Pain By Numbers - Chili's Version

[Chili]

Rami and I had a little race to see who could put out a song of the same name. He won, but here's my version. A quick 3-n-out. I did some things different. Upgraded to Cubase 7.5 over the weekend and it changed my work flow a little.

All comments welcomed.

(Newer mix in post #21)



Pain By Numbers

Cash drawer going in slow-mo opening
The girl wants to see an ID
I spent 50 frikking crazy years roaming on this planet dear
Ya think this gray hair came illegally?
Give me a break now It’s more than I can take
You can keep your 2 dollar beer
Go back to your nails and facebooking the details
Of me walking outta here.

She’s gotta see the numbers
Yeah, it’s Pain by Numbers.
Seriously? You gonna card me over a can of Schlitz Malt Liquor?
Do I look like I’m 17?

The loan man always calling saying I’m all defaulting
Do you have a nickel to your name?
Don’t know how much I owed going to the wrong zip code
Boy you better file another claim
My measly paycheck, a goddamned train wreck
I can’t even pay to take a pee
Ain’t no yellow road leading to a pot of gold
Just another stupid penalty

But he’s gotta see the numbers
Yeah, it’s Pain by Numbers.
Go ahead. Tow my car.
And put some gas in it while you’re at it.

Lady on the telephone telling me I got it wrong
You can’t enter numbers that way
She says, Yes of course you know I know that it’s only a zero
You gotta do what computers say.
Bank loan. Car loan. Credit Card. Telephone
Including social insecurity
Cough up your retirement plan, license and insurance ma’am
Don’t forget your account number please?

Well it’s pain by numbers
Yeah it’s pain by numbers

 

[RAMI]

Rami and I had a little race to see who could put out a song of the same name. He won, but here's my version. A quick 3-n-out. I did some things different. Upgraded to Cubase 7.5 over the weekend and it changed my work flow a little.

All comments welcomed.



Pain By Numbers

Cash drawer going in slow-mo opening
The girl wants to see an ID
I spent 50 frikking crazy years roaming on this planet dear
Ya think this gray hair came illegally?
Give me a break now It’s more than I can take
You can keep your 2 dollar beer
Go back to your nails and facebooking the details
Of me walking outta here.

She’s gotta see the numbers
Yeah, it’s Pain by Numbers.
Seriously? You gonna card me over a can of Schlitz Malt Liquor?
Do I look like I’m 17?

The loan man always calling saying I’m all defaulting
Do you have a nickel to your name?
Don’t know how much I owed going to the wrong zip code
Boy you better file another claim
My measly paycheck, a goddamned train wreck
I can’t even pay to take a pee
Ain’t no yellow road leading to a pot of gold
Just another stupid penalty

But he’s gotta see the numbers
Yeah, it’s Pain by Numbers.
Go ahead. Tow my car.
And put some gas in it while you’re at it.

Lady on the telephone telling me I got it wrong
You can’t enter numbers that way
She says, Yes of course you know I know that it’s only a zero
You gotta do what computers say.
Bank loan. Car loan. Credit Card. Telephone
Including social insecurity
Cough up your retirement plan, license and insurance ma’am
Don’t forget your account number please?

Well it’s pain by numbers
Yeah it’s pain by numbers

You pr*^k, I like yours better.

Very cool tune. I'd bring up the guitar on the right side that plays the repeating riff with the snare. That riff should really drive the tune in my opinion. The snare during those rolls sound weird, but I can't put my finger on it. Those are just nits, it sounds great overall.

 

[Chili]

You pr*^k, I like yours better.

Very cool tune. I'd bring up the guitar on the right side that plays the repeating riff with the snare. That riff should really drive the tune in my opinion. The snare during those rolls sound weird, but I can't put my finger on it. Those are just nits, it sounds great overall.

Ha!! That's funny. My son listened to yours and was trying to be impartial about it; meaning, he liked yours better. "No dad, I like yours more, but his is really good."

