Let's Ride. New song.

R

Robus

Well-known member
[Edit: New mix in link]

I thought would change it up and record a rock song. I got the idea from an old song I recorded in the early 2000s. It wasn't very good, but it had some parts I liked. So I took those and reworked them, adding new lyrics and melody.

This is a rough mix. I've been working on balancing the lead and backing vocals. It's been difficult to get the lead vocals so that every word is intelligible. Not there yet.

All comment welcome. Thanks for participating in the MP3 Clinic!

PS: I've read lately that the only way to record a guitar sound that doesn't suck is to put an SM57 in front of a Marshall amp and turn it up very loud. Not wanting to suck, I did that. It's in the chorus, center left. ;)




Let’s Ride

You can ride like a child
A wagon painted red
And the smile on your lips
Like a price upon my head

Or we can ride like we did that day
Running storms out of Denver
The mountain way
All our dreams in a carry tray

Everywhere we go we seem to leave a fallout zone
I’ll never lock you out or treat you like a stepping stone
The back door slams
The phone line jams
I see you’re back from Amsterdam

Your daddy adored you
But the look upon his face
Like a man of stone in a land of bones
As I led you from his place

The highway into Dallas
Those evening clouds afire
And I knew right then we’d be at it again
When the spark has touched the wire

Everywhere we go we seem to leave a fallout zone
You’re gone the last two weeks
I’m standing here alone
What would it take?
The siren screams through all our dreams
I see we need a new régime

Let’s ride
Could you really see us getting old?
That’s how long we’ve been at it
All the benefits, can’t regret it
And we’ll go out tall our dying day.

Everywhere we go we seem to make the knockdown list
Scattered on the grass
Or sleeping off the night’s last kiss
The sirens sing the doorbell rings
I see you’re back for one more fling.

Words and Music by Ray Taylor, 2015.
 
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I might like a little treble lift on the vocals, might go for the drums too? Feels a little muffled in the upper ranges maybe. Really like the tone of the guitars at the onset of the bridge. It sounds like a rock beat but something feels like it's not quite punching like a rock song, although that may be down to preference. I'd probably shape the drums a bit so the snare cracks a little harder, squash the bass and make it more present. Can't say I mix many rock songs mind you but that's where I'd try to take it anyway.

Nice composition as always, I might say you're getting stronger in the vocals and/or more confident? Maybe this type of song is just more suited to you. :thumbsup:

Edit: how do I always mess up the emotes. . .
 
Thanks Easlern. It's does seem easier to sing the uptempo stuff. I felt pretty good. I'll call it another small step another small step. Going to bring the lead vocal up and the backing vocals down in the next mix. When you mentioned something not punching, did you mean the drum sounds or the groove?
 
Probably the groove? Maybe I'm just listening for the "pocket" where the drum and bass play off each other, kind of a rock signature I think but I'm having a little trouble hearing it right now. It's really down to your intent though I think, it sounds very pleasant as is.
 
Thanks. My thought is that the kick drum is too busy. I might cull it to get the groove feeling a little more open. To me, the bass sounds solid.

What do you think about the piano right center, under the vocals? Is it grooving for you? I wonder if it's a little too dominant. Might need to be panned farther out and lowered in the mix.

How is the bass tone? I used the P bass with TI Jazz flats, first song in a while.
 
Bummer it won't play other than at soundcloud.
I like it.
the occasional stick/rim hits/accidents could be tidied up.
Your voice is just fine until you try those short hops to higher notes - it happens often and then underminies the rest of the flow.
Really good song.
I like the lyrics.
 
I'm actually finding it a little hard to detect the piano. Okay, I think I found it in the verse. Seems like it could be competing a little? Maybe you just put the idea in my head ha. Might try bringing it up an octave maybe, sounds like there's some room up there for it.

I like the kick actually, the drums are what drive the song for me right now. The background vox are nice by the way, don't think I mentioned that.

The bass tone seems really nice but I wonder what it would sound like with a little overdrive. It's very clean right now, my instinct would be to try to make it a little grittier but that's just a preference really. Nothing wrong with the mix really, I just hear rock elements in it and I'm wondering how you might sort of highlight them.
 
Hey Robus,

Like the electric guitar especially in this song. I actually could not really tell there was a piano at all and if eas hadn't brought it up I would not have been able to detect it either, so I agree that sounds are competing there.

I also personally think the lead vocal is too quiet in the sense that it seems to be sitting too far back in the mix for my liking. It may be personal preference, but I feel the vocal volume could come up more (the lead, and maybe a bit of the background as well) just so it can pop more. I say that because I feel the electric guitars becomes the star of the song instead of you, which is fine since it sounds nice, but I feel the timbre of your voice should take precedence over the guitars.

Also, like you noticed, the drums are sometimes going off a bit much, but I like the rhythm established by the drums. I just feel the volume could go down on the drums (relative to the vox and guitars if/after you've balanced those).

Unlike rayc, I actually kind of like the high note jumps because there is that sense of strain but its not like you're jumping and ending up flat or sharp, you're hitting the note, but there is that audible slight tension that is pretty authentic, which I feel suits the style of voice you have. So I'm not sure where you'll go with that but that's my opinion on that matter.

But overall the biggest thing for me is the vox having to pop more and not be lost amongst the instruments my friend.
 
This feels really muddy to me. Or at least the drums feel kind of muddy, and the vocals are buried. I can't make out much of anything. The guitars have good separation from each other tho.
 
