"The Strip" - song in progress

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GONZO-X

GONZO-X

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"The Strip" - song in progress



a new mix, new arrangment, new tracks.

i'm thinking of changing the middle (2nd) verse, with a whole new verse, since the only verse gets repeated 3 times now.
also thinking of dropping in some 'gambling card game and party noise' during the drum/guitar boogie break in the middle.
don't know, might be too cheesy.
inspired from true events on my last trip to The Strip.

equip: taylor 414 acoustic, congas, shakers, hand claps, custom strat, mesa boogie mark2b, avatar vintage cab, ibanez mikro bass, ezd rock kit, ADK Hamburg (vox, claps, shaker), AT4033 (acoustic), A Designs Audio MP-1, ART DPS, DBX MC-6 compressor.
guitar/bass rig used:
stratoncab.jpg



alternate streaming from Myspace:
http://www.myspace.com/batsbrew
1st song on the player
 
Fab. Best yet.

2 nits:

1-vox louder

2- at 1:48...that descending bass line....the fourth note of the scale....it might sound better if it were played C nat, instead of C# on the B7 chord....[you're a half-step down-tuned.....using the notes as they would be on your bass.] It kinda sticks out badly to my ear, even though it flies by fast.

The fix would result a B altered scale [E harm-] . It fits better on the E- 'blue' tonality of the tune.

If no one else notices it, not a nit worth combing.
 
Yeah, dude... Good times! I was kind of hoping you had posted a song with no drums, so I could play along with it!

Great guitar work, wonderful vocals, all around great recording. I really liked the boominess of the drums (in particular, the kick). Added a lot of life to the song.

Thanks for sharing!
 
jeffmaher
thanks for checking it out!
vox louder.......
hm, i hear them loud and clear on my monitoring system, i guess it's a subjective thing.
i don't want to mix this like a radio tune (top 40, whatever).... but i want the lyric to be clear....
i'll check that mix out on a few more systems, to see how that is translating.

what kind of monitors are you listening on?

well, that descending bass line, i wrote exactly the way i wanted it for that little section, i guess i wanted it to stick out badly! LOL
i understand exactly what your explaining, i was trying to move away from what i would define as a 'standard' bass line in reference to the harmonic structure of the rest of it.
i really want my stuff to sound different, choosing 'different' notes sometimes is the way i serve that interest.




poetic-
thanks for listening.
i was worried that drum mix was too 'live', i used a lot of room mic on that drum mix.
some people love that bigger sound, and some think it's distracting.
i just have to keep tweaking it til i find that common middle ground, i guess.
 
Sounds great to me. Really professional. Love the huge drum sound. Can't really judge properly (listening on iMac speakers at the moment), but nothing stood out too much. Cool tune :)
 
philbagg
thanks man. you gotta listen to this on a real system, the drums are much bigger...
some people dig the 'room' mic sound added in, some don't.

i go back and forth, some mixes are more dry, some are real roomy. i can't decide which i like best, so i use both.
but most of the classic rock mixes i really dig, have a single drum sound throughout, so i haven't landed on just one sound that works for everything i do...


jeff-
krk's, yea. i mix on krk's.
so we're pretty much on an even playing field there...
thanks.


ninja-
thanks man.


singlespeak
shoots, scores!
LOL
thanks for listening
 
That sounds great, catchy song, sounds like you're having a lotta fun with it! I like the vocal layering, good guitar playing, I like when it all kicks in. Nice production, this one will stay on my playlist for a while :D
 
Yeah, dude. You're way beyond anything I can realistically offer advice on.

@ :33 a tambourine or shakers might be nice.

Thanks for sharing it.
 
Outstanding! Superb git work, but panned a bit too wide for my taste. I can't play like that, so I guess you know what you're doing. I like the live drum sound. No nits at all except for the wide panned electric gits.

Wig:)
 
This is great. Love the tone of your voice, fits the song perfectly. I agree with jeff on bringing them up a little but only during the sections where the full band is playing, like around the 3:10 mark.

cool, thanks for sharing.
 
Sounds real good. Performed very well.

A couple of spots where vocal tracks aren't in sync - like :57 - :59. Might be intentional.

Acoustic guitars in the first section are a little loose - probably intentional.

Bass might be a little loud.

Something in the drums is a little clicky - I hear it on the left side. Like a cymbal with an overly aggressive attack.

Everything mentioned is a nit. Nice job.
 
squibble
thanks, glad you ears are a 'check'



benign-
oh man, don't be a hater.
LOL

thanks for listening...



superstar
you know, it WAS fun tracking this one.
i just have to watch out for that SECCOND turnaround in the bridge part, it's easy to slide right past that one....



supercreep
well, thanks all the same for checking it out.
tambourines, that WOULD fit.
yeah, maybe i'll experiment with that one....



xeries
glad you dig it.
the panning, yes, i've been experimenting more with straight up L-C-R mixing.
it really helps with clarity.
i DID add a delay effect, and panned it hard right, about 7ms mabye? on the guitar rhythm, so it's not truely hard panned, but i also mix the effect out in places, so the panning does go hard left.

remember the old van halen mixes, where the guitar was ONLY in the left channel?!
LOL
if your right speaker went out, you had zero guitar on a van halen album!!
heheh



chili
i think you're right, most of the vox mix is good, but when it gets really intense, it can get a touch buried.
i don't know....... i think i like making the listener work for it a bit more, brings them more into the mix....
especially in the headphones.
thanks for lisetening.



tripleM
yes, any spots where the vox aren't totally together, is totally on purpose.
i want it to fill like a ROCK song, not some project that was polished until it was a diamond.
it really is intentional to try to go for the vibe on this, more than the polish.
careful and precise listeners (like yourself) always pick up on these things, and it's a good thing too.....
but yea, i want it loose on purpose.
been listening to too much Humble Pie lately, i guess.
i'll listen again to the drum track, see if can isolate the 'click' part and pull it out......
 
Very professional sounding. Tight and well captured...I got nuthin'

Carry on...:)
 
rayc-
thanks for checking this out....
i'll tell you, i did a bunch of stuff to this this weekend, and tried the tamb, but ended up scratching it.
i don't know, maybe i just didn't find the right rhythm or something, but it ended up sounding more distracting than adding a good vibe.

did a LOT of tweaking and changing this weekend.

as per a lot of good advice from reviewers, i changed some things, starting with losing the conga at the beginning of the opening of the tune.
i left the hand claps, and let the conga come back in when the vox starts, that cleaned up the clutter quite a bit.

some other tweaks:
changed the snare this weekend. went to a 14" rogers, from a slingerland.
sounds much more meaty.

i edited the entire drum track, for subtle changes all over.
tweaked ALL the drum eq's, and took out the reverb on the snare, and left on the room mic for drum effects. added a compressor on the top snare head. usually, all the drums are dry, and go to a drum bus, that i put a special channel effect on, that uses 2 compressors in series, along with 2 eq's in series. it's a great channel plugin.

i added a NEW 2nd verse with 2-part harmony, and added lyrics to the funky bridge breakdown....

remixed the whole thing, made the guitars LOUDER, put a limiter across the drum buss which allowed me to make the entire send to the master buss hotter without changing the peaks (no higher than -6db EVER).

rolled off the bass guitar starting at 55hz, gentle Q, and that really cleaned it up, and left it fat.

the whole thing sounds much better now!



heatmiser-
thanks man, glad you liked it.
 
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