Thanks for the good words. I'll look at the level of guitars later on.

 

[DM60]

Good tune, I didn't hear anything that I woulds say is wrong. My only comment would be, when every you do the 3 hit (two dollar beer) you could have pitched it up for emphasis and then the following (outta here) dropped lower. Seemed like this areas needed a little push for emphasis.

Nice little tune for sure.

 

[TripleM]

I really like the song. The vibe is really cool. I like the guitar sounds. Vocals sound great too.

Some background vocals, just going "oooooo" over some of the lead vocal might be nice.

Other than, I don't have any suggestions for improvement. It sounded really good.

 

[ido1957]

Cool song - mix sounds good to me. Great lyrics too and I like the "speaking" part - gives it a cool vibe. The only thingI found was the roll on the snare is throwing me off a bit, rest sounds great!

 

[Greg_L]

I think most of the sounds are good. The drum samples/programming don't work for me. That snare is pretty rough. Too plasticky. Too "stock" sounding if that makes any sense. Too much "room" on the kit. I think it needs humanizing, realizing, authenticizing.

Some of the vocals seem rushed and off pitch. Maybe a slight rewrite for a little more lyrical efficiency might be in order. The vocals also seem a little low in the mix and the entire vocal performance could use more grit, anger, and tension to me. Besides the obvious talking parts, the rest sounds like you're just talking through it sometimes. This seems like a frustration song, so the vocals need more emotion to me. More emotion, stronger delivery might let you hit some of those notes that were a little off.

Guitars and bass sound good. Like Rami said, bring up that right guitar, hell bring up all of them.

Good change of pace on the song in general though. I wasn't expecting a rock song. Nice job, just needs some tweaks IMO.

 

[RAMI]

The snare during those rolls sound weird, but I can't put my finger on it.

That snare................Too plasticky.

There you go. Exactly what I was looking for. It sounds like my snare used to sound when I used to use a Zero Ring on it and I'd get the sound of the plastic Zero Ring bouncing off my snare.

 

[Greg_L]

There you go. Exactly what I was looking for. It sounds like my snare used to sound when I used to use a Zero Ring on it and I'd get the sound of the plastic Zero Ring bouncing off my snare.

Yes! That's pretty much the sound. It's a splat of high attack. No body.

 

[Armistice]

Good tune Chili dawg... I'm sort of with Greg on the vocals... bit pitchy here and there and I think it might be because there are lots of words, and a bit of channelling Michael Douglas / Falling Down / I'm mad as hell and I'm not going to take it any more godamnit!!! in the singing would work well.... maybe a few angry "yeah!"s here and there.

Get cranky about something and have another go, I reckon...

I also think the last hit on the snare in those rolls, whilst probably on the beat, is actually off the "feel" just a smidge and I'd manually bump it 3/5ths of a bee's dick ...

Nice though - first song of yours I've heard for a while! Thumbs up from me, generally.

 

[Chili]

Thanks for the thoughts, everyone. I kind of liked the snare, but maybe it is a bit too much. I like the accent it gives the 7th chord in those parts, but I'll look at it and see if I can get it to fit better. It is a "canned" fill straight out of the SD library. It ends at the last 1/16th of the 4-beat and not on the 1-beat. Maybe that's what is throwing everyone off. Also, the guitar parts are four 1/16th notes and the snare part is a little different. I really didn't think it was too bad, but eh, I'm not a drummer so I'll take what advice I can get in that department. I think I'll just rewrite the little bit of midi to match the guitars more closely.

...Unless someone wants to record a drum part for me. Ahem.... ahem....

Lacking body in a snare sound is usually something I can hear with other people's song. I guess it's more difficult with a myopic view of my own song. I'll work the snare EQ some more.

