15 07:55 PM, BrenTheMan wrote:

At 6/14/15 07:51 PM, Ceevro wrote: We were actually thinking of covering You Shook Me All Night Long by AC/DC...perhaps you can sway the masses, who are pushing Bon Jovi at the moment.

Shit yeah man, I just bought my brother's PRS SE loaded with a Seymour Duncan Dimebag in the bridge, and some Dimarzio in the bridge. I also bought his POD HD500. I'm ready for this.

Then start practicing the solo, dude. If you know your elex like that, you should be able to handle it. HOWEVER, there are some qualifications that electric guitarists need to know about: These are campfire-type tunes, so the idea is to make it sound as organic as we can. I think @Step is on board with people using electric guitars (I won't, I'm doing the initial rhythm acoustically) but we gotta record them through a mic, with raw feed (no FX), in one shot, so ya can't splice five sections into one solo. Makes it a bit tougher, but it also really showcases the fact that the people here on NG actually have serious chops. If we can get everyone else on board, I'd love to have Bren pulling guitar solo duty!

At 6/14/15 08:00 PM, Ceevro wrote: These are campfire-type tunes, so the idea is to make it sound as organic as we can.

That sounds fun as hell.

but we gotta record them through a mic, with raw feed (no FX), in one shot

Shit, I think I can do that. I have an acoustic, a mic, etc.

really showcases the fact that the people here on NG actually have serious chops. If we can get everyone else on board, I'd love to have Bren pulling guitar solo duty!

Oh shit, I don't know about this. I better check out the song and see what I can do haha. I grew up in the three chord Nirvana era so...chops, I don't know. I think I could handle AC/DC tho...

At 6/14/15 08:00 PM, Ceevro wrote: I think @Step is on board with people using electric guitars (I won't, I'm doing the initial rhythm acoustically) but we gotta record them through a mic, with raw feed (no FX), in one shot, so ya can't splice five sections into one solo. Makes it a bit tougher, but it also really showcases the fact that the people here on NG actually have serious chops. If we can get everyone else on board, I'd love to have Bren pulling guitar solo duty!

I think my "no effects" rule shouldn't really apply to an electric guitar. I only say I don't want effects just because I don't want reverb or delay or any weird stuff on the vocals or instruments, since that makes tuning and syncing a lot harder, and also makes it harder to ensure everything sounds like it's being played in the same room. However, my guitar amp plugins aren't very good, so if anyone records an electric and wants to put his/her own amp effects on it, then I'd actually prefer that I think. Plus, I'm sure it's easier and cleaner to plug the electric guitar in rather than record it with a microphone :).

That's just my two cents! I can work with whatever's sent to me. Up to you guys.

I received the guitar solo by the way. I'll add it in for the next version.

I boosted the high frequencies of the bass pretty heavily, which might have caused that sharp picking sound to stand out. I shifted the balance more to the mid frequencies now, see how it sounds!

NEW VERSION


Feedback would be sweet.

My husband loves this song and feels we should send it to Toto. Also, he request Pet Shop Boys be next... something from their early years.

I gotta say I'm a little leery of bringing in electric instruments...if at all possible, I'd prefer acoustic versions of everything (I know it's not always possible, but we gotta be careful not to turn this into battle of the loudest metal)...the appeal of singalongs, I think, is that my grandma likes them just as much as my younger brother, and the way you do that is, well, acoustically. That said, I'm not averse to having both an acoustic an electric version of something, and messing around with both to see what's better, like we did with the piano solo in this one.

At 6/14/15 08:51 PM, Ceevro wrote: I gotta say I'm a little leery of bringing in electric instruments...if at all possible, I'd prefer acoustic versions of everything (I know it's not always possible, but we gotta be careful not to turn this into battle of the loudest metal)...the appeal of singalongs, I think, is that my grandma likes them just as much as my younger brother, and the way you do that is, well, acoustically. That said, I'm not averse to having both an acoustic an electric version of something, and messing around with both to see what's better, like we did with the piano solo in this one.

Yeah you're right, when electric instruments come in it does start losing the campfire vibe. I think it'd be worth giving it a shot though. I for one love an acoustic + electric guitar combo. I think it sounds great. But I really don't know how we'd be able to pull it off, and if it'd kill the mood or not. So yeah, I think it's at least worth a try.

