1 - Y'Know What I Mean

[Van Greco]

Ok, so made an album last summer and noone really ever heard it. I've been thinking on a solution to that and I've just decided that I'm gonna post it up on here so that should any of you poor misguided souls wish to hear it, then you can.

The album is themed and also cronological. It's a do***ent of a relationship that I was in for about five years and as such it has ups and downs. The songs were all meant to fade into each other when burned together onto CD. Should any of you actually want it in it's entirety then write me a pm and I will send you one. If you dont care about those sorts of things then you can just listen if you like. I'll post all of the songs on the forum. There are ten in all.

Anyway, this is track one. It's called Y'know What I Mean. (if that wasnt obvious from the title of the thread) It's sorta lo-fi-ish indie rock I guess. Or it might actually be a fish sandwich. I havent decided yet.

Any and all comments welcome. Positive, negative, expletive, whatever.
I hope that you all enjoy 


                       Y'know What I Mean

       
          My head was down
          Facing the ground
          I wasnt much to talk about
          I was a dream when you were a scream
          I was impressed if y'know what I mean
          And I remembered once and you were my girl
          I was a crutch, but you gave it a whirl
          And I remembere twice and you were my queen
          I was impressed if y'know what I mean

          Lost then I'm found
          You're always around
          I like your smell and I like your sound
          I was the best when you knew the rest
          Let's get together now, we'll make a mess
          I remembered once, your little pharmacy
          It was the cutest one I had seen
          I remembered twice and you were my dream
          I was impressed if y'know what I mean

          Another one down
          I'm blue box bound
          Spring in my step cause I know you're around
          My heart's filled with weeds, but you're a new seed
          Your crooked grin now is all I need
          And I remembered once, you were dressed to stun
          Never knew falling could be such fun
          And I remembered twice and I was on my knees   
          I was impressed if y'know what I mean
         

[birdbrain]

I love the old punk rock style mixed in with the dillanesque harmonica.  Really clear recording.  Great vocals, all sounds blend really nice.  Sounds almost live.  I hear a theremin?  what a pallet.  Thank you for sharing.

[Van Greco]

Why, thank you good sir. This is about the extent of my harmonica playing unfortunately, but it was fun. It was the hardest track for me to record. The sounds in the middle are a mixture of the free Dr Phibes organ vst and about ten tracks of me and a friend drunkly trying to sing the chord progression in "ahhh's". Then I ran the whole thing through a bunch of effects. Thanks again for listening

[jura]

Enjoyed it much. Good energy there. I taped my feet whole song. And yes, to me it sounds live.

[Van Greco]

Thanks emptysound:) I'm glad you enjoyed it. I was trying to make it sound like a band. I pretty much always try to do that, but its almost always just me. I like to mic things so I think that maybe adds to the live feeling perhaps. Everything is mic'ed even the drums and phibes vst were mic'ed from the monitors and run back into the computer.

[offthewall]

I like this, Van Greco.
Love the driving energy and the mix. The guitar solos are the sort of style that appeals to me.....very Marc Knopfler inspired.
Well done. Fill your new artist page up with this stuff!
 
James.

[Van Greco]

Thanks for the kinds words James.

Now that you mention it, I guess a couple of the little runs toward the end are kindof Knopfleresqe. I just improvised throughtout this whole song and then used volume automation to keep the lead out of the way of the vocals. Nonetheless, that is a comparison that I will gladly accept.

Thanks for listening and commenting. 

[jura]

Everything is mic'ed even the drums and phibes vst were mic'ed from the monitors and run back into the computer.

Wow, thats great. I am going to try something like that.

BTW. Why don't you have a band to play your music ?

[Van Greco]

Everything is mic'ed even the drums and phibes vst were mic'ed from the monitors and run back into the computer.

Wow, thats great. I am going to try something like that.

BTW. Why don't you have a band to play your music ?

You should. I find it especially useful on the drums. I record the sound from the monitors with a pair of small diaphram condensers (mxl 603s in this case) in an xy configuration from across the room.(sometimes it can be cool to do it from the next room too) Then I blend that back into the dry drumtracks. I like it because it makes it makes the drums sound as if they are sortof in the same room as the guitar amps. (I also used a room mic for each close mic'd guitar track) Sometimes I'll compress the hell out of the mic'ed drum mix for effect.


