Right on. The Les Paul sounds especially great. The intro was a bit slow going but I loved the sweeping pads as it reminded me of older Alan Parsons (I robot :love:). Once this kicked in, it made me happy. Thanks for sharing.

Can you tell us about the tracking, gear for drums, what keys etc, even video. (y)

The Pod sounds awesome. So does Sonar. I'm Impressed.

Seasoned musician. Whats your background?

Are the guitars direct?

Killer job man! Your really nailed this type of sound and production. Real cool, joe satriani type guitar lead instrumental rock. Cool.

I'm digging it... Love the intro, kind of a cross between Alan Parson's I Robot and Mark Knopfler/Dire Straits Brothers In Arms... great guitar tone, wonderful synth pads and textures.

You nailed it.

Very nice indeed.

Thanks for your kind comments, Chris, kmetal and Donny. I really appreciate you taking the time to listen.

@ Chris. The guitars were recorded direct. I initially recorded the keys and guitars to a programmed drum track. The idea was that once the live drums were recorded I would replace the guitars with a miced amp. After listening to the mix I was amazed at how good the POD sounded and decided to leave the original parts.

The drums were recorded in 8 tracks. Bass drum, D112, Snare and Toms, SM57s, Hi hat and Overheads, Behringer B1s. I had the video cameras running while doing the take.

Once the drums were finalised I added the bass. The bass went through a bass POD.

All the keyboards were from soft synths and they were Rapture and the Lounge Lizard. The string part at the end was the SI Strings.

The acoustic was recorded with an SE2200 mic. The song was tracked and mixed in Sonar Platinum and mastered in Adobe Audition. I kept the cameras running for most of the parts but didn't manage to get any of the keyboard takes.

I put together the final video in Sony Vegas.

My background is that I live in Johannesburg, South Africa and I've been a pro muso for most of my adult life. I built my studio about 15 years ago and have been producing albums for the same period. I've recorded two solo instrumental albums and am busy on the third. I hope to be finished this year. I do have numerous other videos done in the studio on my website http://www.peterhanmer.co.za

I hope that covers everything Chris. I'm glad that you enjoyed the track.

Cheers

Peter.

This is the sound i looking for..big fat sounding mix..sonar platinum is very good sounding with nice headrooms..are those drums process using sonar plugins?how is your track channel fader level during the mix?is it around -18db as what being practise in other daw?thanx..

I like that, was a bit long in the intro but it was a really nice sounding piece. Tell me about that room? Do you have anything specific you did to it? Obviously you have dedication to your craft so I suspect that this became part of your process in developing your recording environment.

Brien Holcombe, post: 430997, member: 48996 wrote: I like that, was a bit long in the intro but it was a really nice sounding piece. Tell me about that room? Do you have anything specific you did to it? Obviously you have dedication to your craft so I suspect that this became part of your process in developing your recording environment.

Good question/ point, Brien

PJH, post: 429817, member: 39117 wrote: @ Chris. The guitars were recorded direct. I initially recorded the keys and guitars to a programmed drum track. The idea was that once the live drums were recorded I would replace the guitars with a miced amp. After listening to the mix I was amazed at how good the POD sounded and decided to leave the original parts.

PJH, post: 429817, member: 39117 wrote: The bass went through a bass POD.

Obviously not a lot for these two. Killer sound going direct.

I realize everything was direct...but what about those drums?

Hi everyone,

Thanks for your kind comments. They're much appreciated.

@ kendo, I used the Sonar Eqs but also used Waves Compressors on the drums and bass. The faders were all quite high. I don't worry too much about keeping the fader level down. As long as there's no clipping.

@ Brien, The studio was converted from a double garage at my home. The only thing that I did do on purpose was to build one of the walls at a slight diagonal so that all the walls aren't parallel. I've put up a few deadening frames and the room is fairly dead. It works for me but you always strive for better. I do still believe in mining up amps. The track was a test for going direct and it had a great result.

@ Chris, thanks for your comments. I really appreciate you taking the time to listen and give your feedback.

