Rickresource Rickenbacker Forum

Hi all!

Since I got my Rick 12 a few months ago I have been having fun recording covers of beatle songs. I thought it would be a good way to get used to the Rick too.

Right now I am working on "Anytime at all", a great rocker. The Capitol stereo mix is helpful to really listen and find out exactly what they were doing. There is nothing very hard to play on the song.

Very soon I am getting a new Digital audio Workstation based on the RME Fireface (backordered). That should expand the possibilities.

It's great fun to do this...and it dawned on me that this could be even more fun as a group project. I could lay down a track, then email the master to someone else and they could lay down a track and so on. I am doing this all in 24 bit so the files might have to be done in multiple mailings...they're huge. I think if they were FLACed down it would help. I don't want to lossy compress anything though.

Anyone can download Reaper shareware and play with mixes...it's a great program and free ($50 if you like it)

Here's what I am using for "Anytime at all":

Lead: Rick 360-12 through Fender bright channel. Not much compression unlike Byrds stuff
Rythm: Martin D-28 (a gibson j200 would be better) Stereo mics.
Bass: 1965 Gibson EB-0 (modified with an acoustic guitar impulse file to sound more like a Hofner.) Direct. Doubled.
Drums: Hydrogen with layered Ringoesque tuned down Ludwig drum samples. Can be made to sound very good, but cymbals need to be real recordings. Drum machine cymbals=no good.
Piano: Midi Steinway samples. I need a George Martin here....
Vocals: I can't sing. Any volunteers? Most of the vocals are doubled I think.
Effects: Club impulses to try to get the room sound of abbey road...also some church impulses for long reverb. A little bit of compression here and there, but not too much. Warm sounding eq if any.

Anyway it's great fun! Even though I am using many digital tracks I am aiming for a vintage sound, just much cleaner with vastly more dynamic range. And unlike the originals bass below 50 HZ will actually be allowed! This is all non commercial of course, just for fun.

So... anyone want to participate?

Les

I could take care of some guitar and bass if you need it. let me know

Cool Nick.

I have not nailed the bass line....it's usually the hardest for me to get. I'm not sure if it was doubled, but many were. Bass doubling was a real hit maker then...Chas Chandler of the Animals started it I think.

I just checked files sizes to see if emailing is practical. At 24/44.1 each track is 10 meg. They could be broken up and glued back. Some mail servers might not like 10 meg attachments, I don't know.

I do want to keep these not lossy compressed. MP3 just sucks the life out of music for me, even at high bit rates. Beyond that Reaper can mix file formats. 24bit if you have it, 16 will do. It will be much cleaner than the originals, but one can thow in tape saturation VSTs if you want it to sound like the 5+ generation EMI tapes that they were.

For me this is like walking in Abbey Road #2 in 1964 and giving George Martin a Laptop with a firewire audio interface. What would they have done?

My Fireface needs to come before I can get going but I thought it would be good to float the idea. In the mean time I will work on the drums. It's hard to find really good samples that sound like Ringo. i'm having to mix different kits.

Les

have you tried using http://www.yousendit.com ??

you can send larger files, much easier

that looks great Nick.

I would like to have an open source project page too, but I fear bots would drink up my web host bandwidth allotment.
Also, my host only downloads at 75k....that would take two minutes per track. There might be some way though.

Les

Nick,

I have a first cut for the drums for Anytime at all. I used a great hydrogen sampled drumkit from a guy named Wolke in germany. He used some nice tube preamps and condenser mics to record it. The heads were tuned down so it sounds fairly
Ringoy.

It will be a little while before I can record guitar tracks since I am still waiting for the Fireface 400 interface to come in.
I'll do the Rickenbacker 12 through an old tube Fender 30 with clear channel/bright switch using a shure sm-57.

I downloaded some pretty good small club impulses that are close to the abbey road #2 room sound you hear a lot in the original.

Let me send you a mixdown of the drums in FLAC format. I can also send the individual drum tracks (5 stereo pairs) or even the hydrogen kit and songfile if you have that program (it's free). Check and see if I missed a beat anywhere.
I marked the middle 8 (george martin piano solo) with a temporary rimshot track.

