bats brew

so this recording, in fact, almost all the songs that will be on this new album, have been recorded using my new Strymon Iridium pedal. most of the tracks are direct, trying out new IR's, but some of the tracks are the iridium with IR's bypassed, directly into my Mesa Boogie Mark 2b, miced up old school, and blended with the direct tracks of the Iridium.

https://soundcloud.com/bats-brew/insignificant2 this is the 2nd final mix i've posted, of 10 current tunes slated for a new instrumental 'bats brew' release. would love some feedback on it, before i commit it.

hey wook! slick and greasy, YEA!!! heheh, "say bud, how do you describe your music?" "Well, i always say, SLICK AND GREASY!" ? THANKS WOOK, i'm claiming that one. the snare, yes, the snares.... i have about 30 snares to chose from, and i have it narrowed down to about 6 that i really like, this being one of them (i don't remember which one it is, now...i'm using different snares on each song) there are so many parameter to mix with superior drummer, that can dial in (or out) a snare... sometimes, i know i can't chose the 'perfect' snare, and i roll with what i have. snares are about the most personal piece of kit that there is, i think... moreso than guitars, or keys, or most any other instrument. i may try another snare or two before i output the final mix, so if i find a different one that i think it THAT much better, i'll post the mix before i roll with it. i appreciate the feedback

hi paul! just so glad you found the word....'transparent', yea, i guess that is a thing i look for while mixing, finding ways by either eq carving or panning, levels, etc, to make everything have it's own sonic space. glad you dig it, thanks for listening AND commenting!

hi douglas! glad you like the drum track, i spent quite a bit of time on it getting it right... really, boiling it DOWN, from where it started. lead guitar up, check. the idea of the level of the lead, where it is, is to NOT make it stand out so much, and make it more a melodic part of the whole band playing along... it's tricky, to make the call, where something can obviously be louder to be featured, but yet want to draw the listener INWARDS, and not hit them over the head with a solo instrument. i'm learning....restraint. LOL thanks for the comments, i'll be re-visiting the solo guitar levels...

guitar recording setup for "center of everywhere" 3 options: direct with the Iridium; dual path with iridium direct on left, right output to mesa boogie FX loop and out of mesa and speaker cabs using iridium as the preamp/amp signal (either miced cab, or line level via a Palmer PDI-09); and iridium straight into boogie and miced up typical. this recording uses all three mixed together.

https://soundcloud.com/bats-brew/centre-of-everywhere final mix #1 for the new album this is a rock instrumental, and i have no idea how to classify it. i would just call it rock. do you guys here any mix issues? this has been mastered, so it is kind of the "Template" for the other 9 songs that will go on the album.

ok this one's lost it's steam, moving on to the next one.

1 bump before its gone

hello wookiee! easy groove, yes, it's almost 'boring' compared to my normal stuff, but for this song, it had to be totally in the pocket. thanks for listening!

hey freddy!! yea, stax!! if i had some buddies that had horns, it'd be a neat experiment to strip out a bunch of the guitars, and put horn parts in there ala Exile on Main street.... maybe i'll DO THAT, with a lyric version of this song later. this recording features the use of the Strymon Iridium modeler, but a few of the solo tracks were actually the modeler used as a preamp into my mesa boogie mark amp. miced up, etc. there are a LOT of tones in this one. i should have called it 'frankenstein', but that name has been previously used. LOL

https://soundcloud.com/bats-brew/memphis-honky-tonk-1 kind of a cruisin' song. this is my 9th demo i've posted, working on a 10-song instrumental album, my first all instrumental. looking for any issues i've missed, 1st impressions, or other. thanks.

hey wookiee! a straight up song format, with lyrics! heheh, you should do more of these, the length is perfect, and could easily be attached to a longer instrumental piece. the guitar sound is very similar to tones from early genesis, i clue in on the straight notes with no vibrato. the snare could take a bigger verb or room sound, but not too obvious. this one is good to go, basically, thanks for sharing that.

ok, this one's gone now, i'll move onto the next one

Updated version of this mix: https://soundcloud.com/bats-brew/hdn-eastwest3-eq changed a few things, kick level and eq re-tuned snare and bottom mic mix bass eq rhythm guitars punchier lead tones smoother spitballin' here

yea, i like that snare too. i'm using a bunch of different snares on the 10 different songs, but i may switch a couple out to this one.

https://soundcloud.com/bats-brew/headin-eastwest-a1 ok, this one is getting close, but i'm not sure about a couple of things: the amount of room/ambience on the snare; the midrange of the whole thing; i had the kick much hotter, and brought it down, think it might should go back up. any comments are appreciated. this is one of 10 new instrumentals that will be on my next album "Elemental"

hey freddy, don't bother, i took it down. 4 days of the song posted, was enough for me to make decisions on for the final mixes.

wow david, that's nice of you to say, thanks.

hi starise! thanks for listening to this one, i thought you might dig this one... this one, may turn into a vocal tune, after i'm done with this instrumental album. in fact, i had an idea, of turning all the instrumentals, into vocal tunes, and making them all feel different, if i can.

thanks brasil! appreciate the comment

thanks tom! this one's quite a bit different than the last one... i'm looking at an entire album of instrumentals, that go from nutzo, to super chill.

hey wookiee!! thanks man, yea, spent some time on the drums on this one. still editing...

hi douglas! thanks for listening... that's funny, that this one makes you think 'progressive'..... my working title for this one was 'blues-1' heheh

https://soundcloud.com/bats-brew/insignificant this is the 6th demo in a SERIES of demos that are all slated to be on my upcoming album, "Elemental". this instrumental was inspired by something that happened during a white water rafting trip down the gauley River, in west virginia.. it's the name of one of the class V rapids...."Insignificant Rapid", and it can be tricky. this was all done using the Strymon Iridium, for both guitars and bass parts. this is an unmastered file, direct off the Mains, 24 bit/48khz file. around -18LUFS