Cheers,

Peter.

Waves compressor are also transparent especially Rvox..cla series..and ssl pack..i believed that minimal arrangements with proper right elements and keyboard range..eg open voicing makes the sound big n full.what snare drum you are using....is it mic top n bottom?

And did you record the drums in this room AND mix in the same room?

I love the Rvox compressor and use it all the time. I agree that it is really transparent.

I used to mic the snare top and bottom but found that I rarely used the bottom mic track. I don't even bother micing it from the bottom anymore. The snare is a Gretsch Catalina birch shell.

Brien, I've added two pics of the studio. The first one is the booth and the second is the control room. The kit was recorded in the room but mixed in the control room.

Cheers,

Peter.

PJH, post: 431023, member: 39117 wrote: I do still believe in mining up amps. The track was a test for going direct and it had a great result.

I've done some decent tracks using direct guitars into VSTi's like Vandal and Amplitube, but as far as I'm concerned, nothing beats the sound of a great amp, miked up ( I like using ribbons and dynamics for guitar amps).

I did a session a few nights ago, and the guitar player brought an older Marshall combo with him... man, it was INSTANT tone. :) I used a ribbon about a foot away and raised up a bit, and a dynamic mic, placed in low and and tight, and the tracks sounded so good I didn't even need to EQ them.

kendo radnaksi, post: 431025, member: 48739 wrote: Waves compressor are also transparent especially Rvox..cla series..and ssl pack..

I'm also a fan of Waves R-Channel compression; because it's very clean, transparent, and responsive, and it's responsive in a way that makes it sound like it's not really compressing.

But, the CLA and SSL's you also mentioned are not transparent...( and I'm not saying I don't like these, because I do)... the SSL compressors on the E and G Series channel strips may be a bit more transparent than the SSL Bus Compressor, which is more transparent than the compressors in the CLA collection - which includes emulations of LA2's and 1176's, and those are anything but transparent - but if I want very clean and transparent compression, I'm certainly not reaching for those SSL or CLA's that you mentioned. In that situation, the R-Channel is my go-to. ;)

PJH, post: 431031, member: 39117 wrote: I love the Rvox compressor and use it all the time. I agree that it is really transparent.

I used to mic the snare top and bottom but found that I rarely used the bottom mic track. I don't even bother micing it from the bottom anymore. The snare is a Gretsch Catalina birch shell.

Brien, I've added two pics of the studio. The first one is the booth and the second is the control room. The kit was recorded in the room but mixed in the control room.

Cheers,

Peter.

PJH are you mixing in 5.1????

Also, have you ever messed with a condenser a foot or so of the kit, facing the kit (snare) at snare height? Like the bottom snare mic I don't use it often, but it added some punch to the kick and snare sometimes.

Absolutely agree Donny. It's hard to beat a real amp miced but the lines are becoming blurred. I haven't tried software amp modelling yet but the few hardware units I've used lately have made me seriously rethink the way that I do things.

kmetal I haven't tried that technique but I do use a condenser mic in the room some distance from the kit. I've been doing that for some time now.

I don't mix in 5.1.

kmetal, post: 431046, member: 37533 wrote: PJH are you mixing in 5.1????

Also, have you ever messed with a condenser a foot or so of the kit, facing the kit (snare) at snare height? Like the bottom snare mic I don't use it often, but it added some punch to the kick and snare sometimes.

@ kmetal, if you're interested, this was a small video clip of the drummer Larry Rose messing around before we did a recording. I used the same micing techniques here as I did in the top video.

There is a room condenser on the kit as well.

Cheers,

Peter.

Wow, reminds me of classic Pink Floyd on the luxuriantly legato intro. Tastefully thoughtful music gently moving through easy changes, beautifully articulated with masterful engineering and arty production. Lovely clear bell like lead guitar, great use of echo to fill out the sound, and exquisitely played too. A profound, lush, generous piece of reflective melancholy.

Thank you for listening and for your comments, Jathon. It's much appreciated. The Pink Floyd influence was exactly what I was going for.

Cheers,

Peter.