bats brew

there is an easier product to use that they make, funny enough, called 'ezdrummer2' that's how i got started. superior drummer 3, is just that... superior.

yea, could just be my bats-speak, they are pure recorded 'sounds', technically 'wav' files, but are triggered by midi. i call those 'samples'... that's what toontracks calls them. it's an incredible program, raw samples of killer kits, that you can then pull thru their own mixer, which has studio quality effects that you can apply to each drum individually, you can define how much of the room mics are in the mix, how much bleed from the kit into the other mic, etc, ad naseum. electronic drums too, and you can even use your own samples. i always wanted to make a kit with all the pots and pans in my kitchen. LOL

thanks so much, msmcleod! i appreciate that mr villanova, thanks for listening

hey, thanks for posting that... it's an impressive sound for sure (requiem) but to me, still feels totally like someone playing a keyboard triggering guitar samples... it's very stiff, does not have a 'real' feel to it, doesn't really talk to me. i know i like derek sherinian's guitar-like riffs and tones, he just kills it! but never feels like a real guitar, tho to a casual listener, it would never matter. toontrack Superior Drummer 3 (what i use) uses extremely well-recorded 24 bit drum samples that are triggered by midi info, it's a wonderful drum program, find out more here: https://www.toontrack.com/product/superior-drummer-3/?gclid=EAIaIQobChMIzbm_1IiC4QIVGsDICh3tug76EAAYAiAAEgKxpPD_BwE

heheh, michael, i had to chuckle just a bit..... i mean, it's a straightforward question for sure, but IF you can find ANYONE who is playing canned sounds and making them sound like THIS....... i wanna hear it! now! LOL...... yes, all real instruments, recorded in real time. the only thing that is 'canned' is my superior drummer drum tracks, and all of those i write from scratch, so in a way, they aren't really canned either.

hey sailor! i so dig it, that you guys that really aren't into this kind of stuff, are giving it a shot! i mean, even if you step out of the musician/singer category, and just look at it from a production point of view, it's very valuable to me, so thank you. i did tweak the vox more last night, and decided they needed to be a bit brighter, just to bring them forward just a touch, so this should help with some 'intelligibility'......!

hey daryl, so glad you checked this one out... you have such a good arrangement style, and i've been trying to dial mine back a bit, so nice to get feedback on it from you, thanks! ok wookiee! i can imagine if anything tickled your inner hairy ears wrong, you'd tell me! it's great getting feedback on playback from all these different systems i know you guys listen on.... thanks!

HEY JOHN B! thanks for listening.... even tho it's kind of a straight ahead rock thing, i tried to make it 'dynamic' like you say, i think part of that ability to be dynamic, is simply not crushing it with mastering. when i DO master this, i'll only bring the volume up about another 2db, and that's it. if you want i LOUD........... turn that dial that says 'volume'. ok lynn! no more tweaking..... oh wait, i tweaked it last night! oh crap..... no going back now! LOL hi freddy! theolonious monk, now THERE is a name that does not get dropped around here very often!! that sentiment he describes, i definitely can relate to that. when i record my stuff, i spend a good amount of time working out the demo stage......but when i go for what i call "keeper tracks", i try to let go of all the practice and 2nd guessing, and just let it go. i always hope that comes across in my stuff.

hi amicus! glad you dig this one... and super cool you checked it out even if it's not your thing! i appreciate that

ha! don't touch it.... man, that'd be so easy! LOL thanks for the vote of confidence! i wont tweak this much more

you know, i listened to this when you first posted it, and i thought i wrote a review then!! i guess i had a moment. LOL i dig this. it's a hot master, maybe TOO hot, but the arrangement allows it to be full on. personally, i'd love to hear a version of this song mastered to no more than -14LUFS, and see if it's way more dynamic that way. i always have a volume knob handy. i know how to crank stuff up!! LOL dig the solo tone. i love the overlaps. nitpicks: at 1:16, that time change just seems to fall apart. the fact that you keep playing thru it, allows it to come right back together... and i dig those light plucks on the rhythm, but they seem just slightly behind the beat when they first start, and catch up with the rhythm by the end of the bridge........

https://soundcloud.com/bats-brew/wild-animals-4 ok, number 4 mix i've posted on this one. this is unmastered. my issues with this nearly final mix, is i think the vox is too hot. if i bring the vox down overall, the rhythms sit better, bass and drums lock in better.. or, just leave everything alone, and bring up the rhythms only? as it is, i tend to want to bring everything else up, which is kinda backwards thinking!! LOL, what do you think?

