Progressive Rock: "Ride To Ukraine"

http://www.youtube.com/wa...bRgLk&feature=youtu.be Try to enjoy! :D

I forgive you because you loved the guitar solo. :-)

typical DSL = quirky, despite having all the elements that should make it an easy listen; great mix, funky bass work, cool solo. At times i could stand a little shaved off the cymbals as they can be a bit shrill. i like the keys after the solo, how they reprise the opening riff.
ending has some cool guitar work, it doesn't quite all work with the vocals as a big build-up but you haven't died wondering!

Cool tune, great sounding production.

Mike: in this band the primary synth is always Korg M1... It sounds aged (because it is aged) but Korg M1 has futuristic sounds for 70's influenced prog rock band. :)
Vocal harmonies is not out of question in the updated album version.

mgh,
Good summary! I agree every word you wrote.
jaws44,
Thanks for listening!

ohgrant,
Thank you! :-)

My personal favorite part of the song is the ending of the guitar solo.  For two seconds I sounded  like Jimi Hendrix / Machine Gun (in my head at least).

Some making of info: Reverb used in the guitar solo is Native Instruments RC24. One RC24 instance is also in the snare drum track. http://www.native-instruments.com/en/products/komplete/effects/rc-24/ RC48 is used in various tracks in the song.
http://www.native-instrum...omplete/effects/rc-48/
 
I used NI Solid EQ and Solid Bus Comp in busses.
http://www.native-instrum...ects/solid-mix-series/
 
Drum tracks have a couple of Waves CLA instances. In drum bus there's L1 limiter to cut 1-2 dB highest peaks.
 
Guitars (Les Paul Traditional) and bass (Fender American Deluxe Jazz Bass) are recorded using AXE FX II.
 
Drums (Pearl Master Custom 10-12-14-20, maple snare DW Collector's Series, Zildjian K Custom crashes, Paiste 2002 china) are recorded using Neumann KM184's (drum oh), AKG C414B-ULS's (drum room), AKG 451s (snare bottom, hihat), AKG D112 (kick), SM57 (snare top, 10" tom, 12" tom), Sennheiser MD441 (floor tom). Heads: Snare: Remo Ambassador coated, Kick & toms: Remo Powerstroke 3.
 
Master bus: Solid EQ to cut bottom rumble, otherwise flat. After EQ there's another Solid Bus Comp to compress 1 dB.
 
...and last but not the least: X2 is powered by Duckbar and Space Age Theme. :-)

From the end of the vocals at around 2:03 to the start of the Guitar solo proper at 2:18 - I love that bit. In fact I like the whole track its right up my street.

I agree with those how have mentioned thickening or bringing up the vocals. They need a little bit of extra something, I am not sure what but you have had some good suggestions already.

I think the keyboard / vocal pad part at 3:00 and the keyboards at 3:53 I feel could benefit at having a more gritty sound. I would have preferred something that sounds more like 70's Keyboards rather than 90's keyboards, however from your post above I think you achieved what you set out to do because you say "but Korg M1 has futuristic sounds for 70's influenced prog rock band"
 
Edit - is the Singer Volker, or Wolfgang?

panup

Glyn,
Purpose of the clean keyboard sound after solo is to express main character's mixed feelings. If guitar solo was about fear, keyboard part is about relief and new hope.
Truth: I picked some M1 presets randomly and made up the explanation afterwards.
It's Wolfgang singing. He's our new lead vocalist (the guy on the left): 

 
 

Explaination works, you should have kept the truth quiet . I reckon I would replace the e-piano sound with a Wurly A-200 with just a touch of bark and the vocal pad with a Mellotron mixed choir (or something from Camel Alchemy's "Dream Voices" expansion if you want something cleaner and more modern), but thats just me.

panup


paulo,
Thank you!
Artistic explanation for the guitar solo: purpose of the solo is to describe main character's fear when he's lost alone in the foreign city.
Truth: that's another part in the song I improvised out of my head without further thinking. ;) 

 

Oh I see I thought it was the representation of his subliminal realisation that what he had always perceived as real was in fact an halucination brought about by too many pills and the disturbing dream about his dead grandfather. Now that you explain it, it makes perfect sense ! ;) 
 
 
Chorus still sounds ace though !

alright, so now that we are talking in depth...what is the bands name about? Die Schwarzen Ladas...I am from the former West Germany, and I the few know is that Ladas were a Russian car brand. I believe a more upscale (compared to Trabants) - does "the Black Ladas" mean like the cars the higher (socialist) politians drove, representing the former communist block? Or am I totally wrong ;-)

This is awesome panup. Love it. Great production, great video........

Very nice sound piecing, well produced and it flows well. Not sure I'd put this into Progressive Rock myself, but certainly compared to most modern popular music it qualifies as such pretty easily.

I agree with some of the comments above on the cymbals. I understand why in such a fairly sparse arrangement they tend to be used a lot to provide a sort of backwash. But, at least on the crappy speakers I'm listening on, they are a bit much here and there. Maybe not too much, but maybe too much presence in them. They don't really interfere with anything else really, but maybe just call too much attention to themselves.

Normally I'd not bother mentioning such a thing, but obviously this one got a lot of production attention, so I figured that such things are probably important to you.