Blues/Rock 3/4 for fun, Cyber Honey by Styles Bitchley

**Styles Bitchley** · 08-20-2012, 07:46 PM

I listened to fHumble fHingaz blues tune that he posted to show off his guitar sim, and got inspired to cook up a fun kind of tune. The mix is rough, and if someone could tell me how to do a trick I'm looking for, it would be great. After the guitar solo, there's a line that says " And I shut you down when I'm through". If I knew how to do it, I'd have everything stop there, with an echo repeating on the voice, with the echo descending in pitch. I'm not sure how to pull that off, but that's the idea. There are examples of this on Hendrix' Electric Ladyland, which I think were done by slowing down the tape machine. This is a work in progress, but I thought I'd get some suggestions before I went much further.

**guitarartful** · 08-21-2012, 01:32 AM

Hi Styles;
First off; great singing, really reminds me of David Clayton Thomas, (B,S,T singer). The guitar solo was awesome. The effect your talking about used to be called "print the echo to tape" I'm also wondering how to do it in a DAW. Two comments on your recording. 1- I feel your rhytm guitars are a little too dark and compete with that wonderful blusey tone your lead plays. I suspect pulling back the 300 to 500 K frequencies would make a little more space for that rich lead tone. 2- You should consider hiring a Hammond organ player(needs more than padding) in your area to put the icing on this track as it really feels nice and natural. I don't think it needs much, as it's already filled with gobs of talent and no processor I know of can substitute for that! Thanks for sharing, Art.

**Emma** · 08-21-2012, 04:12 PM

Oh... that is SUCH a cool guitar sound!! What great playing!

I was interested in your thread title as I write quite a few songs in 3/4 and struggle to get drums that don't sound too waltzy. Actually, now I'm listening to the song a second time, I'm finding the drums may just feel a little in my way as I try to better hear that guitar.

Love the bluesy feel. My personal preference would be be have a touch more vocal and guitar pushing through. Love the singing tone and style, really sets a great vibe.
Cool song.

**guitarartful** · 08-21-2012, 05:09 PM

I'm just experimenting with "printing echo to a track" I think I can explain it from the Studio DAW, but it should be a similar approach on any other DAW.
Art.

**Styles Bitchley** · 08-21-2012, 07:04 PM

Thanks Art. On the Hammond, I've got a friend in the area that can help. I tend to just throw a drone in there, where a real player would interact a little more with the melody. On the guitars, I seem to lean towards a thicker sound, but I'll give your suggestion a shot. One of the reasons I throw things up here every once in a while is because I get to where I can only hear the whole picture and not the details, so it's always helpful to get suggestions.

**Styles Bitchley** · 08-21-2012, 07:16 PM

Thanks, Emma. I need to spend a little time on the drums, they get a little busy here and there and take some of the swing out of the song, I think that's where the waltzy 3/4 comes from. It's hard to get the drums to have that "boozy" feel in 3/4 without editing almost every phrase, but I know exactly what you mean, and I'll play with it when I can and loosen it up. Thanks for the compliments on the guitar, it's one of those instances where the sound fits the song, which makes things a little easier.

**Styles Bitchley** · 08-21-2012, 07:22 PM

Originally Posted by guitarartful

I'm just experimenting with "printing echo to a track" I think I can explain it from the Studio DAW, but it should be a similar approach on any other DAW.
Art.

Let me know what you find out, that would be great. I think the Hendrix song I was trying to emulate is "1983 A Merman I Should Turn to Be". I remember going to sleep with the headphones on to that album about a thousand times.

**guitarartful** · 08-21-2012, 08:16 PM

Hi Styles; Now I'm really stoked about your song if you get some Hammond playing respectively in the mix. Yes, I love your thick sounding guitar I would just love to hear it more in the Lead than the rhythm guitars. Any one else ever mention the similarity to David Clayton Thomas? I did listen to the entire 14 minute Hendrix tune, what an "experience"! I'm sure the used an entire multitrack to print those delays and then just mixed them in like an instrument track. Probably real time pitch shifting of the multitrack during mixdown. Very creative!
As for my emulation, I'm encountering lots of challenges with it which I won'post (for length's sake). But a fast way that may work for you, is to copy the phrase you want (slice it first) to another track, then put a beat delay on that track alone, and your DAW should allow you to change pitch on a single audio track. I'm still stuck on how to make the pitch slow down gradually (on just that track), but this may get you started.
Keep us posted!
Art

**kakeux** · 08-22-2012, 02:18 AM

Nice song!

Great singing!

The only thing that disturb me are the drums patterns. They sound to me like if you used a drum machine and loaded a rock pattern then switch the tempo to 3/4. Then the drum machine don't really know or can't humanize it and it simply puts snare hits on the 3..But that probably just taste. But a more adapted drums pattern would make the song move more "flowing".

nice one!

**fHumble fHingaz** · 08-22-2012, 06:16 AM

Very cool track once again, Styles! Songwriting, vocals & guitar work are top notch...

I'm gonna go with K on this & suggest that the drums could be improved greatly by going for more of a 12/8(?) swing feel... Not sure on those numbers exactly, but it's all about where you place the backbeat... The swing feel can be directly played by the cymbals, or just suggest by how the other instruments interact... The best way I can think to show what I'm talking about is by this clip of a Joe Bonamassa track "So Many Roads" - I think it has the kind of feel that might work:

**kakeux** · 08-22-2012, 09:44 AM

yeah, that's a perfect example of "flowing" drums! thanks Fhumble!

**Styles Bitchley** · 08-22-2012, 11:35 AM

Totally agree with everybody about the drums, it's a work in progress, and I haven't fixed them yet. I'm trying to get a John Bonham waltz feel if that makes any sense, but I ran out of time and thought I'd throw it up as is, knowing there would probably be lots of things to fix. EZ Drummer is great for the basics, but you're on your own trying to make it sound like the drummer is interacting with the rest of the band, so on a song like this I pretty much need to edit each measure, and my day job would not be happy with that arrangement.