bats brew

hi starise! glad you dig my stuff man, thanks. you know, i did that band thing, for a long time... it was a tribulation. and trial. LOL

hey douglas! thanks for rocking with me on this 'vacation' we all are presently on.... hope all is well with you and yours. this is a demo, if you hear something to nit on, let me know. i'm still arranging this one.

hey tom~! thanks for taking a break from the covid situation with me... still have the palmer, i think my next round of recordings, i'm going to mix the boogie output into the palmer, with the Iridium output, and mix them together. right now, i've got 5 finished instrumentals, i may get 10 more, and put out an album of just instrumentals.... then write lyrics, strip them down, and do another album under a new name, maybe. i'm using a custom set now, a 'hendrix' set, starts with 10's, but ends in 38's, maybe that's something to look into.

https://soundcloud.com/bats-brew/headin-east-west-eq a new one. a lot of rock guitar in this one. all done direct with the Strymon Iridium, including bass parts.

hi bjorn! thanks for listening, yea, masking, carving, all good techniques. masking, you may can learn by using spectrum freq analyzers, and looking at individual tracks, and making note of where the peak, and you can assume that when more than 2 peak at the same place, once is going to dominate, or build up frequencies together so that they 'mask' frequencies that are either right next to, or an octave up or down, there's lots of play going on amongst the freqs, and you have to experiment to move peaks (and troughs) so that they all play nice. i use a good multiband parametric EQ typically, for basic eq, on most every track. but on sub busses, or more rarely, the master bus, i'll use Linear Phase EQ's so that the frequency shifts (especially hpf and lpf) don't create those nasty phase shifts. I like the Waves Linear Phase Eq for the tricky eq issues.

howdy douglas! thanks for listening man... appreciate it. i don't know what about this would give it the 80's vibe, i don't have big hair, don't wear spandex, don't sing about unskinny bops. heheheh thank you freddy! appreciate the comments

hi wookiee! thanks for listening... yea, it is hard, for everybody involved.. even from the side, you always wish you could do more, but for most folks, they have to find their own way, with a little help.

yea, it's pretty busy! and when you just have to cram fat tracks together (like the guitars), something's always gotta give... i work hard at taking care of masking issues, and carving freqs, but still end up with some compromises in places.

hottie! heheh, i appreciate the 'candor', tom... just glad you dig my stuff. thanks!

hey jesse, thanks for the heads up on the link, it's fixed now. i don't think i use too much limiter, just enough to soak up the extra headroom, i always track very conservatively, but this particular album is the last album that i'll push to somewhat 'commercial' levels, i've made that decision. the stuff i'm working on now, will be quieter, but more dynamic. stats on this version/mix: Statistics for: 07 - Bats Brew - on your way.wav Number of Samples: 11888772 ----------------------------------------------- left right Peak value: -0.90 dB --- -0.90 dB Avg RMS: -12.10 dB --- -11.71 dB DR channel: 10.14 dB --- 9.90 dB ----------------------------------------------- Official DR value: DR10

hi andy! appreciate your comments... steve hackett, now THERE"s a name that doesn't get dropped very often! i like hackett. he did some good pure prog stuff. very melodic. thanks again!

this song is for all of those who battle with addiction, and want to win the battle against it. i have a friend, who is battling against addiction, he inspired this lyric. this is a groovy, slightly progressive tune, with a swing inside a straight time sig, and a heavier 2nd half. sounds way cool in the cans.

can't get it to play

hi wookiee! dig the soundscapes, your style is becoming more familiar to me... and of course, i hear guitar parts everywhere! LOL, tho they are not needed. i think this piece of the tune must be a transitional piece, to a 'bigger picture' piece... i'd love to hear one common melody, in the background, that plays thru the spacier parts, just to tie them all together.

hey wook! i knew what you meant, sorry for the confusion. you still rock even with all that hair. ? hi bjorn, glad you checked this one out then! i think i WILL take your suggestion, and do more of these! thanks for the comment hey daryl! thanks for listening, man, and the panning... you know, deciding how hard to pan things, and when to bring them in and out, has become 'active arrangements' to me, i've not been doing things this way for very long so i hope i'm getting it!

thanks so much andy! hey douglas! appreciate the comments, yea, i dig that shure ksm44, i picked mine up used, so it didn't hurt the wallet as bad as a new one. these days, with covid and all that, i don't think i'd be brave enough to buy a used one anymore! heheh thanks alot, steve, i appreciate the support on the SC and here.

right away, i like the low end in the acoustic, it sounds full, without being boomy. good capture. vocal performance is excellent. i think the drum track sounds good, but is a bit busy for the mellow quality, i think if you simply took out every other snare double hit,, that'd do it. there are too many in a row, and it's a bit distracting. but that's the only thing i'd change. excellent captures on the harmonica, and slide. great tune.

that warms my heart, starise. good places, yes. and yea, playing like this, is PRETTY EXPOSED! LOL, but i love the expressiveness of the acoustic guitar, it's a proper real sound. immediate, requires a bit of effort and focus. i like it!

hi wookiee, thanks for listening to this one, yea, it's gonna sound a bit like zep, just because it's acoustic and rock style, but honestly, i'm familiar with their entire catalog, and i can't find anything they've done that sounds like this, arrangement wise. definitely mine originally.

hey mark! glad your diggin' this one.... def not a 'strummer', tho i'm not sure exactly what inspired this particular approach. probably something like old dan fogelburg, or eagles, or sumptin' i have some older material off of previous albums that is in this style... probably not enough to put together for an entire album of mellow stuff, but i've been thinking about doing just that.

a hottie. heheh not what i think of when contemplating the term 'hottie'. ?

hi freddy! yea, softer tune, for sure... i write a LOT of this kind of stuff, but not much of it makes it's way to bats brew albums, maybe i should have a different band for more of that style of tune! glad your a fan! thanks!

that's a really nice thing to say, david! a lot of the tunes on my previous albums have been about less positive issues! but this one is pretty straight up. thanks for listening

hey java! thanks for the critique on the mix, this one would seem to be easy to mix on the surface of it all, but blending the 4 guitar parts required some eq carving, as to not get freq masking. took some trial and error passes before it seemed to be right. the bass was probably the hardest to decide on. it's funny, but on any given day......

thanks so much man... appreciate it.