Cannon Fodder by The Newlings

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rayc

retroreprobate
Here's a ditty that was written a year or more ago and has had a slow process for recording.
It's a slightly cynical song with some flavour added to it by my latest musical toy, (Kim's xmas gift to me).
Drums are minimalist tap ins from an old drum machine and could readily be replaced if someone is interested.
Eric plays the guitars and sings all vox, Dean plays the Uke whilst I did the bass, the tapping and the lap steel'n'banjo "colouring in" I guess you'd call it.

Recorded on R16 into Cubase from Louisiana and Reaper in Wollongong.


MIX 2 Above

MIX THREE
Here's mix FOUR

HERE's MIX FIVE based on mix three with some modifications.

Thoughts, suggestions and recommendations happily received.
The lyrics:
Cannon Fodder (for the Plot)

Now Kane said unto Able
Hey come out to the stable
There’s something there you need to see.
So they walked out together
Just talkin’ ‘bout the weather
Just one was coming home for tea.

Lot said unto his missus
Forget about the dishes
Grab the girls: the time’s come to bolt.
They got out of the city
She said it is a pity
Then turned her head & turned to salt.

The lessons that they teach us
Is goodness will not reach us
And if it does it matters not
‘Cause the power that will be
Calls the shots and it is we
Who are cannon fodder for the plot

Old Noah had to build it
And by twos then he filled it
Before the rain became a flood.
Oh, but if they weren’t his kin
Well he wouldn’t let them in
He left ‘em fighting in the mud.

The lessons that these teach us
Is goodness will not reach us
Goodness has finally lost the plot
‘Cause the power’s in the hands
Of the one who makes demands
We are left behind to die & rot.

Abraham said unto Zac
Let’s walk up on the goat track
I feel the need to pay a price.
He built a little pyre
And set the wood to fire
Prepared to make the sacrifice.

The lessons that these teach us
Is goodness will not reach us
Not even through a prime time slot
It’s coded in transmissions
Infallible decisions
What the dish catches is all we’ve got

The lessons that they teach us
Is goodness will not reach us
Intentions matter not a jot
That’s because the Holy Sea
Calls the shots and it is we
Who beget what we had long forgot.
We are cannon fodder for the plot.
 
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Can't see Soundcloud at work so I'll try to check it out at home tonight
 
I liked the song. Kind of Bob Dylan/The Band/Neil Young-ish.

Vocal performances were a little loose. A bit pitchy. Timing issue when things kicked in a couple seconds into the song.

The bass is really low in the mix. Drums/rhythm tracks are low in the mix too. Answer back vocals are low too.

I liked the banjo part.
 
This is a pretty far departure from your usual stuff Ray. So who is Eric and Dean? And what's your new musical toy? Details!

I pretty much agree wholeheartedly with TripM's comments.
 
Yeah, the drums are low as is the bass - tried to make it sound old school country music. I was going for true dual genre Country & Western but western swing does swing & there's not much of that in this song.
Eric, from near Shreveport La, is the fellow I started writing songs with in 1976 & Dean's his highschool friend.
The uke was the result of brain explosions when we were tracking the guitars. They're a little hesitatnt as Dean had to transpose as he went.
The song's a long way from normal for me but the lyrics came to me when I was sitting in the local pub (the Centennial in Helensburgh) waiting for a counter meal. I wrote them down on a beer coaster before I fogot them. I did a littlee reworking on a 2nd coaster & it was sorted before the pepper steak with salad & chips arrived.

Eric saw the homour of it & decided to put it to music.
Vocals are pitchy but also really only a sketch. No real singers amongst us.
The response vocals are deliberately corny/country so I pulled them back.
The toys - lapsteel and the banjo, though I've had the banjo for a bit. Kim gave me the lapsteel for Xmas. It's double tracked on this I'd only had it a day before recording so it's simplistic in the extreme (oh & standard guitar tuning too - couldn't get my head around C6 tuning).
You folk would like all the low stuff less so.

Sorry I can't dump one of the images.
 

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Mix 2

Mix 2 based on MMM & Greg L's suggestions;


More bass, more drums, re arranged the intro for interest & timing, raised the banjo and added a bit of reverb to it as well.
Why lapsteel? I dunno, she tries to find a new toy for me each xmas - I assume the pickin's is getting thin.
MIX FOUR
 
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Cool tune Ray, hybrid country style I really get a charge from. The vocals sound a bit like Roger Waters.

