PG Music Home Forums General Discussion User Showcase The Miner (Zu Zu Zarolen)--ft. Blue Attitude Dave

https://soundcloud.com/user-47797156/the-miner-zu-zu-zarolen

After some difficulty streaming other's songs, I've uploaded an Mp3 version "private". It's also a slightly modified mix, but take your pick.

https://soundcloud.com/user-47797156/the-miner-zu-zu-zarolen-1/s-pcjlD



****** Song Summary *************
Key=Cm , Tempo 90, Length (m:s)=3:30
Style is _NRTROCK.STY (Northern Rock Swing 16ths)

RealTracks in style: 1191:Bass, Electric, NorthernRock Sw16 075
RealTracks in style: 625:Guitar, Acoustic, Strumming Rascal Sw 075
RealTracks in style: 875:Guitar, Electric, Rhythm NorthernRockFuzzyA-B Sw16 075
RealTracks in style: 878:Guitar, Electric, Rhythm NorthernRockGrittyA-B Sw16 075
RealTracks in song: ~689:Organ, B3, Background Pop Ev 085
RealDrums [in style:RockNorthern^4-a:Snare, Loose HiHat , b:Snare, Ride
Various Super-Midi tracks re-patched to Soft-Synths for choirs, bells, percussion and sitar.

Recorded and "cleaned" in Acid Pro. Primary mix in Reaper. No track escaped FX. On the vocals I used ReaTune (it didn't do much), used bits of multiple takes as doublers, and did every trick I could think of to make them "interesting" while still making them understandable. My mom once told me that if I couldn't make it beautiful, then accentuate the ugly and call it art.

The song (and thus the title) were simply inspired by the initial attempt to write a song in support of a Harmonic Minor scale. Minor >>> Miner. It's a song about my life at present, in an overblown and over-produced rock setting. It's also a small monument to a moment of necessary temporary insanity.

Blue Attitude Dave plays the lead guitar. He told me what he charged per lick, I gave him my budget, and he did the rest. It "made" the song for me and I can no longer imagine it without his play. He went kinda sitarish, to my ears. I love the man.

Vocals and harmonies by me. The Jane-ettes were not out of my price range, but are out of my league...so we all have to live with it.

A guy on Fiverr provided the libraries for the midi tracks.

I got into it quickly due to a comment by Deryk on the "instrumental" version, leaving off a full-fledged intro.

I won't be explaining the chorus (and subtitle). To do so thoroughly is more than I want to divulge. To do so simply would just ruin the Rock Pomposity. "To me, the words are nice the way they sound."--James Taylor

Enjoy, if possible.

The Miner (Zu Zu Zarolen)

I mined your mind
Diggin' all I find
Your mine ain't dark
Always that spark
Our thoughts aligned

Zu Zu zarolen feh
Chi Chi zarolen feh
Zu Zu zarolen feh
Chi Chi zarolen

Diggin' deep
Riches reap
I'm working hard when I'm awake
And make it harder when you sleep
Shovel and pick
Don't miss a lick
Oh, the hours a miner must keep.

In danger of pain
Pushing that train.
Better get bold
Better than gold
Followin' that vein.

Zu Zu zarolen feh
Chi Chi zarolen feh
Zu Zu zarolen feh
Chi Chi zarolen

Diggin' deep
Riches reap
I'm working hard when we're awake
And take it harder when we sleep
Shovel and pick
Won't miss a lick
Oh, the hours a miner must keep.

Tangmo,

A truly interesting piece of music. Very original.

The bass and drums are solid throughout. The background stuff (choirs, bells, etc) are very cool.

Dave's guitar work is stellar (as always).

The chorus is a real ear-worm. Catchy as all-get-out... The vocal there is really "hot" in my speakers. I kept reaching to turn it down at that point... could do with some "softening"...

Cool stuff. and, again, really original!! Enjoyed it.

"My mom once told me that if I couldn't make it beautiful, then accentuate the ugly and call it art." - HA! What a great line!!

Sounds a bit like a clandestine meeting with the local drug dealer!

Nice work creating something from just about nothing! As much it pains my inner songwriter, James is exactly right - it's more important that it sounds good than that it makes sense. Sususudio.

An interesting listen - lots of ear candy to enjoy! I liked it.

That was a wild one!
Tangmo + Dave,
Congrats on this interesting and unusual piece! Loved it! Definitely outside the box. Very different from other tunes from your collection. Super catchy.
Dave can not spoil the song, he can only make it better! Dave, nice playing!
Enjoyed it much!

P.S. I wish vocals would be a little louder.

Thank you for sharing!

Misha.

Unusual and captivating song. You kept my interest from beginning to end. Love Dave's guitar work and the instrumental break at 3:23. Cool all around. This would have been an FM classic back in the day.

Ahh so this is where the sitar was required. I enjoyed the strange stuff you dug out of your mine here. All the effects aren`t too much on the vocal - I wouldn`t have recognised your voice but the sound fits... as does Dave`s (priceless!)guitar track.
The only nit is I `m going to be singing that Zu Zu/Chi Chi line all day.
More ugly art like this, please!

Robert

Good job Tangmo! Very rockin' tune and has attitude behind it. Well done!

Definitely an original song, the lyrics and vocals made me smile That chorus is really like something a miner would sing while working, catchy and hypnotic. Great soloing. Many nice little details, especially the choir and the break.

Janne

Definitely a great hypnotic collaboration...
And you indeed kept the tune "interesting"...
Tasty guitar licks (must have cost you a fortune )...
An unusual middle section & ending...
Hypnotic chants...
Wow...
What's not to like!

