Back On Our Feet Again

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Robus

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Hey all. New original song, first one I've been able to finish in a few weeks. As usual, lyrics took the longest. It was fun to record some acoustic guitars for a change. I spent way too much time trying to balance levels on the lead and harmony vocals. How do they sit?

Composition, performances, recording, mix--any and all comments welcome. Thanks!

Latest Mix:


Back on our Feet Again

The way you blew right through my mind
Ricocheted past my door and threw me down
And I felt right then how you came on the wind
Of a hurricane and the calm within
And the way the hall light lay upon your skin

You said only hell could ever catch us
Dead or damned, it’s all the same
But I’ll stand right here by your side if you want me
You can deputize or arrest me
Just depends upon the rules of our game

Hey Jenny
All my life it’s you I been running to
Hey Jenny,
You know damned well I remember that number too
Tattooed on the palm of my hand
Read by the street lamp coming in
We’ll be back on our feet again

From Amarillo down to Clovis
That old land seen our kind before
Since the first ones came to lay down their bones
In the pinyon grove between the wind and stone
And the soft goodbye coyote song

Climbing north out of Durango
Them San Juan hills are closing round
At Silverton the wind was high
And the night caught us at Telluride
The snow piled up in the pass on either side

Hey Jenny
All roads lead from here to nevermore
But hey Jenny
Every snow with you is a memory that I’ll hold

Find a cabin, spend the night
That Jack Frost scratching on our pane again
We’ll be back on our feet again
Lay with me beside the fire
That ancient spark will draw us in again
We’ll back on our feet again

Hey Jenny
Every road it’s you I run into
Hey Jenny,
We still got a few more places to travel to
It’s written in the palm of my hand
Read by the streetlamp coming in
We’ll be back on our feet again.

(Word and music Ray Taylor 2016)
 
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First listened first on headphones, then on stereo.

HP comments:For the style as I thought the vocals should sit closer to the mix. The guitar that sits back with filler, not sure but seems if could come up. But I will be honest, I like how it sounds, and it is nice, not sure if it should be nudged up. Bottom end is lacking.

Full stereo mix (floor JBL's and Yamaha receiver, mid level stereo: Bottom is there in the sub area, bass is still lacking. I can hear the kick in the sub. Vocals are still too prominent for my taste. The guitar filler is still buried, could use a nudge.

I heard a couple of what seemed like pitch issues. But I will be honest, I don't get hung up on those things. Just FYI. Around 3/4 ("That I hold") seemed strained and faded off the key.

Overall mix seemed good, just think the bass guitar pushing (above the kick, plenty of kick on this) a little more bass would be nice for this song 300-1K (just a guess). Vocals down to allow other instruments to come though better.

That's all I have.
 
Thanks for those comments. "Turn up the bass" is music to my ears! The first thing I usually hear is turn the vocals up and the bass down. I must be developing a flinch, and going too far in the opposite direction. ;)
 
I 'll cast another vote for knocking the bass up a few db. It would be nice (imo) to have it leading the way.
Nice song !!!!!
 
I love this song! So full of obvious good memories of bad times spent with someone who made them good. Thank you so much for sharing. :)

The acoustic on the left sounds a bit out of place...too dry for the rest of the instruments. The vocals sound extremely heart-felt, and even if they're not "pro" quality, they fit the song very well.
The ending sounds like just a bit of one person applause. Maybe either cut that or multiply it a bit...just personal taste.
 
Great stuff. Although not my style I can recognize good quality.
 
I think the instrumentation and composition are pretty faultless

I think if Im really critical the drums could come up a ball hair...maybe Im just used to the drums being on top. got an excellent spacial feel to the mix, polished and pro. Maybe the guitar before "find a cabin" could be automated slightly higher.

Now Im no vocalist, and I know we do this as a jack of all trades sometimes....but your vocal style reminds me of Edwin Collins, which works great with his style of music, but was the weak spot in this track. If you do everything in your recordings you rock, but maybe some collabs could take it to another level. No offense, just my humble opinion.

Otherwise great stuff.
 
Nice song. I love the lyrics with the recurring theme "we'll be on our feet again".

