Songcrafters.org

I wrote this little ditty back in May, did an acoustic demo and then played it to one or two people. I always meant to do something a bit more, er, "expansive" with the thing... So I stuck it in the corner for a bit and forgot about it.

Been recording this version on-and-off for a few weeks now. I had a certain amount of fun trying to play it and mix it to sound like the thing I could hear when I wrote it... This isn't quite it – but it's close!

Lots of Alice the Telecaster, an "SG" bass, and a bit of ham-fisted organ to muddy it all up in places...

AND!!! *especially* for Dave Bluesberry... there's a BAGS at the end (well, a LAGS, mebbe) :D

(BAGS= Big Ass Guitar Solo)

All is well in the world, we've got a new AndyR song !!! :)

I really love how the bass does so much of the rhythm work. And the tasteful guitarwork.

And the VOICE !!

Another one for the piPod

HI Andy super song surely it is. great vox
guitar . simply a wonderful feel to the song
2 thumbs up . cheers NEIL

Great song! love the feel, love the production, love the lyrics!

saw this and thought, i'd better go and get my headphones and give ma ears a treat.

                                                        

Oooo yeah very nice Mr R . . .

Really solid and tasteful stuff, as mentioned! Impressive perfroming, Andy!

Kari

Very nice work, indeed!

Andy, where do I sign up to join your band?

Well done!

Perfecto
super  vocals -great lyrics-great guitar work -great backer
the perfect recording

congrats

Tommy 

Great recording. I love the dynamics in this song. The way you use one riff to build up to the first chorus, and builds up to the second in a different way, and then use the first riff to end the second chorus is really cool.

JOA

Wonderful, you really knocking out some serious quality songs of late.

Really cool contrast between the laid back verses and the big rousing heavier chorus, and the production quality indicates that every part was, as ever, honed to perfection.

Guitar solo was classy and liked the clean tone and restraint!

Wow love it you've a great voice.

Also I'm a sucker for a telecaster

Bloody hell Andy - this is fabulous. I mean the song is fabulous - the arrangement is fabulous, the recording and production are fabulous and the overall effect is fanbloodytastic.

Back for a second listen -did I say it was fabulous? No? Well' it's fabulous.

oh my! this one is magic. I really love that vintage sound, a perfect R&B/soul '60 feeling, and the voice! this is a hit to me!

Super fine tune brother! I get real Steely Dan feel from it and love it. Such a pro sound that just rocks with my headphones on this morning.

Rock On!

Great job. Top notch vox and guitar, really enjoyed this one!

Quote from: oldrottenhead on August 30, 2013, 10:56:39 AMsaw this and thought, i'd better go and get my headphones and give ma ears a treat.

     Ha ha, same here. No little crappy laptop speakers for this one. Cans on and dynamics are all correct and pleasant. Or pheasant. In fact, pheasant season will be upon us soon. Yum-yum. I always feel like Henry VIII whenever we have game. It is a good feeling, not unlike the solo at the end. Yum-yum.

                                                             henwryench

I love that little breakdown around three minutes in with the harmonics.

I'm getting a bit Steely Dan, maybe a bit Squeeze, but mostly I'm getting this big WOW feeling, in a way.

And then - oh no! - it fades out.  Don't fade out...

You've got a distinct sound and style Andy ... Another great song!!!  Like the way the guitars
come in for the chorus ... nice dynamics throughout.    Excellent vocal and all.


kb

Son-of-a-gun, what a great little Gem of a song you have crafted here.......the lyrics really do it for me, and of course, your clean punchy BAGS at the end, just warming up nicely into the fade out, thats the way to tease.  Totally great in every way.  Possibly my new favorite AndyR tune.  I like it a lot.

Big blues inspired tune, the vox are just the center piece, just looked up at 4.00 mins and thought, that's too short, that tells the story.

Great job Andy, I can't pick out one part that stands out, it all sounds perfect to me. Roscoe

Wow, what a voice and recorded to perfection

Very nice song and very well and pro recording.
Excellent.
B

Just realised I hadn't responded to any of this - that's not like me!! :D

MANY THANKS for your kind comments folks. When I first posted it it wasn't one of my favourites at all - it wasn't a "fail", but it was certainly a "could have been better, wonder what went wrong?". I'd had a definite idea of where it should go, but I'm not enough of a soul-man (verses) or new-wave-man (choruses) to make it go like that.

But, with all the nice responses here and on alonetone, and with a bit of distance from it now, I'm pretty happy with how it came out. Actually, very happy now!

