Island Hopping with Nick and Dave

Robus

Well-known member
Another remix of an album track getting ready to master. That's easlern on lead vocal and ibleedburgundy on drums. Good work guys!

All comments appreciated. Right not I'm focused on getting the levels right, especially lead vocal and bass.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0BzqJIqBR8uJeUjdnVU8yWktWbzA/view?usp=sharing

Island Hopping
Words and music by Ray Taylor, 2016

Monday morning rain in traffic
Back where we always stood
And I know what you got under your hood
Take 57 out to the cornfields baby
Windy city closing round you
Like an eggshell lately
And the more I think of you
More it closes round me too

Got a room for two on Wednesday
Friday morning news is pressing round
And we can’t turn down
Take 80 on east to the state line baby
Winding road’ll point you back to me
In a straight line maybe
The more I think of you
The more I hope foregoing and above are true

We’ll go island hopping
In your tropics
Well everyone’s got dreams
And a breezy line of exit
From the scene
But the more I think of you
It’s got me thinking too
That I need you
If you need me
That I want you to

Would you kindly name your pleasure
In the flesh or by the measure’s fine
Or we walk on by
Every street that we pass got a memory maybe
In the flash or in the echo fading
More I fade with you
More they echo
More they echo
Round me too

We’ll go island hopping
In your tropics
Well everyone’s got dreams
And a breezy line of exit
From the scene
But the more I think of you
It’s got me thinking too
That I need you
If you need me
That I want you to
 
Last edited:
Here's my favorite tune from you guys. I like the hat stuff Dave throws in during the first part of the end solo. Ah man...that whole solo section could/should really go on for another 30 seconds to a minute. It's really good and there's a great energy leading into it. Probably my favorite part of the song, and I wish you guys carried it on longer and let it build heavier each measure. If I was your producer in the studio, that would be a "trust me on this" moment. :) Great opportunity there for a nice jam at an appropriate place - and not all tunes have appropriate places for stuff like that.

Anyhow, very good mix. Levels sound great to me. You know what I always say about the twangy L guitar though. Other than that, very very good stuff guys.
 
Thanks man. Did you notice I replaced the opening guitar solo, and the solo after the chorus? I never loved the tone of the original.
 
Nice mix again, you're stuff is very consistent. That's something I usually struggle with when most of my crazy tunes are so different mix-wise. Like Taras said, that last solo could have went longer but it's fine how it is. Nothing to critique, as nothing stands out to me, sounds great.
 
Thanks guys. Yeah, I can definitely hear rocking out that outro longer. But we are done tracking on this song. Too many songs in the queue ahead.

Listening again, I think the lead vocal could come down a hair.
 
Nice sounds-i like the seperation and "silence" between the instruments. Trying to figure out if there's keys? or some kind of effected guitar? I really like those high plinky sounds-they really add a jazzy sound to the song and give it a unique mood. Mix sounds fine-maybe a little tame in the high end overall. Vocals are sitting just fine to me-bass i didn't really notice-but everyone has their opinion of what is enough/too much bass, low end didn't seem lacking i just didn't pick up on what the bass was actually doing and i usually do when i listen....Anyways sounds like a very good mix that is not standing in the way of this good tune. Good work guys.
 
Thanks! That space and separation is really what I am after. That's my Korg Triton. It's an interesting patch. Some kind of electric piano with reverse reverb and a synth string pad in the background that blooms under the piano voice as you hold down the keys. Very dynamic and complex. It has become my go to patch for these songs I am doing with Nick and Dave.
 
I remember this one but I think the earlier version I heard had a different arrangement. I really like the laid back groove and the chill summertime guitar. Levels sound great here
 
Sounds great. Best vocal yet, Nick. It's smooth w/o any harshness. Robus placed it perfectly in the mix and chose a good reverb. Really like the left guitar tone at the 1:20ish mark.
 
The song doesn't start from silence. There is a high pitched hum that starts maybe a half second before the opening drum fill. Maybe identify that and kill it off.

There is something odd going on with the drum fill at 1:22. The toms sound a bit distant, and something seems to click at the end of the fill - I mean like a noise click - like when a track is still making noise and has been trimmed and clocks out or something. Same exact thing at 2:40. Some editing there I guess. I am thinking you took the best version of that fill and stapled it in there lol.

The ending fade - I don't think you have to press so hard to end it there. It seems a bit short. I know your guitar parts didn't go on any longer but just drums and bass would be okay for a few seconds - at such a low level at the end of the fade I don't think anyone would notice anyway.
 
Thanks, I'll have a look. I didn't cut and paste any fills, but I did some clipping around the hits on the tom and snare tracks to reduce hat bleed. I probably got careless with one of those edits and cut it off too soon.
 
The song doesn't start from silence.

The ending fade - I don't think you have to press so hard to end it there. It seems a bit short. I know your guitar parts didn't go on any longer but just drums and bass would be okay for a few seconds

Good things picked out there. I agree with Dave. Anything to make that outro longer! You can even copy and paste the rhythm guitars, bass, and drums for another couple measures at the end if you wanted to (I know you don't) :)

I agree that I've heard a few songs from you that fade out very fast.
 
Listening again, I think the lead vocal could come down a hair.
don't think so ... sounds about right to me.

A few weeks back a friend and I were headed to Orlando for a jazz gig and I played him some recordings I have liked thru the years from here.

He made the comment, "I can always tell when it's a home recordist because their vox are always too low" ..... I think there's truth to that .... on any pop record on the radio the vox is always very present.

This song sound pretty good to my ears.
The only nit for me ( and this is very much a matter of taste and opinion ) is that I don't care for the snare sound much ..... something about it bothers me .... but that's about it.
 
We've done 11 songs, I have about 6 different snare sounds. It's a work in progress lol. The only one I really loved was on the collab with Jimistone.
 
don't think so ... sounds about right to me.

A few weeks back a friend and I were headed to Orlando for a jazz gig and I played him some recordings I have liked thru the years from here.

He made the comment, "I can always tell when it's a home recordist because their vox are always too low" ..... I think there's truth to that .... on any pop record on the radio the vox is always very present.

Thanks Bob, I appreciate the listen. Your comment is reassuring. I have been second-guessing myself on levels lately.
 
Late to this, so I don't know if I'm listening to mix #1 or what. But there isn't much I'd change.

Kick is maybe a db too loud.

Vocal is maybe a db too soft in the chorus - "We'll go island hopping..." section. Just for a few lines.

Snare is just a bit wet.

All just suggestions. All minor. All optional. :)
 
I Enjoyed this song. It is really a well written song . Great arrangement too guys! It has a good time feel to it . Also, I think the recording is great , Very nice tones . The snare sounded good to me .

I agree with Lt Bob that the vocals are not too hot at all. I tend to mix my vocals a lot hotter than most of the guys on this site. It's just the way I hear 'em when I listen to the radio, and records, and I think they sound the best up in the mix. I think the reason you see so many vocal levels being real low, in home recordings, is because people lack confidence in their vocal ability and tend to bury it in the mix.

Great song guys!
 
Back
Top