Thanks. I'm working on another song right now--another rock tune. But I'll get around to doing another mix this week. On the list:

1. Lead vocal up and clearer
2. Raise the keyboard part by an octave and pan it out.
3. Simplify the kicks, EQ the drums for clarity.
4. Tame the cymbals a bit.
5. Lower the backing vocals in a couple of parts of the song.
 
Hey ray... you gotta stop cutting the track off before it's done - I was listening to the end and had a WTF reaction there....

I know your hand starts trembling uncontrollably when it comes to the lead vocal fader, but you've just gotta jump in and give it a good hard push to the right. You could be the next Bernie Taupin, but I don't know because I can't hear what you're singing well enough, and I'm not reading the lyrics. You don't have perspective because you know what you're singing and so your brain is compensating and telling you "that's loud enough", but it isn't.

And the ending again - a bit underwhelming from an arrangement point of view, IMO (sorry, gratuitous arrangement advice) - now it's possible that you just sang the perfect best-ever lyric to end a song of all time and I should be thinking "awesome" ending and not worrying so much about what the music's doing, but I couldn't make it out, and so it just sounds odd.

There are few of us here who are Caruso, and part of the journey we undertake is working out how our voices work with our songs to best effect, this is better but still a work in progress, so give that lead vocal fader a good hard nudge, and tell guitar player ray at the mixing desk to piss off outside for a while whilst lead singer ray has a go.

So I get completely VHS's "muddy" comment - guitars a touch down, lead vocals a few db up. Leave the alleged piano alone - it's part of the overall musical sound, which is good. Leave the kick alone, it's not too busy - but there's a point or two when the snare seems a bit straight for the groove - I'm finding the snare stick swings more than the actual snare hit. Cymbals down a smidge. And I'm sort of with rayc on the vocal jumps - not quite working for me.

Anyway, as always, hope that's vaguely useful and gives you something to think about.

Cheers dude... :thumbs up:
 
Actually, it is a little muddy. I hardly say that, but this is a bright tune and could use a little more on the upper end. Drums don't seem to sit well in the mix. Kick is fine, but snare and crashes are a tad high for the production.

Background vocals just a tad less volume since they seem more for flavor. I would treat this particular background as an instrument more than vocals.

Overall little more brightness to the tune and a couple of tweaks would polish this up pretty good.

Good effort.
 
I really like your style. Good easy listening music. Not sure I would call this "rock" though lol

AT times I hate that snare, and at times I think it goes well. Maybe following DM60's advise, it just needs to be brought down some and not be a focal point.

I like your vocal style and I think it sounds good here. The guitars and rest of the music does seem to walk over each other at times. Couldn't hear a piano and bass seemed a little low or indistinct at least.

Good song though...just some tweaks maybe.
 
Thanks Brutish. Funny, I hadn't thought of the snare as an issue, then several people mentioned it. I'd been trying to figure out what is unsettling the groove here and there, then Armistice mentioned the snare feels a little straight. There's a noticeable swing on the eighth note kicks and on the bass, where it plays an eighth note. The snare is sitting a hair behind the beat on 2 and 4, mostly. Maybe it needs to lay back more. I'm going to give the drums a careful listening-to and get a second mix going, hopefully this evening.

I'm going to look as well at the timing on the alleged piano part. It could need a bit more swing.

I think the bass is loud enough, so I might need to look into what is masking it. I think there are a number of instruments competing in the fat part of the midrange--piano, bass, vocals, guitars. That's probably what explains the muddy comments.
 
1. the cymbals are pretty washy, both sides. this is my biggest negative view of the mix.
2. vocals need to come up a couple dbs
3. i love the background harmonies and tone of them.
4. pretty great playing man....fantastic leads and bits and pieces here and there.
5. i'm hearing some steely dan/steve miller???
6. what exactly do you play on your mixes? what are the drums, live or sim?
 
I thought the guitars sounded good. I especially liked the one on the right.

The vocal delivery was kind of tentative. Needs a more confident take. Vocal is slightly buried. Or maybe a double tracked vocal? That might sound nice.

The snare is a little heavy. Could use a little more snap. Kick sounded good. I think the cymbals are getting the non-flattering soundcloud treatment.

Bass is OK. A little bit indistinct.
 
What happened to the ending? Forget to pay the bill?? :confused:

I thought the global mix was dark and inarticulate. Then I started going through the comments and read similar sentiments. This tells me your monitors or your room are lying to you.

The lead vocals need to come up and maybe with a wide bump around 2k.

Guitars sounded nice with a lot of stuff going on. That keeps the listener engaged even when they can't understand the lyrics.

The drums were dark and the snare was meh. If they are real drums, I say great job, almost there. If they are fake drums, I say you have a bit more work to do.

Arrangement-wise, it didn't come across to me that there was any build up and relief. Maybe there was, but it wasn't memorable. Now it's a few minutes after listening and the impression that remains is that it just kind of hummed along at the same level of energy.

Still I enjoyed listening and stayed with it til the end, which I normally don't do. :)
 
Yeah, about that ending... Really, that's all there is. ;) I didn't record anything more. I might loop that very last part and fade. I had hoped to get another mix out this evening, but maybe there is a bit more than a couple of hours work to do. Soon, anyway. Thanks.
 
New mix linked in the OP.

Lot's of changes. Vocals are higher in the mix, drums are sitting better I hope. I doubled the lead vocals, did some groove surgery and retracked the bass. The P bass had to go. The Jazz is the only bass that seems to cut through for me.

All comments welcome!

PS. Another song is coming very soon, with a special guest. She's a way better singer than I am! :cool:
 
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