Best ever cover versions!

Tired of watching some pony tailed oaf (no offense Ciaran) strumming a tuneless acoustic version of "Bittersweet Symphony" on the tube? Well here are some top covers to warm the cockles of yer jaded heart...


The Residents - Satisfaction

Brutal dismemberment of the Stones classic, out dweebs even Devo's version by some way. Reminds us there are many more things to be worried about in the world than if a girl will not make out with you (but not many).





Big Black - The Model

Talking about dweebs, check this out! Kraftwerk's cool dispassionate ode to the unattainable is turned into a nerd's stalker anthem.





Rapemen - Just Got Paid

Charmingly named and the second Steve Albini related cover, ZZ Top this time, what can I say the guy has a knack for great cover versions (still shit with names though). As funky as the original but with an writhing mass of noise where a slide guitar solo should be.






Judas Priest - Diamonds and Rust

Joan Baez folk dirge about what a twat Bob Dylan was is mangled into a storming, none more metal shriek, tailor made for thousands of screaming Japanese people to wave their arms to.





James Chance - Jailhouse Rock

Elvis provides a veritable gold mine of cover versions that out do the originals, check out this racket, worth it just for the intro.

No embedding with this mutha unfortunately:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XNry5C4PIrM



John Cale - Heartbreak Hotel

If there was ever a song for a miserable Welshman to sing this is it. Years of bitterness about how Lou Reed wrote all the best songs for the Velvets come to the surface in this suicide note in song.





Annette Peacock - Don't Be Cruel

If you like your dose of The King delivered as a sultry samba the eccentric Ms Peacock is your woman. Just bought her long unavailable album "I'm The One" for £30, signed and everything..





Jimi Hendrix - Come On

Better know for his Dylan cover I like this off the cuff version of an old New Orleans classic because it captures Hendrix at his most exuberant. You can almost hear the strings snapping on the fret board as he wails away, leaving the white boys in the rhythm section for dust.





Dinosaur Jr - Just Like Heaven

As with most of J Mascis' work it's hard to tell if this is a genuine tribute or a piss take, but isn't that the best thing you can get from a song? I hate The Cure but I love this so if it's a tribute it's worked.





Muddy Waters - Mannish Boy

Credited to Muddy but pretty much a straight lift of Bo Diddley's "I'm A Man" this is what most people think of when you say the word "blues". Bo's swaggering original is turned into something monumental, if you are looking for the roots of heavy metal you could do worse than this.





Van Halen - Ice Cream Man

The boys did a blazing version of "You Really Got Me" but I like this one as firstly nobody has heard of the original and secondly it's possibly the first time ever where a white heavy metal cover of an old blues song actually captures the raunch, swing and humor of it all.




peace

Maningrey



"Best ever cover versions!" > read the full post

DIY PAD cable

I was having a few difficulties recently when trying to record drums with the C24 in studio 2 - even with the mic gain turned all the way down, we were still clipping the inputs to Pro Tools.

On the day of the session I worked around this by using external mic pre's, but I wanted a better solution.


A little bit of research and soldering later, and I turned up with this:


(at the other end of the lead is a standard XLR female connector)

The circuit fits quite neatly into the chassis of an XLR male connector (it's important to make sure it goes on the desk input end of the signal, so I'd avoid wiring this into a patch cable), and does the job quite nicely.

I made the cable about a foot long, and you simply daisy chain it to the end of a mic lead. They've turned out to be so useful, I'm in the middle of making another half dozen of them.


"DIY PAD cable" > read the full post

SE Voodoo Ribbon mics - active vs passive

I remember when SE mics came out, we all assumed they were just another company ripping off classic European mics for budget prices. Turns out we were quite wrong! SE have introduced some totally new concepts (take the Reflexion filter for example - why did nobody think of this before?), and developed their own technology - the capsule design on the Voodoo ribbon mics being a case in point. Designed by Siwei Zou (the CEO of SE), it extends the hi frequency response of the mic, giving us what is said to be the first ribbon mics with a 20Hz to 20kHz frequency response.

I managed to get my hands on both the Voodoo VR1 and VR2 mics, so I though I'd check them out, and see what the differences are between them.




The two mics have identical capsules - the VR2 is the active model, so has an extended body to fit the amplifier circuitry (Careful putting the two up against each other though - the magnets are strong enough to stick them together!). Both look pretty unusual - but at the same time, pretty cool. As with all ribbon mics, it's essential to treat them with care, so there's a small drawstring bag included to cover the capsule when moving the mic (the saying with ribbon mics is "bag it on the stand" - simply waving the mic though the air can be enough to damage the ribbon - it's only 2 micrometers thick!). In practice, the bag is a little fiddly, so it might be worth investing in something like an iPod sock to do the job.

