Me and 3 other feeble old men are trying to put a band together. I suggested taking a stab at Bold As Love since Jimi is a huge inspiration.
Just putting it up for fun, it’s not really mixed and it is EZ Drummer 2 since Mitch Mitchell wasn’t available.
I smell incense and hippie lettuce.
Okay Feaks and Stan I made a couple of tweaks. The voice sounds out front to me now, and I got rid of most of the plosives. I fattened up the bass a touch and used a different drum kit woth more ambience. Bringing down the guitar master a hair made the voice stand out better. Let me know if this helped.
Don’t forget some Purple Haze … 'Scuse me while I kiss the sky
Sounds pretty cool, but I’m making allowances for it not being mixed. Some awesome guitar soloing in there. I think I got a sense of the soulful vocals, though the vocals probably need to stand out more in the mix and be heard more clearly.
Since it’s me singing, I have a bias for hearing myself too well. I’ll listen again and see how much more of myself I can stand.
Thanks for your help.
Ha reminded me of " Me and him and this other fool Decided that we’ll drink up whats left chug-a-lug so I helped myself
Wow no doubt a hendrics influence. Sexy first comes to mind. Lots of slides that are much fun fun. Your voice, so three dog nightish is killer but too far back in the mix on this first take. This is really good bud. I see lighters/iphones wavin in the are. That guitar break gave me chills man. so yesterday it hurts a little. I don’t have enough words yet. ha ha Gonna put this on some serious speakers and get messed up…so glad you came alive again
This is really awesome.
Everything in this recording is really good.
I love the vocals, and most of all the guitar solo, all the way to the end of the recording.
And I think I felt my hair growing longer, truly impressive.
A work to be proud of!!! Mixed or not, superb recording!!!
Rene
Thanks Feaks, I’m working on some plosives so I can get the vox up a bit. This song epitomizes Jimi’s blend of R&B and monstrous guitar. His playing around the melody was astounding at the time. Big inspiration.
Thank you, Rene. From a musician like you that’s a big compliment. As I’m sure you know, when you play music that means something to you it’s a lot easier to put the effort in. I think a lot of younger players don’t understand the impact Jimi had. The Brits were rehashing American blues and bubblegum was all over the radio. Then you heard Hendrix and thought this guy’s not from this planet.
Lovely reply, Bob!
Hendrix is a genius, and way ahead of his time.
We are so fortunate to have The Hendrix Experience!!!
Great to hear your comments.
Thank you.
Rene
Put a little revision up with more vocal presence.
I hope the revised mix will help you get messed up if you want to.
Yes, voice is much more up front now, and is sounding good I think. I’m now noticing the lead soloing more, though it had a strong initial impression. That lead stuff is really impressive in the Jimi style, really fantastic. You clearly did some studying son! It also seems in v2 you minimized the wild panning of the lead solo, which in v1 (now that I listened back) was rather distracting. v2 seems to have mostly done away with that.
This particular song is not one I remember all that well from Jimi. I’d really look forward to some of the more popular and memorable songs he did, maybe Voodoo Chile or The Wind Cries Mary, if you’re looking for further material for The Old Guys Band.
Thanks, Stan. I noticed the wide panning too. Guess I was channeling my inner Eddie Kramer. He really got into the extreme panning; I think back then he needed movement to make up for a lack of tracks.
If it were up to me, I’d play a ton of Hendrix, but it’s a 2 guitar band so I can’t be that selfish. Hey Joe, Wind Cries Mary, Voodoo Chile (slight return) and Still Rainin, Still Dreamin’ would be staples. Even the ducks can groove on a rainy day.
The hardest part of Jimi to cop is his reckless abandon. I wish there were videos of him doing takes that didn’t make it. I’m pretty sure Eddie Kramer had a lot of fun recording him.
Back in the day, it was fun. Somebody had to do it. Not so much here in the 21st Century I suppose.
He was one of a kind for sure! There are stories of trying to keep up with his effects pedals and such, and nobody can be quite sure what happened. Even with EVH, we know the MXR 90 delay/flanger was a staple, and his guitar mods and amp choices/mods are pretty well documented. Maybe people started paying more attention after realizing their psychedelics may have inhibited their documentation skills. That said, San Francisco apparently just decriminalized plant-based psychedelics. Now if they can just address their homeless population?
1,000 percent better. “That voice” has to lead and it does now. The big bummer for me is that originally, I was so excited about hearing your new song I didn’t read the part that it was one of Jimi’s song list. I thought it was original. Either way tho, it is killer. One of the best, if not the best, I have heard on this forum.
I played this for my wife and she gave it a big thumbs up. I told her that i was going to put it on a cd and play it on our road trips. She said “hon, don’t you remember our car doesn’t have a cd player” a 2020 Camry go figure…congrats again ole friend…like the Feaks reference…sounds like a jerky senior citizen condition…perfect
I did find some videos of hey joe and purple haze, but not this one. We never attempted his stuff because we were a dance band. Couldn’t have done it anyway.
I listened to it naked.
I’d give it 2 thumbs up,
but my hands are covering my
privates.
Promise you’ll close your eyes
and don’t peek? Okay, here goes…
Thanks. I am glad you didn’t give it three thumbs up, though.
Hey Bob!
Seriously, I actually thought your original mix was a live recording - it really captures that feel.
I’m gonna go against consensus and say that I much prefer the original version of the mix.
For me, although I like the up-front vocals in the second mix, they don’t mesh as well with the music. They sound a little too out front, and in terms of how that affects the listener’s perspective, it takes some of the power from the music, IMO (if that makes sense).
I like the low end better and the kick an snare in the second mix too, but the hihat is overly loud in the second mix and really grabs my attention too much. I think that might be a function of the room mics on the drums being smashed more - cymbals tend to get really loud and obnoxious when the rooms are loud and smashed with compression.
I love the feel of the track - performances are great, and it sounds like you had a tonne of fun!
Yes, it’s probably in between the two mixes. I did push the overhead channel a touch on the drums; I think the hi hats sit right where I have a deficiency in my hearing.
I’m obviously not trying to release this for anything other than fun, but I may give it another pass. To me, the highlight of the original is Jimi playing around without ever really emphasizing the chord sequence. Each change is a hammer on or pull off playing an inversion using his thumb on the bottom. That’s what makes the song for me, and I think I adapted to it pretty well. Backing that down a bit in the second mix lost a little of the playful guitar that should be the focus.
I was also trying to give the second guitar part some structure to give my buddy a good starting point for how both parts should intertwine. If it was just for me, I’d probably work the playful side of it more, but that wouldn’t leave much room for a send guitar.
Thanks for your ears, I’ll try to reach a happy medium of not losing the voice but keeping the focus of the song where it needs to be.
Can you imagine trying to sing those lyrics and playing all that stuff at the same time?
Just so you know, we had a band practice Saturday and I busted out Hey Joe. 4 old guys playing with joy was a lot of fun. I know each generation tends to have different influences, but when you’re playing music that means something to you it really shows.