Island Hopping with easlern and ibleedburgundy

R

Robus

Well-known member
Hey all. I posted an earlier version of this song with my own demo vocals back in April [early July, actually] or thereabouts. Thanks to those who commented. Nick (easlern) has added lead vocals and some harmonies. The drums are Dave (ibleedburgundy). Thanks guys! For those keeping track, there's that reverse reverb electric piano patch again... Let me know what you think.

PS, this is a mix, not a master. I might be able to bump the volume a little bit by manually editing out volume spikes.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0BzqJIqBR8uJeSEFldFprcnp2eE0/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
 
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Pretty smooth tune. Mix is very well balanced, can hear everything clearly on headphones, good separation across the stereo field. Got a summertime vibe to the song. I liked all the little guitar and keyboard bits. Nice job
 
Do you have the old mix handy for us to A/B?

It sounds pretty clean and clear in this incarnation.

Edit: As it starts to pick up -especially in the chorus, the one guitar on the hard left feels really close. I'd add some 'verb and turn it down a tweak to get some personal space.
 
love this chorus. excellent melody. one of my favorites from you (all of you). like BS said, it's smooth and sounds like summertime. I'm still hearing "if you need me", "and I want you to" up an octave, but in the background. Also, the fadeout could be much, much longer. Give it about 10-15 seconds worth of dying out rather than 4-5.

Your mixes are getting significantly better each time. Excellent work. Another one for the collection! :thumbs up:
 
Doesn't sound like there's anything really wrong with this, the left guitar is possibly a little close, but only 'cos my attention was drawn to it. I wouldn't have noticed it if it wasn't pointed out.
 
andrushkiwt said:
love this chorus. excellent melody. one of my favorites from you (all of you). like BS said, it's smooth and sounds like summertime. I'm still hearing "if you need me", "and I want you to" up an octave, but in the background. Also, the fadeout could be much, much longer. Give it about 10-15 seconds worth of dying out rather than 4-5.

Your mixes are getting significantly better each time. Excellent work. Another one for the collection! :thumbs up:
Click to expand...

Thanks! About the fade, that's actually all there is! I suppose I could duplicate the last few bars and paste them at the end to create a longer fade. Or I could start the fade earlier.
 
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Good feel to it. It sounds rich and real, expressively.

Nothing I hear detracts in the mix. The guitars sound sweet-and-clear good.

Nice drum work, IBB.
 
It's well done.
Robus did you take some lows out? It sounds better today.
I hear something distracting on the vocal (phasey sounding/harsh). Does anyone else hear that?
 
Thanks. Still a bit of work to do on lead vocal EQ, and the balance between the lead and double.
 
i like the idea of the groove....but it is a bit too sedate for me.
the drums are played too straight for my liking, but that's just a subjective thing.

there is an edgy distorted quality to the lead vocal track,
i can't place it, it almost sounds like a distortion plugin over a clean track,
but it's not clean.

i like the bass where it sits...
the guitars sound good too.

the snare sounds a bit flat, tho, not much character, maybe a choice room verb on it would help.

the best part of the song is the end fadeout, where the drums actually pick up a bit,
and some real energy gets put into it..
 
I thought this was really good. Vocal and drums sound great. I like the clean guitar on the left. The part is really cool.

Bass sound is terrific. A very tight and controlled low end.

The two things I'd like...

The reverb in general is too big. A dryer sound would work well on this. Like a medium room.

The other thing is the guitar sound. The guitars are a little too clean and chimey. I think some more straight forward warmer crunch guitars would sound cool. That's just my preference.
 
I loved this one first time round with your original vocal Robus. It's an excellent tune, well played by all and the mix is nicely balanced and arranged throughout. Nick's vocals on the new are great - he's got a great tone to his voice.

I think his voice is strong enough to carry the vocals with less prominent doubling - to me it's a song where a single strong lead vocal really works (with any layering far enough back in to be largely inaudible in its own right). I'd also like to hear a touch more of the harmonies/countermelodiy parts (like the 'more I think of you' early on), but that's mainly because they sound great and depth than because they sound 'off' in the mix in any way.
 
Great playing and singing in this one. Reminiscent of something by America.
Mixwise, the left guitar could come down and brighten up the vocals a bit so they are as prominent in the same frequency range. The remainder sounds good to me.
Arrangement, it's been said, add some activity in the chorus. My first thought was double the guitar on the left over to the right as the part is strong enough to lift the song nicely at that point.
 
Thanks Ido. A number of people have noticed that close, dry guitar on the left and thought it sounded odd. I agree it does, but I'm kind of addicted to it. Doubling the lead guitar during the chorus is an idea. I'm thinking about adding a couple of harmony tracks of my own to Nick's harmony in the chorus when I get back to doing a final mix on this one. Glad to see you around again. Hope to hear what you've been working on.
 
This is a great tune. Smooth laid-back vibe... great lyrics. Great performances is too. Really nice drum sound IMO...all the tones are good on it. The mix sounds good and I don't really have anything to nitpick.
good job Robus!
 
Hi Robus,this is a really great tune listening to it on my zeppelin, it sounds really good and i really like it.
The bass line is to melt ,well rounded and sits very well giving a very fluid atmosphere, grounded and light at the same time. ,easlern did a very good job. The guitar tone and arrangement as always are spot on. Great performance overall, well done :)
 
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