Artist Name: StoreyTunes Title: What’s The Matter (With Me) Genre: Modern Contemporary Pop/Psychedelic Rating:
Equipment
DAW – Logic Pro X; Computer – Upgraded mid-2010 Mac Pro; Microphones – Shure SM57 (snare and guitar cabinet), Sennheiser MD421 (toms and kick), original 1995 RØDE NT2 (x2); Drums – Pearl Kit; Guitars – Fender Stratocaster (electric) and Martin DM Mahogany Dreadnought (acoustic); Amp – VOX AC30; Plugins – Waves, Soundtoys and FabFilter; Soundware – Spitfire Albion Solstice and Logic sound library; Headphones – Neumann NDH 30; Monitors – Neumann KH 310
Production
George Storey wrote, recorded, mixed and mastered “What’s The Matter (With Me).” He also sang and played acoustic guitar and bass. Tom Coplen played the electric guitars and Corey Musick was the drummer.
George notes, “I had the chord sequence for this song as a practice set for guitar and did not know what I would do with it other than practice. I eventually changed the rhythm and sped it up, which inspired the melody line and chorus. The middle was another little chord sequence I had that seemed to fit. Once I had all that, the words came together quickly, a good omen for the song. I think my little Beatles-style harmony for the chorus works well in the arrangement.”
Music
“What’s The Matter (With Me)” is a poppy, psychedelic tune by StoreyTunes. The song’s vibe is reminiscent of some of the late-era Beatles or Beatles solo recordings, but I’m reminded even more of the music that Jeff Lynne created with the Electric Light Orchestra.
Review By Dave Martin
“What’s The Matter (With Me)” has a delightfully retro feel, with delay on the acoustic guitar, an echo and a phase shifter on the electric guitar, a roomy drum sound, spacey background vocals and a somewhat orchestral sound under the guitar solo. Real instruments included Pearl drums miked with 421 mics on the kick and toms, an SM57 on the snare, a pair of RØDE NT2 mics for overheads, a Fender Strat played through a VOX AC30 (miked with an SM57) and a mahogany Martin acoustic. I like the “old-fashioned” recording techniques and live instruments work so well with this music.
Despite the old-school sound of the song, Storey isn’t necessarily married to 1970s techniques or gear. The track was recorded in Logic (though the upgraded 2010 Mac Tower could be considered ‘elderly’), and several contemporary plugins from Waves, FabFilter, and Soundtoys, along with sound libraries from Logic and Spitfire were used in the process.
Unlike most music recorded these days, “What’s The Matter (With Me)” has a shuffle groove. If you listen closely, you’ll hear that the drum groove is mostly quarter notes, with dotted eighth notes happening on fills and at the end of measures. The shuffle is primarily stated by the other instruments—pretty cool.
Mention should also be made of the background vocals; they’re made up of many tracks of a single voice, doubled (or tripled), which gives a sound different from having a group of singers doing the same parts.
Dave’s Suggestions
Often, when we record and mix ourselves, as we record each new track, we turn it up in the mix (to be sure we are playing it correctly). This means the “last thing recorded is the loudest” can make it to the final mix since that’s how we heard it in tracking. It seems to me that the electric guitar track may be the recipient of this tendency; it seems a bit out in front of the other instruments.
The only other suggestion that I would make for further recording is that it’s worth taking a microscopic look at the instrumental tracks to make sure that they’re all playing with each other. Minor timing discrepancies that happen when musicians play together live might be unnoticeable, but when you listen to a song multiple times even the smallest differences are magnified.
Summary
I like the song, the sound of the recording, and the vibe of “What’s The Matter (With Me).” I look forward to hearing more of George Storey’s music.
Dave Martin is a producer, engineer and bassist. Dave owned Nashville’s Java Jive Studio for close to 25 years. Dave has recorded, produced and/or played with symphony orchestras, rock and roll icons and country music legends ranging from the Old Crow Medicine Show, The Dead Pickers Society, Porter Wagoner, Robben Ford, Billy Cobham, The Box Tops, Carl Verheyen, Richie Faulkner (Judas Priest), Adrian Belew, Rick Nielsen (Cheap Trick), Eric Johnson, Robbie Fulks, Steve Vai, The Coasters and others. Dave is also a member of the Western Swing Hall of Fame.