Keep Thinking There's Somewhere That I'm Supposed to Be
Continuing our journey through the Mimes back catalogue: Substitute Dream.
"Substitute Dream" is one of two Mimes songs (the other is "I Guess I Do") that I consider definitive. I don't know if they're my best songs, but they're the ones that best match my idea of what Mimes music sounds like.
I'm not sure exactly what it is about these two songs that makes me feel that way, but one trait they have in common is that I include some unorthodox chords that are actually essential to the song (unlike "Dead Wrong"). In "Substitute Dream", I use an unconventional voicing for a G major chord:
E 3
B 0
G 0
D x
A 5
E 3
I usually fret the bass note with my thumb. It's pretty hard to play this chord if you play the "correct" way, using only four fingers and not letting your thumb drape over the fingerboard. The D-string is muted by allowing the ring finger, which is fretting the D on the A-string, to droop and touch it lightly. Using this fingering allows an easy switch to a G major with a b5:
E 3
B 0
G 0
D x
A 4
E 3
This chord (which I'll call G(b5)) opened up the whole song. I like the dissonance of the Db along with the ringing of the open B and G strings. It sort of crashes and swirls. Another unusual chord is a D with a G substituted for the A (which I'll call Dadd4):
E 2
B 3
G 0
D 0
A x
E x
I call this Dadd4 because it adds the 4 (G) to a D major chord (although the 5 (A) is missing in this case). A Dsus4, where a 4 is substituted for the "suspended" 3 (F#), is used a few times in this song as an embellishment (for instance, in the intro just before the heavy drums kick in):
E 3
B 3
G 2
D 0
A x
E x
On all the D chords, I usually fret an F# on the low E string with my thumb, just in case I get a little overzealous and hit all the strings.
The song consists of just a few chord sequences used repeatedly. I haven't written out the chords just used for occassional embellishment (Dsus4 and Gadd9). The guitar and bass were tuned down a half-step.
Intro/Chorus:
Am C D Dadd4 D
Verse:
G G(b5) G
G G(b5) G
D Dadd4 D
D Dadd4 D
Bridge:
Bm(add4) G6
Bm(add4) Aadd9 Fm7b5 B7
G
D
A B7 A7
The Bm(add4) and G6 are just the standard chords with the high E string left open. The number of times the D-Dadd4-D is repeated varies during the verse, which I thought made the song sound a little more off-kilter. I figure John Lennon would approve. The song also ends a bit unexpectedly on D instead of G, which is similar to the ending of "You've Got to Hide Your Love Away."
For complete lyrics, click here
Probably the aspect that sticks out the most about the recording of this song is the live drums. These were provided by my little brother, who I believe was fourteen at the time. I brought my 4-track and guitar out to Omaha during a visit. It's always a little intimidating to realize how much more musical talent that kid has than I do. I played through the chords to this song which he had never heard before and we recorded this take about fifteen minutes later. He's been taking lessons from an old jazz drummer for years, which was definitely a plus when it came to creating the kinds of fills I wanted on this song. Did I mention that he now considers the piano his primary instrument?
Anyway, I set up two mics around the drums, one in front of the bass drum and one for everything else. The guitar (my trusty Strat) was recorded live at the same time using a little Park amp which, thankfully, has built-in reverb.
The basic tracks actually underwent some significant editing. Halfway through the last verse, the beater fell off of the bass drum pedal. However, since we were happy enough with the rest of the take, I used the computer to splice in an earlier verse in its place. Luckily, our tempo was consistent enough that the change isn't very noticeable.
Having reduced the drums and guitar to two edited tracks, I then added the bass line. I believe that this was directly injected (running through my amp's cabinet emulator) to get a more powerful sound.
Only one track of vocals was recorded, with nothing too unusual. It took me a long time to get a vocal take I was reasonably satisfied with. (An older mix with a different vocal take was floating around on mp3.com.) I added some reverb using my RP3 guitar effects pedal, but I think I did this during mixing using my 4-track's effects loop. It was quite nice to just have three instruments and the vocals to work with during mixing -- no need for the intermediate instrumental mixes that tend to be my undoing.
