I had a bit of fun putting this one together. I used the Style SurfTom - Classic Surf w/Tom Drums. I just used drums and bass from the style. I added organ and rhythm and lead guitars.
Can you have too much reverb and delay on a surf guitar?.... Nah!
One can't have too much spring reverb...the drip is very important to the genre. Clean, undistorted/not overdriven tone was also a basic component. Tremolo picking, and occasional a trem pedal, was used as well as extensive downward pressure on the whammy bar. Add drums, electric bass occasionally sax or vocals and it's a pretty simple, fast paced straight dance beat. You made a good variant...I did miss the drip though.
Enjoyed my trip out on the surf..reminded me of my youth in Huntington Beach in the 1960’s...I was focused on the drum/toms element...could anyone, in real life, play at that tempo??! The middle part with the organ called to mind a weakness that I see in BIAB—I wish there was a way to generate interesting drum solo’s, esp in a section like this one. All in all, enjoyed catching your wave.
Hi Chris I'm a big Oz Surf fan and this is excellent. Yes, people DO play at that speed - The Shadows 'The Savage' for starters and Martin Cilia too. RayC - can you explain 'the drip' please? Bests Ian
Chris, OOh...love that guitar tone over relentless drums; the section @2:08 where you bring in some rock aggression is especially cool. Very good fun showing an understanding of the genre.
I thought at first with the drums, we were experiencing a reincarnation of Wipe Out, I was raised up in southern California during the 60s and the Beach Boys were it. Great job
Re 'the drip'. RayC is talking about the difference between spring reverb and digital reverb. Spring reverb has more 'bounce' to it, being an actual spring. I did try the spring reverb first because it is more 'authentic' but I find these days that I prefer the control offered with digital reverb.
Tano: " The middle part with the organ called to mind a weakness that I see in BIAB—I wish there was a way to generate interesting drum solo’s, esp in a section like this one."
Yes, the best I could do was to generate 3 versions of the drum part and cut and paste the best bits. Another 'problem' with the Surf Toms is that the part A had a lot of hiss in it. Whether this is distortion or sympathetic resonance from the snare or cymbals I can't say but it did mean that the piece has less drum variation than it might have had as I just used part B for the whole song. I just got a bit of variation by adding plenty of bar markers. I tried writing a drum part in Logic Drummer but couldn't get anything to match that relentless tom sound. The tempo was dictated by the BIAB real style so yes, whoever played the drums did play at that tempo!
Re 'the drip'. RayC is talking about the difference between spring reverb and digital reverb. Spring reverb has more 'bounce' to it, being an actual spring. I did try the spring reverb first because it is more 'authentic' but I find these days that I prefer the control offered with digital reverb.
Close but no Kewpie, (Cupid), Doll. It's the sound that comes with the attack in a spring reverb...
First ... I really like this! A lot!!! I grew up in the 1950s and 1960s. In the very early 60s, Frankie and Annette were the real deal, along with The Beach Boys, Ventures, etc. Your song is very close to that original song. Re: the discussion about reverb, I use nothing but spring reverb ... even on vocals. For me, it's warmer and fuller (less cutting) than most digital reverb. At least, that's how it comes across to me.
Second ... I tried, three times, to leave you a comment on Soundcloud. But for some reason, it simply disappeared each time I pressed the "Return" key. I did try, though!
Thanks Alan, one of your comments made it through on the 'vintage version' so thanks for listening and commenting.
I remember back in the sixties one of my friends had what must have been a very early spring reverb unit which he used to sit on top of his amp. It didn't have a cover on it and you could really see the spring bounce and jump about. RayC says the official term for the jumping / bouncing is 'drip' but 'doink' would also describe it quite well :-)
Chris - This was a total blast. Loved it from start to end. Those guitars were top notch. It was "strap in here we go" from bar one and then a wild ride from there on.
Chris, Fun paced surf goodness! Yeah, I liked that spacy guitar. I believe surf music is very underappreciated. This is a good reminder how fun it can be. Thank you for sharing.
Hardcore, toms-driven, chest-pounding and breathtaking surfs-up number with impressive multi-instrumental performances by you, particularly on the rhythm and lead guitars. 'Retro' on, man !