The Test Setup
I decided to put the ribbon mics to a classic purpose - guitar amp recording. I used a Fender Strat (Rory Gallagher model, set to neck pickup), and a Vox AC30. I let the amp warm up for an hour, and played around with the tone settings until I found something I liked (which honestly doesn't take long with that set up!).

To keep the performance consistent, I DI'd a guitar take into Pro Tools, then used a Radial Pro RMP re-amp box to feed the performance back into the AC30 through a Soundcraft Reims console.

After setting up the passive VR1, I played around with the mic position until I found a sweet spot. I quickly recorded the re-amped performance, then swapped over the VR1 for the VR2, positioning the capsule in as close to the same spot as possible.


The Results
Both mics sounded great - I have a couple of guitar tracking sessions coming up soon, and can see them getting quite a lot of use. On paper, both mics have the same frequency response, so I was surprised to hear as much difference between them as there was.

The passive model definitely picked up more room sound, and the active model had a fuller low end. On balance, I'd choose the sound I got from the VR2 over the VR1, but only just. The only thing I can put this down to is the mic pre settings (the VR2 has a much higher sensitivity, so although I took care to match the record levels, the mic gains had to be significantly different).

The oddest thing I noticed was that the mics are wired phase-opposite - definitely something you should be aware of when putting multiple mics on an instrument (and simultaneously using a ribbon mic with an SM57 is pretty much a standard guitar recording technique). OK, simple enough to fix, but a bit of an oddity all the same.

The Final Word (for now)
I'd like to put the VR1 to test with a few different mic pre, just to see the kind of difference that makes (I'll try this over the next couple of weeks), but if you have a lower end interface, it might well be worth stretching your budget to the active model, and letting the inbuilt mic circuitry take the strain. However, whichever of the two you go for, you won't be disappointed in their performance.


"SE Voodoo Ribbon mics - active vs passive" > read the full post

first impressions of The King of Limbs

Last week I pre-ordered the full package, vinyl+CD+artwork+download for £33, and yesterday was the day you could start getting your download, while the rest will arrive by post eventually.
It could have been £3 less choosing to get the download as MP3, but since there was no indication of how these were produced* I thought I'd pay a bit more for the bandwidth and get full-quality Wavs.

And just to give you the full picture, if you don't believe in material things you can get just the MP3 for £6 or just the Wavs for £9. Very fair.




"first impressions of The King of Limbs" > read the full post

Papa Sangre - a binaural computer game

Been having fun with this for the past day or so. A game for the iPhone (3GS and up), that uses binaural processing to place you in a surround-sound acoustic world. Play with your eyes shut, and navigate a pretty scary game......

Check out the demo video here, and head to the App store to try it out for real!

"Papa Sangre - a binaural computer game" > read the full post

01V96 rhythm section

Have to try this some time - we have an old Yamaha desk kicking around somewhere... (not to mention a Mackie d8b, and a few dozen MIDI controllers...)

"01V96 rhythm section" > read the full post

Heavy metal band names flow chart!

There's a whole bunch of cool flow charts here, but this is my favourite...

"Heavy metal band names flow chart!" > read the full post

Slayer! In Christmas lights!

I know it's not time for Christmas stuff yet, but to celebrate my 500th post, here's Slayer, but, like, Christmassy....

"Slayer! In Christmas lights!" > read the full post

Otamatone Jumbo!

I picked up an Otamatone in Japan earlier this year (now available at Amazon and as an iPhone ap), but I wish they had one of these - the Otamatone Jumbo!.......

"Otamatone Jumbo!" > read the full post

Look after your ears

Tinnitus and the dangers of clubbing too hard.



"Look after your ears" > read the full post

Something big on the way for iTunes....

Rumours are it'll be music streaming - something on the lines of Spotify. Come back tomorrow to find out!

"Something big on the way for iTunes...." > read the full post

Happy 40th to Rush...

Here's Tom Sawyer with the kids from South Park...

"Happy 40th to Rush..." > read the full post

Jon Bon Jovi Likes Cup Noodles.....

We saw Jay Kay was a fan before, but here's Bon Jovi selling Japanese pot noodles....

Once more, the evil effects of illegally downloading music show themselves.

Apparently translates as:

"the son is third grade of junior high school.

