When I get This High - A Captain Jimbo Original

[CaptainJimbo]

Here's a song that I've been working on for a while. It was a tough one to mix as there's so much going on in the rhythm section, (four different rhythm guitar parts all jangling at the same time, different tunings and capo postisions all over the neck, plus another four guitars harmonising the melody).

It's supposed to be a fairly laid back song about a man who has finally found relaxation, it doesn't have to be about drugs, but that seems to be the first assumption I expect most people will make. I think that it might actually be about someone dying. I'm not sure as yet.

I really like some of the lyrics in this song, particularly the line;
"I'm waiting for no one, no one's waiting for me".

The concept of "no one" taking on a persona and being there for the character I find quite comforting for some reason.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GQHGTAm4nxE

[kenny mac]

Great guitar sounds james,brilliant use of harmony guitars in the middle.
Nice laid back vibe,great songwriting  and great performance .
Bravo.

[Redler]

Laid back vibe as Kenny said!

I like a lot of the feel you've captured to this. On some spots I can hear a bit James Bond soundtrack vibes!

Fine song and performance, James!

[steelguitar]

Very nice performance and a great sounding production !

I like a lot the rythm guitars and the harmonized guitar solo

A brilliant laid back song

Jean-Sébastien

[Mach]

First off this is a great melody and song, I also dig the laid back loose feel.
Your experimental techniques with the guitars are very interesting and to me
are a success for this tune...mixed well.

I like the way the drums sound here, very roomy and natural sounding decay.
What did you use for this? Also the bass sits right in the pocket with the drum
beat and fills. Just the right amount of reverb to blend it all together.

Excellent stuff, I'm a fan.

Mach

[CaptainJimbo]

Thanks for your kind words chaps, this was a fairly complex number to put together.
The drums however was the easiest part. For all of my drumming needs I use a program called BFD which I've had for a few years now and I got to say that it's awesome! It's one of the few pieces of software gear that I've ever actually paid for and whilst it cost a couple of hundred bucks it has been worth every cent. It's basically a whole bunch of actual drum kits that have been recorded in all sorts of mic positions in a studio and played by a whole bunch of different pro players. It's quite easy to write in your own (simple) drum parts but it comes with hundreds of different grooves and fills that are super easy to dial in and edit.
I've always been a firm believer that the drums play the most important part in just about any song and I've always struggled playing with midi sounding drums. I high recommend that you check out BFD, it uses up about 50GB of space and there's a whole bunch of other sample packs of grooves and sample packs you can purchase and add to it made by various different companies. Some of the ones that platinum samples do cover a whole lot of different musical styles and are really cool.
There are other similar programs out there like Toontracks Ezi drummer or Battery but I've been running BFD2 and I do love it.

The bass is an el cheapo Ibanez model that I ran through Waves GTR3 on one of its bass presets (Mosound). I did tape a rolled up bit of felt across the strings at the bridge to act like a palm mute giving it a tighter sound, (an old Carol Kaye trick).

The guitars were what made things tricky.
I originally wrote the song late at night in the key of A. But the next day when I started recording it I realised that I'd never be able to sing the melody in that key as it was way to high. The chords were based around an Amaj7 to B-7b5 chord structure that sounded really haunting incorporating a bunch of open strings that shouldn't work but sounded great. Once I realised that I'd never be able to sing it in that key I was completely stumped as to how I could change the key and still keep those open string harmonies.
I finally settled on changing the key to E major and whilst the open strings still worked they produced a totally different vibe as they worked completely differently to the accompanying chords.
There's four different rhythm guitar parts all going at the same time. All played on my Squire Classic Vibe Telecaster.
The first is an Emaj7 open tuning (E,B,D#,G#,B,E) and plays the chord structure across the first position of the neck.
The second is standard tuning playing full chords (no open strings), again in the first position.
The third is standard tuning with the chords played up around the 7th fret and utilising open strings.
The fourth part is played with a capo on the 7th fret and then the chords played as three note fingerlings up above the 12th fret and utilising the "open strings" pinned down at the seventh fret. These particular voicing way up high gave it a bit of a faux ukulele sound.

The sitarish melody sound is four different guitars (3 in unison and one an octave below) using different effects patches and different amounts of chorus, tremolo, delay and reverb.

The harmonised guitar solo in the middle was two guitars played an octave apart.

The chords are as follows;

Intro/Outro
ll:  Emaj7  l   F#-7b5 :ll
Verse
ll:  Emaj7  l    G#-7    l   F#-7b5   l   F7b5    :ll
Solo
ll:  Emaj7  l    C#-9    l   G#-7   l   G7    :ll   F#7    ll

If you want to check out the actual standard tuning chord voicings, here they are below:

That C#-9 is a real honey.

[Rolow]

Excellent job mixing this.  When you want it to, it blends beautifuly into a single complex sound, well crafted.  But I especially like the way you moved around in the stereo field, highlighting various instruments.  This adds interest for the listener.  My only suggestion is that you could turn these selected bits up even louder.

You have a unique voice with a lot of character.

The guitar parts are well conceived and expertly played.  I too like the sound of the drums, and how they mesh with the bass track.

Well done, keep them coming!


Ron

[CaptainJimbo]

Thanks Rolow,
I kinda wanted those melody lines to be reasonably low in the mix, sort of dreamily transmitting from another dimension. Like being in deep REM sleep and yet you can faintly hear the sounds of the outside world from within the consciousness of your dreams, sometimes they guide the direction/plot arc of your dreams.
I tried to keep moving that theme around your head so as to give a feeling of uncertainty, that you could never quite pin down where that melody is actually coming from.
It is certainly more more prominent when listening through headphones, but you can still pick up that sensation of movement when listening to the song via judiciously placed stereo speakers.
I was even thinking of making them a bit quieter in the mix.

[Bluesberry]

Holy moly this is a  cool song.  Its like something from the late 60's, LA sound.  Deadly sound going down Jimbo.  Great post, great song, great recording, great mixing, great vibe, great vocals, I like them vocals.......lyrics....its a beast.

[The Gobi Desert Canoe Club]

Yeah, agree with the guys, a very stylish piece of work.    Willie