I don't know if I mentioned that I have been working on The Lamb songs without MIDI... my theory was that if I can't play the music using all the instruments and amps, etc. that I had no chance to sample these instruments so that they would recreate the sounds on the album. This has proven to be a very fun exercise. One, I have had to practice a bit to get my chops back up to speed and that playing the parts in real time all the way through the songs has to some point brought back the LIVE playing with a band feel.
So, I decided to recreate the middle lead section of In the Cage because to me, this is the highlight of the three piece band, specifically, the interaction between Phil and Mike during this section is probably the rhythm section high for me. I have recorded all the parts as audio (I will admit that I can't play drums, so I am using the MIDI tracks that I created for this one part) and was in the process of mixing this section.
I think I did a pretty good job on Mike's bass part but during mixing it was TOO round... so I started dialing the bass tracks in to try to get more of the SNAP feel you hear on the album. This is where the 1176 comp on the bass buss did for me...
I didn't replay the part as audio (the performance was cooking) but I was able to cut the RELEASE back on the COMP a bit and as I did this, the roundness started getting the snap of the highs and I realized that slowing the release portion of the comp down, took out the round low end and I was able to dial in Mike's sound.
For me, this was pretty amazing and I great learning experience... I finally really understand how the 1176 comp is working and this is a great feeling for me. So much so, I decided to share this information with those following the project (and I really appreciate being able to share this adventure with you all). I think that I will post this LIVE section as part of the IN THE CAGE details so you can hear this for yourself. Remember, the point of this exercise is to get the correct sounds on the instruments for the sampling sessions to use in the triggering of the MIDI tracks of these same parts and I will then post the same section of the song using all MIDI tracks to so how close the two versions can be.
Jim K - Keeper of the Shrine
jkleban@nc.rr.com