Admin Mona Wagner
AdminForum Replies Created
-
Oh, that was definitely the Rick. 😉 Played through an AC30 with reverb, delay and an ADT (automatic double-tracking) effect added to it to give it maximum jingle and Beatley vibes. ADT is something the Beatles used a lot, especially on their more psychedelic records. It gives it a bit of a richer, slightly “phasey” sound. Not sure if it was actually being used on the original guitar track for that song but it sounded fitting to us.
Also playing around with the different pick-up combinations changes the sound quite drastically. But you’re right, on its own, without some effects and especially without a whole bunch of delay, the Rick would sound a lot thinner.Hope that helps!
-
I AM THE FUNNY ONE!
-
Hi Ademir,
I think our parents just didn’t want to take the joke too far, so they named us in the “reversed” birth order. They’d also still say “Lisa and Mona” if we’re out in public and they’re calling for both of us.
I’ll ask Dad if he has a different explanation but for all I know, that’s why! 😉
-
Hi David!
We always love to try songs by artists and bands we’ve not covered yet, and the Seekers are definitely on our radar but it’s a matter of time and priorities over different projects at the moment. I’ve yet to properly check out the Seekers back catalogue to be honest but your question made me pull up their albums on Spotify. That’s my soundtrack of the day sorted 😉 Thanks for your song suggestion! -
Hi Jacki!!
We always start off going “with the creative flow” when writing a song but it’s happened more than once that at the end of the writing process we drop a verse or shorten a solo in order to “tighten up the song”.
We prefer the idea of keeping our original songs “short and sweet” (with a few exceptions where we needed more time to really let the song speak and unfold) rather than dragging them out too much by adding yet another chorus at the end. “Close To You” for example used to have an extra verse and so did “That’s Life”.
If we can get a story or idea across in less words we usually go for that option. 🙂 On average we try to aim for around 2-3 minutes but that’s only a rough guide.
When we record covers it’s usually the original version that determines the song length. We occasionally change the tempo or arrangement a little bit but the song length isn’t a big concern for us most of the time. Whatever happens happens and especially those early Beatles songs are usually so damn short anyway… they leave you wanting more 😉
It’s an interesting question though and fun to analyse our own creative choices when being prompted with a message like yours! Thanks a lot 🙂
Big hugs from all of us!
-
Hi Rick!
It would make for a much more exciting reply to your question but there is no “deeper meaning” or master plan behind our hair choices. It all started off quite innocently, when we went to the hairdresser one afternoon after school and were allowed to get a coloured streak in our hair. It might have actually been to celebrate a good report card or something similar. On a whim, I went with blond and lisa chose orange (that photo is from 2005 … click to enhance):
A few years and several hair experiments later and we returned to those colours, adding more and more streaks until we ended up with our current hair colours and cuts. You might say it got a little out of hand 😉
I always found shorter hair to be more convenient, so once I had cut mine off I didn’t want to grow it out any more. Again, all very mundane reasons, haha.
Once we got into the swing of making more and more YouTube videos and people started to recognise us by our hair we decided to keep it relatively consistent. I’ve been growing out my fringe lately and doing lots of braiding but at the end of the day it’s just hair, so when we’re not performing a lot it’s allowed to just do what it wants 😛
PS. By the way, the baby-boy on the photo is our “little” cousin Oliver, who has meanwhile outgrown us.
-
Bonjour, Ciao, Hallo and Welcome, Angelo!
What a fun mix of cultural backgrounds in just one person, we loved your introduction! We want to say a big welcome and even bigger thank you for entering the virtual walls of this humble abode, the MLT Club.
“Drive My Car” has introduced a lot of new people to our music recently, and we’re so glad you were amongst them and decided to click on the next video and the next … until you ended up here 😉
Our dad and step-mum just read your message too, and we all appreciate what you said about us.
Lots of peace, love and groovy greetings from Liverpool to the beautiful Alps!
-
Hi Rick!
I wrote a bit more about it in my Ludwig kit in my reply to Howard here but you submitted your question before I posted my answer and I have plenty to expand on so let’s go …
The Ludwig is an Accent CS Custom Elite, with 3 toms (10”, 12”, 14” although I sometimes store away the middle one), a 20” Base Drum and a 14” snare. I’ve got a really great, heavy 14” Zyldian hi hat and a handful of cymbals, my favourite being a Zildjian K Hybrid Crash which has got to be on 90% of all our recordings!
The kit is nothing “fancy” but it’s exactly what we need for most recordings. I love the “Blue Ice” finish too and just think it’s an all round great kit with very decent hardware.
Lisa plays the drums too! We used to take lessons together and she’s actually pretty good, she just hasn’t practised for a long time but if she did she could definitely hold her own! Maybe we should do a drum battle one day 😉
We’re excited to see the little surprise in fall! If it’s anything like the last we’ll LOVE it.
All the best to you!
Mona -
Hi Howard!
As much as we could look at them all day, we keep our more “special” guitars locked away in their cases, far away from dust, the accidental coffee spill or humidity. We have our “working” guitars that are constantly out and about and that we record most things with (like Lisa’s Gretsch, my Epiphone and Ricky for example).
When we are playing around with different sounds in the studio we often get some of the other babies out to see what works best.
As for drums sets, there is our main Ludwig kit (a Ludwig Accent CS Custom Elite) which is not a very fancy kit but it looks and sounds great and has some sturdy hardware which is all we need, as well as an electric Roland TD-12 Kit.
We use the Ludwig for nearly all recordings, so it’s always set and miked up in the studio. I have a small selection of good cymbals and a great heavy hi-hat, so we’ve got pretty much all bases covered.
