You say you want surf metal?!

DankStar

DankStar

Her Little Mojo Minion
Well I got some Surf Metal for ya!!

Probably worked on this longer than I should have (er, all summer maybe?).

Haven't really had a chance to hear it in my car to pick out the stuff that needs tweaked, but it's fairly close.

Had to make some compromises here and there (all gits are direct [except the acoustics at the end], oh well - might re-record them mic'ed some day).

Fairly basic set up:
- randall clean channel with marshall jackhammer
- esp for main gits
- fender for the "dick dale" stuff (I think it's amplitube for the surf guitars)
- agile for harmonies and end leads
- takamini acoustic at end
- Brady Bunch samples (Hawaii episode)
- some wave/beach samples here and there
- Endless Summer samples
- slate drums
- hamer 5 string bass through art preamp and an alesis compressor
- theramin app for some Beach Boys-esque noises
- rock organ from garageband to double some gits in one part
- stole some dude's surf drums off the net for the intro/middle

Not a whole lot going on the mixing, other than flying faders all over the place to control levels and reduce noise.

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/16938354/surf song mas 1.mp3
 
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Re: You say you want surf metal?!

will check it tomm when I have audio..

The title makes me think of seeing Spitz from Anthrax with his long hair and surfer shorts..
 
Re: You say you want surf metal?!

BloodRose said:
will check it tomm when I have audio..

The title makes me think of seeing Spitz from Anthrax with his long hair and surfer shorts..
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hahaha, well their Jams era music is in my blood, yes :laugh2:
 
Re: You say you want surf metal?!

Ok, this ain't really surf metal.

It's straight-up metal with some surfy-themed samples mixed it. If you want to make it a little more surfy, add tons of spring verb to the clean stuff and make it sound.. sproingier. But still, thematically, it's very minor-key and probably more Scandinavia than California.

However.

It kicks ****ing ass.

Really nice, tight, great-sounding metal rhythm playing. Fantastically-accurate double-tracking, man. Nice mix, too. Very present and full, and well-balanced. Very solid composition, also, which I appreciate perhaps most of all. I am sincerely enjoying this.

You have impressed me, sir.
 
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Re: You say you want surf metal?!

I'm digging the very clean, transparent sound, but I think each instrument should have a little bit of it's own 'space', if you catch my drift. I know you said you didn't do much to the mix except levels, but with a minimal amount of work you could probably breathe a bit of life into each part.
 
Re: You say you want surf metal?!

sosomething said:
Ok, this ain't really surf metal.

It's straight-up metal with some surfy-themed samples mixed it. If you want to make it a little more surfy, add tons of spring verb to the clean stuff and make it sound.. sproingier. But still, thematically, it's very minor-key and probably more Scandinavia than California.

However.

It kicks ****ing ass.

Really nice, tight, great-sounding metal rhythm playing. Fantastically-accurate double-tracking, man. Nice mix, too. Very present and full, and well-balanced. Very solid composition, also, which I appreciate perhaps most of all. I am sincerely enjoying this.

You have impressed me, sir.
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Thanks for checking it out! It is true, I was working on some riffs and at the same time wanted to do a summer/surf themed thing and melded it all together which sort of works and sort of doesn't. But it was fun.

Shadow1psc said:
I'm digging the very clean, transparent sound, but I think each instrument should have a little bit of it's own 'space', if you catch my drift. I know you said you didn't do much to the mix except levels, but with a minimal amount of work you could probably breathe a bit of life into each part.
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Lifelessness is something that is often associated with direct recording. I tried mic'ing a cab at really low volumes during some tests, and it just sounded weird so I ditched that idea. I was toying with a multiband compressor on the main guitars which had a warm sound I may re-visit, and I could re-amp the bass with an amp sim maybe that would help too. I didn't really spend any time with how the bass and guitars interact/overlap which probably isn't helping matters.
 
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Re: You say you want surf metal?!

I direct record all my instruments. A little reverb goes a long way in my experience. Maybe the biggest thing was just your drums, they sound so machine-y. Is there a 'humanize' setting on them?
 
Re: You say you want surf metal?!

i would think that for "surf-metal" you'd only play a telecaster

when i first read the headline, i thought it said "SMURF-metal"

then i would say go to Ultimate-Gtuitar-Forums, and ask about "smurf-metal" guitars
 
Re: You say you want surf metal?!

Shadow1psc said:
I direct record all my instruments. A little reverb goes a long way in my experience. Maybe the biggest thing was just your drums, they sound so machine-y. Is there a 'humanize' setting on them?
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hmm, never thought about reverb on the main guitars. that goes against all my metal training, but I'll play with it. the human part was supposed to come from me during programming, but I really hate programming drums.


Cranky-d said:
i would think that for "surf-metal" you'd only play a telecaster

when i first read the headline, i thought it said "SMURF-metal"

then i would say go to Ultimate-Gtuitar-Forums, and ask about "smurf-metal" guitars
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I don't own a tele, rats. Smurf metal sounds like a great idea!!

TheLivingDead said:
Duuuuuude, that was ****ing nice!
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thanks shredder. took your advice on going with just the jackhammer.
 
Re: You say you want surf metal?!

DankStar said:
hmm, never thought about reverb on the main guitars. that goes against all my metal training, but I'll play with it. the human part was supposed to come from me during programming, but I really hate programming drums.
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Even the tightest, most modernly-produced metal albums you listen to have reverb on everything. It might be really shallow or gated or very subtle, but it's there.
 
Re: You say you want surf metal?!

xntrick said:
very cool, well done
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I appreciate that!

JCM900MkIII said:
The Mofo's
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they sounded cool.


sosomething said:
Even the tightest, most modernly-produced metal albums you listen to have reverb on everything. It might be really shallow or gated or very subtle, but it's there.
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I always felt it was a no-no, unless it was an effect of the room during mic'ing. But jeeze, it seems silly now to have a surf metal tune with no reverb on the main guitars! Gotta revisit that.
 
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Re: You say you want surf metal?!

from the title, I was expecting alittle more twang reverb and tremolo effect mixed with metal.. But your song and all are excellent!!
 
Re: You say you want surf metal?!

Holy ****ing hell, dude! That was insane.

Seriously, I wasn't ready for that. I genuinely think my skull imploded a little bit.
 
Re: You say you want surf metal?!

Everyone knows when the Bradys went to Hawaii it was a multi-episode story arc! :) Did you get your samples from when Greg wiped out due to the cursed Tiki idol?

Fun song!
 
Re: You say you want surf metal?!

blood - I'd love to be that versatile to really intertwine the surf and metal guitars - maybe next summer. tone4days could probably pull it off, hehe.

sorry to make your head implode kam.

ray - glad you dug it!

twilight - yeah, that's greg when he wiped out with the idol. bobby comes in near the slow part. I ended up watching a lot of the episodes to find a sample, and it really took me back to watching it as a kid.
 
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