Not That Far Apart

  • Thread starter Thread starter crawdad
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crawdad, where to start? I'll not compare your singing to RC again, because you definitely have your own voice, and that voice is flawless.
The acoustic guitar(s) lay in beautifully, the percussion carries the track strongly, and I like the way the lead is there but not overpowering, especially as it fades.
The song is structured expertly, with each section building to the next smoothly. Rhythm breaks are well thought out and effective.
The mix is pleasing to the ear and serves to convey the mood and meaning of the song.
As for the song itself, everything supports the hook, which is strong. The imagery (sun/moon, for example) is uncluttered and accessible, while retaining creativity.
This is as good as it gets, I'm hooked as a fan for good.

Mark
 
Man I love the sound of your voice and guitar licks!Have you ever sold any of your songs?You're a great songwriter and thats the first thing that jumps out at me after listening to your tunes.You should be making money at this.Good job.
 
crawdad,

That was a very enjoyable song. You have a country-ish voice thats well controlled.

Now I would like to hear a 5-7 bpm faster remix with high energy vocals and a dance drum pattern. Should be very interesting.

I like this piece a lot though. The chorus melody is worldclass.

funk on!
 
I know I was right in giving up attempting to make it in the music industry as a musician long ago when I listen to something like this!

Nice one.

W.
 
It seems when I hear your tunes I forget I'm listening for mix problems.. the tunes are just so good.. I dont think there are any mix problems..


great song once again! :D Keep em' comin'!


sam
 
Thanks for that one!

That one got Marilyn excited!

She hasn't been out of her box in a while. Thanks.

(For the uninitiated, Marilyn is an Epiphone EJ-200)

Flat top Jumbo steel.....

The only thing I can hear as being an upgrade would be a looser drum track and Marilyn's lead track.... :)

Been through it four or five times now. It's gotta be more than just the alcohol! :D

Not to say some of those electric licks weren't slick...

The vocal balance was nailed!
 
nice crawdad (you ever eat those things, btw...crawdads?..suck the brains out??)

to me, the highlight is your voice. You have a nice acoustic sound, but admittedly...and probably because the Santana reference, I was waiting for a ripping lead up around the 22 fret.

the second highlight for me was the song. Dang...1st voice, 2nd, song....nice order in my book...and the order could be possibly switched around too. Works either way for me.

the kick drum sound was the loser for me. A little on the loud side, and it "sounded" like your old Rogers set with a blanket crammed in there.

You elec solo, when it does come in, is best when you start hitting the [thumb] harmonics and get into the meat of the solo. It starts off slow, and I'da just a smacked them in the face right off the bat...and turned it up to match your vocals too.

A nice DiMeolish/santanish/Crawdadish tune... :)
 
Excelled songwriting sir!! Loved the structure of this tune. All moods fit well and the arrangments carries smoothly. Nice, promising lyrics and vocal performance.
Done and Done.



Theron.
 
I'm more or less overwhelmed by the responses. I actually got kind choked for a bit there. I'll tell you--this means a great deal to me. Thank you everyone.

mkg--i appreciate your listening! I hope I can stay on your list in the future!

kramer--I did a stint as a staff songwriter for a couple of years in Nashville. I had one hit and all the songs I wrote for them got published, which is meaningless really, because Universal bought the catalog and its collecting dust now. It was fun and I'd like to do more if I could find the right outlet!

CyanJaguar--Actually, that dance mix was somthing I'd thought of too. I would love to hear Santana do this tune, and it might need some more pep for Carlos.

The Real Waldo--Thanks for listening--and starting Nowhere Radio! The life of a musician ain't all its cracked up to be anyway! :D

B. Sabbath--I'm happy you liked it! I think the mix might need a bit of taming in the kick drum area. Not sure.

drstawl--God! I'm glad Marylin isn't your wife or gilrfriend! :D The drums are my mountain to climb right now. Unfortunately, I had to play them and drums ain't my forte. I'm just so sick of using MIDI and sampled drums. I'm gonna try using some real percussion talent soon!


In general, there were three things I tried as experiments on this one. First, the acoustic lead is my daughters Taylor Big Baby acoustic, which I'd never recorded before. Second, I used the V-amp for the electric guitar. Last, I used a (don't laugh--na, go ahead cause its funny) Radio Shack 30-3032 microphone for the lead vocal. BGV's were the 4033, but I used the R/S for lead vocal only. I tried a couple of LD condensers and just wasn't getting what I wanted, so I spied this little plastic tom mic and thought 'What the hell?" I ran it through the Meek MQ3 and I thought it sounded pretty good for a $30 mic!

Hey, thanks to all for listening. That old dream is getting stronger again!
 
Theron and Mixmkr--you guys just posted while I was writing the above post, so I missed you.