I’ve still got my cheap budget kit back in Austria that I started playing on but at this point it could fall apart just by looking at it too intensely.
I hope you’re well and send all the best,
Mona -
Hi Rick!
First of all – thanks a lot 😀
As far as I know, Steve Harley had never used a blues harp in any of his many versions of this beautiful song he’s done over the years, but after hearing our cover he decided to incorporate it into the live versions we played together.
On tour, the song was always my favourite part of the whole set. Toward the very end of the tune the whole band would drop down and get really quiet. We’d form a little circle at the front of the stage and each band member would play a little solo – Lisa on the uke and I on the blues harp. It was so intimate and magical and will always be one of my favorite moments on the whole tour with Steve Harley & Cockney Rebel.
So the short answer to your question is, we came up with the arrangement of our cover version and then Steve incorporated it into our joint performances.
Dad, Michaela, Lisa and I send back our very best greetings.
Mona
-
Hi Jung!
I just watched the trailer for Coco and now I really wanna cuddle up on the couch and pull it up on Netflix. I love the concept, combining music and family into a movie – I’m sure it’s adorable!
I’ve never made it past the opening scene on UP, which already had me in tears :’D. Those film studios surely know how to tug on your heartstrings! But if I find the time I’ll watch it prepared, with a box of tissues.
I’ve not paid much attention to animated movies for the last 10 years or so, but one that will be part of my (and Lisa’s) childhood forever is “Finding Nemo”. We knew that movie inside out and used to be able to quote most of the scenes from it – we might still be able to if you challenged us! 😉 It came out at the perfect time (we just turned 9) and how could you not love those little squishy fishies and their turtle friends!
In terms of cartoons we remember watching the Looney Toons as smaller children, as well as all the classic 90’s cartoons, a mix of Japanese anime and some more peculiar European shows like “Heidi, Girl of the alps” or “Vicky the Viking”. It was a real mix but we never watched any particular one on a regular basis as far as I can remember.
On some of them I look back and can’t imagine how we managed to sit through whole episodes and enjoy them. The Pokémon cartoons for example – they’re so slow tempo, it’s nearly unwatchable now! But then again, 7 year-old-me put tomato sauce on potato mash to make it turn pink … so I know preferences change 😉
Mona
-
Hi Rick!
I just asked everyone in the family and the overwhelming consensus is that we indeed shot the video on two different days. It’s been so long ago but I think it was on two consecutive days. The park scenes were shot in Saffron Walden, north of London, while the rest was done on the southern coast of England.
To answer your question about the shoes … I think climbing that tree was safer in those white sneakers than my flimsy blue ones, and we probably chose that over the chance that some extra-keen eyes might spot the difference. Either that, or I accidentally put on my magic colour-shifting pair. As I said, it’s been a while so I can’t quite remember 😉
All the best across the pond, and well spotted!
Mona
-
Hi Jacki!
The approach of recording guitars in the studio vs. a live arrangement can be quite different.
In the studio we can layer different guitars (sometimes more than two), choose the perfect guitar for the sound we want and generally play around much more with licks and layers than during a live performance. When playing live, the overall groove and energy becomes a lot more important than intricate details we would focus on in the studio.
When you do a live show you are limited in a couple of ways. You can only bring a certain amount of guitars and gear on stage, so different songs that have originally been recorded on our Gretsch, Epiphone Casino and Les Paul (maybe even with some effects) will all have to be played on the Grestch as it’s not feasible to bring and swap that many guitars to a gig only for a little bit of tone variety. The sound engineer will be thankful too 😉
Also, we normally have to change up a lot of things for live shows, especially when we perform as a duo. Since you are suddenly missing the bass & drum parts (and whatever else we put on the record) we’d occasionally have to make up for that with a more solid guitar arrangement. That could mean adding a more rhythmic acoustic guitar part or dropping certain intricacies in exchange for a more solid groove.
On the other hand, live playing can sometimes allow for a lot of improvisation, and the added adrenalin might add an extra touch of energy that can be more tricky to access in the studio.On our earlier songs (most of the “When We’re Together” album) we tried to make the recordings “playable” live so we didn’t go overboard with effects, different instruments and arrangements that you couldn’t reproduce as a 4-piece band on stage. With ORANGE we obviously went a bit more experimental, so we certainly have to adapt arrangements and our guitar playing styles to do those songs live. 🙂
All the best to Canada from Liverpool!!
-
Hi Rick,
Yes, that red (or “fireglo”, as the official term would be) Ricky was a gift from Steve from Miami and is a 350v63, just like the black one I own and usually play. So yes, in a way they are identical, except for the colour and the few small adjustments I’ve made on the black one.
They are not 325’s … that’s the short scale version and the one Lennon played. The 350V63 has the same pickups and look as the 325 but is a “normal” length and plays like most other guitars.
I’ve never used the red one live, not because it’s inferior but just because I don’t want to wear down both and want to keep one of them in perfect condition. My black one has taken quite a beating over the years from all the live playing! 😉
I often have to pinch myself that we somehow got to own so many of our absolute dream guitars. In the case of the 350v63 … TWO of them. Of course, thanks to Steve. This still blows my mind every day!
I hope you’re well and send all the best,
Mona
-
Hi Tom!!
“Smile Songs” you say? We love hearing that, thank you!! 🙂 Connecting with people like you and knowing that there’s an audience out there that enjoys the music we create makes us smile in return. So it’s smiles all-round, … perfect!
We’re glad you joined the Club and hope you’ll enjoy it here! We hope you’ve had a chance to have a look around and if you’ve got any questions for us feel free to post them in the Ask The MLT forum.
Groovy greetings!