After listening to your song I decided to listen to some other of your songs in your SoundCloud page.
My first impression was: WTF !!!
UnFrigginBelievable, these song are top notch material.
I couldn't let this one go, so I google your name:
Now, from what I gather chances are you were the guitarist of "Ethel the Frog was a heavy metal band formed in 1976 in Hull, England. They are notable for being a part of the new wave of British heavy metal movement..signed a recording contract with EMI...continued to play in cover bands, but then formed the band No Messiahs which lasted a couple of years, and he continues to play guitar in the Netherlands" wiki
I figured I should give Ethel the Frog a listen and tried Eleanor Rigby (the heavy metal remake). That was not bad, but I preferred this song much better:
Somehow I have the feel that I'll find other gems if I continue to listen to your songs.
Glad to know you're part of the Reaper & Reaper Forum family. Even if it makes my songs seem rather bland...
After listening to your song I decided to listen to some other of your songs in your SoundCloud page.
My first impression was: WTF !!!
UnFrigginBelievable, these song are top notch material.
I couldn't let this one go, so I google your name:
Now, from what I gather chances are you were the guitarist of "Ethel the Frog was a heavy metal band formed in 1976 in Hull, England. They are notable for being a part of the new wave of British heavy metal movement..signed a recording contract with EMI...continued to play in cover bands, but then formed the band No Messiahs which lasted a couple of years, and he continues to play guitar in the Netherlands" wiki
I figured I should give Ethel the Frog a listen and tried Eleanor Rigby (the heavy metal remake). That was not bad, but I preferred this song much better:
Somehow I have the feel that I'll find other gems if I continue to listen to your songs.
Glad to know you're part of the Reaper & Reaper Forum family. Even if it makes my songs seem rather bland...
Yes I was the Lead guitarist and one of song writers in that old band many many moons ago.I just like to home-record now and have been using Reaper or years
I have a Reverbnation page as well with some more mainly original stuff on it,
Nice to see you here again Doug. I haven't been around for awhile, only wrote one song last year but 2017 is going to be better(apart from Trump, Brexit, Putin, etc...)
Nice to see you here again Doug. I haven't been around for awhile, only wrote one song last year but 2017 is going to be better(apart from Trump, Brexit, Putin, etc...)
Lovely tune by the way, nice mix.
I've been enjoying the Squier Bullet HSS Stratocaster I bought in early 2015.Plays superb and I modified it with some,"Tonerider" pure vintage pick-ups in the middle and neck and an old Wilkinson Humbucker.
Not written much myself for a while but have been enjoying playing over some great YouTube backings but run them into Reaper and remix/master them
Beautiful piece!
Love the "sonic landscape" you've created!
__________________
POD PRO XT,Roland TD-20 E-kit,Fender Telecaster,Rickenbacher,Framis 12-String,Ibanaz Bass,CAD GXL3000 Pro Studio Mic,E-Bow and my "ol' best friend "REAPER"Since 2006
My songs here...[url]
http://www.mixposure.com/bardo/
Beautiful piece!
Love the "sonic landscape" you've created!
I can't take credit for the backing.As per my first post the backing was done by a Youtube contributer called Mega Backing tracks but the backing spoke to me hence I just had to play some guitar over it.I did expand the backing and re-master it with a few recording tricks I know so as to make it sound as if my guitar part was part of the original and not out-of-place
One trick I use is to have a dedicated reverb track in Reaper and run the whole mix through it very very subtly and this brings all the parts together and sort of melts all the instruments into the sonic landscape for this kind of song/sound
Now, I wasn't sure in the intro,
but, then, when you get going
What pickup/ chain is it?
(I'm having a Yamaha Pacifica HSS and are wondering what direction to go)
The Humbucker is an old Wilkinson Neck pick-up which has a lower output that matches the single coils in the Strat.I've found that to be the trick with HSS Strats.You don't want or need a so called,"Hot" output humbucker in the bridge position.
If the bridge humbucker is too powerful it becomes almost impossible to balance the overall volumes across all the pick-ups.
The middle and neck pickups are,"Tonerider" pure vintage,
Note:I use a single Master tone on the guitar and the 2nd Tone control has been replaced with a Push-pull pot and I have coil tapped the Wilkinson Humbucker for when I want more of the 2nd position Twang on the Strat
Thanks!
So, here you use a blend of all 3? in HSS or SSS-mode?
I'm looking for something in the strat SSS-direction,
but split Humbucker in bridge is of course an option.
What's you tip for getting good tone and sustain on 1st and 2nd string?
Thanks!
So, here you use a blend of all 3? in HSS or SSS-mode?
I'm looking for something in the strat SSS-direction,
but split Humbucker in bridge is of course an option.