Enjoyed the listen. Great job.

Pete
 
G'day
Eric c'est moi.
Taa Ray for posting Canon Fodder. As Ray says my vox are certainly only meant as a guide. Happy to see someone take up the baton if they wish.

By way of intro. Ray and I went to college together. We co-wrote Whisper, Alice and a bunch of other such back in the 70's. We fell back in touch a few years back due to Ray's posting of Whisper on Sound click and his crediting me.
I tend to write melodic tunes that hopefully fit the feel and vibe of his lyrics. I write few lyrics myself. My best years as a guitarist or vocalist are well behind me, but I can pull a tune together as a guide for others to sing/play. The country-esque feel to this song is entirely in deferrence to the lyric and content. It felt right.
As many of you know Ray writes a great lyric, plays a mean bass and Its always pleasure to work with him on a project.
Cheers
 
I like the song, like the approach, its all there, just some fine tuning. But I think when it all comes together, it gonna be really great.

I really like the lyrics, I like the Old Testament reference. I am very much a study of new ways to see the Bible and present it back. Really interesting.
 
Now that I can hear it, I like the bass part. :) Supports the song well.

Kick might be a couple db's too strong now. Its attack is a bit clicky. But it's nice and tight - not flubby at all.

I'd dry up the banjo and steel guit a bit. Especially the banjo.

I like the answer back vocals.
 
Thanks PDP,
Hybrid it certainly is. The banjo is a bit iffy - it has really heavy strings and a very high action - my left arm ached for a couple of hours after working with it!
Eric'll like the vox reference.
 
Tobe,
thanks mate. Now, how do I achieve that vocal soound?
I'll listen & play around.
 
DM60,
Thanks for your generosity.
Any fine tuning suggestions?
It's amazing what the smell of cooking steak & the resultant gastric juice rush can do for tilted perspectives.
I'm generally well read but not of this book in particular. I'm reasonably sure my references are OK. Someone who read the lyric was a bit put off by the Noah section and was going to check it before returning to debate the matter. they didn't return so I've assumed I was correct.
 
MMM,
The bass drum's tone is one of the reasons it was buried - mid 80's Roland drum machine blues I'm afraid. I'll do some more EQing.
Dry up the banjo - easily done.
 
rayc said:
DM60,
Thanks for your generosity.
Any fine tuning suggestions?
It's amazing what the smell of cooking steak & the resultant gastric juice rush can do for tilted perspectives.
I'm generally well read but not of this book in particular. I'm reasonably sure my references are OK. Someone who read the lyric was a bit put off by the Noah section and was going to check it before returning to debate the matter. they didn't return so I've assumed I was correct.
Click to expand...

Actually, Noah was instructed do take only his family and the animals. So, not sure what the person was talking about, that was the whole point of the flood! (Maybe get rid of the dinosaurs ;))

Fine tuning suggestions, no. I think as you work through the song the final shape will come. You're pretty seasoned at this, not anything I could say would add value.
 
Mix 3


Mix three with the bass drum declicked, the banjo reverb reduced and I've slid a couple or three of the extra vocals around so they line up with the main vocal a little more tightly.
I've alos delayed the entry of the extra guitars by a bar or so.
MIX FOUR
 
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Seems like a good prominent bass would serve the song well. Give it a groove. It was absent on my system. Since this lacks drums, bass as a substitute for the kick.
 
OK it's getting there. You might have removed a little too much attack from the kick. I'd put just a bit back, and then (probably) boost the kick level a bit. I'd boost all the drum/percussion tracks in general. They're a bit back. Or lower everything else.

I like the dryer banjo. I hadn't really listened to the lyrics before because I was concentrating on the sound. I like it.
 
Mix four


I've tried to implement the suggestions of TripeM & DM60:
Added some top end to the bass drum, raised it & the cymbals but bnot the rim shot as that was LOUD already.
The bass guitar I've not changed - it's good'n'clear in my heapdphones listening to the Soundcloud streamer & on my set up from the project.
I've changed the banjo ending by adding strummed chords for the last 2 beats rather than the plucked ones I had.
Compare this to the MIX 3 & let me know please.
 
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