Jump to content
Hamer Fan Club Message Center

polara

Supporter
  • Posts

    4,674
  • Joined

  • Last visited

  • Days Won

    30

Everything posted by polara

  1. We're happy with it, though we have no idea what genre we are at this point. There is one cover: a Cheap Trick song, but re-imagined a bit. The tech bits, since we all like gizmos... Recorded in our rehearsal room. Vocals and acoustic guitar (some kind of Larrivee I've had for years, their total king-kahuna top-end) were into an Aston Origin mic. Keys and beats were all software synths. Guitar was either the Framus Tennessee or the Hamer 25th Annie. If there were really weird sounds it was through a Beetronics Swarm and Earthquaker Avalanche Run into a DSM Humboldt Simplifier "zero watt" amp on the Marshall setting. The more normal sounds were mostly a Boss GT-1000 using the "X-Crunch" amp, but a couple times I used an Earthquaker Palisades distortion. Everything went into an Audient iD44 USB interface, mixed in Logic. Reverbs and delays were added in mixing.
  2. Thanks! The album is out the 4th, and one song is sung half in Swedish
  3. https://joyzine.org/2023/07/09/single-premiere-i-am-a-rocketship-gravity/ Recorded on my Hamer 25th Annie through a DSM Humboldt Simplifier with a li'l reverb added. Album comes out soon!
  4. https://www.backseatmafia.com/premiere-i-am-a-rocketship-unveil-their-take-down-of-superficiality-in-the-track-do-you-feel-good-along-with-album-news/ We have an album, called La Cruella, coming out in August. Here's the first song. We recorded it, as usual, in our rehearsal room. What was unusual is that we had an outside contributor for the first time. Kellii Scott, who's best known as the drummer for Failure but who also was in Veruca Salt and Enemy and has done a zillion sessions for Pink, Christina Aguilera, etc. etc. did the drums. So I took all his stems, panned them appropriately, and did a little EQ and compression on the kick and snare. Missus Polara sang as ususal into an Aston Origin mic (can't say enough good things about this little unit) into an Audient interface. The guitar was the Framus Tennessee you see in the video, through the Boss GT-1000 into the Audient. The Boss was necessary because for the main riff I made a patch that combines a wah and whammy with a delay sync'd to the song's tempo. Bass and other miscellaneous stuff was all MIDI controlling software. Used LANDR for mastering.
  5. Yup. I've fumbled my through doing that, but there's not a lot of practical application in my playing. But to do it that cleanly, with such consistent volume, while playing fretted notes... wow.
  6. There are moments I really can't understand what she is doing.
  7. In the video above, it's fun to watch the security guy slowly lose his impartiality and start rockin' out.
  8. Guitar rock ain't dead. Band-Maid is a Japanese band, five women in maid outfits playing a sort of... well, pop power metal? Their albums are very slick, and while they're huge in their home country, they have a smaller but absolutely fanatical following here. Besides the many young women in the audience, there was one burly bearded dude in a maid costume. I tip my hat to you, sir. Miku has played Zemaitis guitars for a long time, and had a really fancy one, going into some kind of solid-state head atop a small rack and a Marshall 412 cab. Kanami was, as always, playing some kind of PRS, I think a CU22, into a similar rig but a Mesa cabinet. MISA has been playing some kind of custom 5-string basses, and again it was a little head but a couple of big Aguilar cabs. She is a badass on bass. Very polished show, super-tight. They all play with a light touch, and when the roadie was checking instruments you could tell their stage volume is quite low. The harmonies are exceptionally tight. I suppose they could be using some security tracks, but if so, I couldn't see any obvious mis-matches between what they seemed to be doing and what sounds came out. Their offical live videos are ridiculously overdubbed, and live they didn't sound at all like those. Below is a video from the night before the Atlanta show. Around 10:25 Kanami does some pretty precise tapping, in a song that is pretty technically demanding.
  9. I actually did buy it. My brother was a music major at Florida State, mostly alto sax but sometimes baritone. A big Desmond fan, so this'll be a birthday present for him.
  10. The more modern Jazzmasters had a correct neck angle, too. I personally would never want a vintage one (unless I could sell it for big moolah) but some less "vintage correct" models have 1) 52mm wide Mustang bridge, 2) thread-in vibrato arm, 3) no rhythm circuit, but you still get the comfortable shape, cool vibrato, and unique, lively pickups.
  11. According to their Wikipedia page, Aimee Mann was once in Ministry. Given the number of people of who have been in the band though, I assume a few HFCers have done a rotation with Al.
