Fifty

This song was written for a 50th birthday party. I wrote most of the words earlier in the week and started recording yesterday around noon. I finished a little before 8pm. I wanted a "spirit in the sky" type sound, but ended up going in a completely different direction.

The "Fifty" background vocal continues throughout the entire song after the first chorus. I imagined it as sort of a sing along, though I don't think it worked out that way. The background vocals are too echoey to sing along with. They're more of an atmospheric thing.

I wish that the "Ba Ba Ba Ba Ba Ba" part in the chorus was "Dean and Barbara" instead. But I thought of that after I'd already sent out the song. Also, I recorded a short bridge after the second chorus, but ended up cutting it in order to get the song done in time for the party. Here's a summary of the tracks...

Drums:
Logic comes with loads of techno and two-step beats, but it doesn't have much in the way of rock and swing. I end up going to the same loops again and again. For this song I used the 60s Shuffle Drumset 01. I used this beat on Farmageddon and remembered liking it.  I set the tempo to 135bpm for this song, and as I continued recording I realized this drum sample just does not rock at this tempo. I messed around with it a bunch (chopped it up, distorted it, etc.) but finally ended up deleting most of it, and putting it way back in the mix. To me it just sounded stale so I thought it was better to go without drums for most of the song. I used tambourines and shakers to compensate.

Someday (when I don't live above my landlord) I'll buy a drum-set and learn to play.

Acoustic Guitar:
There are two stereo tracks of acoustic guitar. One is muted and dry, the other is strummed and very wet. I recorded both the same way: SM57 around the 12th fret and a SM7B at the bridge. The mics were 180 out of phase, so I inverted the SM57 at the pre-amp. I tuned the guitar down a whole step and put a capo on the second fret to make the strings a little more slack. I wanted something that sounded kind of slack, dead, and sloppy. I just wish I could have gotten that same feel in the drums.

Electric Guitar:
I have a complex relationship with distortion. I love the way it sounds, and hate the way it makes everything else sound. I'm always searching for fuzz that fits in the track. For this song, I tried to use my Zvex fuzz factory to dial in a fuzz sound. I found plenty of cool sounds, but I didn't like the way they sounded in the song. Plus the drums weren't rocking, so I ditched the fuzz guitar, and went for a clean sound. The guitar here is subtle, and really just shows up for a bit in the second chorus.

Zipper fuzz sound. So cool, but alas...

Wurlitzer:
I envisioned a more complete electric piano part, but I'm a poor keyboard player and I wanted to get the song done in time for the birthday party. I ended up just using it for the bass notes. I like the way it sounds as the bass. The notes are really uneven, and I think that gives it a cool sound.

Vocals:
I used my AKG 414 and SM7B for the back and fourth section at the beginning. I like the SM7B, but I managed to dial in a pretty wonky sound with the AKG. The background vocals are done with the SM7B. I used the presence boost and bass roll off for everything. If I had been thinking about it, I probably would have only used the presence boost on the lead vocal. But I was moving quickly and wasn't really thinking about it. . . There's lots of reverb and echo on the background vocals, and I was having fun singing harmony into all that cacophony. I expect I'll do a lot more of that in future songs.