Rickresource Rickenbacker Forum

We're working on one of mine with the band, so yesterday I cut what will essentially be a stereo rhythm/chime track on the twelve and thought some folks might find the technique interesting. It's my modified 370/12 with TI Jazz Flats. I ran the bridge and neck pickups (like a 360/12) through the JangleBox and then into one of my Vox Pathfinder Super Mini-Stacks with four 8" speakers. I have the middle pickup wired independently, running to the other jack and it was sent straight into my other Mini-Stack. This one has two 10"" speakers and the un-Jangle-Boxed sound is a little deeper and more mellow. The cabinets were then placed facing each other about two feet apart, the volume was cranked up pretty well to get the speakers moving and I stuck a Shure SM58 microphone right in between them and played and recorded the track in mono. Then I did it again on another track, playing essentially the same stuff, but not worrying too much about making it an exact copy. The two finished tracks were panned well off to the right and left and bounced down to make one stereo track. The whole track is essentially four minutes of this stuff, which we will bring in, out, up or down throughout the tune as desired, once we get all the instruments in the mix - but there is a short sample of the sound below. It's probably a bit brighter than we'll need, but it's always easier to roll off some brightness in the mix than to add some that isn't there in the first place. I didn't boost the bass much on the amps as there will be both a piano and the bass covering most of the notes down low and the function of the twelve is mostly just to add the jangle. Keeping the sound pretty much up in the "rarified air" and panned away from front and center helps prevent mud in the recording. I flat-picked the tracks using a very light touch and a thin, Dunlop .46mm nylon pick, which tends to accentuate the octave strings and be quite bright. No echo, reverb, EQ adjustments or other effects have been added yet, and this is a pretty faithful example of what was coming out of the amps with the additional "Surround-Sound" effect being created by the double-tracking. It's a pretty good way to generate a rich, full, jangle sound without just cranking the volume.

Here is the sample:
http://webpages.charter.net/tbradshaw/M ... sample.mp3

I could loop this and listen to it for an hour. Wish I could play like that and/or get that sound on my recordings. Last night, I tried over 40 takes of the intro to Chimes of Freedom and all I got was frustrated - no keepers. Anybody got any 'Instant McGuinn" pills? Sheesh!

Tom

clean Todd, very clean... I liked it!

Ah, this music plays in the waiting room for Heaven.

A German friend of mine told me of hearing Rickenbackers for the first time as a child (Byrds) and asking his father, "What is this instrument -it sounds like strumming bells?".

I'd love to hear this in a full song.
The 'holy grail' of jangle.
Marvellous.

Bob, You can hear the original demo that I made when I wrote it. I did it in my office, played all the parts myself, tapped out the drums on the keys of my old synthesizer and used the Voicetone "Harmony G" stompbox to do the harmonies. I cut the vocals while my wife was mowing the lawn and had to time the recording between the lawnmower passes outside the window. The new one will be cleaner and will have real musicians and more instruments. Real voices, too - though we may have to put a clamp on somebody's gronicals to hit those high parts. Were shooting for more dynamics in the new one, rather than just start it up and drive all the way through. Maybe a little more mellow in places and a bit more transparent mix. We'll see. Right now, we're working on the guitar blend, which is proving to be surprisingly tricky if we want to keep it from getting muddy but it's nice to have real guitar players to work with. I can play a Rickenbacker twelve decently, but I'm not very good on other types of guitars and most of my "lead" playing sounds like bass parts cranked up an octave. The demo is here (click on Desert Rain).

http://www.broadjam.com/artists/home.ph ... sionINDEX=

By contrast, here is another office recording where I ran the twelve just as a single track and it would have been more interesting to double the part and do it in "surround sound". These days, I double-track just about everything, in case I decide to use it later. It only takes an additional three or four minutes. The "normal" twelve that I'm talking about comes in toward the end of the song. The first guitar you hear in the song is also the Rick twelve and runs all the way through, but I used just the neck pickup and played it with a rather curious bare-handed , thumb-tapping, plucking and almost-claw-hammer technique on the right hand. The "spaghetti western" six string lead in the middle is my Yamaha Silent Guitar and there is a faint track of my Takamine acoustic six in there somewhere. Bass is the Hofner V63 Beatle.

http://webpages.charter.net/tbradshaw/M ... wayman.mp3

teb wrote:Bob, You can hear the original demo that I made when I wrote it. I did it in my office, played all the parts myself, tapped out the drums on the keys of my old synthesizer and used the Voicetone "Harmony G" stompbox to do the harmonies. I cut the vocals while my wife was mowing the lawn and had to time the recording between the lawnmower passes outside the window. The new one will be cleaner and will have real musicians and more instruments. Real voices, too - though we may have to put a clamp on somebody's gronicals to hit those high parts. Were shooting for more dynamics in the new one, rather than just start it up and drive all the way through. Maybe a little more mellow in places and a bit more transparent mix. We'll see. Right now, we're working on the guitar blend, which is proving to be surprisingly tricky if we want to keep it from getting muddy but it's nice to have real guitar players to work with. I can play a Rickenbacker twelve decently, but I'm not very good on other types of guitars and most of my "lead" playing sounds like bass parts cranked up an octave. The demo is here (click on Desert Rain).

http://www.broadjam.com/artists/home.ph ... sionINDEX=

Considering the limitations I think this is wonderful.
The only thing that spoils the track for me is the drum sound, but otherwise a great song that could've been a Byrds track.
Thanks for sharing.

Great capture of the signature Rick 12 sound, Todd. You definitely have the McGuinn recipe figured out! Nice bit of engineering; thanks for the walk-through. I particularly enjoyed this passage:

"I cut the vocals while my wife was mowing the lawn..."

Now THAT is livin' the life, I tell you what! Keeper you've got there!

Yes, I do - but I didn't have the nerve to say "Honey, could you keep it down, I'm in here trying to do some serious singing......"

Ever see a lawnmower come flying in through a window?

HA! No; and I hope I never do.