  12. It was a busy concert weekend in Atlanta. We rode the train downtown with a bunch of Taylor Swift fans (she sold out three nights in Mercedes Benz Stadium) but we were going to a night of industrial nostalgia. It’s rolling the dice to see a legacy act, but Missus Polara was once a PVC and Doc Martens kid, and I was at least curious. The Tabernacle is a huge old church and a good venue. We were in the balcony, but up front. Arrived as Front Line Assembly were playing, and while I’d never heard them they were fine: Euro-techno with lots of arpeggiated synths and a guitarist playing an Explorer, loads of gain. They had a lot of energy and the audience of aging goths were supportive. Gary Numan was next, and I was looking forward to this, having liked his last few albums. He’s managed to steadily change but not on a desperate trend-following way, getting heavier and groovier, demonstrating why he was such an influence on Trent Reznor, amongst others. He is one athletic 64-year-old. Lean and stalking the stage, striking poses, handling the mic like a scary Jagger. His guitarist played an odd white guitar that may have been a Swope, through a tiny white (assuming solid state) head atop a 4-12. The bassist played a P-bass and both were wireless with modest pedalboards. Numan played his battered old Les Paul Deluxe for a couple songs. They were tight and the most energized band on the bill. Ministry was never my thing, and I didn’t even know Al J was still alive, but apparently they still put albums out every couple years. Unbelievably loud, lots of animated backdrops, Al growling from a lit-up crucifix pulpit. One guitarist had what may have been a Music Man into a Meaa half-stack, and the other played something with a vaguely Explored shape, perhaps an ESP. The bassist was outstanding, really owning the stage, playing a white P bass. If you like chugging high-gain riffs, blast beat drums, and an old warlock carnival barker shouting agitprop… well. That’s Ministry. The kid loved it all: I’m kind of pleased a teenaged girl chose this over Taylor Swift (though I think her new album is great). Numan pics attached.
  13. They’re great as long as you like some if their characteristics. I don’t like the rhythm circuit: it’s a solution in search of a problem. And the pickups are not powerful enough for high gain stuff unless you choose some real devastating pedals. But the shape is comfortable, the pickups (depending on model) give loads of flexibility, and the vibrato is a joy. My AV65 Jazzmaster always returned to pitch, was great for anything short of hair-metal dives, and the location of the vibrato arm is very natural. However, a Mustang or Staytrem or Mastery bridge works better than the classic Jazzmaster unit, as the latter can rattle or even move. Try the American Professional Jazzmaster : it has sensible switching and bridge, but retains the proper vibrato unit so you get all the chimey overtones.
  14. In my revolving door (is it a collection? A shop? I seldom keep anything) of fiddles to flip, a few stay. Namely, any German-made Framus. This is the brand that’s replaced Hamer as my “buy without needing to try” thing. Mike S of course carries the true Hamer torch, but I won’t stumble across an underpriced Shishkov at Guitar Center. Framus has that “don’t tell anyone or the prices will go sky high” thing as well as the Hamer “man this is well built” thing. This one is a custom shop creation from 2011. One-piece mahogany body, carved maple top, Fender scale, medium (hidden ends) frets, big ol’ ‘maple neck. The pickups are noted as “SD CU” on the build sheet. Five-way pickup selector and “blower switch”, Framus-branded vibrato and locking tuners. I like it because the single-coil settings are useful, the neck is chunky - about like a Hamer vintage carve - it stays in tune for a 45-minute set, and it’s built like a brick house. I suppose it’s vaguely like a PRS but I like this neck - the normal Franus necks are slim with jumbo frets - and it was significantly cheaper than a Custom 22. It’s also nicely broken in: the first owner was a cat from LA who said he toured with it for ten years and he’s also sold some other custom Framus so maybe he was a pro. It’s also kind of uglyI know. A lemon-colored guitar with with maple fretboard and black headstock is just odd. Anyway we’re playing at the Virginia Highland Porchfest on the 20th and I’ll use this because it does everything I need. If you find a German Framus you might want to check it out.
  15. Nah, it was Rob's idea. I just executed it, and did his website. I had a Valvetech VAC25 in a 210, but finally traded it for a 12-string bass because the guitarist in my band quit playing his Marshall and his Mesa because he liked my Valvetech better
  16. Looks like a good solid player: solid deal there. So what if it was routed for bigger pickups... it's not like an Eclipse is gonna be a collector's Grail in our lifetimes.
  17. That's hawt. Really versatile, nice guitars... someone will buy that fast.
  18. I've used two online mastering sites, CloudBounce and LANDR for our albums. It ain't someone with golden ears in a top studio, but we're not Bowie nor do we have his budget. Both do a very good job of an overall EQ for radio (whatever "radio" is) and the compression and overall volume are good enough that when I listen in the car or on AirPods it sounds fine compared to other stuff on my phone.
  19. Looks in good shape. You may love the pickups and a pair of SDs are pretty cheap if you decided to sell it in stock setup. That tailpiece is… interesting. But a normal Gotoh is cheap to get. Looks nice!
  20. That is so great! He's behind some unexpected guitars, too. Did you know GJ's California shop built Fanos for a while, before they ended up in the new facility in Arizona? I tried a GJ-made Fano JM and it was absolutely stellar.
  21. Did anyone else get stuck on this line? "...sit under a new privately owned umbrella company..."
×
×
  • Create New...