NOPE! it's history.

ok, took this one down now, moving onto the vocal version.

hi bob! thanks for listening on this one, the vox i have for this, are not really going to cover anything, they kind of go along with the rhythm tracks, so the overall feel from the instrumental version wont change much!

hi tom! thanks so much for the comments.... it's always a balancing act, between how i'd like one particular track (like the bass) to fit with everything else. if i add more low end, the whole mix just starts to muddy.... i'll see about adding a bit more in below 80hz, to see if i can fill out the bottom with the bass a bit, the kick is focused around 95 hz

hey sound! thanks for listening......... doesn 't matter if you missed the first one, since i moved on anyways...... yes, michael had a great house. he's dead now, i do not know what happened to his house, but i'm going to celebrate the time i spent with him while he was alive and in his house, trying to improve his neighborhood. the voice may just ruin it!! LOL

https://soundcloud.com/bats-brew/michael-2 so, this is a new mix, and with help from suggestions, a more dialed in mix. new drum track, new drum set and EQ, everything got tweaked. curious about the low end translation (as usual) and just mix elements in general.

hey chucky! that is a Demeter SSC-1LC, that i did some augmentation of the soundproofing on. i bought it back when i was renting..... i used it on a lot of tracks back then..... it has a celestion vintage 30 in it, and now i never use it! LOL.... i need to sell it, to someone who can use it. my studio setup now, allows me to play as loud as i want, and i do. the device on top, is a Weber Mass Lite attenuator. when i use the palmer for line level capture, i take it off first, send to the attenuator, and use the cabs as monitors. i can do silent recording this way. as far as sounding negative, no, i didn't take it that way at all! no worries.

hey chuckie, thanks for listening! i happen to think the 2nd half (reprise) is the hook of the song...and thank GHOD i don't hold myself to formulas at this point of my writing songs, i aint writing pop tune! so, really, my target market is folks that like to sink into tunes for a period of time, and go on journeys...... not eat the fast food! that said, as i wrote in my reply to bob, i'll be messing with the drums quite a bit. and to be fair, the reprise really doesn't make sense, without the vocals to tie it all together... guitar work: i always use multiple setups, and a combo of mic and direct for the captures on all my material.... here's the basic rig: all four of these guitars were used. they are all custom except the '77 ibanez 2618, which is stock. amp is '82 mesa boogie MKIIb, cabs are a mix of open back and closed, celestions in all, and when cabs are miced, it's a SM57, and when direct, it's a Palmer PDI-09 directly off the output of the amp.

yep, a bit different! heheheh.... the vocal will tie it all together..... part of this song, is a celebration of a friend who has passed.... the first part, is when he was alive. the 2nd part, is a remembrance. i'm still working on the lyric... i think i'll take another complete pass at the drums, and use parts of the 'driving' sections, probably during the verses, and break it down for the bridges, and the middle section.... i have two completely different drum tracks programmed, the one here, is actually the two tracks interposed on top of each other, as if there are two drummer at once, like with the grateful dead or the allman bros.

heheh, yep, that was the idea. maybe i'll change the SOUNDS of the kit to an artificial sound, to give it more of an obvious industrial kind of vibe, which is more of what i was going for......

this is brand new...... i did some weird fun stuff with this one. i have complete vocals written, but not recorded yet, so this is the backing tracks only. kinda works as an instrumental too! any feedback on this is appreciated.

sorry wookie! this post was just languishing, so i decided to be proactive, and did a new session and recorded a new bass line.... much better, more aggressive, better eq going in..... i might post the new one, i don't know....

hey tom! thanks for listening, and commenting. yea, two passes on the main rhythm, front end and back end..... the first half, i used a custom built strat that has these really nice position #4 sounds, and then for the 2nd half rhythms, i used the same strat with the humbucker bridge on the left, and a Ibanez Artist 2618 for the other rhythm track, that worked well, i like that blend!