RIP, David Roback

For me, the slow-core, reverb-drenched Americana was the opposite of all I had tried to create, until I heard his and Hope Sandoval’s Mazzy Star.

Rain Parade was great, also.

Vlayman: *Happy Mountain*

1. Hurt Somebody Some Day 03:40
2. Happy Mountain 03:22
3. Bust a Nut (feat. Silversmith) 03:24
4. Skin Crackin’ 03:16
5. Angel Fall 03:47

released February 17, 2020

Silversmith: Drums, Gtrs on #3 – recorded in Commanda, CN.
Other drums is edited nettage.
Yo: all else.
Writ, playt, recorded, mixt, masturd, sequenced Jan-Feb, ’20 at Feta Central Recording DDL, souf of Chi.

Fartwerk by Jose Jones, a enthuiastic amatuer.

Dedicated to the memory of all the brain cells we lost so far this year.

bandcamp; vlayman;
THD; Geronimo Cowboys;
blog.
I mix with olive juice.

Some amp notes

Posted at lostoverture:

I gotta say I bet his volume is more like 50% tho’.

I’m gonna make an educated guess that that 1,000 watt rig is a bi-amp, which sometimes means separate power amps for different cabs, but can also mean separate power amps for different freq ranges.
Those two things are not necessarily mutually exclusive.

Another rule of thumb is that speaker surface increases volume.

100 watts into a 1×12″ is gonna be mebbe 2/3 as loud as a 2×12″, all else equal.  Mebbe less.

Typically, the loudest cabs seem to be 4×10″ for bass, because they don’t make many 4×12″ – you need 2x 2×12″.

And bassists stack different size drivers to get extra lows or mids – a controversial practice when they are by different manufacturers due to potential phase and crossover issues – but you’ll see stuff like a 1×15″ and a 2×10″, etc.
I have the gear to do that, but never had the opportunity to try it.

Loudest bass rig I ever played was a classic SVT (300 tube watts) into a fridge (8×10″).

Guitar, tho’, 4×12″ (1/2 stack) or a full stack is loudest.

When I was gigging regular in the mid 80’s I started with a 4×12″ Sound City bottom and a 50w. Silverface Bassman, and I midi’d a DOD DSP 128+ and a Midiverb into it. That’s how I started!
Did that for about 3 years. That band was heavily RHCP, but I really liked Vernon Reid. Kids came up to me at shows, and I even got a local rag write-up, commenting on the sounds I was getting:
“Hey man, are you connected to a synth?”

Next, I went to a Marshall 2554 combo (Silver Jubilee) what was a 12″ openback – a true classic.
But it didn’t have enuff bottom for me, so I added a 1×12″ Bag End ported cab with a 300w. EV as an extension, and that rocked my world for about 5-6 years.
I actually had two such amps, sold one to make rent a few years ago, still have the other. And I used the Bag End for bass for years – really until last year.
Still have that, and a 1×12″ Neo Hartke (semi-alum cone), a 1×15″ Hartke (paper cone), and my latest 2×12″ GK Neo cab. All are 8ohm except the 1×12″ Neo I got 1/2 price is 4ohms.

I also hadda Boogie Mk IIB, but it was always too loud, too heavy, too much, even with the original Power Soak I have. I used to say, “Louder than Gawd.”

I sold the Boogie to – wait for it – make rent a few years ago, but recently replaced it with a 50 Cal. Studio with the graffic EQ, and I like it better.

I have a few other amps, if ya wanna know about ’em …

Re the DALMIC *Bitch Switch* release

N said: Bitch switch
This doesn’t waste time getting going, straight into verse and chorus – the latter being particularly good. Simple structure, quite catchy, but the drummer was too busy and the guitar around 1:20 sounded tentative. The faded ending made an interesting change.

Returnity
Good title – although I could’ve done without the old drink slurp sound again. This one also gets into the chorus without hanging around, which is good. The song is concise and to the point, but might be stronger without the guitar decoration and extra voice, which I found got in the way of the main vocal.

