New Song - West Texas Girl

Chili

Chili

Site Moderator
Here's the song from the 'twang snippet' i posted in the New New Tone Thread yesterday.

This is still a work in progress. Tell me if I should re-track the vocal. I asked Jimistone if he'd like to contribute. I'd like to get his take on the lead solo stuff.

Anyways.

View attachment West Texas Girl.mp3

West Texas Girl

Sunrise in dust bowl city
No relief from the hot and gritty
Nothing to see when I look around
Ain’t much going in this one joint town
She was cool and her car was fast
I didn’t know how I should act.
I learned a lesson from a desert pearl
Don’t go messin with a West Texas girl

Ride em high and ride em long
Keep me going from dusk til dawn
Scorpion tell me which way to go.
Tequila takes me where I don’t wanna know
She was there to see me crash
I went through love and hell and back
I learned a lesson from a desert pearl
Don’t go messin with a West Texas girl

Lead you to her seductive world
Ride on West Texas Girl
Her innocence stops at her smile
She’ll give her love hostile
Think it’s gonna be worthwhile
But you’re living in your own denial.
Ride on West Texas Girl.

Night time in the desert
Don’t go two steppin on a rattler
Long blonde hair and Texas eyes
Steal my heart with those Texas lies
This little town ain’t what it seems
What goes on behind the scenes.
Learned a lesson from this other world
Don’t go messin with a West Texas Girl.
 
Chili - Cool song, sounds like you're kind of reaching and grunting to get to the higher notes on the vocal. Not bad, just same issue I run into. I can't sing very high at all so have to kind of yell to get it out. Grit in a vocal is good, but this sounds a little more like strain than grit. I'm sure you have a lot more planned on mixing to make everything fit together as you noted a "work in progress". Not hearing much bass but I think a more prominent walking bass line would beef this up. Good work so far!
 
I liked it.
Very good natural sound too and a nice snare.
I would have prefered it if the up-tempo train(?) beat would keep on during the verses though
 
I like it Chili! Good song and playing.

Two things that stand out for me involve the levels and panning of your guitars, and some issues with your lead vocal track.

From where I'm sitting, all the guitars seem to be imaging on the left side of the stereo spectrum. There's the rhythm guitar playing the main riff on the near left side, then a guitar playing sustaining chords (very nicely BTW) that farther left, and the occasional lead fills just left of center. Why stack them up like that? How about move those sustaining chords over to the right for counter point? I like that particular guitar part. It needs to be heard more clearly. As much as that rhythm riff is foundational to the song, I think it could come down during the busier parts. Especially when you have all three guitars playing, it's starting to sound a little congested to my ears. You might experiment with dropping it slightly during the vocals too. On to that:

It sounds to me like the vocal is struggling somewhat, both performance wise and mixwise. In terms of performance, I think you need another take or two to nail it down and get fully comfortable in the groove. I'm hearing places where you are rushing to make the transition from on line to the next, or where a line has an awkward number of syllables that you are still sorting out how to negotiate. Just to take an example, "lead you to her seductive world" and a couple of other lines in that verse and elsewhere. I suspect if you sang it a few more times you'd find yourself changing the stresses within the line.

Mixwise, the vocal stands out clearly in places. In other places, it seems to be competing with the guitars or else words or syllables are dropping out. That verse I just mentioned is probably the prime example, but I notice drop outs here and there in other parts of the song. There's probably a relationship between the two problems I mentioned. It's often the awkward syllables that are dropping out, so perhaps back to the performance issue. The net result is that the lyrics are hard to follow in places. It's up to you how much intelligibility is an issue for you. I'm an extremist on this issue and am well known on the forum to be one. For me, the gold standard is: Every syllable of every word of every line must be clearly intelligible on the first listen. But I understand there are differences of opinion and taste.

Good song. Hope this helps.
 
Drop D rockabilly, nice. Tone on the guitars is nice. Trying to pinpoint all the guitar tracks, sometimes it's a little congested, but not too bad. It does sound nice and full, I think the vocal needs to be a just a little more upfront. I actually kind of like the slight strain others have mentioned, kind of fits the song in a way. I think if the vocal was a little louder it wouldn't be competing with the guitars as much.

