OffsetGuitars.com

Hey guys! It's been awhile and I've had a slow year, musically speaking -- tearing apart my studio and putting it back together a couple times surely didn't help. But I've started writing and recording again and thought I'd share one of the more successful ventures. I keep threatening to put a bunch of these together in some sort of EP form, maybe I'll actually do it someday.

Please enjoy!

Every Morning

TODD, THAT'S CRAZY GOOD.

This is very good! You really did capture the 60s pop vibe. My favorite part is the transition from the verse (?) to the chorus (?).

I am listening again. This is very well-produced. You did put quite some thought into the arrangement. Can you tell us more about the synths and the drums? I am recording myself now and so would like to hear as much detail about this tune (and your process and studio in general) as you are willing to write

Now through to Fading Away. Also very good! The bass is delicious. I actually think I like this more than Every Morning. I think the verse is stronger than the chorus on this one, which always throws me off a bit for some reason.

Shit. Circus Souvenir is also very good! WTH man Will listen more closely in the morning as I am dozing off. I will make sure I follow you as soon as I remember my soundcloud password!

I didn't sleep. Urban Countryside

Dude, fuck off with these songs. It's not even the songs, it is the musicality and how tasteful all of it is. The playing, instrumentation, and singing are all top notch. I write songs all the time and I like them, but I can never 'envision' them the way you do with your songs.

I cannot believe this thread is two years old. I wish I had discovered it sooner.

mediocreplayer wrote:My favorite part is the transition from the verse (?) to the chorus (?).

This. I love how that rhythmic shift just sneaks in there.

The whole thing reminds me of some of the songs on Beck's Sea Change (this is a good thing).

Thanks, everyone! I don't know how to properly express how much I appreciate your kind words — it really means a lot, sincerely.

mediocreplayer wrote:This is very well-produced. You did put quite some thought into the arrangement. Can you tell us more about the synths and the drums? I am recording myself now and so would like to hear as much detail about this tune (and your process and studio in general) as you are willing to write...

Thanks!! I can tell you from the start, I tend to work SLOWWWWWLLLLYYY because I spend a lot of time fretting over little details. I'm not saying everything I decide on is a success, I'm saying that everything that goes into each song: the structure, the words, the tempo, the style, the arrangement, the recording process itself, and then ultimately the production is something I labor over. Sometimes I wonder if I overthink or over-render the songs, filling them with too much information, or if the words are too obtuse or too revealing, etc.

Really, it is as fulfilling as it is painful.

Anyway, to answer your questions, I used to try and record acoustic drums, but could never quite get them to sound good in my little project studio, which is just a converted bedroom (and a small one at that), so I began searching for ways to create drum tracks that still fit well for each song, either by sampling or finding loops. After a while, I started feeling like the process was too time consuming and either didn't fit the songs right (forcing me to change the feel of the song to match the loop), or it felt too restricted and robotic without it changing to fit different parts I heard in my head. A couple years ago I bought Abbey Road Drums ('60s) and started programming them. They were...okay. I kind of struggled to make them sound natural or real. Earlier this year I upgraded to Logic Pro X (from Pro 9) and discovered its Drummer plugin, which is pretty damn brilliant. It may not be exactly like having a live drummer, but it's by far the best option I've ever tried. This song was one of my first attempts at using it, and I'm quite pleased with the results. It definitely takes some getting used to, and it's a bit limited as far as different styles are concerned, but at its base I think they've got something really powerful for people like me, who work alone and late at night.

As far as the synths are concerned, I wish I had a studio full of vintage analog synths, but you know, $$$$. So I've bought a few plugins that are pretty decent, namely M-Tron Pro, Oddity2, TAL U-No-LX-V2 (Juno 6 plugin), as well as a Vox and Farfisa pair of plugins by Martinic that are really great. Like most synths, it takes some fooling around with the knobs to get away from the cheesy presets, but well worth it if you want sounds that are interesting and fairly authentic.

