A Tribute to Farmers

K

Kelly Dueck

New member
I haven't posted for a long while. But I've been busy writing this 3-minute tune for the all the farmers out there getting the shaft, all the time. It's supposed to say ... "Farming's worth it and farmers matter ... thank you!"



Technical info:

1. Vocals: I suck as a lead singer ... but I don't care. Vocals were cut with an MXL V67G and a T.H.E. KA-04 mic body fitted with the KR-1F free field omni capsule. These mics went into an AMEK (Neve) 9098 dual Mi Pre, then into an Aardvark Pro 2496 sound card.

2. Acoustic Guitars: a Sigma (Japanese Martin) copy of a D-28 mic'd with the T.H.E. omni's described above (one 6" from the neck joint and one 6" from the little thing-y for hooking a strap to.

3. Electric Guitar: Danelectro 59-DC re-issue DI'd into the Amek mic pre.

4. Acoustic Guitar Lead Licks and Mandolin Licks: GXL 2200 (CAD's answer to the MXL 2001) into a Focusrite Octopre, then into the Aardvark.

5. Electric Bass: Sonic Implants Hofner (Beatle Bass) sound font played through the Livesynth Pro soft sampler, hosted in Sonar 2.2

6. Drums: Sonic Implants Brush Kit sound font played through the Livesynth Pro soft sampler in Sonar 2.2

7. Mixing and Effects: Mixed in Sonar 2.2, with effects from DB Audioware (dynamics), Sonic timeworks (EQ), Blockfish (compression) Anwidasoft (reverbs), BBE (Sonic Maximizer) for fairy dust here and there.
 
Excellent song

The instrumental performances are impeccable, excellent.

The songwriting is good, yes, you and I both know and accept that you are not a great singer at this point in your life.

However, the sincerity that you sing this song with makes up for all of that 1,000 times over, we hear it.

And you could be a very fine singer with lessons. It's really all about tension, and releasing tension, submitting to the 'foreign' and what your body does not 'understand'.

Once you accept as a musician that you have a voice and can learn to sing well, it will happen for you. But you are going to have to come to terms with something in your life that is inhibiting your brain ... from allowing you to sing well. And a good teacher can identify that and help you slip past it ... like a greased pig ... uh huh !

In the meantime, find a collaboration for the vocal. IMHO, I think that should be your priority.

I would like to sing this song for you. I couldn't do a whole lot better than you, but I'd like to give it a try.

And if I sing it and then post it, maybe someone else will take up the banner and run with it then ...

PM me if you want to hear another vocal to it.

I'll even throw in a fiddle part.

I think this song is very, very marketable in the country and Americana genre.
 
that vocal sounds really good to me. i love the mandolin. agree with studioviols about the performance. it's all very well performed, especially that mandolin!

i think you should spend some time working on the vocal. you're not as bad as you want to think you are. i actually think if you worked on it a bit it would sound fantastic, for now, the actual recording of the vocals sounds very very good to me, maybe a little dry, but very well recorded.
 
Nice!!

Hello fellow Canadian!!!!

You're equipment is good and you SURE know how to use it.
Don't worry too much about the vocals.
I think a lot of different people will want to cover this tune because it really is very GOOD.

The rest of the mix sounds GREAT to my ears!!!!!!
Nice to Hear ya:D

Dan
Oh YEAH........You need a REAL Bass track. Buy a Bass:)
 
I worked on a farm for a good part of my life (until the property owner sold the farm for condos) so I was interested in this.

But I guess I'm still getting the shaft because when I clicked on the link all I got was code. :( I'm using Mac if that has anything to do with it. Seems like others are gettting it fine.
 
OK - got it. Had to "save link target as..."

Sounds really good. Nice recording. Good tune. Only criticism is a little heavy on the reverb in the section around 2:12.

I listened to punk rock and wacked out experimental stuff in the greenhouse when I worked on the farm. Maybe I'll have to do a punk rock cover!

I really enjoyed this. Good job.
 
real nice. verb a tad heavy on the back tracks. Loved the harmony "ooohs" nice pickin. cymbals a little brash. the tune is nice and clean. Not to bad for hofner sound font. I`d prefer a double bass though.
 
erichenryus said:
that vocal sounds really good to me. i love the mandolin. agree with studioviols about the performance. it's all very well performed, especially that mandolin!

the actual recording of the vocals sounds very very good to me, maybe a little dry, but very well recorded.
Click to expand...


Thanks for the kind words. I won't tell you how many takes it took to get the mandolin licks down.

As for the vocals being dry ... I always seem to have trouble getting vocal verb right. I agree it's too dry. Any suggestions, other than to simply take my time and try a lot of different reverb settings?
 
Kelly Dueck said:
Thanks for the kind words. I won't tell you how many takes it took to get the mandolin licks down.

As for the vocals being dry ... I always seem to have trouble getting vocal verb right. I agree it's too dry. Any suggestions, other than to simply take my time and try a lot of different reverb settings?
Click to expand...

boy are you asking the wrong guy mister! LOL. I basically never use reverb and when i do, i mix it so low that i may as well not even be using it at all.

seriously the only reverb i've heard in these parts that sounds good to me is the waves reverb and i can't afford it.
 
Toki987 said:
real nice. verb a tad heavy on the back tracks. Loved the harmony "ooohs" nice pickin. cymbals a little brash. the tune is nice and clean. Not to bad for hofner sound font. I`d prefer a double bass though.
Click to expand...


Yeah, the verb probably is a little heavy ... on the other hand, to some folks ears the lead vocal is too dry.

I don't seem to have a problem getting good clean tones but verb levels often escape me. Ironically, I think that I normally mix a little too dry ... go figure.

I wish I could get a real bass on this track but I don't have a bass guitar and my wife will kill me if I even hint at the idea of getting one after what I've spent on other gear. I've borrowed them (various Fender and Aria basses) but Usually I take the lazy way and just play the bass parts on keyboards ... but they never sound right. Any good bass samples you know of, out there?
 
Kelly Dueck said:
Any good bass samples you know of, out there?
Click to expand...

i used to think that bass could be easily faked with a sampler until i heard guernica play. now i'll never fake another bass line again. :)
 
Very real and convincing - and farmin' ain't all that you do - you're no slouch in the studio, dude! The guitar and mandolin sound so doggone nice! I have no beef with the vocals - I agree with Studioviols - sincerity is of higher value than a pretty voice in this case.

All around great job - this kind of music is not easy to put together because everything is so exposed - nice songwriting, too. I was just talking to a friend of mne who left his farm for a job in the city - he's missing it - a lot.

Thanks for sharing!!
Milan
MC Gitarz
 
Just a VERY IMPORTANT point of clarification ...

I'm not a farmer and don't live on a farm anymore (I did for awhile as a kid) but I grew up in the country, worked in a family business that served farmers, and have worked in the farm magazine publishing business.

This song is meant to show some appreciation to farmers for what they do and provide a little "lift" given that it's getting damn near impossible to make a living at farming these days unless you're highly specialized (and business-minded) or very large (and business-minded). I know many farmers and the words in this song are the kinds of feelings they express to me.

Sorry if I misled anyone.
 
Any good bass samples you know of, out there?



yes but both sites where i get mine from are down presently. Hopefully one or the other will be back up soon.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top