Thanks to everyone that mentioned my very small part in this very cool song, and thanks to Tangmo for inviting me along for the ride!

Thank you, Gentlemen (and Joe, too). Clearly you all have thick hides for ugly vocals and pomposity.

And thanks again, Dave.

Cool song.....weird but creative and intriguing!! Sonically, it is very interesting.....cool vocal tricks, and some wonderful guitar by Dave!! Like the sitar thing....ever since George brought that into rock. Very cool stuff!! Take care. Greg

Very cool tune. Such and original sound. Super vocal and backtrack. Dave's guitar was an excellent add to the song. He just nailed the solo. Very cool tone...

I listened to the "private" version. I'm a big fan of the abstract and this certainly has that in spades!


Dave's presence's is certainly felt and welcome.


What can I say except "engaging"!

Interesting , and entertaining. Liked it, especially those obscure lyrics and of course Daves excellent guitar playing.
Nicely done.


Peter

Really well done It's a really engaging song, and those abstract lyrics instantly caught my ear. Very unique and really a breath of fresh air. Really well textured too and your vocals on this are top notch.

Thanks for sharing!

Hi, James !

I also found this tune
most interesting in
every aspect including
the super original instros
that you brought forward so
well ! Dave´s lead is really
superb too !:))

Cheers
Dani

Wow! This is way different, to our ears, from anything either of you have posted. So collabing on it made it even more different.
And by that we mean different in a great manner.

It's hard to envision how many tracks this must have taken including RTs, the RD, Dave, all the vocal tracks and the MST's.

No doubt a LOT of contemplation and work went into the production.

We oft mention how we enjoy "connect the dots yourself" lyrics and this is a fine example. Plenty of cool imagery yet leaving room for everybody who listens to add their own.

Whatever Dave charged for those licks was well worth it A great addition.

And for us who think vocal processing only is a smidgeon of reverb and compression it would be fascinating to know the number of tracks and what they were run through.

Intriguing and fun y'all!


J&B

Thanks all for the listens and encouraging comments. Yes, this is indeed different from most things I've done before, BIAB or not. I love rock music, but I am no rock singer.

Though I opened the program with the thought of trying out a chord progression idea, I didn't have it written down. I kinda found my way within BIAB, auditioning chords as I went. So, obviously, there was a lot of "regenerating" in the beginning. Thankfully, after I had a progression worked out, the last "regeneration" produced this set of rhythmic licks that hooked me.

Unfortunately, the "song" hadn't really been written at the time. I "heard" a simple rock melody and knew that if there was going to be a lyric, it would be delivered with short phrases that played against the rhythm of the two electric guitars (primarily) so as not to "cover them up" and to get a vocal that acted as a rhythmic call-and-response to accentuate them instead.

The ZuZu chorus came first, as that which inspired it was fresh in my mind. The rest of "lyric" was mostly a bunch of nonsense (cauliflower, if you remember that thread) that held the "rhythm of the words" and the basic melody.

It's kinda dangerous with BIAB to fall in love with a certain set of licks (especially when they come from more than one instrument) before a song is fully developed. It's hard to "multi-riff" for two instruments playing well together. Maybe one day there will be a way to "preserve" some things even if generation is necessary as the song develops. But I jealously guarded those licks and pasted together in DAW the final structure of the song.



J&B, once I have the "rhythm of the words" in my soul, I can record multiple takes easily with only slight variations. I'm not quite so consistent in actually hitting the notes dead on. Here, there were three main vocal tracks (besides the harmonies) consisting of the entire song. The third was the "best" overall.

I had to run a noise gate on all of them as there is just too much computer and room/ambient noise in what passes for my "studio". I did this in Acid Pro where I also recorded. I've not yet figured out how to record in reaper. Every attempt so far has resulted in the backing tracks getting bounced to the new track with no vocal at all. In addition to the noise gate(s), I manually tamped down the worst of the "plosives" and more "evened out" the levels between the various sections.

Those tracks went to Reaper. Mostly I used the third (best) take. I did a pretty "strong" hi-pass/lo-cut EQ filter and my best stab at compression, and finished with a light delay rather than a reverb. I used pieces of the other two takes to "double/triple" certain sections, but my EQ, compression, and delay/reverb settings were different for each.

Stacking them (rhythmically close, and Note-wise not too far afield) in slightly different stereo positions and at different volumes gives a lightly flanged, lightly-delayed, lightly spread effect without the use of any bus-effects.

Bud, I can't see you ever having to make a silk purse out of a sow's ear Janice vocal like I have to do, but you've maybe encountered the issue of when to "stop" with the process. For me, that's when attempts to "improve" begin to make other things worse. Then it's time to put it to bed and say "this is the best I can do with my tools and skills with them at present. It may be ugly, but I'll call it art.

I know Dave loves the blues and plays lights-out, but I also know he knows how to "phrase" and not just noodle. So it was no surprise to me (except the pleasant kind) how great he sounded plugged into DAW the first time. Even he didn't escape the "restructuring" I did in DAW, but his long solos are intact as he played them. All I did was carve out a little EQ and "verb" him a bit. I listen for licks and tone, so I'll leave it to others to contemplate on his place in the mix.

I'd love to send the dry edited stems to a more experienced and capable "mixer", but I don't think I'd want to send the base tracks and say "make a song". I love wearing that hat.

Oh yes, Tangmo, it was possible to enjoy!

Very interesting - Misha is right: It's WILD! And I love everything about that wildness. Great vox, excellaent axe playing by Blue Attitude. a very interesting and enjoyable listen!

Take care,

Stefan