Recording - December 2012 - 50

Thoroughbreds
Equipment: Mac running Apple GarageBand with Line 6 POD Farm plug-in for guitar sounds. “Old r and b loop for drums”, internal MacBook microphone for vocals.

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Music: “Slow Burn” is a male vocal rock song, and the work of one Jesse Taylor who did it all. Recording: Before we get started, we gotta say that we love this tune! It is rare that we step outside of the mechanics of recording in this column and simply talk about the quality of the music, but this is one of those times. We just can’t seem to get our fill of Jesse’s song, it’s an earworm of the highest order. Great writing and arranging will take you a long way, kiddies. As for the recording, if we felt secure in Spotlighting a lo-fi effort, this would be it. (C’mon now, the dude sang the lead vocal using the internal mic in his laptop!) Are the drums and bass a tad muffled? Yup. But dig the groove of the basses sliding around and the ambience of the tremoloed guitar. Aces, we say. The crunchy electric guitar fills and the distortion placed on the harmony vocals also contributes to the overall indie vibe in our opinion. Suggestions: Every now and then we get a submission that, for various reasons, exceeds the quality of the gear used to record it. Jesse’s track is our latest. The creativity, writing and arranging chops here are all A-Plus. As for suggestions, “cleaning” any of this up would very likely spoil the vibe. It ain’t broke Jesse, don’t fix it!
Summary: Somebody sign this guy!
Contact: Jesse Taylor / Thoroughbreds, jessetaylor6@gmail.com

Mike Radliff
Equipment: 13" MacBook Pro with Mackie 1640i FireWire interface/mixer, running Apple Logic with Waves plug-ins, iZotope Ozone, and Toontrack Superior Drummer. Mics: Shure SM57, Audix i5, Behringer B-1. Les Paul style kit guitar with Gibson Burstbucker Pro in bridge position, Squier bass, Randall RT-100 amp head with Line 6 half stack.

Dale Goodie
Equipment: PC with Mbox running Avid Pro Tools with Xpand! and Toontrack EZdrummer Vintage Rock; Behringer B-1 mic; Yamaha acoustic guitar, Squier bass, Yamaha PSR E303 keyboard (as MIDI controller), Sennheiser HD 400 headphones with “big old stereo for alternate listening”.

Music: “Fly Away” is a male vocal rock song and also a one-man-band effort by Mike. Recording: Wow, Mike, this sound takes us back (in a good way) to those great early Prog-rock days. Genesis, Gentle Giant, Yes, and many blacklight and posterfilled basements and bedrooms. Cool! OK then, enough with the reminiscing and back to Mike’s track... What we heard generally impressed us. Music like this can be tough to pull off, especially on the drums (more on that later). We love the Supertramp vibe on the lead vocal, and the bass and crunchy electric guitar really capture the style perfectly. As for the drums, Mike gets high marks for his creative programming. Take it from someone who lived through that era and was fortunate enough to have seen some of the powerhouse drummers of that time, including the mighty Bill Bruford! Although the cymbals get away from him at times, Mike has done a fine job with the drums and with the recording in general. Suggestions: Try reining in the cymbals with a bit of limiting but back off if you hear any audible pumping. Superior Drummer gives you the tools and you’re using them well, just need to tweak a bit.
Summary: We like!
Contact: Mike Radliff, musicaldrops@gmail.com
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RECORDING December 2012

Music: “Taxi Driver” is a male vocal rock ballad. The credits provided read “Me. [and] My girl, Leslie, for helping me finally germinate this one into what I feel is a good song.” Fair enough! Recording: Here’s another of those rare songs that just seems to have an “it” factor that transcends its actual recorded sound. Dale has managed to create a mood with his sounds, and combined with the excellence of the songwriting/arrangement, presents it in a way that draws you in as a listener. The acoustic guitar and piano intro create a mellow bed in the intro, giving way to a great “retro” drum fill. We love the sound of the drums here—Dale has actually made the EZdrummer Vintage Rock kit sound vintage, in a Ringo sort of way. We also loved the muted “McCartney” sounding bass guitar and how it completed the rhythm section in a unified way. The lead vocal was up front in the mix, as it should be in a story song, and Dale’s weary delivery really “sold” the lyric in our opinion In addition, the backing vocals added just the right touch of movement to the mix. Nice! Suggestions: It is rare that we diverge from our standard “tones and technique” methodology in this column, but it does happen! Have we heard better overall tones on songs submitted during our sixteen-year tenure? Absolutely. That said, Dale has given us a great song with the use of minimal tools, but a lot of heart and talent. We say, “Enjoy it!”
Summary: We’d love to hear this as a soundtrack.
Contact: Dale Goodie, dalegoodie@hotmail.ca

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Recording - December 2012

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