New Song - Music River

[Chili]

I was only banging out some chords on the guitar and my 9 yr old starts singing "Music River" over and over again. I thought it was a great title, so I wrote a song.

All comments are welcome. Thanks for listening.

http://soundclick.com/share?songid=8687472

Music River

Headed south out of Boston
The coldest day of the year and it felt that way
I left because I knew our love was broken
I threw the rear view mirror out the car that day.

(Chorus)
Music River, I hear you calling
I'm heading down to find my new home.
Music River, got to keep rolling.
Don't leave me standing on your banks alone.

Running blind on empty feelings.
3 days of wondering why I'd come this far.
But the sun was shining down on Austin.
I sat on the shore and played my guitar.

(Chorus)

Running quietly through the city of love and peace.
Strumming out a song on my old guitar.
Sometimes all I think there's only you and me.
Sometimes I hear music in every bar.

(Chorus)

 

[PoeticIntensity]

I love your tunes, man. Hmm... Where do I begin?

Loved the guitar tones. Nice and gritty - even on the acoustics... Great usage of the stereo stage, to... the "chug-chug" on the electrics used as accents really does this song a great service. Nicely done.

Same on the bass. Fits perfectly.

The vocals are also well placed, in my opinion. They pop as they should, lyrics are easily understandable, and ... it just works. Great job.

Now the drums.... They seem to get lost. The sound stage from the guitars and bass (and do I hear a keyboard sound in there, somewhere?) is so huge, there doesn't seem to be much room for the drums. I wonder what it would sound like if you just upped the volume on em'? Might get muddy, might not... It might be interesting..

Anyway.. The drums are too low, but the sounds used for em' seem to work nicely. The programming is also well done for the most part. My subjective taste wants to hear a ride-cymbal on the chorus, instead of a pumping, sizzling hi-hat. I also think the drums get just a tad messy toward the end.

Other than that, dude, great work.

I'm fightin' the urge to jump on my set to play along... (it's 1:30am here) Yeah, that'd be the end of my marriage for sure...

 

[joeym]

Damn good, Dave!
I wish my kids would inspire me some.....
Yeah, get those drums up a bit and it should be OK. Got a nice Niel Young feel to it, in fact I'd put some grittier guitars on the chorus to give it more dynamics. Nice work!

Joey

 

[Chili]

Damn good, Dave!
I wish my kids would inspire me some.....
Yeah, get those drums up a bit and it should be OK. Got a nice Niel Young feel to it, in fact I'd put some grittier guitars on the chorus to give it more dynamics. Nice work!

Joey

Hey guys, thanks for the feedback. so it seems the drums are my new stumbling point... again. Okay will work on them. Was the kick lacking, or the whole set in general? I like Joey's idea of bringing in a crunch guitar during the chorus.
Thanks again!!

 

[CIRO]

Good song, great performance and quality mix, Chili.

If I could change something; snare is a bit low in the mix.

Ciro

 

[Greg_L]

More drums! Specifically, kick and snare.

The vocals are good, but they have an upper midrangey radio kind of sound to them. They need some low end naturalness.

The rest sounds pretty good.

 

[saads]

Great tune! The drums are a bit too low, and maybe it's just me but the vocals might have been off at one part in the opening verses, but other than that it's a good song. I listened to it twice

 

[Chili]

Good song, great performance and quality mix, Chili.

If I could change something; snare is a bit low in the mix.

Ciro

Thanks Ciro, I'll make changes on drums overall and upload later today.

The vocals are good, but they have an upper midrangey radio kind of sound to them. They need some low end naturalness.

Thanks for pointing out the vox, I hear what you'r saying. I found an eq setting on the pre amp set wrong from when I tracked the acoustic. Dammit, I really don't want to retrack. Hmmm....

Great tune! The drums are a bit too low, and maybe it's just me but the vocals might have been off at one part in the opening verses, but other than that it's a good song. I listened to it twice

Yeah, probably not you!! Thanks for listening, I'm glad you liked it.

 

[matttheaxe]

I swear I hear a banjo in there.

Tasty. Nice touch.

 

[Sound & Vision]

So...I thought the drum levels were good for this type of song

Maybe you updated the mix by time I listened to it?

Good stuff.

 

[Chili]

I swear I hear a banjo in there.

Tasty. Nice touch.

Thanks for listening. No banjo, but there's two finger-picking guitar tracks very low in the mix.

So...I thought the drum levels were good for this type of song

Maybe you updated the mix by time I listened to it?

Good stuff.

I haven't updated it yet. I did a remix with kick and snare a little louder, I'll get that posted soon. Thanks for your comments!!

 

[nzausrec]

Sounds like John Hiatt.

Very good mixing. Bass I like.

 

[heatmiser]

Hey Chili,

The song has a nice flow to it. Well done. I'm listening on bookshelf speakers w/ a sub hooked up to the laptop...it sounds to me like the guitars and bass are nicely balanced, and sound good overall. The vocals and drums seem a bit small in comparison. I could be wrong, but the vocals could be rounded out some EQ-wise to sound fuller and the drums could use something...?

The snare is a kind of soft sounding if that makes any sense...could it have a bit sharper of an attack? The kick drum is almost entriely absent here.

