More Valve Jr. tracks

[Vetteboy]

I pulled these from the "patiently awaiting lyrical inspiration" file. Typically these are tracked fully but are not 'perfect', most tracks are first takes and I tend to leave screwups here and there as long as it doesn't completely ruin the track. I use these to drive around with and critique layout/mixing/etc while trying to come up with lyrics.

Anyway...

http://www.soundclick.com/bands/page_songInfo.cfm?bandID=888935&songID=7061476

The rythym guitars here are double-tracked Valve Jr. at about 40%, lead is at about 90%. I don't like the bridge at 1:55, but I was pretty happy with the solo at 2:09. My favorite section is the first part of the outro solo at 3:03, at that point I was well settled into the chord changes, accents, etc and just groovin with it.

.......

http://www.soundclick.com/bands/page_songInfo.cfm?bandID=888935&songID=7061481

Straightforward crunchy guitar...just the bridge pickup, a cable, and the amp. About 50% for the rythym track and dimed for the lead. Nice and loud at 2:57. I like the ending of this one at 3:54...came out pretty tight and I like the common hits with the bass/bass drum/rythym guitar.

.......

http://www.soundclick.com/bands/page_songInfo.cfm?bandID=888935&songID=7061485

No valve jr on this one, just the Univox SS. Kind of a RHCP "tell me baby" groove with a mellow breakdown at the end.

Any comments are appreciated.

 

[guitarded]

Re: More Valve Jr. tracks

Nicely done. The VJ sounds reaslly good in the mix. Is the one you used modded or re-tubed?

I pulled these from the "patiently awaiting lyrical inspiration" file. Typically these are tracked fully but are not 'perfect', most tracks are first takes and I tend to leave screwups here and there as long as it doesn't completely ruin the track. I use these to drive around with and critique layout/mixing/etc while trying to come up with lyrics.

Anyway...

http://www.soundclick.com/bands/page_songInfo.cfm?bandID=888935&songID=7061476

The rythym guitars here are double-tracked Valve Jr. at about 40%, lead is at about 90%. I don't like the bridge at 1:55, but I was pretty happy with the solo at 2:09. My favorite section is the first part of the outro solo at 3:03, at that point I was well settled into the chord changes, accents, etc and just groovin with it.

.......

http://www.soundclick.com/bands/page_songInfo.cfm?bandID=888935&songID=7061481

Straightforward crunchy guitar...just the bridge pickup, a cable, and the amp. About 50% for the rythym track and dimed for the lead. Nice and loud at 2:57. I like the ending of this one at 3:54...came out pretty tight and I like the common hits with the bass/bass drum/rythym guitar.

.......

http://www.soundclick.com/bands/page_songInfo.cfm?bandID=888935&songID=7061485

No valve jr on this one, just the Univox SS. Kind of a RHCP "tell me baby" groove with a mellow breakdown at the end.

Any comments are appreciated.

 

[Vetteboy]

Re: More Valve Jr. tracks

Nicely done. The VJ sounds reaslly good in the mix. Is the one you used modded or re-tubed?

Thanks!

The Valve Jr is straight outta the box, bone stock. I use the head and connect it to one of the 12's in my Ampeg combo:

Kind of a goofy arrangement, but it works pretty well. I'd like to make a cab for it in the near future.

The guitars on all those tracks were just single mic'd with an SM57, ran directly into a Roland VS880. I don't think I even did much in the way of post EQ...on the leads I put a small amount of delay to open it up a little bit.

 

[guitarded]

Re: More Valve Jr. tracks

Thanks for the info. I have the amp also. It is a great practice amp. I put JJ's in mine, but it did not sound a lot different. The amp rocks for the price. Thanks again for sharing the clip.

 

[GoldenVulture]

Re: More Valve Jr. tracks

Good tracks but the drums are dominating every track.personally you need to wind them back a bit.They're masking the guitars.

 

[Vetteboy]

Re: More Valve Jr. tracks

Good tracks but the drums are dominating every track.personally you need to wind them back a bit.They're masking the guitars.

Hmmm...thanks for the input. These aren't final mixes but I'll definitely keep it mind for when these move a little more towards completion. It's tough to keep a neutral ear when you're doing all the playing, recording, and mixing.

Just out of curiosity, what kind of speakers/monitors/etc were you listening through?

 

[GoldenVulture]

Re: More Valve Jr. tracks

On the computer here.

They make a good low fidelity monitor.

If i Downloaded the tracks they would go to a to a much higher fidelity system to listen to.i haven't done so, I may do.

It's tough to keep a neutral ear when you're doing all the playing, recording, and mixing.

I do a rough mix and the listen to it as many times as i can over about a week.By then i know where every little bit is in the recording and remix to suit.:cool2:

 

[ImmortalSix]

Re: More Valve Jr. tracks

It's funny man, you have such a "sound" --- all very distinct "Vetteboy sound" :laugh2:

As far as mixing goes, I'd say pull back the level on the cymbals, add some lows and level to the bass drum, add level to the snare.

All I hear is ride bell and accent guitar

I'd also add more bass guitar level to the mix.

But what do I know? :laughing:

Great stuff --- need way way more outro lead guitar level on the first one, also.

You da man,
-Hunter

 

[Vetteboy]

Re: More Valve Jr. tracks

It's funny man, you have such a "sound" --- all very distinct "Vetteboy sound" :laugh2:

As far as mixing goes, I'd say pull back the level on the cymbals, add some lows and level to the bass drum, add level to the snare.

All I hear is ride bell and accent guitar

I'd also add more bass guitar level to the mix.

But what do I know? :laughing:

Great stuff --- need way way more outro lead guitar level on the first one, also.

You da man,
-Hunter

Haha. I'd post some of the newer stuff I'm working on, but I'd hate to ruin your impression of my 'sound'...let's just say that the Ampeg in high-gain mode ain't a Valve Jr.

I think part of the mixing situation is that I only mixed this stuff through one set of speakers. I get it to where it's decent enough to drive around with and leave it there, because it's not worth the time/effort to try and tweak the mix when there's a lot of suckage sprinkled in the tracks anyway. When I get around to writing words for these things, and putting more than a first-take effort into recording them, I'll probably audition the mixes with a bunch of different systems and spend a lot of time tweaking stuff.

The other issue is with my drum mic setup, which is currently only 4 mics (limited by the number of tracks I can record simultaneously). That's bass, snare, and overhead L/R...so it's tough to have specific control over things. Ideally I'd get two more mics on the toms and be able to tune the overheads optimally for the cymbals.

edit: Just curious, do you have the same mix suggestions for this one?

 

[ImmortalSix]

Re: More Valve Jr. tracks

The other issue is with my drum mic setup, which is currently only 4 mics (limited by the number of tracks I can record simultaneously). That's bass, snare, and overhead L/R...so it's tough to have specific control over things. Ideally I'd get two more mics on the toms and be able to tune the overheads optimally for the cymbals.

edit: Just curious, do you have the same mix suggestions for this one?

To answer your question --- yeah, definitely.

Bummer about the drum mics. Ever think about putting a mic on, say, bass, snare, tom 1, tom2 and recording, then record a separate take with hi-hat, tom 3, overhead L, overhead R and then try your ****dest to get them to line up?

Also of note, I have been making more hip-hop themed music recently. I may be seeking a fuller sound.

Think you could play the drums the same way(ish) twice?