He was studying for his exams.

But Cup Noodle for midnight snack

His Mum has forgotten it.

The son......

Sulked."

Mmmmmmm. Not poodle......

(Thanks to Yohei for spotting that one)

"Jon Bon Jovi Likes Cup Noodles....." > read the full post

Korg iMS-20: Transform your iPad into a complete analog synth studio

Korg has just released another virtual instrument for the iPad - the Korg iMS-20, a software recreation of the classic Korg MS-20 analog synthesizer.......

According to Korg, the Korg iMS-20 "transforms your iPad into a complete analog synth studio."

Product Highlights:

- A complete recreation of the legendary Korg MS-20 analog synth

- Built-in 16-step analog sequencer to control the sound

- Music production studio with the MS-20 mono synth, a six-part drum machine, and a mixer

- Kaoss Pad function allows intuitive performance and control

- Publish and share your iMS-20 songs online with the SoundCloud audio platform

More details on specifications here, and buy it here.



"Korg iMS-20: Transform your iPad into a complete analog synth studio" > read the full post

"Down On Me" - Keenan Cahill featuring 50 Cent from Chelsea Lately

I'm not sure if you have seen this YouTube sensation already... Keenan Cahill, over 1.22 million views.







""Down On Me" - Keenan Cahill featuring 50 Cent from Chelsea Lately" > read the full post

Remember Remember...

The 5th of November, gun power, treason and fireworks enjoyed from the roof of the LSS South Campus in Clapham....



....you can enjoy both the massive Clapham Common shebang and a couple of others over by Canary Wharf, while drinking cans and swirling sparklers. Narrowly avoided spending the night up there when the roof door was blown shut but help arrived just as it started to get nippy..











maningrey





"Remember Remember..." > read the full post

Yes, it's Free Plugin time again

Found quite a stack of them this time....

Melda Productions do a variety of plugins, from drum plugins to time correlation, and at tempting prices.

Give a few of their free ones a go (I'm torrenting their MDrummer Small as I write this (yes, legally)), see what you think (look for the bottom of the page for the free stuff).

"Yes, it's Free Plugin time again" > read the full post

Do low frequencies make you see ghosts?

Heard about this years ago - (how certain frequencies can cause your eyeballs to resonate, making you think you see movement in your peripheral vision). But is this true, or as real as the South Park brown noise?

Read this to find out?

"Do low frequencies make you see ghosts?" > read the full post

Katsura Strobe Tuner

Thanks to Dirty Singh for this one.....

Katsura Strobe Tuner is a shareware ap, that's a very affordable way to get a strobe tuner on your Mac. If you've not used a strobe tuner before, it's a much easier way to tune that the traditional needle-pointer.

Might give this a go myself - there's a 90 day free trial, but my tuner needs are currently met by PolyTune on my iPhone (they gave it away for free for a very limited time - as a few lucky blog followers found out). You wouldn't think a polyphonic tuner would work, but it does - and the individual string tuning is the best I've used without a strobe.

"Katsura Strobe Tuner" > read the full post

Nebula Free Bundle - now in AU format

Time to see what all the hype has been about.....

There's been an amazing buzz about Nebula for a while now, but as a Pro Tools and Logic user, there wasn't really much chance to play with it. Acustica have finally released the Nebula free bundle - a fully functional, limited feature version of Nebula.

What is it? Well, from their site blurb:

"Nebula emulates the character and personality of analog hardware with exacting accuracy. Whether it is high end outboard equalizers, classic compressors, the latest reverbs, or vintage time-variant effects like phasers and flangers, Nebula has them all. With a large library of free included presets, you'll be adding the warmth of analog to your digital mixes in no time at all.

Nebula is a VST multieffect plug-in that is able to emulate and replicate several types of expensive audio equipment, eliminating the need for costly and bulky hardware. Nebula uses libraries which are created using a sophisticated “sampling approach” making it possible to “record” aspects of the sound of audio devices and play them back. Our sampling process results in highly realistic, complex emulations of many types of audio processing devices that can then be used to process any audio signal digitally, all within a VST plug-in that is compatible with all major DAWs and editing software"

Nebula Free gives you:

• Nebula3 Free (CoreII Engine): the free VST and AU multi-effect plug-in
• N.A.T.3 free: the free FX Sampler

• The free library: small, fully-functional preset library.

If you like what you see, the full version of Nebula is only €119, and can be expanded with 3rd party libraries. In the mean time, get the free version here.

"Nebula Free Bundle - now in AU format" > read the full post