Zoom Gear & Home Recording Forum

Beta froze twice on this one. Lost my synth and it took me like an hour to find the same one. Guitars are my ES and Fender bass pumping through that lame little Guitar USB Cable and into amp sims. Drums are just wavs out of Craft....Stoked on the jam.
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The Blue


Please PM or email me any further reviews and comments as to allow this one to rotate off the first page. Thank You....surfercook

Sweet electric on the lead. Rolled back tone.

Very progressive!

Niiice!
Thanks!
Matty

That cable is really doing the job, Marc, guitar and bass sound great. Very nice composition, too. Drums are good, but a little buried? Or maybe I'm thinking that a real drummer would be hitting more accents. I think that should be your next step, find a real drummer to record with.

I admire your prolific output, maybe not everyone here knows that for every song you post, there are maybe five more that you've done at around the same time. Or is five too conservative an estimate? I can hardly get my butt in gear to do a little mixing lately.

Superb,great compo / playing / feeling !
But I don't like the distortion used for the lead,just my opinion.

Another new tune from my hero!

Great use of chord prog, melody, etc. As someone pointed out above, very progressive sounding, but that's your trademark (or tradeMARC )

I don't care much for the drum sound though, to be honest. They sound too "stiff", but it improves a bit when you use switch from the closed hat to the ride.

Love the keys! I use programmed and synth drums primarily, so I can't talk, but I think this would have been perfect with a real set. The electric guitar was pleasing to hear as well. My likes far exceed any complaints I could ever bring up about this composition. Thanks for sharing!

JD

I understand why you picked the name Surfercook, beside your love of surfing the waves.

Very interesting and pleasant song, totaly you with the waves coming more then going.

Your background music is always pleasant, you got a good formula going-on song after song.

Your lead is always good but lacks of finesse. Offten very imaginative only the delivery could improve, you bring lots of different phrases Santanish in this without sounding Santanaish, he's from a wave country too! I really enjoy re-listening to this song. The wave sound is muddy, if that lead guitar is the frontman make sure it sounds it's best, it doesn't. The rythm guitar is excellent, the bass too, the bass is mostly great candy, good job, sounds like a fretless, nice sliding. The drums are doing a good job, like the tam-tams.

My wife will love this song, she always love your songs and she will tell me 'Louis, play guitar like him'

Hi Marc...this is a step away from your usual, but I have to admit, I'm liking the 'rock' flavours you are experimenting with...I feel the drums in sixteenth's are just a teensy weensy bit 'in your face'...I really like the idea, but they are a tad up-front imho...better that, than too distant though...interesting change of pace at the 3.00 min. mark...this whole track kept me guessing where it was heading, and that's a good thing...very original...very well played all up...your soloing on the guitar 'and' the bass! Ha ha! It kinda has a 'Joe Satriani' vibe to it...like the 'Surfing with the Aliens' theme....+1 for the originality, and another +1 for being a good guy! Keep em' coming bro!...sideshow bob

Hey Marc,
It's great to hear you stepping into new territory with this song man, I don't think I remember any song of yours having any kind of overdrive on the guitar, so my hat's off to you.......+1 to Gary's comment on all the songs you do, I do know you record a lot of stuff, in a short amount of time, way more than I could do......Everything sounds pretty good on this one tone wise, but I do have a few nits/suggestions that may help you with these different type sounds you've branched out with....

Maybe low pass the guitar, it has the "fizz" that ampsims are famous for, while real amps also have it to an extent, ampsims are notorious for it......

The drums are a little busy & flat, maybe pick some different sounding loops with softer/harder playing here/there, & different beats/grooves for dynamics....

I personally think the mix as a whole needs more level matching, as some of the instruments can't be heard really well at times........

All in all, good job man, especially since this is a little more of a rock thing for you!!! The nits I mentioned are only personal prefrences, so other people (and yourself) might not agree with 'em.........Keep at it man, you're learning/progressing pretty fast, I can tell a difference in each song you post....