At 6/14/15 08:40 PM, seneka40 wrote: My husband loves this song and feels we should send it to Toto.

I would love to send it to Toto but I bet we'd have to swim through a dozen agents and managers and PA officers to get through to any one of the band members :(.

I would love to send it to Toto but I bet we'd have to swim through a dozen agents and managers and PA officers to get through to any one of the band members :(.

You'd be amazed how many famous people will talk to you if you send them a message. Brad Roberts from Crash Test Dummies is one of my friends on FB. He's pretty cool...teaches yoga in NY city now.

I would, however, be careful what we send to famous people. Most take covers as a compliment, but some don't like that. If we ever decide to go the album route, we WILL have to buy rights to the songs, which can be a bit of a hassle. Nothing's off the table though. These songs are turning out incredibly well, I think! I'd invest some money to launch an album!

Getting all caught up and...holy cow! I missed some rapid-fire post action here, my goodness. New iteration sounds superb, @Step! I've said it before and I'll say it again: you rock! All the new additions and tweaks sound ab fab. Man, I just love all the interest this is getting, especially from our friendly neighborhood Mod! Dig that, boyo. I totally agree with Seneka's lovemuffin, we should absolutely send this puppy to Toto when it's complete.

I totally agree with Seneka's lovemuffin, we should absolutely send this puppy to Toto when it's complete.

HAHAHAHA! Seneka's lovemuffin! I'm totally using that from now on!

HAHAHAHA! Seneka's lovemuffin! I'm totally using that from now on!

Hmhmhm, glad you approve. What can I say? I am the king of random endearments.

WiP #9 gogogo

1.) @jlynch401 vocals added!
2.) Sleeper256 revised percussion added to the chorus!
3.) @Toasterstein guitar solo added! (I kinda alternated a bit between the guitar and keyboard in that solo. If you guys want I can just have them both playing at the same time for the whole thing)
4.) @Azhthar bass revisited again! I'm never satisfied with bass guitar levels :(.

As always, whoever wants any changes made can just let me know. Going to bed now though.

At 6/14/15 10:07 PM, Step wrote: WiP #9 gogogo

1.) @jlynch401 vocals added!
2.) Sleeper256 revised percussion added to the chorus!
3.) @Toasterstein guitar solo added! (I kinda alternated a bit between the guitar and keyboard in that solo. If you guys want I can just have them both playing at the same time for the whole thing)
4.) @Azhthar bass revisited again! I'm never satisfied with bass guitar levels :(.

As always, whoever wants any changes made can just let me know. Going to bed now though.

Bass is sounding amazing, new vocal fits in flawlessly, I'm liking the drums on the chorus, Solo sounds amazeballs, I'm wondering what else we could possibly do to make this sound any better! Like WOW! This is sounding better than the original!

Amazeballs, I say!

At 6/14/15 10:14 PM, Ceevro wrote:

At 6/14/15 10:07 PM, Step wrote: WiP #9 gogogo

1.) @jlynch401 vocals added!
2.) Sleeper256 revised percussion added to the chorus!
3.) @Toasterstein guitar solo added! (I kinda alternated a bit between the guitar and keyboard in that solo. If you guys want I can just have them both playing at the same time for the whole thing)
4.) @Azhthar bass revisited again! I'm never satisfied with bass guitar levels :(.

As always, whoever wants any changes made can just let me know. Going to bed now though.

Bass is sounding amazing, new vocal fits in flawlessly, I'm liking the drums on the chorus, Solo sounds amazeballs, I'm wondering what else we could possibly do to make this sound any better! Like WOW! This is sounding better than the original!

Man I know right. This is definitely my favourite singalong thus far. Everyone has done an amazing job.

One thing that kinda bums me is that for every last chord in the hook of the original there's a little passage (first shows up six seconds into the original) which we don't have in our cover. If anyone has a suitable instrument to play that bit then that'd be awesome.

I've been missing that as well. I'd kinda like the piano to play it...ahem...but if that's not in the cards, I can certainly record it on guitar. Anything to delay putting this out for another week or so...so that To Be With You has it's chance to make Front Page (yeah, I'm optimistic...but I'll be honest, this is blowing the last one out of the water).

...And the last one was phenomenal to begin with!