On my second listen, it sounds better, not sure exactly what I would change guitar-wise, but I'd still bring up that vocal a tad. Something about the overall mix seems a little dark though, can't really pinpoint why. Try a gentle boost of 3-5k maybe on the vocal, and the drum bus. Something needs to brighten it up I think. Still a cool tune, regardless. Nice work, it's not too far off.
 
I like the backing tracks and the groove. One thing that struck me about the vocal is the 'Don’t go messin with a West Texas girl' line at the end of each verse. I'd like to hear how it would sound if you sang it as 'Don’t mess with a West Texas girl', i.e in the same cadence as the rest of the verse. I agree with Robus the lyric is not totally slotting into the groove just yet
 
The song came in too abruptly. It's like when it starts you're already a half bar into the tune (unless this is some issue with my VLC player).
The recording is good. Very open sound, the twangy guitars fit the tune, etc. I don't know much about the genre so I can't comment too specifically, but everything seemed balanced and right to me. The raspy, throaty vocal delivery gave me agita.
 
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With the vocal up a touch, I think this would be good to go. I do agree the metre of the vocal is a little flustered. Lots of syllables thrown in there, but hey, it's already down on tape (or wherever). Oh, and the loud snare hits are slightly dragging behind. Just a touch.

Great work dude.
 
Hmm, I had a lengthy reply posted yesterday, but I'm not sure what happened to it. Thanks to everyone who replied.

Robus said:
I like it Chili! Good song and playing.

Two things that stand out for me involve the levels and panning of your guitars, and some issues with your lead vocal track.

From where I'm sitting, all the guitars seem to be imaging on the left side of the stereo spectrum. There's the rhythm guitar playing the main riff on the near left side, then a guitar playing sustaining chords (very nicely BTW) that farther left, and the occasional lead fills just left of center. Why stack them up like that? How about move those sustaining chords over to the right for counter point? I like that particular guitar part. It needs to be heard more clearly. As much as that rhythm riff is foundational to the song, I think it could come down during the busier parts. Especially when you have all three guitars playing, it's starting to sound a little congested to my ears. You might experiment with dropping it slightly during the vocals too. On to that:

It sounds to me like the vocal is struggling somewhat, both performance wise and mixwise. In terms of performance, I think you need another take or two to nail it down and get fully comfortable in the groove. I'm hearing places where you are rushing to make the transition from on line to the next, or where a line has an awkward number of syllables that you are still sorting out how to negotiate. Just to take an example, "lead you to her seductive world" and a couple of other lines in that verse and elsewhere. I suspect if you sang it a few more times you'd find yourself changing the stresses within the line.

Mixwise, the vocal stands out clearly in places. In other places, it seems to be competing with the guitars or else words or syllables are dropping out. That verse I just mentioned is probably the prime example, but I notice drop outs here and there in other parts of the song. There's probably a relationship between the two problems I mentioned. It's often the awkward syllables that are dropping out, so perhaps back to the performance issue. The net result is that the lyrics are hard to follow in places. It's up to you how much intelligibility is an issue for you. I'm an extremist on this issue and am well known on the forum to be one. For me, the gold standard is: Every syllable of every word of every line must be clearly intelligible on the first listen. But I understand there are differences of opinion and taste.

Good song. Hope this helps.
Click to expand...
Thanks. I'm definitely going to redo the vocals now. I'll look at the guitars. I think I might have gotten two of the swapped left and right while experimenting and forgot to put them back. Sometimes, you can lose the big picture when you get buried in details.

JohnnyAmato said:
Drop D rockabilly, nice. Tone on the guitars is nice. Trying to pinpoint all the guitar tracks, sometimes it's a little congested, but not too bad. It does sound nice and full, I think the vocal needs to be a just a little more upfront. I actually kind of like the slight strain others have mentioned, kind of fits the song in a way. I think if the vocal was a little louder it wouldn't be competing with the guitars as much.

