Rickresource Rickenbacker Forum

I thought I'd preview our latest demo here (you guys are always an encouraging group!)

As you may know we've started a Cars tribute called Let's Go! We plan on our having our first public performances around the November time frame. Here's our version of You Might Think by The Cars. http://soundcloud.com/lets-go-tribute/you-might-think

The bass is a 4001v64 on this track (and in fact on all the demo tracks we've made).

Please, let me know your comments, all are welcome.

Sounds like the real thing! Great job Pat!!

Yup, you guys nailed it. Great job. Tom

Pat, how come with every band you're in, you manage to sound like the original, yet you outdo it? Great work, you've got to have a magic touch.

beatbyrd wrote:Yup, you guys nailed it.

+1
Good job, Pat !

Great job! The only criticism I might have is (being a mondo Cars fan), the synth parts are maybe just a bit too "synthy" if that makes any sense...

Very nice job. excellent "tribute" sound.

First of all, thank you to each of you that took the time to respond. I know it takes time and effort but the feedback is truly appreciated.

Ronn, Rich and Tom. I know your work well and take your comments as a great compliment. Thank you.

Jake, that's about the nicest thing, I think I've ever been told. Thank you very much my friend.

CJ - I don't think we've ever spoken before but I'd love to pick your brain (being the mondo Cars fan you are). I understand your comment about the synths being too synthy. The answer may be that we really wanted to duplicate the sound of the Cars. We tried the (and kept) some of the parts on a Roland Fantom synth, but we weren't happy with the sounds. Todays synths are digital and sampled and more complex than the synths back in the late 70's. Back in the Cars time everything was analog and monophonic. The oscillators we new and raw and rich in harmonics (they also drifted quite a bit so keeping them in tune was a bear). So we went the authentic route and used a Prophet V and some monophonic Korgs. We tried to duplicate Greg's setup as much as we could. Perhaps we could have filtered them better. But we have a few more songs to mix and I certainly will keep your comment in the fore front as we work on them. Again thank you for your comments and please keep them coming.

Stephen - Thank you to. We are gonna try and do this tribute as authentic as we can.

Yeah, I know a bit about those old synths. I used to pay a few "back in the day," a Korg Lambda, a Roland JX-3P, and the biggie, a Prophet T8. I sure wish I still had 'em, but they all got sold along with the rest of my music stuff 20 some years ago when money got tight and I had bills to pay.

Anyway, I think one thing that might help the synth parts is to tighten up the attack and release time to get a punchier, more staccato type of sound, probably more the release than attack, reduce the notes ringing on. I don't really know how to describe it in text. This is mainly with the main synth part on the intro and where it occurs throughout the piece.

Then again, I'm a total techno-nerd and perfectionist and always get more tied up in trying to be exact rather than allowing for artistic interpretation. Don't get me wrong, your version really is great and I'm probably being too picky about details...

CJ - Again, thanks for the comments. I understand completely what you are saying. I've passed the info on the the keyboard player and we're going to give your suggestions a try.

I feel your pain about selling equipment 20 years ago. I did the same thing and regret not having some of that vintage equipment now.

Pat

I'm a bit late discovering this one - but nice job! Everyone in the band obviously put serious effort into replicating The Cars' sound. I'm lucky enough to still have my Prophet 600 after all these years; I got it used in 1987. I even got the Factory Preset cassette with it.