Why dont I have a band? It was always a problem finding people to play with that werent either fucked up or just generally unreliable. Drummers have always been hard to come by for me. I just recently moved, so now I dont really know anyone at all in this new town yet. I do miss playing in the same room with other people though. I especially miss playing infront of people. 

[jura]

yep I understand you

I forgot to add that it sounds like Alanis Morrisete.

And just one thing. Try to work on your breath, I hear you have problems with breath. Thats just my advice.

[Martin E]

Lots of energy here, VG. Nice stuff.
Song and vocal style are reminiscent of good old Bob Dylan I think, not just the harmonica. Well, Bob on steroids that is. 

You play the harmonica almost as well as I do.

PS
I'll pm you for the cd.

[Laguna Rising]

Hi Van Greco
Excellent song and great vocals I like it.
Very enjoyable, I listened to it for half an hour and it sounds like you put a lot of effort in the mixing phase.
Everything has its space and frequency range, and it's harder for rock'n'roll 'cause there are dirty sounds and sometimes instrument fight in the same range.
Nice inspiration and melodies, I dig the Harmonica.
well done

Cheers

[Van Greco]

@ emptysound - yeah, I forget to breath sometimes.   


@ Martin - I was listening to alot of Dylan's first album when I wrote this song. It is unusual for me in that it has no definite chorus section. I decided to try that from listening to Dylan which then lead me back to Leadbelly, Guthrie, etc. It's a pretty common form in old folk music. I then threw a little change in the middle just to keep it interesting.

@ Laguna - yes alot of effort did go into this, but nothing crazy really. Yes, the instruments definately all fight for space. Guitars are really guilty of this. They can quickly become muddy when you start to layer them. I'm glad you liked the harmonica. I might actually learn to play it one day


Thanks for taking the time to listen guys

[Wyatt]

VanG..Heya..I like this a lot..I was reading what folks said while downloading impatiently.

OK, OK..I hear the Dylan, OK, but it's like way back there, and so was I [way back there], or it wouldn't be..to me I hear something I don't have a box to put it in, so I think its you I'm hearing..I'll know more when I get to listen to more of your stuff.

Oh man..the ending just about tore out my left eye..never expected that..needs to have some kinda warning label, especially after starting with that nice smooth innocent fade-in.   Haha..Caution, seatbelts required!!

I like the thing you're doing, playing all the instruments..I try to do that too, but for me that usually means 'both' the instruments.

I have often had to work with harp and guitar so they can both fit in the mix..I usually try to get a large separated sound, because, well I guess you gotta be going for something..

..anyway, my impression here is that everything is woven together very cooperatively, and the vocals sit in there nice too..kinda like equal-opportunity..I can hear it all pretty easy..nice guitar, too..yes.

Way to go with the mic setups too...if Ida tried to do it like that, it would have been rainin mud.

..thanks for letting us in on it.

Wyatt

[Van Greco]

yes, it's certainly not a straight up Dylanesque tune. What i took from listening to Dylan was mostly the idea to try and wrote a song in this form. It was a nice change from the usual ABAB type songs I do and it still rocked so that was important to me. I do try to make everything that I do my own.

The ending is sort of a surprise. The next song starts very suddenly after this one ends so that was the reason for it.

It was really difficult to get a harmonica sound that i liked. This was the first time i really spent any time trying to record harmonica parts. I ended using a comdo of condenser about a foot away and then a dynamic in hand that ran into a guitar amp with some slight overdrive with a 57 on the guitar amp. It was by far the most time consuming track for me in this song. You wouldnt have any harmonica recording tips would you? I dont use one alot, but I'm sure i'll pick it up again at some point in the not too distant future.

Thanks for the kind words about the mix. I do work on them a good deal. I've gotten much better than I was when I first started posting at the old Audtorium. i got alot of good help.

I did get pretty experimental with micing techniques when I was making this batch of songs. Alot of times it was really muddy and unusable, but after a while you start to know your mics and your room and then you really start to have fun with it.

 Thanks for the great comments Wyatt