On my second listen, it sounds better, not sure exactly what I would change guitar-wise, but I'd still bring up that vocal a tad. Something about the overall mix seems a little dark though, can't really pinpoint why. Try a gentle boost of 3-5k maybe on the vocal, and the drum bus. Something needs to brighten it up I think. Still a cool tune, regardless. Nice work, it's not too far off.
Click to expand...
Thanks. It doesn't come across as too dark to me. I'm pretty conscious about that. There are way less cymbal crashes and I EQ'd some of the highs out of the tele parts because they were a little too piercing. I'll redo the vocal and then check the level. I purposely brought the level down a bit to bring out the guitars a little more. I'm usually one to say vocals above everything else, but here they are at about the same levels.

Bulls Hit said:
I like the backing tracks and the groove. One thing that struck me about the vocal is the 'Don’t go messin with a West Texas girl' line at the end of each verse. I'd like to hear how it would sound if you sang it as 'Don’t mess with a West Texas girl', i.e in the same cadence as the rest of the verse. I agree with Robus the lyric is not totally slotting into the groove just yet
Click to expand...
Thanks dude. I'll experiment around with that and work out the prosody issues. Most times when I do a vocal track, I just want to sing it and get it out of the way. I kinda figured I would be revisiting this one.... :)

Nola said:
The song came in too abruptly. It's like when it starts you're already a half bar into the tune (unless this is some issue with my VLC player).
The recording is good. Very open sound, the twangy guitars fit the tune, etc. I don't know much about the genre so I can't comment too specifically, but everything seemed balanced and right to me. The raspy, throaty vocal delivery gave me agita.
Click to expand...
Sorry, you had problems with the playback. It works fine on my end. There is zero seconds of dead space before the song starts. I'm not sure I know what "agita" is.

andrushkiwt said:
With the vocal up a touch, I think this would be good to go. I do agree the metre of the vocal is a little flustered. Lots of syllables thrown in there, but hey, it's already down on tape (or wherever). Oh, and the loud snare hits are slightly dragging behind. Just a touch.

Great work dude.
Click to expand...

Thanks man. See my comments above.
 
Great guitar tones all around, although there were some spots where the performances could be cleaned up a little bit -- mainly some spots where they're rushed.

The vocal has great energy to it, but I agree with some others that suggest you probably have a better take in you. There are a few pitchy moments here and there, but mainly the rhythmic delivery could be stronger, IMHO. As Andrush mentioned, some of the lines have a lot of syllables, and it seems as though you may need to begin a word an eighth note earlier or something ("scorpion" comes to mind right away) or slightly change the phrasing to make it groove a bit more.

Drums sound nice, but I don't know how I feel about the move to the half-time feel for the verses. I know it provides some variety, but to me it kind of lets the air out a bit. I don't know ... just my opinion.

Fun song, great tones ... just a little bit of polishing could make it really shine. Thanks for sharing.
 
Thanks Beagle!! I'll do another take this weekend, maybe. But, I am heading up towards your way tomorrow for work.
 
Listening on cans...really dig the tune dude...has lots of potential. I second what most have already said....vocals are a little low and strained. and its hard to tell at times what that instrument is playing dead center...banjo? (if its not a banjo, it would sound cool with one!) Love the snare! Great job Chili!
 
Thanks for listening, Bruthish. Glad you like it. :thumbs up:

Yup, that's a banjo. The funny thing with that is when I was tracking it, I had recently split my fingernail on a router bit (while building my next bass), so I couldn't use that finger. Had to relearn how to fingerpick. It came out much simpler than I heard in my head, but I kinda like it.
 
I like the guitar riff sound. It was really cool.

Vocal might be a tad loud. There was a rhythm guitar on the right that was a little tough to hear. Bass might be just a bit soft.

I thought the vocal was a bit too hyped in the high end. It was a little sizzly and sibilant.

I also thought the snare and the cymbals were a little sizzly.

The tempo was a little fast. I got the impression that the singer was rushing in spots to get the lines in. A couple bpm slower might be better.
 
Great tune chili.
I love the lyric and the twangy guitars! I listened on my car stereo and it sounded good, so I won't try to nitpick the finer points of the mix...but it sounded good.

Jerry Lee Lewis once told his record producer when asked how the mix sounded: "I dunno until I can hear it at home on my cheap ass record player...all my fans have cheap ass record players and that's where it needs to sound good, not here" (a lot of truth in that)
You song sounds good on my cheap ass stereo!
 
