Walk on the shore

[Mudhut]

Hi Guys, here's a little tune I put together using the Micro and Audition.

If I remember rightly it's 4 guitar tacks all played on my Squire JV Telecaster, and a bass line which is the tele as well. I have added some sea samples to give some ambience. I would love to hear what you think good or bad
Thanks
Mudhut aka Graham.

[tackium]

Well definetly good!
It has a movie soundtrack feel, takes you places, I like it!

[Farmjazz]

Hi Mudhut -

I like the vibe you are getting - or, are starting to get. In my opinion the melody/lead line needs some re-working. With the ocean theme, I'm assuming you're going after the surf music idea. You pretty much got it. Aside from tweaking the reverb, etc, I'm thinking the lead line should be simplified. Pick out those strong intervals and milk them a little bit. The slow tempo evokes a contemplative mood - that matches the title - good. Bring the melody more into line with that idea.

I imagine myself strolling down the beach - the tide's coming in at a steady rhythm, but then, look - there's a little crab scurrying along next to some sea shells just laying there. In other words, your relaxed melody is occasionally broken up by an eighth note riff, (the little crab say), giving interest by providing contrast.

You might be thinking I don't like what you've done. Not so. I like it a lot. Maybe you've seen some of my posts here - I'm a sucker for the surf music sound.

With a little thought and patient re-working, this piece is a real gem. Keep what you already have and switch to another v track(s) and have a few more trys at it.

Are you recording the lead/melody guitar in stereo? If not, try it. It may give your guitar sound more depth. Make your guitar become the ocean.

Without evaluating what the backing is doing, it works. You have set the mood for the lead guitar to make a statement. Take your time, relax those hands, and tell the story.
 

[Mudhut]

Thanks for the kind words guys,

Farmjazz
I will give your ideas a go. I'm thinking of a total re-work ,starting a fresh and adding a middle eight to break things a up a bit. I will keep what you have said in mind. As to recording the lead line in stereo, do you mean using two tracks ??
One again thanks 
Graham

[SteveG]

Nice piece of mellowness there.

[Farmjazz]

Yes. Instead of recording to a single track, try recording onto two adjacent tracks, ie 1/2 or 3/4. The reason is that some effects are designed to take advantage of the whole stereo field and sound way better recorded in stereo. Monitor it in the headphones to hear if it makes a difference. Be careful not to get dizzy.

[64Guitars]

some effects are designed to take advantage of the whole stereo field and sound way better recorded in stereo.

Very true, especially on the other BR models (BR-600, BR-864, BR-900CD, etc) where many of the effects are designed to sound much better in stereo. But, in the Guitar and Mic banks of the Micro BR effects, only the Tap Delay effect is stereo (see pages 66 and 69). So, I would suggest that users always record in stereo when the tap delay is enabled, but use only a single mono track otherwise. You can easily determine if tap delay is enabled by pressing [EFFECTS] followed by [TR2] (EDT). The display will look something like this:

COSM GTR AMP
|AMP|SP |NS |fx |DLY|

The second line of the display shows each effect in the algorithm of the currently selected patch. Enabled effects are in uppercase, while disabled effects are in lowercase. Only four effects can be shown on the display so you'll need to press CURSOR [>] to see the status of the delay effect. To see whether the delay is set to SINGLE or TAP, press the corresponding [TR] button (I believe it will always be [TR4] for DLY since the delay effect is always at the end of the algorithm), then press CURSOR [>] to move to the Type parameter.

[Farmjazz]

Thank you, Sixtyfour. That's going to save me a lot of bouncing. I've taken to recording many parts in stereo, thinking it made a difference. I remember recently sampling some effects, post recorded dry, (LOC - TRACK **), and running across some that incorporated a sweeping pan type of thing. I'll have to go back and check, but I remember them being a flanged/swirling effect. Maybe the flange was "riding" on the tap delay?

It gave me dizzy feeling that lasted for hours. No kidding.
Everyone around here is suffering from intense smoke inhalation 24/7. I'm sure my resistance is down because of that, too.

Thank you for the tip!

[64Guitars]

I remember recently sampling some effects, post recorded dry, (LOC - TRACK **), and running across some that incorporated a sweeping pan type of thing. I'll have to go back and check, but I remember them being a flanged/swirling effect. Maybe the flange was "riding" on the tap delay?

Interesting. The flanger is definitely stereo on the other BRs (and quite impressive). But, according to page 66 of the manual, the Micro BR's FX section (flanger, phaser, chorus, compressor, and tremolo/pan) has only mono output. I'm wondering if that's a mistake in the manual since the "pan" part of the Tremolo/Pan effect must obviously be stereo. On the other hand, the flanger of the other BRs has a "Separation" parameter which is missing from the Micro BR according to the manual (page 68). Separation, of course, would only apply if the output was stereo, so the lack of a Separation parameter in the Micro BR's flanger suggests that it's mono.

Unfortunately, I don't have a Micro BR to actually test this. So maybe you or one of the other members could try this simple test. Edit a patch and disable everything except the flanger. Arm a single track and play some guitar. Then arm a pair of tracks (1&2 or 3&4) and compare the sound. If it's stereo, you'll hear the difference. If it is stereo, then try some of the other FX effects on their own (phaser, chorus, etc) to see if they are also stereo.

If the manual's right and the flanger is mono, then try enabling the flanger and tap delay together (but nothing else) with two tracks armed. Perhaps, as you said, the stereo effect of the delay is enhancing the flanger even though the flanger itself is mono.

[hooper]

Nice work, Graham.  I like that it's simple, yet sketchy and experimental. And of course, you can't go wrong with that ocean ambience.  Will look forward to hearing more of yours.