# A taste of the Duran Duran Tribute project I'm working on...



## Guest (Aug 16, 2009)

Let me set up this clip for you:


First full-band rehearsal. Until last week we'd never had all four of us in the room at the same time. It all needs a lot of polish, but if this is what we can do the first time together I'm excited for 6 months from now. That's when we figure we'll be ready to rock a full-on tribute set of 20 songs or so.
Drums are a monstrous V-Drum kit -- two brains, a million triggers. He'll probably use a combo V-Drum kit + acoustic kit live. In the room I thought the V-Drums sounded stellar but listening back to things they're good, but analog could be better for the main drum parts. They are a blessing to rehearse with -- a drummer with a volume knob is nice.
Keys are running off a Korg multi-track unit. The singer can play like a mofo, but we don't want him chained behind synths so we're recording all the keyboard parts are rehearsing with a tape unit until we can find a suitable keyboard player. They're harder to find than you'd think.
Recorder was sitting on a milk crate, pointed at the bass amp. Opps. I tried to clean it up a bit, but if you like your bass on the heavy side you'll dig this clip. Bass player is playing a late 50's P-Bass...sounds killer. Just too much of it.
I'm direct, but mono and panned left. All Axe-Fx. One patch. It switches in a Muff + ADA Flanger for the "synth-ier" type stuff. All on top of an Ecstasy model into a 4x12 cab model. I'll be switching to stereo in a couple of weeks. We need to buy a bigger board first. 
This was the last song of the night and the singer was starting to lose it. But LeBon is pitchy as hell live so you could say it's just "more authentic" that way. 

And now, le clip: http://dl.getdropbox.com/u/870088/ddtribute/rehearsal1_rio.mp3


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## Bevo (Nov 24, 2006)

That bass sounded amazing, he did an awsome job!

You also nailed the tone off the original song, singer was very much in the ballpark of Simon!

Good job!


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## Fajah (Jun 28, 2006)

Excellent.....being the first time together. Definitely allot of potential.


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## al3d (Oct 3, 2007)

That's pretty good man..specialy for a first time. I recall Duran Duran a lot, the girls on the time were all crazy about that band..LOL. The bass line was always better then the Guitar tracks in DD. your singer nails the vocals well also.

are you doing a tribute band?


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## bagpipe (Sep 19, 2006)

Sounds good Ian - you guys sound tight. I agree with the earlier comments about the bass playing - he sounds great. The only negative for me is that during the chorus, when you switch to playing an Ebow type line, you really notice the rhythm guitar dropping out - maybe you could add another keyboard part there?

I'll look forward to seeing you guys play in Ottawa sometime.


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## Guest (Aug 17, 2009)

al3d said:


> That's pretty good man..specialy for a first time. I recall Duran Duran a lot, the girls on the time were all crazy about that band..LOL. The bass line was always better then the Guitar tracks in DD. your singer nails the vocals well also.
> 
> are you doing a tribute band?


Thanks al3d -- yea, DD is all about the bass and drum groove. We had bass players lining up to get involved in this project. It's keyboard players we're having trouble finding. This is going to be a tribute project. 100% DD, done with an eye on detail. We're not going for any particular period but for reference we tend to go back to the Live From London DVD shot in '04 quite a bit -- it's a good show and a good balance between old and new DD.



bagpipe said:


> Sounds good Ian - you guys sound tight. I agree with the earlier comments about the bass playing - he sounds great. The only negative for me is that during the chorus, when you switch to playing an Ebow type line, you really notice the rhythm guitar dropping out - maybe you could add another keyboard part there?
> 
> I'll look forward to seeing you guys play in Ottawa sometime.


Thanks bagpipe. The bass player is an absolute _monster_ and the biggest DD fan I've ever met. He's in his element for sure.

We're running our keys off a Korg unit right now and while it's recorded, none of it's mixed. So we set the levels and hit play. I'll make sure to pay attention when we're doing the keys mix so their brought up in the chorus to fill it in.


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## Starbuck (Jun 15, 2007)

bagpipe said:


> Sounds good Ian - you guys sound tight. I agree with the earlier comments about the bass playing - he sounds great. The only negative for me is that during the chorus, when you switch to playing an Ebow type line, you really notice the rhythm guitar dropping out - maybe you could add another keyboard part there?
> 
> I'll look forward to seeing you guys play in Ottawa sometime.


Ian! That's great! VERY ambitious of you to do a Duran Tribute, Of course that was my day and I was a big fan! I see what bagpipe means, but I don't think any audience will notice (unless there's lots of guitar players there) That at all. VERY good, looking forward to hearing more!


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## WEEZY (May 23, 2008)

Sounds great!

Funny, before I clicked on the clip I was humming Rio in my head...


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## Diablo (Dec 20, 2007)

Great job.
The bass was a little too forward in the mix, and the keyboards not enough so, IMO.
But otherwise spot on.


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## james on bass (Feb 4, 2006)

Would never had admitted to being a fan back in the day, but those guys were (are) great players. Covered a couple DD tunes a few years ago in a band and they were a blast to play.


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## NB_Terry (Feb 2, 2006)

That sounds really good!


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## Guest (Nov 19, 2009)

*An Update: Hungry Like The Wolf*

From last week's rehearsal. We're still working on the PA mix -- it's dark and not completely balanced. But the band is sounding tight on this track now. I really like playing the middle break down. 

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/870088/ddtribute/hungry.mp3


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## lbrown1 (Mar 22, 2007)

how did you talk Simon into coming and singing in your band?


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## Guest (Nov 19, 2009)

lbrown1 said:


> how did you talk Simon into coming and singing in your band?


Hehe. I'll let Rob know you said that. He'll be pleased. Thanks.


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## Guest (Nov 26, 2009)

Another clip from Monday night. Something a little more rock, a little less pop:

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/870088/ddtribute/new-religion.mp3

I'm really digging the new 9.0 firmware for the Axe-Fx. The re-worked amp models are superb. I've switched everything over to the Soldano SLO100 model for the high gain stuff -- it just screams though our mains. Awesome feeling to play that model loud.

:rockon2:

(Edit: very soon now..._The Reflex_. We tried it on Monday for the first time and it just needs some more work on keys and we'll be there.)


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## WEEZY (May 23, 2008)

Great job, you guys are nailing it!


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## Jeff Flowerday (Jan 23, 2006)

What no Andy Taylor love here?

Maybe he was better solo?

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BEwNrjvNiYs]X5dg-C0TR_I[/youtube]

Maybe not...


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## Guest (Dec 7, 2009)

Well, no surprise I'm an Andy Taylor fan, but I've always thought Take It Easy sounds suspiciously like Get It On...especially the way Taylor played Get It On in Power Station.

_Thunder_, BTW, was made available in iTunes a few months back. It'd been out of print for ages. I wore my cassette out a long time ago.


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## kruts (Apr 30, 2006)

Wow - your singer sounds just like the real deal. Make sure you keep this singer in the band.


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## Jeff Flowerday (Jan 23, 2006)

iaresee said:


> _Thunder_, BTW, was made available in iTunes a few months back. It'd been out of print for ages. I wore my cassette out a long time ago.


Just checked my catalog and I actually have it on CD.


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## gtone (Nov 1, 2009)

Great job Ian! kksjur

I'm kinda sentimental when it comes to bands like Duran Duran and Roxy Music - back in the early '80's, that stuff was "surefire" with the ladies. Should write those guys a thank you note sometime, actually, but I'm sure they know full well what I'm talking about...


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