This is what happens when I write and record two songs a week for a year.
The sky looks like it is bleeding diamonds
Smoke looks just like a thousand garlands
I'm trying to find the words you want to:
Hear me know 'cause I've heard all that I can stand
This is not what I had planned
- Nicole Atkins
This came about after randomly jamming to Hangar 18 with a friend and playing the James Bond theme over it. This is also the first song with vocals (rough as they are). I also tried some new stuff mixing wise with the drums – though they sound bigger and better, a lot of the mix is muddier. I guess I’ll just keep hacking away at it.
The James Bond them is originally in E minor but I dropped it down to D minor to fit with Hangar 18. Its a little slower than Hangar 18 but I didn’t want to totally lose the groove of the James Bond theme. Also: I’m working on the whole singing thing – trust me, it just takes a while. And yes there is a “Tornado of Souls” reference in there somewhere.
Guitars in drop D, I used the black Washburn and my friend’s ESP bass. Also a bad SM58 knockoff for the vocals.
The cover songs category starts off with something a little different. This is the “Galop Infernal” by Jacques Offenbach, which I got stuck in my head earlier this week and decided to learn and then cover. I actually did two versions of this cover, the earlier one I scrapped and completely redid everything with a different sound. In the first version I was trying to get a huge drum line sound but I just could not keep it from sounding digital so I reverted back to my normal drums. In this song I went for a wall of sound effect to get a larger, more orchestral feel. The melodies are triple tracked, the rhythms are quadruple tracked, and there are three other miscellaneous tracks. In all, for most parts of the song there are usually between eight and nine guitars going at once along with the bass and two drums tracks.
I’m pretty satisfied with the song, though I like the idea of this cover more than the final execution. I am fairly certain that I will revisit this song later, and re-record everything and give it a little more flow and dynamics. Its in A major with a brief section in F# minor, I used the Peavey as usual, but ended up using lots of different tones that I normally don’t use to fill out the rhythm tracks.
Enjoy.
Arrangement and recording Copyright Micky Sakora 2008.
Original song, Galop Infernal by Jacques Offenbach.
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