Guns N' Roses - Don't cry - v1.2

This is the song that is quintessential Guns N' Roses to me. Memorable bass and drum lines combined with a simple yet melodic solo make this one of the greatest rock songs ever.

Bass

The tab from Songsterr are pretty accurate and I managed to follow them reasonably accurately. It was one of the more enjoyable bass lines that I recorded as of yet.

Vocals

I went through several iterations. My initial intention was to imitate Axl Rose's timbre. That was the first mix with all the other instruments. Still, the vocals were the weakest link. I then went on to rerecord the track but I was no longer listening to the original. I feel that this made me be more mindful about the pitch correctness and the general flow of the vocals.

Lead Guitar

I know the sound of the solo by heart - who doesn't? Despite it sounding complicated, it's actually more melodic than fast and the Songsterr tab was accurate enough for me to follow.

Rhythm guitar (clean)

Arpeggio of open chords followed by strumming whenever not in the verses. With the right patch it sounds fairly close to the original recording.

Rhythm guitar (distorted)

A straightforward sequence of bar chords, of course digitally detuned by a half step. I tried to stick to the bar chords rather then only the power chords because the sound is richer that way.

Drums

For many songs kick drum patterns are not that diverse. For this song however they are way more interesting.

Mixing

As I'm progressing with the "Mixing secrets for the small studio" book, I started using per track frequency equalization. I did EQ for drums to increase the low frequencies of the kick drum because that's a critical element of the original recording. In the future I might start doing equalization for other instruments too.

Misc

This track requires the guitars to be tuned half a step down. I had to do that for the bass, however for the lead and rhythm I just used the digital tuning feature of my Variax guitar. It was really comfortable! I wish there was a bass with Variax tech and digital tuning as well.