I would use some less harmonic vocals, maybe none, maybe only mixed at a lower level in the first verse. And use them to build up your song. They come a bit unexpected and sound a bit weird. They make the song sound a bit darker, when the song doens't really need it. Maybe it's the ambiance that does that.
Anyways, I'd put them lower in the first verse and let your listeners slowly easy into it.

I love it!
 
Hi Robus. I think most of this works compositionally and level-wise.

To me the vocals have the impression of being pushed too high relative to their degree of assertiveness, they kind of have a shaky don't-wake-the-baby feel to them.. not sure if that's what you were going for.. And between the lines "you can deputize or arrest me" and "depends upon the rules.." it sounds like there's a rough edit where a partial word gets chopped. I like the sound of your chain, though. What mic and plugs do you use?
 
Nice tune. I don't care for the "room sound" around the vocal. The level is a bit high as well. I'd want the vocal to sit IN the mix rather than on top of it. Other than that it pretty solid.
 
Thanks for these comments. I'll do another mix soon. Here's what I'm getting:

-- Bass needs to come up.
-- Vocals are too loud and need to sit in the track better.
-- Some editing and tightening needed in the backing vocals.

I may need to do another take of the lead vocal, or parts of it. Hopefully after singing and hearing it a few more times, I'll be able to get a less tentative take.

DM60: I'm on the fence about the levels of those electric guitars. In the process of composing, I recorded probably ten tracks of electric guitar, just finding the song. Late in the game I decided to ditch most of those and bring the acoustic guitars more to the fore. I wound up using only a couple of tracks of electric rhythm guitar--not counting that Tele lead you hear on the right--blended and mixed low like a pad. I am the Antigreg when it comes to guitar philosophy! ;) I'm liking the effect right now, but that might change again in the new mix.

Broken-H: Thanks for pointing out how dry that acoustic on the left sounds. Some reverb needed perhaps.

Kcearl: I hear you. I'm a newcomer to singing although I've been playing and writing songs my whole adult life. Just lately I've been trying to see what I can achieve by working to develop my very limited vocal talents. There is no doubt a capable singer could kick this song up a notch. I'm very open to collaborations and have done a little of that since joining this site. If anyone would like to try singing this, I'd be delighted.

fat_fleet: Yeah, that's an edit. There isn't time for a breath between those two lines, so I had to record them in two takes and botched the edit. Also, the tone doesn't match. My wife was out of town for a few days, so I got to use the living room for tracking the first round of vocals--large room, high ceilings, wood floors--great room for vocals! Then she came home and I was back to my cubbyhole for the final takes. ;) I'll try to get her to run an errand when I do the retracks. The mic is on old CAD Equitek E-100 that I've had since the late 90s or early 2000s. It has very flat response, not specifically optimized for vocals. I might upgrade eventually but after years and thousands of dollars of GAS, I'm into the philosophy of learning to use what I have before buying anything more. I'm going through an ART PRO MPAII preamp and a PRO VLAII compressor into the converter box. In the mix I used Reaper's native EQ, compressor, and reverb with the Abby Road trick. I've made a custom chain of EQ and compression that I've been refining over the past several songs to deal with the peculiarities of my voice. Still more work to do there.

Dicus: I like that idea of bringing the harmony vocals in by increments. That was kind of my original intent (hence the high harmony that begins the final verse), but I've got more work to do editing and blending those harmonies. Once they are properly sorted, they should be easier to place under and behind the lead vocal, getting progressively more assertive as the song goes on.

Track Rat: Yeah, I hear that room too. :eek:
 
The guitars sound real good to me. Very clear. Bass sounds very good too. Drums sound decent, but they're kind of far back in the mix. Like the tight kick sound. Cymbals have a little swishiness to them. Probably SC doing it. Except for the drums being back a bit, the levels on everything is really good.

The first thing that struck me was the effect on the vocal - both lead and background. Some kind of weird time-based effect on them. I didn't care for that. Some pitchy spots in places.

A bit too much reverb for me. But then I don't care much for it.
 
Thanks TM. I was hoping you would chime in. I think what you are hearing is inconsistent timing between the lead vocal and the double, and between the various harmony tracks. It does give the feeling of a time-based FX. I'm working on tidying that up right now, should have a new mix up in the next day or two.

