el paso

[Elton123]

Just great. The counter melody guitar in the middle jumps out me not in a good way. The rhythm section sounds really good to me.

 

[heatmiser]

Classic song. I like the verb on the vocals it suits the song better.

Good to know. Thanks Phil. The first time they were a bit dry.

Great changes for the better across the board. Like the new vocal level and verb. You are probably pushing the bass (outside of the verses which I think are fine) - I'm not the best guy for opinion on bass cause I lean towards overdoing it every time. Seems like you tamed the solo and got the percussion into line. The acoustics might be too loud now. Anyway - I like it alot, especially cause it's an irony free I know I said I'm the furthest thing from a country guy, but so many of the these tunes from back then had such great writing, singing and playing. It seems like most of us associate at least one old country tune with being a kid singing along at some point.

Great. Glad to hear there was recognizable improvement there. I didn't touch the bass, but reigning in the hi hats and hand percussion without also lowering the bass probably threw things off a bit.

I actually never heard any country music as a kid. My folks were strictly jazz and classical...maybe some beatles here and there. Anytime anything remotely C&W came on they would freak out and change the station before so much as a single twang could come out of the speakers. The first time I ever heard country music was probably listening to the dead cover stuff in the '80's. I didn't really embrace it at all until I heard people playing some johnny cash in college. He's probably my favorite.

Loving it dude. Really enjoyable.

One of us needs to do Rocky Raccoon.

BTW, I didn't realise it was you who did paper cup.
Man, that song stuck with me for ages, so much so that i looked it up recently to hear it again.
Then i was like, ooh that was yer man Heatmiser! lol

That's really nice to hear about paper cup. I didn't even want to share that with anyone as I thought the lyrics were too cheesey. It was loosely based on an episode where my wife (one of the most responsible and sober people you'll ever meet) had too much to drink at a party and called me to come and pick her up. She was actually vomitting while she spoke to me on the phone! It was like, "I don't feel so....GARGHHLLERALPHHHTTT...good". A bad mixture of wine, vodka and a puff or two of weed and she was a wreck. It was actually kind of nice to have the shoe on the other foot for a change.

 

[heatmiser]

Just great. The counter melody guitar in the middle jumps out me not in a good way. The rhythm section sounds really good to me.

Hey thanks Elton. Listening again, I'm still a little ashamed, but it was all in fun and I'm glad the rhythm section sounded good...that is all I'm really sold on with this one.

By "counter melody guitar" do you mean the electric? If so, I've half a mind to mute all but the soloing as the other bits sound off to me too, although they sounded brilliant when tracking.?

 

[robgreen]

Nice work as usual Pete, no need for you to feel any poster's regret. I can hear the occasional bit of straining on the vocals and the tuning seems a little out on some of the guitars but it's not enough to be distracting. Who wants their country to be too polished anyway - it sounds fucking horrific when it is. Your cussing at the end made me laugh too.

Coincidentally, and in no way related to the current clinic country convention, I've had a countryish cover just waiting for vocals for a few weeks now - am entering the third week of a cold that's not showing many signs of abatement though, so could be a while before it's finished up.

Enjoyed reading your back story on Paper Cup by the way

 

[heatmiser]

Nice work as usual Pete, no need for you to feel any poster's regret. I can hear the occasional bit of straining on the vocals and the tuning seems a little out on some of the guitars but it's not enough to be distracting. Who wants their country to be too polished anyway - it sounds fucking horrific when it is. Your cussing at the end made me laugh too.

Coincidentally, and in no way related to the current clinic country convention, I've had a countryish cover just waiting for vocals for a few weeks now - am entering the third week of a cold that's not showing many signs of abatement though, so could be a while before it's finished up.

Enjoyed reading your back story on Paper Cup by the way

Thanks for checking it out Rob! I look forward to hearing your new one - fluids and rest for you son.

I think there's a huge gap between out of tune guitars and "too polished" though...

I hope it isn't the acoustics as they sound fine to me. The electric part was strange...weird tone, definitely some squirrely notes in there. I hope that was the culprit, as I tracked a new electric guitar part that has a warmer, cleaner tone. Hopefully less sour sounding. The vox are probably as good as they're gonna get now...

I added the 3rd (and hopefully final) mix up top and here as well:

 

[chuckduffy]

Thanks for checking it out Rob! I look forward to hearing your new one - fluids and rest for you son.

I think there's a huge gap between out of tune guitars and "too polished" though...

I hope it isn't the acoustics as they sound fine to me. The electric part was strange...weird tone, definitely some squirrely notes in there. I hope that was the culprit, as I tracked a new electric guitar part that has a warmer, cleaner tone. Hopefully less sour sounding. The vox are probably as good as they're gonna get now...

I added the 3rd (and hopefully final) mix up top and here as well:

Sounds great here. My kid is in the next room singing the melody with his own made up words now.

 

[heatmiser]

Sounds great here. My kid is in the next room singing the melody with his own made up words now.

That's great. Thanks chuck!

