The River Dragon Hath Come: Cover (feat J Locke, 5150, Slate drums, Schecter Loomis)

[kev]

Hi Chaps,

As Nevermore are currently gearing up for their new album I thought it was time to whip out the schecter, so here's my crack at their classic "The River Dragon has Come" off of the Dead Heart album. I tried to capture the vibe as best possible mix wise, although nowhere near Mr Sneaps mix ofc

Was great fun to do (although i took far too long about it, just had to let the fucker go), hope I did them some form of justice. Twas I on guitars, bass & drums whilst Johnny (also on this forum just in case you havent come accross him yet) did the vox which was very cool of him indeed.

I guess this is the result of from noob to 3 years in now, so hopefully I dont suck at mixing as much as last year!

Anyways, feel free to rip it apart, im all game for learning I know the solo is undergained. One thing Im really bad at is vocal mixing at this stage, so any tips there are greatly appreciated.

http://dl.getdropbox.com/u/1206505/Final Dragon Candidate.mp3

UPDATE: Mix 2- less cymbals, a cunt hair (just for lasse ) more prescence and a slight bass reduction in the lower mids area. Vox a tad wetter.

http://dl.getdropbox.com/u/1206505/Dragon Sneap Tweak 1.mp3

UPDATE: Mix 3- More low mid compression for the guitars, vocals up a db or so, and slightly less fake snare verb (although I think hades was probably not enjoying the actual room ambience sound rather than that I suspect- there well, may help things temporarily!). Also, a slight change to the clean guitar at the start.

http://dl.getdropbox.com/u/1206505/Dragon Sneap Tweak 2.mp3

Thanks in advance.

Kev

P.S

Props to Brett for sending the Loomis all the way from the USA!

 

[john2910]

wow great man!,who is on vocals i like it very much!

 

[CatharsisStudios]

Run andy, run. kev's comming for you hahaha




dude this is amazing

 

[Metaltastic]

DAMN dude, that tone is pretty goddamn close, holy shit; bass is slightly overbearing in the mud/low mids IMO, but jesus these sound great - what'd you use? Those cymbals are making baby jesus cry, however, turn 'em down! John, great job on the vox dude; I have to admit I wish you would've stayed a bit closer to the original rhythms, but that's probably just cuz I'm so used to hearing the original. Snare sounds great, though is perhaps a bit too bright (still plenty of pop though, at least). And, uh...what happened to that tapping part before the lead? As for the lead though, pretty good, though I do think it could've used a few more takes (there's no shame in splicing/punching-in dude, it is a Loomis part you're trying to cover after all ) But overall, spot on! Is this for a contest or something? (going by the file name) And mix-wise, the vox feel a little dry, but otherwise are good I'd say!

 

[Metaltastic]

Oh, and this is a FANTASTIC sounding kick btw; mind sharing which Slate sample it was? (much better than most I hear, which are so often kinda harsh and clicky, I much prefer the beef and fucking punch of this one) And the snare really rules too, so yeah, sample sharing for that would be mighty-fine too (can't wait until 3.5 EX is released!)

 

[Metaltastic]

Ok, last post (though consider it a compliment, cuz this is like my 4th sequential time listening ) - the vox could use a bit more brightness/presence (I assume John used his SM7, which explains it, though I've found they take eq boosting magnificently!)

 

[CatharsisStudios]

marcus i will strike you down with the mightiest breakdown hardcore spin kick punch whatev if you even DARE to bash the sm7

 

[kev]

hahaha holy crap, thats some quick posts in sequence there guys. I'll quickly tweak for the above, and be back for any questions! (I actually found myself cutting johnnys prescence as there was such a great amount of it!)

 

[PhilTheBeard]

the sm7b is a beast of a mic i love that thing

 

[PhilTheBeard]

god damn this sounds fucking beast good job!!!

 

[Metaltastic]

Oh yeah, nothing but love for it here either, just saying I haven't found it to be the brightest/crispest mic in the world in my limited experience (which is obviously something of a benefit for harsh vox), though then again, maybe you just cut too much of it Kev! Or I'm crazy I dunno, I only really noticed the lack of presence on that last screechy "tehnology, the something, of something SOMETHING!!!!!" line (too lazy to look up the lyrics )

 

[Jaymz]

This is great! Major props to you!

 

[ballstix]

Holy shit. Awesome.

 

[HandsOfDespair]

Really awesome! My only complain is that the vocals should be a lot more upfront.

And I'd like to know which kick it is too!

 

[Keregioz]

Well, this is a coincidence! I'm actually playing river dragon almost non stop these past few days trying to learn it as good as possible.
I think you did a pretty good job. I really like the guitar tone personally.
But I'll just go out and say that the middle harmony part is bad ... I know it's really tricky, that's actually the part I'm having most trouble with but I almost have it. I agree with Marcus about splicing/punching in to make it sound better. I could actually give it a try myself if you're interested.
I also missed the tapping part, I don't think it sounds quite right without it.

