what I use
Dear Steve (K) and Raz,
Thanks for the kudos. This really is my worst production track that I have done, so maybe I'll post some of the better stuff for comparison.
I use a Boss DR-770 drum machine. It's simple to program and has some really decent drum sounds. I always program my own patterns and then arrange the patterns into a song.
I have a F***der p-bass which is American made (early 1980's model). It actually belongs to my brother, but I've been 'borrowing' it for about 10 years now. Haha. It actually has a Kahler tremolo on it, and Seymour Duncan active EQ split pickup.
I have Ibanez RG and S series guitars (until my new Pet arrives in a few weeks), which are plugged into a Digitech RP-2000 modeling pedalboard and then directly into the recorder (i.e. no power amp or cabinet used). For that song, I cut the lead with no effects except distortion, and then added reverb afterwards (a whole lot of it, as you can hear).
The keyboard sounds are a Yamaha keyboard. I don't recall the model. It's not a true synthesizer, per se, but one of those PCM type boards. It will have to do until I decide to spend major $$ on a real synth. Actually, with some post-production magic it can be made to sound pretty decent (EQ'ing mostly), but I didn't do that here.
When I cut this track, I didn't have a compressor handy so my bass playing is kinda boomy here and there. Normally I'd squash the bass a bit with a compressor (I have a Behringer Multicom PRO) because I don't play bass enough to generate a consistent level while recording.
With this drum machine, the hi-hat is always too loud for my liking. Sometimes I'll go program lower volume (velocity) for each hi-hat note to alleviate this. Other times I'll use the 'individual output' option and route the hi-hat onto its own channel in the board, and then pull the volume down that way.
As I said, this track is barely mixed. I just pulled the volumes relative to each other, added 'verb on the lead, and dumped it to stereo. One of these days I'll clean it up and re-post it.
Until then, thanks for listening! Oh yeah, and it's all recorded on a Fostex VF-16 digital multitracker.