I was doing the same thing yesterday after a few botched takes, except it went something like, “Why can’t I sing this god damned fucking song well? Though it sounds shitty I can’t stop to rest…”, or something like that .

 

[Elton123]

Hey thanks Elton. Listening again, I'm still a little ashamed, but it was all in fun and I'm glad the rhythm section sounded good...that is all I'm really sold on with this one.

By "counter melody guitar" do you mean the electric? If so, I've half a mind to mute all but the soloing as the other bits sound off to me too, although they sounded brilliant when tracking.?

Ha, yes that happens to me all the time. I listen back and think "That's not what I played!!!!!"

3rd mix is delightful.

 

[heatmiser]

Ha, yes that happens to me all the time. I listen back and think "That's not what I played!!!!!"

3rd mix is delightful.

Awesome - thanks Elton. That other track was just messed up. Thanks to you and Rob for pointing me in the right direction there.

 

[Track Rat]

Pretty slick sir. I've always loved this tune. Besides Marty's version, I always dug Bob Weir's cover. The last mix you posted seems best to me. Mikey likes it.

 

[robgreen]

Thanks for checking it out Rob! I look forward to hearing your new one - fluids and rest for you son.

I think there's a huge gap between out of tune guitars and "too polished" though...

I hope it isn't the acoustics as they sound fine to me. The electric part was strange...weird tone, definitely some squirrely notes in there. I hope that was the culprit, as I tracked a new electric guitar part that has a warmer, cleaner tone. Hopefully less sour sounding. The vox are probably as good as they're gonna get now...

I added the 3rd (and hopefully final) mix up top and here as well:

Version 3 hit the spot Pete - you ironed out the creases in the tuning re-doing that guitar line. Good work man!

 

[Steenamaroo]

Getting some deserved attention here Heatmiser!
Lovin the updates pal.

 

[kcearl]

Hey - so this is really rough, but I saw a bunch of country tunes in here recently and decided to cover this marty robbins tune that I always liked - as cheesy as it is. It's a cool story.

Other than simple, boxy drums, strained, pitchy vocals, sloppy lead guitar and a completely botched ending, I think there's some promise here maybe.

Soundclick link to original version 04/19:

SoundClick artist: kingseesar - el paso


Dropbox link to new mix with new vocals 04/21:

Dropbox link to 04/22 (final?) mix with new electric guitar:

Any ideas on what could be done to improve...?

Thanks,
Pete

cannae get the dropbox links to work

 

[heatmiser]

Pretty slick sir. I've always loved this tune. Besides Marty's version, I always dug Bob Weir's cover. The last mix you posted seems best to me. Mikey likes it.

Awesome. Thanks Track Rat. I really intended to do a cover of the grateful dead covering Marty Robbins, but wound up scaling it back a lot. Check them out doing this tune around 1971 like at the Filmore East or something - pretty cool. Not sure I ever saw them play this live, but if so, it wasn't too memorable (I saw them like 13 times, but not sure they did this song then?).

Version 3 hit the spot Pete - you ironed out the creases in the tuning re-doing that guitar line. Good work man!

Thanks for your help Rob. Much as I wanted a little raunch in there, the distorted guitar I had didn't work. The electric now sounds kinda whimpy and jazzy or something, but definitely better - and in tune I think this time.

Getting some deserved attention here Heatmiser!
Lovin the updates pal.

Thanks for the encouragement and advice Paul. I think the trick is to set expectations extremely low with the first mix, then you have nowhere to go but up. I think the HHs are still too loud, but further tweaking started to mess with other things, so I guess I leave it as is. Still disappointed in the vocals - I'm just a little flat on a number of the higher notes (especially everytime I actually sing "el paso" for some reason?).

 

[heatmiser]

cannae get the dropbox links to work

Damn. That is ironic as you were the one who turned me on to dropbox...

Where have you been my man?

I just tried the links and they worked for me. I did ditch the original soundclick version and replaced it with the latest version, so you could stream it from there if you wanted. I'm not sure you're missing much though. I have to stay away from covers. At least with originals you guys have no idea what it's supposed to sound like!

 

[Steenamaroo]

I hear ya pal. I duno if it's just the singer's curse or not.
I'm not really happy with any of the vocals I've put up, but I haven't gotten any negs yet.
Screw it. It's all good.

 

[heatmiser]

I hear ya pal. I duno if it's just the singer's curse or not.
I'm not really happy with any of the vocals I've put up, but I haven't gotten any negs yet.
Screw it. It's all good.

I think you should be happy though. I haven't heard any straining or pitch issues, and your voice sounds really perfect for the material I've heard you do lately....really. Well captured too - I'd be happy!

 

[Steenamaroo]

Kinda ironic then. A bunch of lads doing country and we're all happy?!

We're not doing it right then I guess.

 

[heatmiser]

I need to get dumped, lose my job or get too drunk or something...

 

[Steenamaroo]

AAayyyyy there it is!
Cheers for the compliments, btw.