Baby’s got boots
Very good bass sound and processing effects on the guitar. The instrumentation’s nice and sparse which aids clarity. The chorus wasn’t so strong, though, and the guitar solo was a bit ‘meh’.

Strong man
Another one that gets straight into it with no messing. It also has a decent hook, but seemed pretty much over by around 2:00. The drums were tentative.

Friendly abuse
A welcome change of tempo to this one, and the excellent bass lines and tone really helped drive the song’s air of menace. Again, the processing effects on the main guitar were very effective, but I found the lead guitar ‘decoration’ unnecessary and detracted from the thrust of the song. It wandered between 2:20 and the end, though, and the big question for me is what on earth happened to that section from 1:52 to 2:20??

I assumed this bit was the chorus but it disappeared never to be heard again! This section was the finest music in the whole of this selection of five songs – perhaps anything I’ve heard from you in months. It was superb – the interplay between that wonderful low bass and the guitar parts creating suspended chords which really ramped up that sense of menace.

Replacing everything after 2:20 with a short middle and a repeat or two or this section would’ve made the song outstanding, but even in its existing form it’s the star of this bunch by a mile. The drummer’s unvarying grace beat on the snare quickly became wearing, btw.

Overall…
Lose widdle and electronic drums.

=================================================================

G said: I think G is being a leetle harsh.

First, great songs, confident vocals.

Second, the difference in your work playing with a real drummer is phenomenal.

Third, yes, a bit too much widdle, but it’s your record.

Fourth, I liked DA’s drummage. Is there any chance you could record his MIDI send from the kit and swap in some good samples? Electronic kits sound so dated.

 

=================================================================

I said: Thanks, guys!

This was from a audition where we ran his cheap Roland into into my recorder, and my bass, also, and just jammed.

He decided that was all – and I know not why, he was gonna come back, we tried to scheddie for a week or so and then he said he was doing sompin’ else.

So all I got or will have was the drums as you hear ’em. There are no edits in the drums, other than the intro snares on “Friendly Abuse” where he was adjusting the sounds and I had to level the gain; otherwise, it’s as played, altho’ I might have cut some stuff and pasted a section or two for arrangement purposes…

Was the poor sound due to technical limits, or if we had used the drums with the guitarists before the one quit, I would have tweaked the drums further, adjust some tunings, done some replacements …

I decided they kinda had their own sound and I hadda music-free weekend so I just layed everything down, including writing, recorded over two daze, mebbe a total of 6-8 hours total.  Two of the bass tracks, “Returnity” and “Friendly Abuse”  came from the jam. One of the songs was made from splitting the drums of one of the others in half and that got a newly written bass track. The other two I replayed the bass I did in the jams to be tighter and more chord-pattern consistent.  The vox was adapted and re-sung from my ad-libs, with “Returnity” being the only new lyric.  They are all, disregarding a cuppla false starts and I think one replaced word, first takes.

I then took parts of two days to mix, waited a few days, and then tightened up the mixes; probably about 7 hours, total mix-time but I do mix as I record.

The cover was done as I uploaded the tracks taking a pic of a rackmount power suppy..  I tellya’s that because a guy on another forum recently posted:

“Vlayman. I like your tunes. Especially love how productive you are. Good stuff.

Your album covers that look like they were made 95’ Microsoft Paint made me not want to listen for a while… but this really isn’t an artist/Adobe forum is it?

Keep it up!”

DALMIC: *Bitch Switch*

1. Bitch Switch 03:12
2. Returnity 02:45
3. Baby’s Got Boots 03:51
4. Strong Man (I’m a) 04:07
5. Friendly Abuse 04:30

So a angel with angle stopped by from yon dale and played some drums on the cheapest elec-set ya could find and played like, like… heaven-like, like.
released February 1, 2020

Drums: DA
All else: yo
Prodooshed, recorded, mixt, masturd, sequenced at FetaCentralRecording DDL, on the SW side

Fartwerk by Jose Jones

all rights reserved

bandcamp; vlayman;
THD; Geronimo Cowboys;
blog.
I mix with olive juice.