'This Isn't Hollywood' - New Gear Fest / Greeny Monday

[Greeny]

Hey all.

All the guitar parts for this were done on my new 3w Laney Mini-Lion battery powered amp - a mere £35 in the Andertons January sale.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=22CU5F14kOs

I bought it for sofa / travel playing, but it's way cooler than that. It connects to the Tonebridge app where you can dial up virtually any famous guitar tone you can think of. For this song I used 3 layers of guitar, all played on an Epiphone Les Paul (my sofa guitar) and recorded into the MBR through line out from the Laney:

Left channel - Day Tripper intro tone
Right channel - Doctor Robert main guitar
Solo - Queen Bitch (Ronson)

I was never happy with the previous version of this song - wrong key, and something not quite right about it, so I re-wrote the chorus and changed the key and overall feel / style. I'm much happier with it now.

All recorded on the MBR. Garageband drums, pianos and synths, plus my Fender Jazz bass (broken - both tone controls got sheared off so only the volume works, but it got 'stuck' on a great tone luckily). Vocals are through my SM-58.

The little Laney is bloody fab. Not a toy - a proper tool and pretty loud. The MBR + iPhone + Laney is a very small but powerful recording set-up.

you can walk so far
but you always end up here
you know who you are
you know what you fear
on the sorrow-go-round
on the circle line
back to the start
the boomerang of time

this isn't hollywood
this is your life and love
you're directing it yourself
and you're doing your own stunts
you're falling to the floor
you're falling to your knees
but there's no audience
and there's no oscar speech

hide in your trailer
in a broken actor swoon
by the secret sound-stage -
a replica of the moon
camera! lights! then inactivity
collapsing all around you
the flimsy scenery

this isn't hollywood
this is your life and love
you're directing it yourself
and you're doing your own stunts
you're falling to the floor
you're falling to your knees
but there's no audience
and there's no oscar speech

this isn't hollywood
this is your life and love
you're directing it yourself
and you're doing your own stunts
you're falling to the floor
you're falling to your knees
but there's no audience
and there's no oscar speech

[Zoltan]

Greeny is back... Long live the Greeny! A great song (The original version too) and i really like the tones you're getting.

But let's not beat around the bush. Greeny could get great tones out of an electric toothbrush so before all of us Songcrafters are going to run and buy that Laney Mini Lion(* i'd say... Try before you buy

(* Not to say that it doesn't sound good... More like my own "i don't want to get gas"- type of meditation.

[The Gobi Desert Canoe Club]

Fantastic piece of work, top class performance and production and that guitar sounds great.  Willie

[Farrell Jackson]

I vaguely remember this song Tim. I'll have to listen to the original version again but first off; this new version is really good. The vocal sounds like a comfortable range for you and it's a great melody and lyric. The new Mini Laney sounds cool in your song and as the video demo shows, it is very versatile for a small amp. A real good investment!

[BerryPatch]

Greeny! Wonderful to hear back from you! The recording on here is absolutely amazing! I can't believe you got such tones our of a tiny amp! I'm doing a lot of exclamation marks buy I can't contain my excitement! 

This was already a great song but it's true I think you made it even better here. It's just like what the beatles did with Revolution 1...

[cuthbert]

Great new version, Tim! And that little Laney looks (and sounds) like a very cool piece of kit. Now I want one! 

[thetworegs]

Sounds great Tim

[Ted]

I said I'd be back for another listen "tomorrow", and I let you down. You didn't have to rerecord it just to get my attention!

This is just a great Greeny song – for the Best Of album. The guitar sounds on that amp are great – not that you don't consistently deliver great tone without it.

I'm a fan of happenstance: The tone you get is the tone you can get with the limited gear you've got, however you got it. This is mostly a disposition that keeps me from going down the rabbit hole. (When I'm in Garageband tweaking a part I imported from my MBR, I can get lost in the tweaking possibilities. If I had so many possibilities – before I even recorded a single note – I can only imagine how long I'd browse and mess around.)

I was at a department store (i.e. not a music store) in Antananarivo a couple of days ago and I swear I saw that amp for sale. On closer look – and I really did have to take a close look – it was just a Bluetooth speaker made to look like a guitar amp.

[Greeny]

I said I'd be back for another listen "tomorrow", and I let you down. You didn't have to rerecord it just to get my attention!

This is just a great Greeny song – for the Best Of album. The guitar sounds on that amp are great – not that you don't consistently deliver great tone without it.

I'm a fan of happenstance: The tone you get is the tone you can get with the limited gear you've got, however you got it. This is mostly a disposition that keeps me from going down the rabbit hole. (When I'm in Garageband tweaking a part I imported from my MBR, I can get lost in the tweaking possibilities. If I had so many possibilities – before I even recorded a single note – I can only imagine how long I'd browse and mess around.)

I was at a department store (i.e. not a music store) in Antananarivo a couple of days ago and I swear I saw that amp for sale. On closer look – and I really did have to take a close look – it was just a Bluetooth speaker made to look like a guitar amp.

Cheers Ted.

I'm quick and spontaneous with GarageBand these days. I always want it to be instinctive and not fret about stuff. If there's something I don't like I'll just start the whole track again.

I think these mini-amps have come on a long way. I have a mini-Marshall stack that cost the same price and it's awful - basically a toy. These Laneys are proper amps: even the stand-alone sound / tone is great. Now I'm regretting buying the baby one as the next one up has fx on it. Highly impressed though.

[Bluesberry]

It's got a laid back groove going on.....plodding is not the right word because that sounds more languid than this ........comfortably sprawling might be a better term.....I picture you sprawled out on a velvet chesterfield......you with your velvet loungewear ......no spandex here ...........velvet on velvet................a haze of smoke wafting about the room......and this song swirling out of the evening half-light.......serious songwriting here....evocative and also damn catchy.....I don't remember the previous chorus....but what you did here is fantastic........just like the velvet loungewear you are rocking in my minds eye.....

2nd listen.......yeah baby......I love it.....I may have to get some of them velvet loungewear for inspiration......let's see what Amazon has to offer.......comfortably sprawling.....that piano really works here......and of course I am gonna say I love the solo.......cause it's damn tasty......and cause I am a solo loving kinda guy...really great song