That's all I got. A nice composition and overall a spacious mix that works, but could be improved upon.

 

[Bulls Hit]

Good song. Great to get a helping hand from the kids now and then.
Yeah I think Greg pretty well nailed it mixwise. Vocals have a little bit upper-mid harshness, should be easy to EQ away. On my speakers drums need more kick, and just a smidgen extra volume on the snare

 

[Chili]

Thanks for listening.

Sounds like John Hiatt.

Very good mixing. Bass I like.

Not sure if I've ever really heard John Hiatt before. His name sounds so familiar, so I must have. Thanks for the reference.

Hey Chili,

The song has a nice flow to it. Well done. I'm listening on bookshelf speakers w/ a sub hooked up to the laptop...it sounds to me like the guitars and bass are nicely balanced, and sound good overall. The vocals and drums seem a bit small in comparison. I could be wrong, but the vocals could be rounded out some EQ-wise to sound fuller and the drums could use something...?

The snare is a kind of soft sounding if that makes any sense...could it have a bit sharper of an attack? The kick drum is almost entriely absent here.

That's all I got. A nice composition and overall a spacious mix that works, but could be improved upon.

Yeah, I still haven't posted a new mix yet. I found the problem with the vocals being thin, I left my pre-amp set up for the acoustic, it's got an eq section.

Good song. Great to get a helping hand from the kids now and then.
Yeah I think Greg pretty well nailed it mixwise. Vocals have a little bit upper-mid harshness, should be easy to EQ away. On my speakers drums need more kick, and just a smidgen extra volume on the snare

I've been busy these past few days, so hopefully can get the new mix up tomorrow or Tuesday. I might retrack the vocals too to include small tweaks in the lyrics.

Thanks!!!

 

[nzausrec]

Okay Dude,
I was sitting here scrolling thru my John Hiatt MP3s. I'm thinking, 'Wow, this is a good one, have to remember it.' You know, like, when I am doing the flooring in my house I will crank it up and, went off somewhere in my mind about that with this (your song) in my ears.
Only then did I laugh and realise this is not Hiatt, but Chilli.

Mmmm.. got a real rocker here.

^_^

 

[gbav]

Not too sure who John Hiatt is but I might have to look him up now. Typing while listening. I like the acoustic guitars a lot, they fit the vibe of the song perfectly. Vocals are lyrics are very nice. I read some of the issues with the vocals and it certainly seems like you can eq them without too much problem and not having to go through the hassle of retracking and already great take. Drums sound good, wish I felt the bass drum a bit more on my system. No real original nitpicks here but I really enjoyed the song. Will be on the lookout for the remix you mentioned.

Take care
Gary

 

[Chili]

One of your best, music, vocal. all around performance and mix-wise...lyrics are spot on too.

it sounds great with just a few nit-piks...

The bass is great..but to my ears, it's just a tad too much for the acoustic. A bit more high on that hollow axe, for a tad more crispness to make 'er zing.

Thanks True, sorry I didn't see your post a week ago. I'll look into the acoustic guitar. I used only one LDC mic on it, I thought it sounded a little thin, myself.

Okay Dude,
I was sitting here scrolling thru my John Hiatt MP3s. I'm thinking, 'Wow, this is a good one, have to remember it.' You know, like, when I am doing the flooring in my house I will crank it up and, went off somewhere in my mind about that with this (your song) in my ears.
Only then did I laugh and realise this is not Hiatt, but Chilli.

Mmmm.. got a real rocker here.

^_^

Thanks man, You made my day. seriously. Did you download it? I thought I had that feature turned off. I can turn it on if you'd like.

Not too sure who John Hiatt is but I might have to look him up now. Typing while listening. I like the acoustic guitars a lot, they fit the vibe of the song perfectly. Vocals are lyrics are very nice. I read some of the issues with the vocals and it certainly seems like you can eq them without too much problem and not having to go through the hassle of retracking and already great take. Drums sound good, wish I felt the bass drum a bit more on my system. No real original nitpicks here but I really enjoyed the song. Will be on the lookout for the remix you mentioned.

Take care
Gary

Thanks Gary, I JUST uploaded a new version (you listened to the old). Give it a listen again and let me know if I've got the kick at the right levels.


New version is up, same link. I brought out the kick and snare more, and eq'd the vocals for a little more low end. I didn't do any retakes yet.

Link:
http://soundclick.com/share?songid=8687472

Thanks for the great comments!!!

 

[gbav]

Noticed the vocals and bass drum immediately. Also had the luxury of JUST hearing the last version so this is a nice perspective to come from . I think those two small things really made a big difference. The high end harshness of the vocals is way tamed. Sounds great to me, glad you don't do as I often do and go way overboard on remixes. Only complaint this time? Song cuts out about halfway through for some reason. Might be me but I figured i'd mention it just in case it's not.

Take care

Gary

 

[Chili]

Only complaint this time? Song cuts out about halfway through for some reason. Might be me but I figured i'd mention it just in case it's not.

Thanks again, Gary. It played all the way through for me, so it must have been Soundclick. Glad to hear those small adjustments made a big difference.