Musical Notes: Ashes

Musical Notes posts describe the structure, production ideas, and influences for Under the Rose songs. We thought it'd be fun to publish the ideas behind the finished products.

You can download this song for free by clicking the download link above. (Just put 0.00 as your purchase amount. If you want to give more, we'll certainly accept it.)

History (and Some Plugs!)

This song has a long history. Several of its riffs were part of a song by Rhinelander, a band I (Aaron) was in with Keith Weber and Brad Sims. (Keith is now in blues/progressive/Southern rock band Pyrite Parachute, while Brad plays in indie rock band Voices in the Trees. Both are very talented! Check them out.) Some of the riffs and vocal melodies from that original song remain intact.

Tuning and Influences

This song was my first (and, to date, only) experiment with a drop-A tuning. In this tuning, all strings are tuned a whole step down except the thickest (i.e., lowest in pitch) string, which is tuned four steps lower. The end result is this (from low to high): A(low)-G-C-F-A-D. In this tuning, when you play a power chord on the thickest/lowest two strings, an octave results. I was inspired to try this by several bands/songs, including the following:

Calm Like a Bomb - Rage Against the Machine
Maggie's Farm (Bob Dylan cover) - Rage Against the Machine
Home - Sevendust

The guitars and vocals also resemble various Southern metal classics by Down, such as "Temptation's Wings." In fact, I'd say the screamed vocals sound like someone trying to impersonate Phil Anselmo.

But the song most people mention when they listen to "Ashes" is "Carry On Our Wayward Son" by Kansas. I guess that lick from the opening riff found it's way into my subconscious!

Production and Recording

After spending so much time and effort on our debut CD, we wanted to arrange and record "Ashes" quickly (in one day) and not spend so much time on the production. As a result, we neglected auxiliary percussion, backing vocals, programming, and other layers. This song contains only drums, bass, vocals, and lots of guitars. We also elected not to use drum samples; the drum tones on this recording are all "natural." When recording the screamed vocals, I held the mic and cupped it with my hands, mimicking the raw sound you might hear at a live show.

I also mixed in my dad's old Fender Strat (using the single-coil neck pickup), which is something you don't hear terribly often in heavy music. It's panned to the right side of the recording. I think using different guitars and different amp settings when overdubbing guitars can create a thicker "wall of guitars" sound. (And I, of course, am all about walls of guitars.)

The biggest difference between "Ashes" and the songs on our first CD is that it was recorded after a live, face-to-face practice. Previously, all our recordings had been assembled via file share and mail. We like to think "Ashes" sounds a bit more cohesive than the songs on the CD, even though its mix is less pristine.

-Aaron