The Jongleurs - Mother

Armistice

Armistice

Son of Yoda
Second.... last.... song... for... the .... album....

Getting there, getting there. This and the last song are by him... ie. not me.

This is what we'd always open our set with, live.... a quieter number, no drums.

Him: lead vocals, acoustic guitar
Me: backing vocals, acoustic guitar, electric guitar, bass

Mother

I'd love to explain what it means to you, but, as usual, I have no idea... it was only when he sang the second line in the studio that I even figured out what he was singing... after playing it live a million times. :D

Initial mix, so I expect it's a bit ratty.

Also features some of the local birdlife, which I noticed a bit late when recording my guitars... grrrr... hoping it's not too bad. These guys decided to have a conference outside my window and I, headphones strapped to head, thought, it's not that loud... signal to noise etc..

rainbow lorikeets.jpg

Any and all comments appreciated!

Cheers
 
Armistice,
well captured guitars.
As usual you have the vox mixed just a smidgen below complete discernibility but I rather like that.
Some lovely chords. In some way this reminds me of songs from Past, Present & Future by Al Stewart (before year of the cat) - some of the chords really have lovely texture and presence.
A hymn to the earth?
Lovely guitar playing.
The lorikeets are frequent visitor here as well though not as problematic as the kid who lives behind - his dad built him a skate ramp about 3.5M from my recording space. It has no back on it and nothing inside so the bang booms are amplified by the shape and aimed at ME!
 
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I have to sorta strain to make out the vocals, but this sort of song features the vocal, right? The delicious flanking guitars are overbearing a bit. After you get that sorted out, you might think a bit about bringing the guitars and the vocals together so they sound a *bit* more like they're in the same space. The simplest way to start moving toward all of this would be to turn the vocals up. Nice tune.
 
rayc said:
Armistice,
well captured guitars.
As usual you have the vox mixed just a smidgen below complete discernibility but I rather like that.
Some lovely chords. In some way this reminds me of songs from Past, Present & Future by Al Stewart (before year of the cat) - some of the chords really have lovely texture and presence.
A hymn to the earth?
Some of the
Click to expand...

I've just gone and upped the vocals a bit... he comes up with some good stuff does young Rich. Then I have to figure out what it actually is and find complementing parts.. works well in this song, I think. Thanks for listening... :D
 
dobro said:
I have to sorta strain to make out the vocals, but this sort of song features the vocal, right? The delicious flanking guitars are overbearing a bit. After you get that sorted out, you might think a bit about bringing the guitars and the vocals together so they sound a *bit* more like they're in the same space. The simplest way to start moving toward all of this would be to turn the vocals up. Nice tune.
Click to expand...

Hi dobro, yeah, you're right... I've lowered and raised and lowered and raised those vocals quite a bit to get to this point.. and forgot to give it the final "listen in the room next door" test before I put it up... they were a bit low so I've raised them all a few db.

I'm intentionally leaving my backing vox a bit lower than I probably normally would - my raspy harmonies in the lower register not always "working" with Rich's silkier delivery if I put them up higher... I love the song, but it's a prick of a thing for me to sing live as I had to sing the same melody in spots, higher, lower and falsetto woo woos... all in the one song.. :D

And we used to open the set with it.... talk about test by fire...:laughings:
 
Guitars are very rich and lush. Sounds awesome. That's the first thing that strikes me.

Harmonies are the second that stands out!! :)

There are times when the lead vox sit nicely and other times when it is on top of everything. This is probably the reason you are up and down and all over the place with where to set the vox. I think it need fader riding throughout. Not something a compressor is going to do for you.

I am so looking forward to your CD. Hurry the eff up, willya??? :D
 
Chili said:
Guitars are very rich and lush. Sounds awesome. That's the first thing that strikes me.

Harmonies are the second that stands out!! :)

There are times when the lead vox sit nicely and other times when it is on top of everything. This is probably the reason you are up and down and all over the place with where to set the vox. I think it need fader riding throughout. Not something a compressor is going to do for you.

