Old Song - New Recording [Americana?]

[chrisharris]

I don't know how to embed stuff. Tune is here:

https://soundcloud.com/honestmango/old-yeller

I wrote this years ago. Any feedback on the mix would be appreciated.


OLD YELLER
Standing abandoned in my driveway,
Up on blocks, a sore to the eye,
Always reminds me of the highways,
I rode when I was a kid and Dad would drive

We used to call Dad’s car “Old Yeller”
With Golden velour and a cracked windshield,
Every time we begged him to sell her,
He’d just gap the plugs, change the oil, she’d be healed.

CHORUS
We called her Old Yeller
Mom Begged him to sell her
But he never did tell her he would
Because the 3rd engine’s a charm
And the paint’s still good
He kept a cigarette lit between the fingertips
Of his one hand on the wheel
Not many would try to do 105 in a gold Oldsmobile,
She could run, run…but we just made fun

Cruise control and power windows
Neither one worked after ‘86
But those were just luxuries I suppose
Just about everything else, Dad could fix.

REPEAT CHORUS

Bridge – Now we live in an age where nothing lasts
God forbid you be out of style
She’s just been wastin away, since he passed
I keep thinking she’s good for a few more miles

We’d go out past the turnoff to Hwy 31,
With my little brother in the backseat,
And me shotgun,
At 110 I’d see a hint of a grin
On his leathered, weathered face
He left the red and blues,
In the rear view
Like they were standing in place

REPEAT CHORUS

 

[andrushkiwt]

paste the link, like you mostly likely did...then highlight it and click the Soundcloud symbol in the box above the text field.

I think if the guitars came down a little, it would balance everything out a bit. Tones are all great, and the performance as well...I'd just go in and fine tune levels. That's all I got.

 

[chrisharris]

paste the link, like you mostly likely did...then highlight it and click the Soundcloud symbol in the box above the text field.

I think if the guitars came down a little, it would balance everything out a bit. Tones are all great, and the performance as well...I'd just go in and fine tune levels. That's all I got.

Thanks. I'm doing this on a phone, and there's not a SoundCloud symbol, but I'm glad you found it.

There are probably too many guitar parts period. I tend to cover up crap with crap. I appreciate the feedback.

 

[jimistone]

Man Chris, That song is awesome!
The mix is great IMO. I'm at the house and listening on my laptop through my tascam TH-200X headphones. They are pretty detailed and your blend of vocals, instruments, lead vocal is very good. Bass guitar sounds perfect too as well as the drums.

All that aside....it's just a great song man. I enjoyed it a lot!

 

[chrisharris]

Man Chris, That song is awesome!
The mix is great IMO. I'm at the house and listening on my laptop through my tascam TH-200X headphones. They are pretty detailed and your blend of vocals, instruments, lead vocal is very good. Bass guitar sounds perfect too as well as the drums.

All that aside....it's just a great song man. I enjoyed it a lot!

I appreciate your taking the time. It's not for everybody, but that particular tune is personal, so thanks for the kind words on the song itself. It was dated even 10 years ago, but I'm thinking of doing a little video as sort of a fucked up tribute to my dad. I'm getting more sentimental as I get closer to the grave!!

 

[Bulls Hit]

Nicely balanced mix on headphones. Snare has a real satisfying beefiness to it, and contrasts well with the sidestick. Good job on vocals, they have a Pettyesque quality to them

 

[Stratomaster]

Sounds great-I think the vocals could come up for sure-it's hard to pick up the words and it seems like they're worth hearing. Excellent performance and voice. Acoustic is played really well very even and good tone. Maybe it's competing with the vocals ? maybe a little eq dip to accommodate the vocals? Is that a reverb or your room sound on the voice? Not sure if it's helping. Very listenable mix and song as it is. Nice picture of your dad you've made, excellent!

 

[chrisharris]

Sounds great-I think the vocals could come up for sure-it's hard to pick up the words and it seems like they're worth hearing.

First, thanks for listening. I've had a historic tendency to mix vocals too loud, but I'd like them to at least be audible, so I appreciate it. This is the first tune I recorded with an outboard compressor, of sorts. A little dbx 286s that I picked up after Christmas. I usually have to go back and envelope a vocal a lot, and I didn't do that with this tune.

Acoustic is played really well very even and good tone. Maybe it's competing with the vocals ? maybe a little eq dip to accommodate the vocals?

I also played the acoustic through the dbx unit. I liked how it fattened it up, but I didn't pull any of the low mids out of the acoustic, which I really should do. That guitar is doing nothing but adding in mud during most of the song anyway. It matters at the beginning and during the bridge. I still think there are probably too many guitar parts. There's the acoustic, a clean electric, 2 slightly dirty electrics, and fills of all varieties throughout...it's a little schizophrenic.

Is that a reverb or your room sound on the voice? Not sure if it's helping.!

lol...a little of both. Good ears, though. I used a room reverb on the vocal...just a touch. There's actually quite a bit of double tracking on the lead vocal, that probably doesn't help much.

Again, I really appreciate the detailed listen.

 

[DM60]

I think the mix was fine, lower end of the bass seemed louder than the rest. Mainly sub area seemed like it was more powerful for the rest of the song being mellow. I like bass and the sub was at a good level, but everything else was so mellow.

That is about the only thing I heard. Sounded overall really good.

 

[TripleM]

Very nice sounding vocal. It's sitting just a bit behind the guitars. Just raise it a db or less and I think it'd be perfect.

Bass sounds nice.

The electric rhythm guitar is a little mushy in the chorus. It kind of works well in the mix tho.

Something weird at 1:38 on the word "control". Click or something. Another one on the word "God" at 2:42.

I liked the acoustic guitar in the intro.

Nice song.