When I listen to my raw mix, the bass level sounds fine to me. When I listen to the MP3 on Soundcloud, it sounds underpowered. Seems that Soundcloud's compression might be pushing the bass down. I'll have to do a separate Soundcloud mix to compensate.

Reverb: Thanks, I have a hard time judging when enough is enough.
 
Robus said:
Kcearl: I hear you. I'm a newcomer to singing although I've been playing and writing songs my whole adult life. Just lately I've been trying to see what I can achieve by working to develop my very limited vocal talents. There is no doubt a capable singer could kick this song up a notch. I'm very open to collaborations and have done a little of that since joining this site. If anyone would like to try singing this, I'd be delighted.
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your vox arent that bad, in fact theyre pretty good, its just that you do the other aspects so well.... Id suggest being a bit crapper at them ;)
 
There's a new mix in the OP.

I boosted the bass, maybe too much. The vocals are much more tucked in to the accompaniment. Curious to know if you can still hear the lyrics clearly. The vocal harmony is less prominent.

I also did a lot of editing of the doubles and harmonies--clipping, tucking, fading, etc. They are cleaner.

Let me know what you think.
 
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Robus said:
fat_fleet: Yeah, that's an edit. There isn't time for a breath between those two lines, so I had to record them in two takes and botched the edit. Also, the tone doesn't match. My wife was out of town for a few days, so I got to use the living room for tracking the first round of vocals--large room, high ceilings, wood floors--great room for vocals! Then she came home and I was back to my cubbyhole for the final takes. ;) I'll try to get her to run an errand when I do the retracks. The mic is on old CAD Equitek E-100 that I've had since the late 90s or early 2000s. It has very flat response, not specifically optimized for vocals. I might upgrade eventually but after years and thousands of dollars of GAS, I'm into the philosophy of learning to use what I have before buying anything more. I'm going through an ART PRO MPAII preamp and a PRO VLAII compressor into the converter box. In the mix I used Reaper's native EQ, compressor, and reverb with the Abby Road trick. I've made a custom chain of EQ and compression that I've been refining over the past several songs to deal with the peculiarities of my voice. Still more work to do there.
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That issue with the "tone not matching up" sitting-to-sitting is pretty common, happens to me quite a bit.. Proximity effect, forcefulness, how much of my "chest voice" gets used, how much liquid I've consumed, my posture, how much phlegm is in my throat on any particular day all play a role.
 
Cool tune - reminds me of Steely Dan with the variety backing instrumentation. I would like to hear the drums a little louder during the singing - the snare pops out occasionally so hard to say just up the whole drum bus as that might not be the best idea. Nothing other than that stands out as needing anything. When compared to the mix I have up, it is much cleaner and separated - good reference for a remix :)
 
Thanks. I have huge respect for Steely Dan. Fagen and Becker were and are incredibly versatile and talented songwriters and musicians, and the various sidemen they brought in were among the best who ever played (Chuck Rainey, Bernard Purdie, etc.). Both with the Dan and in their individual solo projects, neither one has ever made a bad record.

I'm new at mixing, so take this for what it's worth. My watchwords are space and separation. I try to keep the center as open as possible. Rarely do I put anything there besides lead vocal, bass and kick drum. I tend not to double guitars. Usually the guitar parts are hard panned, where I find I can lower the levels and still have them heard.
 
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I listened to the second mix. Sounds really good to me. Nice to hear your vocals up front and center on this one! Really helps give the song a center.

Since the first ones came to lay down their bones
In the pinyon grove between the wind and stone

God damn, can I steal a few lines from you for my next project? lol
 
Thanks Nick. Yeah, that's my favorite line. Might tweak the lyrics before recording the next vocal take. "Find a cabin, spend the night" is lame, don't your think? That line is also musically weak. I need to find something stronger to open that bridge section.

I rode from Amarillo down to Clovis on a motorcycle trip to Carlsbad. It's the first place where they found the fossils of the Clovis People who hunted mammoth 10,000 years ago. It's a cool and eerie place, inspires a bit of poetry.
 
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