Curious...did you change any of the voices in the chords under the melody during the altered V7 ??
No ear discomfort whatever in the passage any more. Like buttah. I never took it to the depth of figuring out exactly what it was that tweaked me. Wondering if you discovered some notage below that was in conflict with the melody's dipsy-doodle???
Glad I could help...appreciate the return ass kickin's.
And, jeez...I love that bass sound....and everything else.
Jeff,
I made no changes whatsoever to either the keyboard part or the actual melody; I'm convinced that it was simply the strident timbre of the pan flute patch I was using that was giving you fits. With the creamier tone of a real sax, the tension notes just seem to do their job better; providing *musical* tension, not just audible tension
Thanks on the bass sound.
Zazz, to your point, I went through that very exercise already with the bass, as I typically like a little edge to it as well; but found it to be a tad intrusive if it were any more pronounced than it is now. I don't want to distract from the *real* players on the track with my disjointed wafflings.
BTW, Jeff, I did tweak the placement after this mix; the 2nd guitar solo is closer to center ice now, just a smidge to the right, the melody is about equidistant to the left of center, and they slowly pan outward during the long outro; it's a cool effect. I also narrowed the field a smidge on the phaesy Rhodes, and I rounded off the subsonics on the master EQ a little; that actually ended up clarifying the drums and bass, which was nice.
Creepage,
That FM synth sound was the very first choice I made in instrumenting the tune. I wanted to do something with that vintage DX-7 kind of tone. I'd just watched a Steve Smith drum clinic tape, and his band "Vital Information" played, and they did a tune that had these simple, but meandering chords on a DX7, and I just fell in love with the concept... Thanks for noting the ride; that sort of syncopated halftime feel in the bridge, with the left hand tom and hat accents on the upbeats has become a real staple for me... My ride cymbal has an especially musical and expressive bell, I got really lucky; it's a 21" Zildjian Rock Ride, liberally taped to control the heavy and dark overtones.
I'm away for the Thanksgiving weekend, but I'll be back on Sunday to be listening, critiquing, and having fun. Thanks so much for all your input, it's great to have such ready access to so many educated and sensitive ears to keep me honest!
