New New Shoes

Chococat asked about a stripped version of this song I posted a few days ago. I tried and failed.

I tried, I really did. But it was shit. So I redid the original version with a new vocal and new EVEN MORE SEVENTIES backing arrangement and new mix, and I like it a whole lot better. So thanks, Chococat, kind of!

People are always asking me for stripped down versions of my stuff, but I'm mostly incapable of it. This is just how I hear it, from the time I start working on the song pretty much. It would be interesting to work with a producer who wasn't me to see what happens.

• play
• pause
• stop
• min volume
• max volume

posted by unSane (19 comments total)

This is loads of fun! Good decision to up the 70s. I especially like the organ and the electric guitar at the end.
posted by Corduroy at 2:27 AM on November 19, 2012

Sounds good.
It's hard to hear stuff differently from how you hear it, if that makes sense. I have a major issue in that area.
I was just curious as to how it would sound with without any "production." Not a better or worse situation, buy any means, and certainly not a failure. Great song.
posted by chococat at 10:56 AM on November 19, 2012

It's mostly that it's next-to-impossible to play solo on the acoustic because it's full of weird friggin' chords and a modulation that means that if you capo it so it's easy to play in one key, it becomes a nightmare in the other. But I'd still kind of like to have a shot at it. I've worked out a few substitutions that make it almost playable. If I can manage it I'll post a little video here.

I almost tried to play it live last week at a little showcase they have in Owen Sound but that was when it became obvious that it was going to take some figgering out.
posted by unSane at 1:12 PM on November 19, 2012

I'd say it sort of begs the solo piano treatment, rather than guitar.
Guy and a piano. Nice room. Microphone. Bob's your uncle.
posted by chococat at 1:17 PM on November 19, 2012

Heh, all right, I'll give it a go, but my piano has a lot of ... character .. right now.
posted by unSane at 3:05 PM on November 19, 2012

Ok, here it is. I cheated, actually, as the house was full of screaming children and barking dogs but you get the idea. Rather terrifying to hear your singing and piano playing as naked as that.

For a lark I recorded the vocal with a $40 CAD drum mic with the headbasket off, which Michael Joly reckons is not far off an SM7, and actually it's a really good vocal mic like that. Which is a good thing, because it's a totally shitty kick drum mic.
posted by unSane at 5:43 PM on November 19, 2012 [1 favorite]

I don't know if anyone's interested but I've been making fakesheets for all my songs for the other guys in the band so you can see this one here and browse everything here. Words and chords, basically.
posted by unSane at 6:29 PM on November 19, 2012

Yes, you are a cheating cheater. Ha!
But who cares because that version is my favourite of them all. Really great. Works on a totally different level.
posted by chococat at 7:51 PM on November 19, 2012

I really like this version the best, I think. Yay '70s! I dig the harmonies on the chorus.
posted by Karlos the Jackal at 8:48 PM on November 19, 2012

Yeah man, that is a balls-out arrangement. I'm a sucker for an organ if you know what I mean.
posted by uncleozzy at 8:46 AM on November 20, 2012

Truly excellent recording - separation, balance etc top notch. Disagree with Choco re piano solo - guitar solo is obligatory I reckon - so good call. The song doesn't really connect with me mate - but that's no reflection on its qualities at all and simply a matter of taste. I'm finally about to dip my toe in the water re some half decent drum samples and Father Christmas is looking seriously at the NI Abbey Road range. Can't decide whether to go with the 70's or the 80's kit (60's looks to be a bit limited). Did you use one of these here??
posted by MajorDundee at 11:28 AM on November 20, 2012

Thanks, Major. This is Abbey Road 60s with the blues/rock preset. I've found with the latest Abbey Road stuff that the presets are so good I don't have to break it out into separate drums, which I always used to do. I can't speak to the 80s kit but the 70s one has some great sounds. Our drummer uses that as the set he triggers from his Zendrum. It's also worth looking at Studio Drummer -- I think it's got less character but the three kits they give you are radically different.
posted by unSane at 1:29 PM on November 20, 2012

PS, if you hold tight, NI have some terrific sales now and then.
posted by unSane at 8:11 PM on November 20, 2012

The only thing that's holding me back just a little isn't the price (it's under £100) but comfortably understanding how to manage a recording that starts life on my "hardware" Yamaha AW2400, gets transferred somehow onto Cubase (or the Kontakt thing bundled with Abbey Road) so that I can record some decent drums before transferring back to the Yam for further recording/mixing. Or being able to record the drums directly onto the Yam by remotely triggering things via a midi link to my Korg keyboard. Or whatever. Basically how to get the fucking thing to work without it being a pain in the arse. Guitarist see - plug it in, crank it up. Anything more complicated than that and most of us head for the bar and leave it to the crew to sort.

I guess a lot of MeFites would find this laughable, but I really do struggle with computers and trying to get things to talk to each other via midi etc....
posted by MajorDundee at 12:57 PM on November 21, 2012

I would imagine your best bet would be to take midi from the Yamaha, send it to a simple midi interface (maybe your sound card has one, or get one of these, which plug into a USB port).

Then you have Kontakt running in your PC or laptop, and set it to listen to that midi port, and you should now have live sound coming out of the soundcard, which you can send back into your Yammy, and record on a stereo track.

Basically you're just using your PC as a midi instrument is all. Imagine it's a rack sampler and you'll be golden.

You can download the free Kontakt player to muck about before committing.
posted by unSane at 6:06 PM on November 21, 2012

What did I tell you? There's 50% off Native Instruments right now, as part of their Black Friday promotion.
posted by unSane at 11:30 AM on November 22, 2012

Yup. I'm now the proud owner of NI Studio Drummer! A steal at £60 I reckon. I thought it offered more range to start with - if I get on with it I will gradually add the Abbey Road stuff to the library. Many thanks for the advice
posted by MajorDundee at 1:20 AM on November 23, 2012

Also - and totally nothing to do with this - have you clocked that A Walk Across the Rooftops and Hats have been re-released in fab double cd, remastered, previously unreleased extra tracks gloriousness??
posted by MajorDundee at 1:23 AM on November 23, 2012

Ooh, no, I missed that! *fires up iTunes*
posted by unSane at 4:11 AM on November 23, 2012