Oh... I decided that the Bass line is not doubled. Paul did way to much improvising to have been able to double it. I goofed around with the bass line with the '65 gibson EB-0, but I had to stuff a rag under the strings and run it through an acoustic guitar VST impulse to make it sound anything like the thumpy Hofner bass. You might have something that sounds better.

So pm or email (through my site below) and tell me where to send it.

File sent Nick.

"Any time at all" take 1.

I did a quick little mix wet with the room sound of some small club in england. After you find any timing screwups I'll fix it and can send you the dry tracks. Every drum has it's own track. I didn't use any compression or eq. Enjoy. I may have turned the "drunk" knob (humanize timing and velocity) up a little too high on Hydrogen...

Les

Take two. Added kick under the crash cymbal. Also turned down the drunk control a bit. Ringo was actually a very steady drummer. Did a practice bass line with the '65 EB-0, but it sounds nothing like a hofner. More rags under the strings!!

Well thr RME Fireface interface came in, with a new DAW computer coming in a few days as well as some CAD M179 large diaphragm condenser mics. So it looks like I will be setting up gear rather than making music for a little while.
I'll try to keep in mind that "in my life" used four tracks...not the 50 or so I will be able to do....

Les

Well, all the DAW gear is in place and I'm recording again. For "Any Time At All" I have most of the basic tracks layed down but I need the piano part. I could just get a MIDI controller and do it, but a real piano would be better. I used one of my parlor guitars for the acoustic part but I think a dreadnaught would be better. I'm using a stereo pair of CAD 179 large diaphragm condensers but the sound is panned mostly right, with the rick mostly left, except for a delayed room sound on the right.

The Rick 12 went through a vintage Fender 30 mic'ed with an SM57. Sounds good.
Bass was the 65 Gibson direct but through a Fender Bassman VST.

Funny thing, it sounds way different with little or no compression... It's thin, but I like it. Compressed up it sounds very much like the original. On the original the left and right channel compressors were not set the same so when John sings all the instruments in the background suddenly shift! This is the Capitol stereo mix. They missed cranking the faders back on some of the 12 string parts too. I think whoever mixed it down at capitol was drunk or stoned.

I'll post it here soon. I need to do a lot of takes because I am so rusty. I feel George's pain. At least I can cut and paste the best parts from multiple takes and sound less rusty.

I need Piano, acoustic, and vocal tracks!!!

Les

Ok, here is the first cut. I'ts pretty sloppy. I need to practice a lot.

http://www.lmwatts.com/music/anytimeatallR1.mp3

When I mp3 encoded it kinda ruined the sound. This BTW is a mix for little computer speakers. The original is a 24 bit wave and sounds much higher quality, but the thumpy EB-0 bass just doesn't come through on little speakers-hence the remix.

I'll post the full 24 bit when I get some takes that are less sloppy.

I still need piano and vocal....hint hint...

Les

Love it Les!
I wish i had the musical "KnowHow" to be able to join you, but i don't, where it involves home recording!
Would have loved to have a go at the vocals! Congrats mate, really nice work there!

Thanks Greg!

I think the recording has a hiccup in it where I peak limited it in the office computer. I'll fix that today.
The original 24 bit has way too much dynamic range for computer speakers.

It sure is fun to do these things. The neatest thing is emailing it to someone else where they can add their part.

I'm still trying to get used to the skinny neck of the rick 360-12 though. Quick barre chord changes are sometimes a problem for me...the fingerboard just feels like a solid clump of strings. Oh well, just need more practice. Starting with the easier songs helps. And thank god for auto punch in in the Reaper software....

Also, I always thought the John Lennon parts were just flailing away at the guitar...now I realize he was a pretty good guitarist.

I'm kind of stuck in 1964-65 since I got the rick, and I want to do all the 12 string songs from the beatles, animals, etc.

Les

OK, another song!

It's "What you're doing" from Beatles for sale. Long considered to be a "filler" track, although I always really liked it.

Same instruments as before except the acoustic guitar is a Blue Ridge dreadnaught. After hearing Wes' Hofner club bass
I'm starting to want one....it would sound better than the EB-0. I can't swing $2000+, but perhaps the $450 Eastwood would do.

The mix sounds bad on little computer speakers.

The track isn't finished...needs piano parts and fadeout. Also....I CAN'T SING!!!!! HELP ME PLEASE!!! haha

http://lmwatts.com/music/whatyouredoing22jun.mp3

Les