Thanx for all the listens and replies fellow ZOOMERs. So burned out from working but I'll address comments anyways...cuz it's fun!
I must have auditioned 20 distortion tones before just going w/that one. I like that description too...I Googled it and found this definition that I thought was cool.
Roll back tone cleans up and darkens and then as you roll it back further it loses all the distortion as it cleans up completely.
Would be nice...I have a buddy who rocks on a kit, but he has two kids, full time job, commute...he's all used up!! Sometimes I think to myself, just look on Craig's List or something and find a stoked jammer like myself...then go rent some studio and charge!! Maybe one day.Well...I prob have recorded about 3 songs/week since returning from Costa Feb 1. Most are pretty much just a straight progresh looped w/a bunch of soloing over it. I am not surprised you are not fond of distortion. Have to admit that over the yrs I've also leaned towards a cleaner tone. Not like my youth when I would ALWAYS crank the electric. You're not gonna start stalkin' me I hope!! Thanx...you're the only one to mention them. Originally this tune was pretty stripped down and I decided to augment the sound w/those keys. I used the You Rock Guitar linked to the Piano/Strings combo patch in Mixcraft and did some minor editing to clean it up a bit.I am a pretty sloppy player. I've never picked up a fretless...just my Mexi Fender Jazz here. That is nice to hear.That is a nice compliment...Satriani is no slouch of virtuoso.No prob there!There's been a couple here and there, but I usually go w/the clean tones.
I really appreciate all the help, recent and in the past, James. You are always willing to share your knowledge and "Recipes" w/us fellow home recording artists. Hope you never lose that, buddy.I sooo heard that, especially at the end fade. It has a kinda decay sound that is pretty bad. I did use a noise reduction to cut it a bit. Unfortunately I know nothing about low pass filter...but I'm sure there's plenty of info available out there for me.No arguement there..I was kinda lazy w/the drums on this one and just went w/the loops in Craft's library. I thought they fit pretty nicely considering they were pretty limited.I would imagine some vol automation would help for said leveling. Thing is, this project froze and the only back-up that is opening is missing some of the tracks/takes.

Nice sounds. Bass has good clarity.

In general it all did seem too busy though. I think it’s the speedo drums, to me they were a huge distraction. It was as though there were two songs going on. The best bit came at 2.59 when the main percussion stopped.

Someone mentioned the word finesse regarding the electric lead. I can’t play electric lead to save myself but the finesse comment may also be what I hear as ‘mechanical' playing. I know you have huge creative output but do you rush things sometimes? Not sure you do your creative ideas justice. But on the other hand, I understand the urge to just get it done and move on. I’ve been a month on one song and all I have are the lyrics and a lot of indecision about the chord structure

Pete

Well Marc, I had lots of help here when I first started (I still consider myself a newbie ...), so I try to help folks as much as I can, although the last little while I haven't been real active here due to some things going on at home....



Here's a screenshot of the basic high/low pass filter I use on all my guitars, whether they're ampsims, my real amp, or whatever. Only a starting point though, some of 'em are higher/lower, & some aren't, just depends on the sound......The high pass will keep the guitar from getting in the bass guitar's space, & the low pass can be moved much further than 10khz to remove the "fizz", but you have to remember that the cymbals will mask some of it, & you have to be careful not to go too low, or you'll lose clarity/high end in your sounds.... Again, this is just a starting point...



Either automation or a compressor (I generally use both btw.......) would probably help.....Sorry about the crash/freeze, been there, done that, & it sucks......

Thanx! Good advice but i am still pretty clueless. I would give anything for a week long class w/Professor Bryson.

You make this sort of stuff sound easy

I like the tone on the guitar. Interesting to hear a bit of overdrive from you.

Cheers

Dick

I missed this one completely

I'm going to listen to it later tonight, but as I was reading the other comments, I saw the screenshot and the word "overdrive" mentioned, so it appears that something is up.

Well, well, well............the first thing that struck me is the guitar tone. It's similar to Steve Howe's tone on the third song of Tales From Topographic Oceans. I like it, although I think it needs a whole lot more midrange. The drums seem a little frantic for the mood you're setting, or maybe it's the guitar that needs to be more frantic? Either way, the overall song seems a bit schizophrenic to me . Which is cool, in a way. That's what I try to do sometimes.

I really like the ending section without the drums....This is a nice change of pace, and I like the overall idea a lot.

Very nice Marc. You play them waves on the YRG too? Excellent composition. Great intro. This rolls along very smoothly and, I loved the harmonics you through in there. Great work. Nice playing to-boot! Or, as my wife would say...and a bag of chips too?