Been a long time, but new recording!

  • Thread starter Thread starter Llarion
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Llarion

Llarion

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Hello friends!

Been far too long since I've haunted this joint (3 years?!? really??!?!), but I was burnt out and just didn't have anything new musically going on... Well, now I do, so I thought I'd drop back in and say hello!

This is Down-n-Out. I'm playing the drums, percussion, bass, keyboards and rhythm guitar. Austin Vickery has the alto sax, and Adam Rafferty has the guitar solo... I hope you enjoy it!

Down-n-Out
 
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Nice bright sax. Was expecting it to go to a verse after intro, but an instrumental is nice. The first sax part is much louder in the mix than the guitar solo, I'd suggest pulling that sax back a little and the guitar up a little, maybe. The second sax part has better level overall. Nice easy listening tune!
 
Phil,
for interest's sake may I ask - why did you do swap between slap & non slap playing?
Was it to define the structure with a change in style & tonality?
I have to say the sax is a little loud throughout & a few notes from the guitar solo were a little large.
Overall I must say I prefer the finger playing to the slap - not as competitive with the lead instruments and also a timeless sound.
Lovely recording job.
 
mjbphotos said:
Nice bright sax. Was expecting it to go to a verse after intro, but an instrumental is nice. The first sax part is much louder in the mix than the guitar solo, I'd suggest pulling that sax back a little and the guitar up a little, maybe. The second sax part has better level overall. Nice easy listening tune!
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Sounds like a little mild compression across the sax track might even things out a little, I'll give it a try!
 
rayc said:
Phil,
for interest's sake may I ask - why did you do swap between slap & non slap playing?
Was it to define the structure with a change in style & tonality?
I have to say the sax is a little loud throughout & a few notes from the guitar solo were a little large.
Overall I must say I prefer the finger playing to the slap - not as competitive with the lead instruments and also a timeless sound.
Lovely recording job.
Click to expand...

You're exactly right - I changed style in the B section on purpose, to lend more contrast to the feel. As to a few notes being louder than others; I've been on purpose trying to scale back the amount of compression I use, I'm trying to avoid an "overproduced" sound; even in the face of the overall density of the arrangements. Perhaps I backed off too far... :) I plan to let these sit a little before I release the CD, so I can go away and come back with fresh ears, and fix stuff like that. :) As to the slap playing "dating" the material, that's totally OK with me - this song was actually written in 1984; and I'm going for an old school smooth jazz (old Spyro Gyra, Yellowjackets, Jeff Lorber, Mangione) sort of sonic flavor... :) I've been revisiting some of my older material that never got recorded well as well as writing new stuff. Thanks for the thorough input! :)
 
Very nice. Beautiful sound and expressive feel to the guitar parts.
 
This definitely has that old Lorber/SpyroGyra feel. I'm with Ray...I think the sax was bit hot and the guitar had it's peaks a bit, but nothing brutal. BTW, Adam kinda channels Grant Geissman for that guitar work. It was great!:)
Bout the only real overall mix comment I have is the drums, snare in particular, just seem to hide from time to time and the sax tone seems abit heavy in the 900-1.5k range. But I'm really picking nits to even pull those comments out.

Nice tune with some really solid performances. Bravo!:cool:

Great to see you skulking about again.














btw...why aren't we collabing on something?:listeningmusic:
 
TeyshaBlue said:
This definitely has that old Lorber/SpyroGyra feel. I'm with Ray...I think the sax was bit hot and the guitar had it's peaks a bit, but nothing brutal. BTW, Adam kinda channels Grant Geissman for that guitar work. It was great!:)
Bout the only real overall mix comment I have is the drums, snare in particular, just seem to hide from time to time and the sax tone seems abit heavy in the 900-1.5k range. But I'm really picking nits to even pull those comments out.

Nice tune with some really solid performances. Bravo!:cool:

Great to see you skulking about again.


btw...why aren't we collabing on something?:listeningmusic:
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Interesting you should say that about Adam; because I actually have the mighty Mr. Geissman booked for some work on a tune; we're trying to find a hole in his schedule; it may have to wait until Two and a Half Men goes on hiatus. I was thinking Adam was gettgin his George Benson on. Adam is a BRILLIANT guitarist; you should YouTube him. He does funky solo fingerstyle...

Why aren't we collabing on something? All ya hadda do is ask; I'd love to work with you! :D

Thanks for the feedback! I'm at the stage where my brain is too saturated with this and the other four tunes I have completed; I need to step away from the songs for a little while and come back to them with fresh ears. I'm going to re-listen considering all the feedback I've gotten here (and hope to get on the others) and tweak anything that needs it. I agree with your assessments; but some of it is taste driven, one person might think it's fine when another doesn't, ya know? I like the mix I have, but I'm not completely in love with it, so I'll be twiddling. :)
 
Wow this is pretty amazing. Are those all real instruments? God I hope so, because that would be awesome. That's some killer bass playing. The kick and bass work perfectly. Great tracking. Really slick and pro sounding mix.
 
Greg_L said:
Wow this is pretty amazing. Are those all real instruments? God I hope so, because that would be awesome. That's some killer bass playing. The kick and bass work perfectly. Great tracking. Really slick and pro sounding mix.
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Thanks Greg!! :D

Yep, here's the instrument lineup:

Drums - Gretsch Renowns
Bass - 1983 Peavey Foundation
Rhythm Guitar - Luna Vicki Genfan Signature acoustic
Keyboards - Yamaha MO8 (MIDI trigger only, the voice is a Dyno Rhodes patch inside of Studio One)
Adam Raffery's guitar solo - my Mexican Stratocaster
Sax - Austin Vickrey's alto, I think it's a Selmer Mark VI, but I'm not 100% certain.
Percussion - LP triangle and "soft shaker"

These days, I track into Presonus Studio One through a MOTU 8pre... I still do my final mastering in Adobe Audition/Waves though.
 
XLR said:
Very nice. Beautiful sound and expressive feel to the guitar parts.
Click to expand...

Thanks very much man.. I didn't drop you a reply and I should have. I appreciate the listen, and the feedback.
 
This sounds brilliant to me. I can imagine this being played live in a high class lounge. Beautiful playing and sound capture. Good job
 
Great recording. Easy listening done very well.

Nice website too.
 
Hehe....Glad I saw this being bumped. I didn't know you posted a new tune.

As usual, you do this kind of stuff beautifully. Everything sounds great and the melodies and textures are awesome. Glad you haven't lost it. :)
 
Yeh I'm thinking late night cafe, black olives, maybe also green, why not? Red wine, slow dancing...

I haven't been around as long as these guys to know any of your earlier tunes, but if this the stuff you come up with, then I'm glad you came back here after your sabbatical. I truly love the sound of your bass.
 
RAMI said:
Hehe....Glad I saw this being bumped. I didn't know you posted a new tune.

As usual, you do this kind of stuff beautifully. Everything sounds great and the melodies and textures are awesome. Glad you haven't lost it. :)
Click to expand...
Thanks man! I just got the big EastWest suite of orchestral and rock instruments, so I'm gonna be re-tweaking a lot of things; pretty much everything I've done in the last 6 months..
 
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