Rickresource Rickenbacker Forum

Here's one of my more poppy bits:

Prayed In My Sleep

Good stuff, Mark. Highly impressed, even if you consider it pop.

Thanks, Stan. I guess I consider it to be poppish, but not my todays' standards. What Brian Wilson contributed to "pop music" during his heyday is the influence I was drawing from for this tune.

Hey Mark,
I enjoyed it. What guitar are you using? I like the snappy rythym.

The intro is an Alvarez classical, and the electric tracks are a very metal-rific looking Charvel 6 string. Red crackle finish with black hardware, whammy bar - the whole bit. It looks like it belongs in Steve Vai's hands. I'll have to dig out a pic of it from the archives, which also features my very metal-rific looking hair at the time. I love the guitar. It's super versatile for recording. It's pretty much designed like a Strat with a humbucker at the bridge pos.

Very enjoyable -- it has bounce, verve.. it is Brian Wilsony but there's more there, though I can't put my finger on it right now.

Very cool Mark. It really is bouncy...I like it. I'm curious what kinds of effects and amps you were using to get that tone out of your Charvel. I had a friend in Pittsburgh who swore by his, I don' t recall the vintage, but it must have been mid to late 80s.

How cool. Should be on the radio.

Thanks for the comments, guys!

John - about the guitar effects & amps. I honestly don't remember for certain; sorry! During the recording of that album, I used pretty much whatever rehearsal studio was available to me on any given day. I think five different rooms altogether. So the gear I used was whatever was available in the room I was in. I also borrowed amps from friends, too. So although I don't remember the specifics of 'Prayed In My Sleep,' I know that some of the amps I used for the album were Marshalls - JCM 900 & 800 & a little 2x12 combo, an Ampeg Reverberocket, Mesa Boogie, Matchless, ADA... anything beyond that I would just be guessing. I used an SM-58 or 57 mic. On my recording console I've got mic sims that I'm sure I used. Not sure which - just used what sounded good to my ear at the time. I'm glad you like the sound. On PIMS, it actually got a little too distorted at the end for my taste, but one of those things I just went with in the mix.

A little behind-the-scenes info that I do recall about PIMS - I wanted to get a 12-string electric sound for the "middle-8", but I don't actually own one, so I double tracked the Charvel playing the line twice, one line an octave higher. There was also supposed to be a clarinet solo over that part. I got together with a friend of mine so he could rehearse it and figure out a line, but in the rush of getting the album finished, I completed it without ever having recorded the part. Yet I was mindful enough to give him credit for having played the clarinet in the liner notes!