"Ghosting" Chuck Berry, McCartney, and the Beach Boys.

[manning]

Oren.
re mixing.
well thats just great your wiling to do it.
i was just worried for you that its loads of work
if the song is to be done properly.
do you want some of my traks as just bed guides ruffs ??
to be deleted later ??
i was thinkin just the drums n rh geetar n guide vocs.
yeh i think we all know what we want on this ,
a jolly good song with lots of hooks n great sound picture.
whether the song works or not will depend on sound picture n hooks imho.
it might be instrumental to go listen to lots of old surf records to
"get the vibe".
gonna  listen to james bass now , gimme a mo'.

[manning]

oren..
wow YES !!..the drums sound lots better.
james..
bass sits better imho.
still would like to hear much higher bass slides via
a test ie..high up on bass neck sliding down.
n see how the sound picture works.
sorry mates..your prolly gonna hate on me for keep on mentioning this..lol..
but the diff tween the great songs n the ruffs are sound picture ..its vital.
particularly in this type of song.
viz we are painters of sound pictures.  
n the hooks...which is why i did what i call the las vegas ending...
the hi vocs "in malibu" at end of song.
do you feel that ending works ??  or not ??  
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------
lots of details need working on.
eg drums..where to put cymbal hits (chinas perhaps ?? )
and drum rolls..ie..what would a real drummer do ??
that kinda idea.
we need an action plan to rebuild the song from scratch.
any other instrumentation ?? organ ?? special surf fx ??
lets talk for a mo bout instrumentation for this n sound picture.
what are you good folks feelings ?? what do you hear
in your minds ?? cos its lots of likkle details
that are gonna make or break this effort.
also hit me up with any voc lyric changes you want
in the final step 2 version of the song.
gotta think bout that .  
god bless.
ps..james..
forgot to mention ..nice bass lick "wink"
at 48 secs mate.
and YES JAMES at 3min11secs..another nice "winker".
lovin it mates. but oodles of work to do.

[offthewall]

 
Certainly having a good bit of fun with this one.

  I got to admit, however, that I ain't hardly ever had anything to do with 'surf' music. It must have passed me by at the time, hardly hitting UK much. I did learn to play Wipe Out in one of my first bands.  In fact it's a term I have only recently come across and still don't know what the trademark sounds should be. I also confess to having never heard of this Mr D Dale (who has to be carefully spelled )

  Still ... no matter ... it's all good clean fun. 

 
James

[MarioD]

OK here are my first impressions.  Feel free to use all, none or some of this. If you want more, less or something else feel free to let me know.

Attached are two files.  One I added my guitar part to the existing MP3 file.  This version has a lot of reverb on my guitar part.  The second file is my guitar part sans any effects.  I thought this would be better as whomever masters this can use their own reverb so they can better match the sounds.
Also note that I am NO *** Dale!

PS – On the A chord hold in the intro and other parts of the song – that should have some vibrato to sound more “era authentic” IMHO.

Let me know what ya think - MarioD

[Oren]

do you want some of my traks as just bed guides ruffs ??
to be deleted later ??
 

Ed,
Your MP3 mix is quite sufficient to guide us, I think.
Save your upload/download capacity for the more critical detail work that will doubtlessly ensue...

James,
If that's as close to "surf bass" as you can get, we'll roll with it. ( I missed the California phenomenon, also - too busy with Johnny Winter and the Blue addiction). Call it a "style" thing - and you certainly have yours (this is good ).

Mario,
Thanks for the dry guitar track. With a little luck we can conjure up some reverb and tremolo that will take it all the way to Ricky Dale territory...

[manning]

Oren.
ok mate i'll conserve my bandwidth.
i'm sorry bout the fact i cant afford the ultra hi end isp services.
other family commitments of course like many people.

lets talk generally about the mp3 i posted.
i'm too near to it. so you folks will need to assess it in the following terms..
viz..is it a strong enough concept for a song and is the arrangement strong enough ??
this is my major concern. does it stand up ??
i wont be offended if people think it isnt strong enough.
cos to me choosing the right song concept is very important
if one is gonna do a song seriously.
also if folks can come up with a better arrangement than i with more song hooks
thats fine too.
but my major concern is..is it strong enough ??
i like it myself...but i might be wrong.

mario..
hell yeah mate..you got the vibe.
i can post a new mp3 if you wish minus my junky lead
place holder.

[Oren]

lets talk generally about the mp3 i posted.
i'm too near to it. so you folks will need to assess it in the following terms..
viz..is it a strong enough concept for a song and is the arrangement strong enough ??
this is my major concern. does it stand up ??

Ed,

It's plenty strong - our subsequent execution should take it the rest of the way home.
Your rhythm guitar tracks sound like the real thing - would you care to donate them to the cause...?...
                             ___________________________________________________________________________

James,

Do you feel inclined to see what Jamstix will come up with, using our full-band demo track as it's trigger? We might come up with some interesting percussion, even though there are drums in the source track...
 I'd like to go with that software if at all feasible, and perhaps supplement with some added percussion when extra dynamics seem appropriate.
 Worth a try? 

[manning]

Oren..
sure you can have any traks mate.
just rhythm ? or any others ??

[offthewall]

Oren,
yes, I'll give it a run when I get time.

 
James

[MarioD]

mario..
hell yeah mate..you got the vibe.
i can post a new mp3 if you wish minus my junky lead
place holder.

Manning, I rather like your lead part.  I would keep it if it where up to me.

[offthewall]

Oren,
I made another two drum tracks, as your suggestion.
Wikipedia says Classic surf drum kits tended to be Rogers, Ludwig, Gretsch or Slingerland, so I put in a Slingerland kit. I also found that there is a 'Surf' style. I've used this with two different drummers.
See what you think 

first one

 
James

[offthewall]

second one


I'll try to get some more time later to do a bit of extra bass.

 
James

[manning]

chaps.
my guide rhythm as requested attached with
a bit o' drum at front for line up mates.
(delete drum line up after lining up.)

mario..
i honestly dont think my lead is powefull enough melodically.
would you mind coming up witn something better and
more memorable ??
if you listen on you tube to the old surf examples they combined
the slides with very melodic leads.

[offthewall]

Oren,

here is an 'alternative' bass line.
I started off with the idea of matching Mario's slide parts but soon realised that this wasn't going to work. 

All it was doing was creating confusion, IMHO.
So I just continued playing, in sympathy with the part that Mario was playing, and felt that it was working out better. 

This is meant to be a part to use as a 'cut and dodge' ... to add some extra elements to the original, if you think it is needed. 

As the man said .... it's all about having fun     

 
James

[MarioD]

Interesting James, I did my part to try and compliment your bass part.

Also remember that as always I over play my parts so one can pick and choose what part(s) they wish to use.  I doubt very much that all of my slides will be used.