Sounds great. Has a vibrant energy coming through. Nice guitar tone and riff. Sounds like the snare is really taking up a lot of space, like its infringing on the guitars a bit. I would try and center the snare-as in narrowing it's stereo width if that makes sense, not sure how the drums were done..I guess it could simply be turned down a touch...Just my opinion of course. The vocals sounded sibilant, a little harsh to my ears. There's also the delivery--the singers voice is great it's just that many syllables is not making for a natural vocal track, i would either trim a word here and there and/or seriously rehearse each part to have a definite rhythmic pattern, again just my opinion. Sounds like this would get a barroom jumpin! Cool tune. The beginning also starts a little suddenly, maybe a second of silence??
 
Thanks guys. I was out all last week with very little internet access....

TripleM said:
I like the guitar riff sound. It was really cool.

Vocal might be a tad loud. There was a rhythm guitar on the right that was a little tough to hear. Bass might be just a bit soft.

I thought the vocal was a bit too hyped in the high end. It was a little sizzly and sibilant.

I also thought the snare and the cymbals were a little sizzly.

The tempo was a little fast. I got the impression that the singer was rushing in spots to get the lines in. A couple bpm slower might be better.
Click to expand...
Thanks Trip. I'll look at those after redoing the vox.

jimistone said:
Great tune chili.
I love the lyric and the twangy guitars! I listened on my car stereo and it sounded good, so I won't try to nitpick the finer points of the mix...but it sounded good.

Jerry Lee Lewis once told his record producer when asked how the mix sounded: "I dunno until I can hear it at home on my cheap ass record player...all my fans have cheap ass record players and that's where it needs to sound good, not here" (a lot of truth in that)
You song sounds good on my cheap ass stereo!
Click to expand...

Thanks Jimi. Your car and my studio must sound similar because it sounds great in my room. Hmmm, that must mean I have a studio that sounds like a car. :(
I'll get a track to you to mess around with sometime today or this week. I'm in no rush.


Stratomaster said:
Sounds great. Has a vibrant energy coming through. Nice guitar tone and riff. Sounds like the snare is really taking up a lot of space, like its infringing on the guitars a bit. I would try and center the snare-as in narrowing it's stereo width if that makes sense, not sure how the drums were done..I guess it could simply be turned down a touch...Just my opinion of course. The vocals sounded sibilant, a little harsh to my ears. There's also the delivery--the singers voice is great it's just that many syllables is not making for a natural vocal track, i would either trim a word here and there and/or seriously rehearse each part to have a definite rhythmic pattern, again just my opinion. Sounds like this would get a barroom jumpin! Cool tune. The beginning also starts a little suddenly, maybe a second of silence??
Click to expand...
Thanks Strat. I use EZDrummer for the drums and I like my drums to be up front and driving the song. I try to balance everything else to the drums (kick n snare).

I'm going to redo the vocals at some point. I will rewrite and/or work through the prosody issues. I knew they were a problem when I posted. Just wanted to get this song up and get some feedback to get a sense of where I need to go with it. Thanks Mang.

Thanks ya'll.
 
Ok Chili. Thanks.

I did the "U82" mod on my Studios Project C1 microphone. Im itching to record something with it.

Probably be better to use my trusty old shure sm 57 on thr guitar track though.
im gonna record a vocal track with the modded c1 pretty soon....im anxious to hear it on something besides "testing 1...2 testing 1...2..."
 
Nice song Chili. Good energy and that twangy guitar part is really cool. I think it maybe needs something to balance out the spread as it's a little left panned heavy with the riff on that side. Maybe the ringing guitar part and/or the solo could be panned over to the right and the former bringing up a touch?
 
My apologies for the slow response. Thanks for the replies.

I finally got some time this weekend to look at the song.

Made a few adjustments per the suggestions.

Removed a guitar track
Redid panning schemes
Added automation
Added backing vocals
Rewrote lyrics.. 1 or 2 words.
fidgeted with EQ and reverb/delays and tweaks and all the little things.
Haven't sent anything to Jimi yet. I will.
 

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  • West Texas Girl.mp3
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