Tall Order with easlern and ibleedburgundy

R

Robus

Well-known member
Hey all, new song--sort of. I wrote this last summer and put up an early version with my own vocals and programmed drums on the Clinic in September, maybe. Here is the revised song with Nick (easlern) on lead vocal and Dave (ibleedburgundy) on drums. Thanks guys!

The mix is preliminary. I'll start by working on the vocals. There is some de-essing and detail automation to do on the lead vocal. I'll also be looking at the balance between lead vocal, double, and harmonies, and the level balance between different sections of the song. There is a double on the lead vox that is about -10db below the main lead. There are a few spots where slight differences in timing between the lead and double are audible (to me anyway). I'll need to sort those out by editing the double. The choral harmony vox thing in the background is me. How are the levels relative to the lead vocal and backing tracks?

All comments appreciated: Song, arrangement, performances, recording, mix, etc. Do we need something more in the chorus? Thanks!

Latest Mix:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/0BzqJIqBR8uJecUhHbGswcm5hdWs/view?usp=sharing

Previous Mix:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/0BzqJIqBR8uJeTVA0SnZmWVJuZjg/view?usp=sharing

Tall Order
Words and music by Ray Taylor, 2015

They’re the same old songs we’ve sung
That we’ve known so long
Whistled them in the schoolyard
Chanted them to our friends
Young dudes drinking on a summer night
Knowing life can never end

Same old love that’s all
There was a time when the madness called
You might have done better
Would they have done for you?
I might have done better
Won the lottery the same day too.

And then we’d have to set out for the border again
Running up a tall order and a righteous tab my friend

It’s the same old life that’s all
The skipping stone and the winters fall
It might have gone better
For cats like me and you
I might have done better
But you stood by me all through

Hey now we better head out for the border again
We’re running up a tall order and a righteous tab my friend

Have you got the answers?
Well let me know
Cause I don’t want live without you
And I ain’t ready to go
Put your finger to my lips
If I start talking about tomorrows
Grab another night or two
Drop another IOU
All things we wish are true tonight

And then we’d better haul out for the border again
We’re running up a tall order and a righteous tab my friend
Hey now we better set out for the border again
Running up a tall order and a monster tab my friend.
 
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Sounds great Ray! I think I got a floor board creak in there at the very end you might have to cut heh
 
I thought this sounded pretty good. Vocal clarity is terrific. Guitars sound terrific. So so the drums. Great snare and cymbal sound.

Everything is nice and dry. :)

Vocal artifact at 1:00. Little pitch problem at about :21. First vocal line. On the word "songs...." I really like easlern's voice.

Bass has a low end frequency or two that boom every now and then. Somewhere in the 80-120hz range. Bass is nice and punchy tho.

The piano is just a little bit "cold" sounding. But not bad.
 
Sound good Ray. I have a few comments. I like the drums but I think they maybe could be a little thicker. I was experimenting with parallel compression on snare top and bass drum on Cadillac express the other day. It added thickness without much of a volume increase. Basically just a copy of the original track with a touch of compression. Anyway, something to try.

Vocal tracking sounds great. The effects you have on there are real nice. I think at the very beginning the vocals are a touch too much out front but then once the song settles in at :49 it's mostly fine. Maybe again at 2:32 - 2:55. There are few places where the vocal double/harmonies was a bit distracting. Starting in 1:48 there are some of the alternate harmonies - it seems like you didn't commit to them. They're so low I'm barely hearing them. IMO they need to be clearly there or not there at all.

Bass and kick are nice together, particularly at the end. A little more bass there wouldn't hurt IMO. Did you do the old notch at 80Hz?
 
Thanks Dave, no notch on the bass. Just a high pass at 50Hz. I'll try that on the snare top and kick in the next mix. I do have some compression already on the snare and kick, maybe not enough. Yeah, I was going back and forth on the harmony levels and ended up taking them down a notch. Maybe they need to come back up. I dropped the harmony vocals altogether on the first verse, which might be what is making the lead vocal sound more out front.
 
I think that it sounds great. Good song, and great performances.

Drums do sound a little thin, especially the toms to me. The snare is high-tuned, which is fine, but kind of adds to the thin feel.

Nice guitar tones, love the Tele towards the end. Fine job, man.
 
