Astral Code

[StephenM]

I bought a new gadget called a Trio +.  It creates bass and drum tracks while you play chords to it.  It's quite intuitive and really does some cool things... Last night I was building tracks with that and came up with this.  I messed up the bass volume on it and had to put a bass track...you might say I fired my drummer for this song...and hired a new one..the other thing I like about the new device it allows you to build up to 5 parts to a song and you can record guitar onto each part up to almost 4 minutes long each part if needed...and you can do overdubs on the fly...and sequence the parts in any order and reuse etc.

I have a few guitar parts on the trio here and recorded that into my zoom...added a rhythm guitar track.  since the trio is mono I copied the track and panned each left and right for bigger feel.  Added two lead guitar parts and two stereo vocal parts..
I got the idea for the words by singing Aerosmith songs to my track and then started writing my own...

the 315 346 6537 phone number was my HS lover's number who became my wife of 20 years...let's just say we were better before marriage...lol...anyway...some things you just never forget...

the morse code actually says "Beam Me Up Scotty" and "I am waiting for liftoff"...

I want to read you, don't know where you've been.  It's hard to see you my glasses too thin.
I have a telescope trained on you.  Your planets in orbit around my star.  Your star is bright.  It's big in the night.  Someone I know afraid of the light.  Don't try to read me I ain't no book.  Just because you think you have that look.
Star bright , starry night.  Your beams are blasting through the darkest fright.  I sense your beep tones sending morse code.  It sends shivers right down to my toes. 
Just one mistake and it's all over.  They sending transmission for that mars rover.  I sense your beep tones, sending encrypted code.  I don't know the problem but your tone is sure bold. 
Zip code, morse code.  Area hold.  315 geenyside.  828   346 6537.   that was number I'd like to forget.

[Ray Brookes]

That Trio + sounds like an interesting little device, Stephen. God only knows what they will come up with next. I like the way you change tempos in this song but what I like best is your vocal work on this track. Nice and mellow yet bright enough to shine through in the mix.

[Geir]

I got a Neil young feel from this. Crazy horse era. A really good thing in my book.

Enjoyed this a lot

[Nelson]

Nicely done it has a cool swing to it

Indeed that devise sounds very interesting

[maxit]

cool song ! and, ok, I'm far past over the 'automation', but I've to admit even the virtual bassist/drummer are cool ;-)

[thetworegs]

I get the Neil young vibe too... that trio does sound interesting good one Steve

[DarrenG / The Devil's Toupee]

That device is a cool idea, I wouldn't mind trying one myself. You've created a great song with it Stephen.
The different guitar parts sound great, nice lead solos. love the bass and drums and the morse code sounds.
Really great vocals and lyrics, yes I get a Neil young or REM sound.

[Ferryman_1957]

Love the groove on this one and the use of morse code is brilliant, it works really well. I loved the tempo changes and I too got a strong Neil Young vibe from the vox. Very cool track, I love what you have going on in this.

I thought the Trio worked well and if it allows you to write songs more quickly, I think it's a great idea. It's really clever, pity it's not stereo. But you can now play live......

A side note, panning the same track left and right makes no difference, the brain will still hear it as mono (only louder.....). You need to change one of the tracks subtly (maybe by delaying it for a very small amount of time) to create a stereo effect. Maybe you did that, it's hard to tell without listening to the bass and drums on their own. You might want to try a stereo reverb just to give a bit of width, or a subtle stereo delay effect. I would try having one mono track of the Trio and then a separate track with stereo reverb or delay on it (maybe using effects send) and mix them together to create a "bigger" sounding Trio.

[StephenM]

Love the groove on this one and the use of morse code is brilliant, it works really well. I loved the tempo changes and I too got a strong Neil Young vibe from the vox. Very cool track, I love what you have going on in this.

I thought the Trio worked well and if it allows you to write songs more quickly, I think it's a great idea. It's really clever, pity it's not stereo. But you can now play live......

A side note, panning the same track left and right makes no difference, the brain will still hear it as mono (only louder.....). You need to change one of the tracks subtly (maybe by delaying it for a very small amount of time) to create a stereo effect. Maybe you did that, it's hard to tell without listening to the bass and drums on their own. You might want to try a stereo reverb just to give a bit of width, or a subtle stereo delay effect. I would try having one mono track of the Trio and then a separate track with stereo reverb or delay on it (maybe using effects send) and mix them together to create a "bigger" sounding Trio.

You're right...now I get why it didnt seem to make much difference... I'm going to play more with this one because I really like it... I purposely was very easy with lead guitar because I loved that d chord picked strings... it sounded great... I'm with everyone...I do sound a bit like NYoung.... I noticed it years ago... it's not really intentional but I love his work so I guess I'm honored...   thanks for the mixing tips Nigel

[BerryPatch]

Love this track Steve. Like a spaced out version of Neil Young. Very creative implementation of Morse Code. I really enjoy the changes in feel, the vocals and the layers of guitar work. I love the way you play those solos