I've got a mid-70s Rhodes and a piano, along with a few guitars (JM, Tele, Martin, ES125, Dano12, and a Hofner Club bass). I record everything with a single mic, if you can believe it, a late-90s Røde NT2, with a Warm Audio Tone Beast TB12 preamp going into a late-90s Joe Meek VC1Q (which I only use for its optical compressor). I almost always record electric guitars through my Deluxe Reverb, and I always record the bass straight in. I have no mixing board, just the outboard gear I listed above straight into my audio interface. It's really a very humble setup, but its simplicity does help in speeding things up as I'm recording.

Mixing is such an art form. I still feel like a beginner but I've picked up a few tricks along the way from lots of places, including here. Brad and a few other members have been very gracious in passing along invaluable advice when I asked for it, and it's gone a long way for my mixes, which I think are getting better. Even within the timeframe of this thread I can hear the improvements from song to song. I don't think I've nailed anything yet, but happy with my progress, generally speaking.

marqueemoon wrote: The whole thing reminds me of some of the songs on Beck's Sea Change (this is a good thing).

You have no idea how big a compliment that is for me.

Todd -- thank you so much for the detailed response. I agree with you about Logic's Drummer. I am amazed at what it can do and how easy it is to tweak. Can I ask why do you DI the bass but mic your DR amp for guitars? Do you feel a noticeable difference between a DI guitar into one of the logic amps and the actual sound out of the DR?

Thanks again for sharing the music. It is really inspiring. I still remember two nights ago sitting there listening and thinking "OK, maybe the next one will suck", until they were all over :)

thanks


You know, after thinking it over, I sometimes do plug straight in when recording guitars as well. The amp simulators in Logic are quite good. Sometimes I want a certain feel or expressiveness that I'm unable to fully reproduce in the box, and so I feel the performance suffers. Those times I'll record the DR. Conversely, when I record bass, I tend to not use the bass cab sims, just volume riding, compression, and EQ. I guess it's safe to say I leave my options open. One of the coolest sounding solos I've done was a Tele, straight in. Nothing else in the chain, just went all Nile Rodgers with it. Fucking great.

This is some slick stuff. I envy the great production. I know how, to you, it may sound sorta rough because you know all the blood and sweat that went into it, but for fresh ears it all sounds really nice.

Jaguar018 wrote:This is some slick stuff. I envy the great production. I know how, to you, it may sound sorta rough because you know all the blood and sweat that went into it, but for fresh ears it all sounds really nice.

Thanks for that!! It's hard to be objective about it sometimes, but I know I tend to be overly critical or worried about things that most people either don't hear or aren't bothered by. But I appreciate your feedback — your old JM is all over these songs, so I probably owe you some debt for inspiration.

Wow. Just found this thread. This is great stuff Telliot. I've been listening to Every Morning, Silhouette, Circus Souvenir, and Autopilot a bunch over the last few days. Reminds me of Elliott Smith, The Shins and No. 2 / Heatmiser. Basically it sounds like the Northwest. Keep making music please.

Todd if I was given to envy I'd hate you, you seem a talented fella, you make good music that somehow gets round it being in genres I normally don't really bother with and you design cars for a living . I hope you are ugly!

Well done.

D

Sorry, David. Todd is a total babe too. I mean, me-ow!

really good stuff, digging Every Morning

You guys are awesome, thanks!

smjenkins wrote:Wow. Just found this thread. This is great stuff Telliot. I've been listening to Every Morning, Silhouette, Circus Souvenir, and Autopilot a bunch over the last few days. Reminds me of Elliott Smith, The Shins and No. 2 / Heatmiser. Basically it sounds like the Northwest. Keep making music please.

Thanks for that! I always tell people I was born and raised in the wrong region. The Pacific Northwest is somewhere I think I'd feel very at home in -- I love rain, and I love the music scene up there. Elliott Smith and James Mercer are both musical heroes of mine.