"Substitute Dream" is one of two Mimes songs (the other is "I Guess I Do") that I consider definitive. I don't know if they're my best songs, but they're the ones that best match my idea of what Mimes music sounds like.
I'm not sure exactly what it is about these two songs that makes me feel that way, but one trait they have in common is that I include some unorthodox chords that are actually essential to the song (unlike "Dead Wrong"). In "Substitute Dream", I use an unconventional voicing for a G major chord:
E 3
B 0
G 0
D x
A 5
E 3
I usually fret the bass note with my thumb. It's pretty hard to play this chord if you play the "correct" way, using only four fingers and not letting your thumb drape over the fingerboard. The D-string is muted by allowing the ring finger, which is fretting the D on the A-string, to droop and touch it lightly. Using this fingering allows an easy switch to a G major with a b5:
E 3
B 0
G 0
D x
A 4
E 3
This chord (which I'll call G(b5)) opened up the whole song. I like the dissonance of the Db along with the ringing of the open B and G strings. It sort of crashes and swirls. Another unusual chord is a D with a G substituted for the A (which I'll call Dadd4):
E 2
B 3
G 0
D 0
A x
E x
I call this Dadd4 because it adds the 4 (G) to a D major chord (although the 5 (A) is missing in this case). A Dsus4, where a 4 is substituted for the "suspended" 3 (F#), is used a few times in this song as an embellishment (for instance, in the intro just before the heavy drums kick in):
E 3
B 3
G 2
D 0
A x
E x
On all the D chords, I usually fret an F# on the low E string with my thumb, just in case I get a little overzealous and hit all the strings.
The song consists of just a few chord sequences used repeatedly. I haven't written out the chords just used for occassional embellishment (Dsus4 and Gadd9). The guitar and bass were tuned down a half-step.
Intro/Chorus:
Am C D Dadd4 D
Verse:
G G(b5) G
G G(b5) G
D Dadd4 D
D Dadd4 D
Bridge:
Bm(add4) G6
Bm(add4) Aadd9 Fm7b5 B7
G
D
A B7 A7
The Bm(add4) and G6 are just the standard chords with the high E string left open. The number of times the D-Dadd4-D is repeated varies during the verse, which I thought made the song sound a little more off-kilter. I figure John Lennon would approve. The song also ends a bit unexpectedly on D instead of G, which is similar to the ending of "You've Got to Hide Your Love Away."
For complete lyrics, click here
Probably the aspect that sticks out the most about the recording of this song is the live drums. These were provided by my little brother, who I believe was fourteen at the time. I brought my 4-track and guitar out to Omaha during a visit. It's always a little intimidating to realize how much more musical talent that kid has than I do. I played through the chords to this song which he had never heard before and we recorded this take about fifteen minutes later. He's been taking lessons from an old jazz drummer for years, which was definitely a plus when it came to creating the kinds of fills I wanted on this song. Did I mention that he now considers the piano his primary instrument?
Anyway, I set up two mics around the drums, one in front of the bass drum and one for everything else. The guitar (my trusty Strat) was recorded live at the same time using a little Park amp which, thankfully, has built-in reverb.
The basic tracks actually underwent some significant editing. Halfway through the last verse, the beater fell off of the bass drum pedal. However, since we were happy enough with the rest of the take, I used the computer to splice in an earlier verse in its place. Luckily, our tempo was consistent enough that the change isn't very noticeable.
Having reduced the drums and guitar to two edited tracks, I then added the bass line. I believe that this was directly injected (running through my amp's cabinet emulator) to get a more powerful sound.
Only one track of vocals was recorded, with nothing too unusual. It took me a long time to get a vocal take I was reasonably satisfied with. (An older mix with a different vocal take was floating around on mp3.com.) I added some reverb using my RP3 guitar effects pedal, but I think I did this during mixing using my 4-track's effects loop. It was quite nice to just have three instruments and the vocals to work with during mixing -- no need for the intermediate instrumental mixes that tend to be my undoing.