I am so looking forward to your CD. Hurry the eff up, willya??? :D
Click to expand...

Thanks Chilli.... yeah, I'm already fader riding, but not enough... Reaper needs a "put envelope points on every syllable on lead vocal track" setting :D... I'll do some more tweaking tomorrow night... I just listened now and heard a few more things to do.

And the album... I have one guitar solo (quality required = awesome) by me to record on one song... having trouble with the 'awesome' bit, my playing seems to be stuck at 'pedestrian' at the moment... AND one lead vocal track by him on another song, and one song to finish reconstructing (almost done), and another to move over to the new system and just apply a bit more VSTy goodness...

Assuming at that point I can then sort out how to master, get artwork, manufacturer etc.... Look out for me in the Mastering forum some time real soon... :laughings:
 
Sounds really good to me. I actually really like the sound of it, mix, levels. Sounds great here to me.

I got nothing - I'll stick it in the folder with the Spaceman song :thumbs up:
 
dobro said:
You make good music. Whatchoo gonna do with the album? Flog it?
Click to expand...

Going to try! But it sort of rules a line under the project, seeing the band no longer really exists. When the other guy's family grow up a bit, maybe it'll start again, but that's a few years off.
 
Mr Clean said:
Sounds really good to me. I actually really like the sound of it, mix, levels. Sounds great here to me.

I got nothing - I'll stick it in the folder with the Spaceman song :thumbs up:
Click to expand...

Thanks Mr Clean.... I've just done a bit more vocal levelling if you wanted to grab a later copy. Cheers.... :thumbs up:
 
Sounds pretty good!
There are a few points where the lead vox sounds a bit sparse and above the mix (e.g. the start of the second verse)

I wouldn't mind a bit more variety in the instrumentation. The hard-panned guitars get a little tiresome.
I like the "whoo" "yeah" bridge!
 
Some of those guitar licks/changes remind me of Al Stewart as well. I love him guitar wise, but much prefer the vocals you and your mate have going on.

This is another really sweet tune. It's going to be an awesome album.

Out of interest, do both you guys play everything on guitar with a pick?
 
VomitHatSteve said:
Sounds pretty good!
There are a few points where the lead vox sounds a bit sparse and above the mix (e.g. the start of the second verse)

I wouldn't mind a bit more variety in the instrumentation. The hard-panned guitars get a little tiresome.
I like the "whoo" "yeah" bridge!
Click to expand...


Thanks VHS.. I know what you mean about that first line in the second verse... I poked it back in but it's a different take from the rest of it and it's just got a slightly different tonal quality... done as much as I can with it.

And normally I'd layer about a million other things on top of this and build it, but in the context of the album, we need some simple stuff, so leaving the instrumentation as is..

Thanks for listening dude.. I'll get to your zombie Xmas track tomorrow! Cheers
 
fritsthegirl said:
Some of those guitar licks/changes remind me of Al Stewart as well. I love him guitar wise, but much prefer the vocals you and your mate have going on.

This is another really sweet tune. It's going to be an awesome album.

Out of interest, do both you guys play everything on guitar with a pick?
Click to expand...

Hey frits... thanks for the listen! Al Stewart was "Year of the Cat" and that was pretty much it in Australia, so I never really heard much else... not that I can recall anyway. I'll have to hunt some down..

Because we are basically two guys on acoustic guitars live, most is picked. I've not looked closely enough to see what my compadre is actually doing, but I do a fair bit of stuff in a sort of hybrid pick/finger style mode - pick held between thumb and first finger, then using fingers 2 & 3 to play different stuff... I do most of the intricate stuff - he's good at what he does, but sometimes struggles with bits of my songs... funny, there's one called Damaged which has this perfectly simple little hammer on chord thing happening every time the sequence goes round, but he's never got hold of it, so when it's solo time, I have to play the hammer on bit and then scoot up the neck to do the solo as well in about a quarter of a second, whilst stepping on the appropriate effect pedal patch at the same time.... living on the edge!

I usually build my songs using that method, but this is one of his and it's all just straight strum/melody picking stuff.
 
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