You get some satisfyingly thick tones on this one. Nice experiment. Sounds like an intro though rather than a full song, and I'd love to hear where it might lead. I liked the off kilter layering of tracks - gave it a weird edge. Nice work.

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That off-kilter layering and thickness tone are the result of recording multiple one-take runs over and over. Gets messy at times but when I tried cleaning it up it seemed to have lost the original vibe so I left it as is.


I admit that this probably doesn't warrant being called a complete song, but until I get some more gear (mixer and keyboard) I've been keeping my focus in melodies. Hopefully when I'm setup with the necessary gear I'll have a catalogue of tunes to draw upon for inspiration.

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great idea. I've got a load of very short garageband tracks with just single riffs or bass runs which I import into Logic every now and then to assemble into something vaguely listenable.

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Smokey Bacon Jnr - useless like his father

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do multiple guitars, could i suggest using less distortion, oddly you don't need as much in recording. also change the tone value of each guitar. so each will sound different on its own. if you're using delay and reverb i would add those it the master track. this way the harmonics won't compete. i learned this by trial and error. you will have to be more dead on but the results are fantastic. that will be $50. kidding... i'll take $35. liked the melody you worked up. don't lose it when you get the equipment and up and running this could give brian may a run for his money.

Vic

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Thanks for the suggestions! That Brian May comment made my day!

I really am new to the recording world and what you say makes a lot of sense. I'll give that a try on my next effort. I really have done nothing yet with the Master track on any of my tunes so it's probably about time I gave that a shot!

As for the distortion settings, I am usually just using the default Glam effect in Garageband. I've tried tweaking the sound a touch but everytime I make a slight modification it keeps asking me to save the "new Instrument" before I am ready to save. If I saved every time I'd end up with a new instrument listed in my guitar effects.

Anyone out there know if there is a way to create new guitar effects settings more easily in Garageband?


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...the makings of a hell of a tune here, IMHO. Really dig the melody. Were you using a slide or whammy here? Hard to tell if they're present at all and it might just be the distortion that accounts for what I'm hearing. Very pretty. Look forward to hearing this when it's a little more fleshed out, but don't polish it too much.

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Appreciate the kind words. It's a pretty straight forward sound, just the guitar plugged in using the Glam guitar setting in Garage Band. No slides or whammy, perhaps it is my string bending that sounds like that.

Good point about not polishing it too much. I have had a couple attempts at refining this but lost something each time. Maybe some time soon I'll have an evening of inspired song cleaning!


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Easy to listen to--not necessarily easy listening. Very Eno-esque of you! Welcome to macjams! Don't you love it!?

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...for your kind words. Glad you find it easy to listen to. I find myself writing stuff that I can just repeat and sort of get lost in it while I am doing other things. My wife agrees with it to, "Blue Concrete Redux" has played over 500 times on her iPod!

Eno-esque eh? I've heard the name Eno but I'm not sure that I've heard anything by them/him/her. I'll have to see if I can find something by them.

And yes, I'm really starting to dig MJ!

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Wait til Ik's had a go, then tell us you like MacJams...

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Smokey Bacon Jnr - useless like his father

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I know. I never knew the guy existed until last night. A unique individual with a uniue thread.

I hope he doesn't smoke me too badly!

I figure anything less than being fired into the pit will be a success.



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Ik had a hard opinion of my production skills, which came as no surprise as this was the first tune I'd ever recorded that wasn't a one-take wonder on my old ghetto blaster.

It was valid advice though, and made me aware of a few things to pay attention to in the future.

Thankfully he mentioned some redeeming qualities, but I'll make sure to have something a little more polished before I send him anything else!

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I read the Iksters review. At least you got a few good comments!! I think I'm next on the chopping block.

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Smokey Bacon Jnr - useless like his father

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...Ik liked you! No surprise as it is a great song. It's one of the few I've downloaded and passed along.

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Send me a note with your email address and I'll send you some Fripp and Eno stuff... I think you'll like it...

Ed

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I'm with VIC on the TECH thing (learned the Same Way). Re-Mx with FX moved to POST. Bet it Dances!



MS. Macgalver Nailed it. ENO, circa 1980 vintage influence, which is FINE by Me, Brother.



With Best,
Cooper

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I've been tweaking with it a bit. Haven't quite got it but I can see the possibilities.

Really going to have to check out this ENO!

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I like the melodic aspect of this and how well it plays off against the rawness of the tonalities. Quite pleasant! I only wish you had used some drum and percussion loops and filled it out a bit more. I hope you take this to the next level Pete!

Be well!

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Appreciate the feedback. I will be keeping this one in my back pocket to work on. Definetly room for improvement and tweaking.

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If you're submitting stuff for Ik to comment on...

The thing about this one is that I'm liking it more and more, the more I listen to it... It just sort of gets inside your head and stays there...

There are spots where it gets just a hair distractingly busy... But I like it anyway...

I'm listening on speakers, not headphones...unusual for me... and, putting this in context with the other things of yours that I've heard today, I'm thinking that something to think about for future recordings will be to not only layer, but to also give some more thought and attention to spreading things out in the stereo field... You can get things both 'thicker' and 'lighter' that way....

I'm really enjoying these pieces, though...

Ed

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Thanks Ed, I'm glad this one snuck in and grabbed a hold of you!

One of the things I like to do after creating a song is to set my media player to repeat and listen to it over and over. Not only does it make me more intimate with the song, allowing exploration of ideas, but it also really makes me love it even more.

Of course, I'm one of those people who has a lot more patience for over-played songs on the radio if I liked them from the start.

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