Vocals are my scratch track. I came pretty close to what I wanted the first time around. I did run out of breath in one or two places. The feel of the lyrics is suppose to be more tongue in cheek rather than frustrated. Laughing at myself and those around me sort of thing. I don't want to change the tone of the song, but a retrack of the vocal part is in order.... if I ever get home again.

 

[RAMI]

I kind of liked the snare, but maybe it is a bit too much.n.

My snare comments were more about the sound than the part.



If you're not in a rush, and you feel like sending me the song on one side, and a click panned to the other side, I'd love to do a drum track for you. Might take me a week or so to get it done, but it will get done if you want it. No pressure man. If you say "No thanx", that would be cool, too. No explanation needed

 

[Chili]

If you're not in a rush, and you feel like sending me the song on one side, and a click panned to the other side, I'd love to do a drum track for you. Might take me a week or so to get it done, but it will get done if you want it. No pressure man. If you say "No thanx", that would be cool, too. No explanation needed

Wow, cool. I'm all over that. I'll be home on Thursday and then back out again all of next week, so I do not mind waiting a few weeks. I can PM you a track Thu or Fri night.

Thanks Rami!!

 

[Armistice]

Wow, cool. I'm all over that. I'll be home on Thursday and then back out again all of next week, so I do not mind waiting a few weeks. I can PM you a track Thu or Fri night.

Thanks Rami!!

If you think it needs more cowbell, I can do a cowbell part for you....

 

[Chili]

If you think it needs more cowbell, I can do a cowbell part for you....

And if Armistice wants more cowbell, we should probably give him more cowbell!

Hey sorry I couldn't upload straight to the forum. I am using a hotel internet connection and it is slower than all of Australia. I'm sure you understand. But I'm glad you got the soundcloud link to work.

 

[Mr Clean]

a bit of channelling Michael Douglas / Falling Down / I'm mad as hell and I'm not going to take it any more godamnit!!! in the singing would work well.... maybe a few angry "yeah!"s here and there.

Get cranky about something and have another go, I reckon...

I'm in 100% agreement with this ^^^ - Talk it, growl it and shout the mutha f***a. Put a bit of attitude into it. I think that would really work with this tune.

Great lyrics and tune. Will be nice to see how this one develops with RAMI's drums, etc.

 

[Chili]

I'm in 100% agreement with this ^^^ - Talk it, growl it and shout the mutha f***a. Put a bit of attitude into it. I think that would really work with this tune.

Great lyrics and tune. Will be nice to see how this one develops with RAMI's drums, etc.

Thanks Mr. Clean. I'm too nice a guy to get mad like that. . But I might give it a try at some point. I'll probably retrack the vocals this weekend. Thanks for the listen.

For now, here's the part for Rami.... click on one side and song minus my drums on the other. In the infamous paraphrased words of Flounder: "This is going to be Great!!"

View attachment PainByNumbersRami.mp3

 

[Chili]

Okay, here's mix #2. Some tweaks here and there. Drums, guits, bass. Give you all something to laugh about until Rami can get to doing the drums fer-real.

No vocal changes yet, except maybe for a little automation edits. Gonna try to retrack vocals this weekend. I'm hoping anyways....

View attachment PainByNumbers2.mp3

Thanks for the listens!!!

 

[dobro]

Yeah, it's good. I want everything tighter though. Don't worry - I'm like that with me, too. I keep telling myself - next time, absolutely get into and focus on the beat. That's why I'm getting better. I say things like that to myself and listen sometimes.

 

[Chili]

Yeah, it's good. I want everything tighter though. Don't worry - I'm like that with me, too. I keep telling myself - next time, absolutely get into and focus on the beat. That's why I'm getting better. I say things like that to myself and listen sometimes.

yeah... tighter is probably not gonna happen. Not with me, at least. I don't kid myself into thinking I'm any good at this stuff. I could edit it and pull it in tight like a knit sweater on Cherry Boucher, but that wouldn't be me and it wouldn't sound right. I will say, I feel like I've come a long ways since I first started recording my songs.

Thanks for listening.