The first things that popped out to me:

The drums seem really quiet before everything else comes in. There's that one crash right at the beginning especially.
BGVox could probably come up a bit. They're pretty; let 'em shine a little.
3:09, the "ah"s come in before the lead vox do. I'd probably edit that.
I heard a creak around 3:38 I think.
 
I listened to this on my way to work this morning. It sounds great. Drums sound fantastic. Vocals are good. I Like the song a lot. I dont really have anything to criticize. Great Job!
 
I think the track calls for a darker snare, but I;m sure sure Dave is limited in his options there. Unless he has a bunch laying around. Great vocals, and yeah I hear that floor creak too...kinda funny. Whatcha doing to that synth/key section at 2:20? sounds awesome. some delay? chorus? there's something "moving" there. like a panning movement slightly, or am I hearing things....? sounds awesome. I'd look at that piano hit at 3:06 again. do you want everything to stop there? then drop the synth. it comes off as more of an accidental hit than constructed piece of the song. (that's being super critical, of course).

this sounds awesome. love the hooks. really great job everyone. can't wait for the final track.
 
Thanks Taras. I'm not altogether sure what's going on with that synth. It's a stock patch on my 15 year old Korg Triton, an electric piano with a synth pad layer and some kind of reverse reverb. I'm totally addicted to that patch, you'll hear it in most of my songs that have keys.
 
andrushkiwt said:
I think the track calls for a darker snare, but I;m sure sure Dave is limited in his options there.
Click to expand...

I actually have a darker snare and a piccolo handy. I'll probably get a ludwig supraphonic at some point too. A snare arsenal is a handy thing to have.

In this case it may be mixable though. There are top and bottom snare head mics on here, the bottom is bright and picks up the snare itself. Less of that can have a darkening effect. Also, when mixing snare drum you can often EQ that on the overhead tracks as well as the snare tracks. Bump 240Hz on the OHs for more fatness in this case. Maybe a slight high shelf cut starting at 3.5kHz. It really works!
 
I'll give that a try. I should have another mix in a couple of days. But honestly, I'm fine with this snare tone.
 
Vocals sound great, really liked it. Which mic you guys used? It sounds clear without being over bright.
I really like this dry drum sound. It sounds real and I love it.

My only critique should be...I think the bass could have a more "beefy" sound. But thats just me...the mix sounds really really good like it is. The song is really nice aswell.
 
This is the fourth time I listen to this song and she has definitely a spirit , it is a great song and I like it the way it is. the only little thing that came up was at 3:07 on the right side ,at the end of the bridge, part of the guitar pop in up. Great work from everybody involved :)
 
Thanks Crycookie! Thanks for commenting. I hope to hear you post songs again. Yeah, I know the guitar part you mean. It was a little artifact of some editing I did there. I tracked those guitars back in September and have forgotten exactly what the story was. I keep meaning to fix it, but have gotten used to hearing it to the point where I'm kind of liking it. I probably will fix it eventually, though I might need to do a punch in. Now if I could remember which guitar and amp combination I used for that heavier part at the end of the bridge.

CMolina, nice to have you commenting on my songs again. Maybe Nick can chime in on the mic and vocal chain he used. The bass may need to come up. I tend to start every mix with vocals up and bass down, then work toward finding the happy medium for both. I thought about switching to a P bass when I retracked the bass part after Dave had finished the drums. It would have given a thicker texture to the low mids. But I felt this song needed that deep, punchy, muscular Jazz bass tone.

Gonzo, let me get this straight: Do you mean the Vente or the Grande?
 
This mix sounds great overall. A few nitpicks:

The drums are clearly in a different space, but personally I don't care about things like that. When the vocalist sings "righteous" there's a weird inflection (over singing/over-trying) on that word. I like the 2:50 minute onward when things pick up. Kind of wish that happened earlier in the sense the song takes too long to build toward that. The guitars are almost too wide for me. Especially the guitar solo at the outro -- i'd like that solo to be more centered.

Otherwise I don't hear any issues. Good job, guys.
 
Hey thanks cmolena, that's my rode ntk. I use it on all Ray's songs but this is the first time I used it with a channel strip instead of the interface pres. Huge upgrade I think!
 
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