So...I'm thinking...the absolute raw fraggin' POWER of these vocals is getting astounding. Like, seriously guys, I'm getting misty-eyed when I listen to what you've all been able to do here. As such, I'm kinda leaning towards Sia's Chandelier. I know, no one has jumped on it yet...but damn, when that chorus drops...with all the raw power we can muster...I'm kinda thinking that I should push it a little harder. I'll still do AC/DC, if that's the way we're going, but I'd love to hear a female lead in our work, and you have to admit that the song gives the ladies all the opportunity in the world to really belt it like they mean it.

Just one dude's opinion...this is as much your thing as it is mine, guys!

At 6/14/15 10:36 PM, Ceevro wrote: I've been missing that as well. I'd kinda like the piano to play it...ahem...but if that's not in the cards, I can certainly record it on guitar. Anything to delay putting this out for another week or so...so that To Be With You has it's chance to make Front Page (yeah, I'm optimistic...but I'll be honest, this is blowing the last one out of the water).

Oh, yeah...you guys are talking about that kalimba/marimba progression. I've also been missing that part. Does anyone have one or both of those instruments so we can get that part nailed down? I suppose a wooden xylophone or piano could totally cover that base, as well. Anyone? It seems a real shame to leave that part out when everything else sounds so epic!

I think that @Troisnyx has some marimba...

At 6/14/15 10:45 PM, Ceevro wrote: So...I'm thinking...the absolute raw fraggin' POWER of these vocals is getting astounding. Like, seriously guys, I'm getting misty-eyed when I listen to what you've all been able to do here. As such, I'm kinda leaning towards Sia's Chandelier. I know, no one has jumped on it yet...but damn, when that chorus drops...with all the raw power we can muster...I'm kinda thinking that I should push it a little harder. I'll still do AC/DC, if that's the way we're going, but I'd love to hear a female lead in our work, and you have to admit that the song gives the ladies all the opportunity in the world to really belt it like they mean it.

Just one dude's opinion...this is as much your thing as it is mine, guys!

You know that I'm totally up for swinging on that Chandelier! I like playing around with the timing on that song, coming up with different ways to sing it to change things up from the original. Not that I don't enjoy the original, of course. One, two, three, one, two, three...drink!

Sounds fantastic!

At 6/14/15 10:56 PM, Ceevro wrote: I think that @Troisnyx has some marimba...

She so needs to get in on this! Odds are she's too busy with her other projects and so forth, but maybe if we ask reeeaaal nice...

PLEASE?

Here's a good example of the kalimba/marimba note progression we've been yakking back and forth about, for whomever: Toto - Africa (Kalimba/Marimba/Flute solo) Just the parts that happen from :03 to :10, though it happens a number of times throughout the song.

At 6/14/15 11:01 PM, JonathanMcglothlin wrote: Sounds fantastic!

Hey dude...any chance of getting you to film your performances (mime, if ya gotta)? We're trying to put these out as YouTube collabs, and your parts in this one have been HUGE, so it would be good to have a video of you playing to mix in. If you're not comfortable showing your face, you can always place the camera to just show your instruments...

We've been trying really hard to bring her in...no luck yet...maybe if we offer her a month totally free of ninja-attacks?

AS WELL - Any takers on the cover art? I'd love to toss one o' y'all up on the CD for this one!! If no one's down, I'll just use another of my spray-painting pics...they're not terrible, but I'd love to give someone else the spot, if I can!

At 6/14/15 11:07 PM, Ceevro wrote: Hey dude...any chance of getting you to film your performances (mime, if ya gotta)? We're trying to put these out as YouTube collabs, and your parts in this one have been HUGE, so it would be good to have a video of you playing to mix in. If you're not comfortable showing your face, you can always place the camera to just show your instruments...

Oh, cool beans. I was actually going to ask you if this was still happening or not, mostly since it hadn't been mentioned in a while. I still need to record myself singing the vocals.

Yeah, the last one is in @Seneka40's hands at the moment...we'll see what she comes out with.

UPDATE: Summer of '69 has just capped 4000 listens! 'Grats, all!

At 6/15/15 12:05 AM, Ceevro wrote: UPDATE: Summer of '69 has just capped 4000 listens! 'Grats, all!

I think that elevates it to legendary status. Simply marvelous.

At 6/14/15 10:56 PM, Ceevro wrote: I think that @Troisnyx has some marimba...

Soundfont, yes. Real instrument, nope. I have a xylophone, a small wooden one with a single diatonic scale. And a glockenspiel. Aie...