 

[reaperscythe]

One word.....AMAZING!
It's sounds like the original

 

[Dylan S]

This sounds really good man! It is always good to hear someone cover such an iconic song so well.

The solo tone was a little buzzy for my taste, but the playing was definitely pretty damn decent.

Would you mind uploading the MIDI file for the drums at all? I'd love to try covering it sometime.

 

[kev]

wow great man!,who is on vocals i like it very much!

Thanks mate, that'd be Johnny Locke!

Run andy, run. kev's comming for you hahaha

dude this is amazing

Cheers bro! That did make me laugh in my chair lol

DAMN dude, that tone is pretty goddamn close, holy shit; bass is slightly overbearing in the mud/low mids IMO, but jesus these sound great - what'd you use? Those cymbals are making baby jesus cry, however, turn 'em down! John, great job on the vox dude; I have to admit I wish you would've stayed a bit closer to the original rhythms, but that's probably just cuz I'm so used to hearing the original. Snare sounds great, though is perhaps a bit too bright (still plenty of pop though, at least). And, uh...what happened to that tapping part before the lead? As for the lead though, pretty good, though I do think it could've used a few more takes (there's no shame in splicing/punching-in dude, it is a Loomis part you're trying to cover after all ) But overall, spot on! Is this for a contest or something? (going by the file name) And mix-wise, the vox feel a little dry, but otherwise are good I'd say!

Oh, and this is a FANTASTIC sounding kick btw; mind sharing which Slate sample it was? (much better than most I hear, which are so often kinda harsh and clicky, I much prefer the beef and fucking punch of this one) And the snare really rules too, so yeah, sample sharing for that would be mighty-fine too (can't wait until 3.5 EX is released!)

Ok, last post (though consider it a compliment, cuz this is like my 4th sequential time listening ) - the vox could use a bit more brightness/presence (I assume John used his SM7, which explains it, though I've found they take eq boosting magnificently!)

4 posts in a row dude hahaha Awesome! I basically took everything you said into account and tweaked it a tad, so it was definitely worth every listen you had man!

I should give a quick breakdown of the guitar chain:

Distortion guitars: Tube Screamer > 5150 > Marshall Cab Impulse (thanks to Matt, aka Splat88)

Now the impulses treatment was very fucking weird. I normally load my impulses into voxengo, but the seemed to sound so much better in RIR. So good in fact, I actually had 8 guitar tracks dotted about and every time i loaded the bloody session this month i had to add it all back in as the revalver demonstration doesnt let you save presets. Well worth it though!

Clean guitars: Mesa rectifier model in revalver with the same marshall impulse. Im starting to like revalver a lot, so i might buy it. I must say though my favourite modelling software so far is actually Overloud TH1, just a shame its ilok.

Solos: I called upon my old pod xt patches, as I havent really made anything yet with a kick ass lead tone until just recently.

god damn this sounds fucking beast good job!!!

Cheers for listening bud!

This is great! Major props to you!

Cheers James!

Holy shit. Awesome.

lol thanks dude

Well, this is a coincidence! I'm actually playing river dragon almost non stop these past few days trying to learn it as good as possible.
I think you did a pretty good job. I really like the guitar tone personally.
But I'll just go out and say that the middle harmony part is bad ... I know it's really tricky, that's actually the part I'm having most trouble with but I almost have it. I agree with Marcus about splicing/punching in to make it sound better. I could actually give it a try myself if you're interested.
I also missed the tapping part, I don't think it sounds quite right without it.

Cheers for checking it man! I fully agree. This time two years ago I would have nailed it i think, and been arsed to record the tapping part . 9-5 has turned me into a sloppy ass guitar player (that and my production addiction )


Now, I must disappoint everyone on the kick, well at least partially. Whats going on here is the original cracky metal kick in the slate collection being overridden 100% by an alesis D4 drum sample called "fusion". The slight twist is, this does in fact still trigger the Z4 of the slate room sound for the cracky metal kick.

 

[Wild Hades]

This is pretty awesome!
I would say, cut some lower mids around 300Hz and the tone is almost dead on! Great work!
The clean part is a bit thinner than the original, make it a bit less bright and add some low-mids...

I can't stand the ambience of the snare to be honest, is too bright/cracky and too wet...

Really digging the singer, but as it has been already said, the vocals should be a bit louder...

Fantastic job overall, now add the tapping part, the swells and fix the harmonies

(oh, and TH1 can be used without iLok)

 

[Jaymz]

I bloody knew it was that fusion kick! Its VERY similar if not the same sample used on the original!