What's you tip for getting good tone and sustain on 1st and 2nd string?
I flick between my Full Humbucker and neck position on some tracks and Positions 1/2/3/5 on others.Depends on the track I'm playing.
For little cost you can keep an SSS close to original and change the bridge sound with a cheap,"Rail/Blade" Stratocaster Humbucker,
I have one on one of my other Strats and they aren't bad for the money plus they are noise cancelling.They get a fatter sound and more sustain on over-driven/Distortion sounds.If you pick the right one e.g with 4 wires it can be split so you keep the classic 2nd position Strat,"Quack" or close to it.
Before that though my guitars are very carefully set-up by experience.My actions are not as low as I can go but slightly higher than their lowest.This allows the strings to vibrate better and especially keeps that Classic Strat neck sound,slightly hollow.Too low and I've found that sound disappears.
This should be done after a correct Tremolo setup,
Tremolo checklist.
1:Lube top-nut(3 in 1 oil or chap-stick will do)
bridge saddles grooves and check for smoothness(No burrs).
String Break point where strings enter the body down to the Tremolo block.
Under the String trees or replace with Roller String Trees.
2:Important.Always tune from below the pitch (Tuning from above can leave slack points)and make sure
all stretch is taken out of the strings and tuners by pulling the strings away from the fretboard.
3:If you hear any creaks acoustically when the tremolo arm is operated,investigate them.
Then for over-driven/distortion sounds to get extra sustain I use a compressor in the patch near the beginning but after the noise gate in my Zoom G1Xon pedal.
These things are amazing for the price.Absolute bargain.Check out this thread,
Finally the pick-up heights need to be right.Too high and they can choke the sound and cause,"Stratitis" as it is known e.g that ice-pick sound.Too low and there's no guts so this can take a while to dial in using clean/slightly over-driven sounds usually to get the best.
As I've been setting up all my guitars for over 40 years it's all natural and 2nd nature to me and I sometimes forget others don't know all the little tweaks to get the best out of the instrument/s.
I'm on the clean / Fender amp side of tone,
so, have to adjust for that.
Aiming for some classic strat / Clapton / Knopfler sound,
with hopefully some variations ( jazz / funk or possibly some twang)
Well, sorry about the offTopic, but you seem like I guy who knows strats and guitars
I'm on the clean / Fender amp side of tone,
so, have to adjust for that.
Aiming for some classic strat / Clapton / Knopfler sound,
with hopefully some variations ( jazz / funk or possibly some twang)
Well, sorry about the offTopic, but you seem like I guy who knows strats and guitars
It's not off-topic to me.I'm mainly using my Bullet these days.
I have too many guitars,mainly some cheap copies,so need to clear out as I want to buy another Squier Bullet and fit it with some Tonerider Surfari pickups as they sound good to me as well.
however on the clean side this is a relaxing video I did with my Pure Vintage pick-ups as well,
and this was done before I got the Toneriders with some cheap Chinese pickups
However Tonerider pick-ups are by far and away the best Bang-For-Buck pickups around.Totally consistent in Quality and sound.Worth every penny.
Check out Tonerider pick-ups on YT as well.They are in the Squier Classic Vibe 50 Telecasters and they are wonderful to my ears
Very helpful suggestions!
I see Tonerider Pure Vintage - TRS1 is that classic strat tone.
But, I like the Alnico II Blues - TRS4 as well.
Can I mix n' match?
Like TRS4 bridge and TRS1 middle/neck?
Or should I better think of buying a bullet and fit the other set there?
All the videos on my Youtube channel using the White Strat are with the TRS1 PVs
Not cheap but not as expensive as Fenders and some boutique pickups and Seymour Duncans etc.
Full set for £79.85 UK and AFAIK available in the US and other countries.
I would by a Bullet and a set of the PVs you like.Bullets are cheap enough.I fancy the metallic green but would change the scratch-plate as I don't like their metallic grey one that comes on them most likely I would put a Black one on
I think if you contact TR they will sell individual ones so you can mix and match.
PS
I changed the string trees for roller string trees cheap off eBay and changed the Volume and Tone pots for,"Alpha Brand" pots(Cheap on eBay) as the stock ones became scratchy after constant everyday use.
Nice to see you here again Doug. I haven't been around for awhile, only wrote one song last year but 2017 is going to be better(apart from Trump, Brexit, Putin, etc...)
Thanks again for the comments guys.Would have responded earlier but contract work took me away from the UK and back to Frankfurt/Germany.Germans can make good cars but their Wi-Fi/Internet sucks the big one.Might as well be dial up :O
I don't have a lot of time at the moment to use Reaper for fully original stuff but here's another Floyd track backing track I used Reaper for to mix playing over with the permission of the YT contributor 258 Lemons,