Mixmkr--as you can read, I agreed with you about the kick before I read your post. Great minds think alike! Yeah, I eat those crayfish sometimes! As for the guitar, one of these days I'll just let it rip from the get go, if I can get my fingers wiggling that fast!

Theron--thank you kindly sir! I'm off to hear your remix soon!
 
Hey Crawdad....
....Another beautiful song. I cant tell you anything that you dont already know. I agree about the kick drum, and about the need for a smokin high register solo..... but these are very small things indeed. Great song..... thats the bottom line!!!! Looking forward to more.....:) g
 
Crawdad,

Really fine tune!
I like the acoustic sound,your daughter,that's cool!

Your voice is great.
$30 RS mic?
You have Erland beat,at least he uses a cheap Shure:D

I agree with mix,the guitar harmonic lead parts sound awsome.
You should add more,mabey start the song with them?

Like Mick said,"Lose your dreams and you Lose your mind";)

Great stuff!

Best to you,
Pete
 
Re: Thanks for that one!

drstawl said:
(For the uninitiated, Marilyn is an Epiphone EJ-200)

Flat top Jumbo steel.....
Click to expand...
I have an Epi EJ-200 Antique sunburst!!!...anyway
this is a very professional sounding recording. A totally flawless performance, but like I said before, I am an instant fan!!
Please give us more soon!!
 
Crawdad,
thanks for posting this. This is just great stuff IMHO.
You already know the drums are not so good and I agree. more playing and the groove then the sound of the drums :)

But the tune... just great ..... and singing ..... .

That is one great acc gtr sound I want to know how you did it if you don't mind. Both the lead and strumming. I like lead tone the best.

cheers
 
Totally pro sound there crawdad.... I wish I could get that close.

Comments:
The song is a little confused in terms of style because of your voice and I think the electric guitar in the latter half which naturally pull the song toward a western countryish ballard - not very Latin. But the little bongo hits toward the end pull it more back toward the latin style ..... more of this if you want to pursue the Latin thing. I think your voice is great but it's a long way from Latin .... but what the heck, it's all about experimentation !

One more thing....There's a funny swooshing noise at about 3:15 (on the left side ?). Sounds a bit like string noise as you run your finger up and down ? It's a little distracting. Maybe edit it out.

As I said before, great song, good message. Love the acoustic guitar. Harmonies in the chorus sound great... flawless execution.

Who would every *buy* music with stuff like this available for free ? Die greedy record companies die !
 
Thanks for checking in on this one, guys!

Guernica--that stupid kick is the one piece of the kit that is a sample. I was going for a 808 or 909 sounding thing, but I screwed it up. Live and learn, eh? Agree on the solo. And, more is coming. I'll keep posting until they throw me out or people get sick of me!

Museman--I just wanted to try that mic--once--for vocals. Probably not again, but it held its own pretty good, I thought. Thanks for the comments. Always appreciated!

King Elvis--More soon. Hey, how does that EJ-200 compare to a Gibson J-200? I think the J200 is maybe the best "strummin" guitar there is, even though I love my Martin.

Fed--I worked on my drum sound for a few hours today. I went back to the ECM8000's as stereo overheads and dialed in new curves for the kick and snare. I think its starting to sound better. Don't know if my playing will get any better, cause I can only do simple type things, but I am starting to practice some rudiments.

As for the acoustics, there are two--a Martin and a Taylor Big Baby. Both were recorded with one mic--an Oktava 012 with the cardiod capsule. For the Martin, I placed the mic about 5 inches from the 12th fret--thats the strumming part. Double tracked that. The lead, done on the Taylor, was miced about a foot away with the same mic, which was just a bit off axis to the soundhole. The Taylor is much less boomy, so it worked. If I'd done that with the Martin, it would have been real woofy.

Hey--I'm happy that you enjoyed the song!
 
crawdad, like I said I don't have a problem with the sound of the drums actualy. but the timing is a little off in some places mostly drums are a little behind. just wanted to clarify that :)

Almost as if you recorded guitar first and then tried to match the drums to it. I don't know if you record with the click or not, you are obviously very accomplished musician but I think in many studio situations click is a must, at list in the begining. just MHO

I like the song a lot and I think you are very good musician, at least from what I hear. So I'm holding you to high standards here :)

cheers
 
Crawdad, singing and guitar playing are excellent. I love the guitar solo at the end. I really dig that squeaky, crying, bluesy stuff. Don't know how else to describe it cause I'm not a guitar player and have no idea how you guys get that sound but it's really cool.
The acoustic sounds awsome as well. Using top notch gear on that I see from earlier in this thread. I somehow think you would make any guitar sound good though.
The only weak spot here, is as you know the drums. They sound like an old rogers kit. However, that snare drum actually sounded pretty good in some spots. I think you just gotta really hit it hard and it will sound better. Crack that thang crawdad!

Thanks for the song. Your a natural song writer for sure. Keep it up.
 
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