I'm proud of the solo, but I'm STILL not sure it should be there. The original plan was fade the moment the outro started, and so the backing only goes as far as the end of the fade. When I got the solo going like it does, though, it felt like something else ought to be happening - another "BIG" bit. So it took a lot of fiddling over different fades to get it to an "OK, the party's carrying on without me, but I'm satisfied with what I've had" feeling when you're listening. (The problem for me, personally, is that I never intended there to be any "ongoing party" - emotionally, the song finishes with the last verse :D)

And definitely, the first few phrases of the solo should have been played a little more "staccato" or "damped" - in fact, earlier performances were, I just didn't notice I was drifting into "Hank" mode on the first section as I was practicing/learning the rest of it. I only found out when I was mixing, and it suddenly went all "smooth" when the outro started. I just about tamed it, but I still get a feeling of "hang on? is this the same song? what's happening next?" when I listen to it. This effect is gradually fading, though, the more I listen to it.

I was very pleased with the bass-part, and I suspect it has a lot to do with "making" this particular version, but I also think it's what dragged the arrangement away from what I was reaching for originally. Also, I'd love to find out how to get the bass sound that was in my head... this isn't quite it, but it will definitely do.

All in all, though, I'm kinda of fond of this thing now :)

Christ on a bike, this is bleedin' awesome! Sheer quality and class running through it like a stick of rock. And 'rock' it certainly does! Love the solo at the end... clean and emotional. Really fantastic work! The opening riff reminded me of 'Too Late' by Carole King, but then it went off in it's own sweet direction :-)

Cool funky 60's feel nice no rhyme verses.your vocals have that rusty Dr. John groove great work Andy!

Hi Andy, haven't been here for a while so it's a pleasure to hear some more of your beautifully crafted work. Great dynamics and crystal clear mix with a great balance of instruments. I really like the drop out at about 2:50 and the way it builds back up for the end and the solo. I think the solo works well there and creates more interest at the end of the song instead of just repeating a chorus to fade.

What are the drums? The BR ones? If so, they sound great, you've done a good job of not making them sound like programmed drums. If they are played live, then nice job.

Cheers,

Nigel

Thanks Nigel :)

The drums are the BR1600's (Room Kit, I think, that's what I usually use - except I have used STD2 recently, might be this? Can't tell! :D). Very little, if any, EQ was used on them for this mix, and maybe some reverb.

An earlier mix was using "New York Compression" on the drums (copy the drum audio, compress the crap out of it and then boost some bits - kick 100hz and snare 200hz, in this case - and bring that up to taste against the original... HUGE sound!). But when I came back to the mastered mix a few days later I hated it... I experimented with remastering but eventually decided the mix itself was the problem. I remixed from the sub-mix bounces (guitars, keys, bass, lead guitars, lead vox, backing vox), and decided to ditch the NY compression idea (I ditched a bunch of other stuff as well - some low organ and another "extra spice" rhythm guitar in the verses that was on the lead sub-mix). Came out a lot clearer and punchier, missing some of the sparkles from the lead-gits sub-mix, but overall much better.

I tend to create the drum part itself in a fairly routine way now. I pick a preset pattern for a groove, copy it and rename it "Click". I do most of the tracking to that.

Then I base the drum part on that pattern, nothing else. I copy it and amend it as necessary for everything. First, though, I inspect it for nuances and any late hits (it was either this one or the previous one that had a slightly delayed "one" beat on the original preset). When copying and amending the original pattern, I stick to these nuances all the way through (most instruments were recorded to them, after all!).

(Btw, on the MBR, I was quite happy using the presets to build songs. I was expecting to do that on the BR1600 - it has the same structure of Intro, V1, F1, V2, F2, End patterns - but they're different (and not as tasty?) as the MBR patterns, and I could never find stuff I liked. So I ended up going this "one pattern for click, then edit pattern to create everything else" approach, seems to work well for me....)

When editing patterns (I do it all as Step editing - I find it a lot faster and less frustrating, it also helps me to think about the timing of the other parts when they're doing crazy shit they shouldn't be!!), I usually end up "fitting" the kick patterns to the bass part. And sometimes I re-record the bass part if this shows up something I don't like. Sometimes the bass part is just the flawed guide anyway. I can't remember which came first in this case, final drums or final bass. I do remember that I didn't re-record the bass after I'd got "the one" (actually, I think it was two, comped together), whether I was "doing drums" after that, I can't recall....

With the song I'm working on at the moment, I'm going a slightly different route. The acoustics and guide vox are over a year old. There's been lots of rehearsal takes of bass and electric and organ deleted. I'm currently rehearsing/working the bass part... and writing the drum patterns/song-arrangement at the same time. When the drums are locked in, I'll record the real bass, delete everything else (maybe even the acoustics) and re-track it. I'm hoping this might come out better...  ::)


Actually, I'm beginning to wonder about my addiction to trying to sound like a "real band" - can't seem to shake it off at the moment, though :D

Hi ....truly top drawer stuff ...and thanks for the background info on your approach to recording. I use a BR1600 too and this analysis is useful.

Bazz

Quote from: AndyR on September 11, 2013, 06:52:25 AMThe drums are the BR1600's (Room Kit, I think, that's what I usually use - except I have used STD2 recently, might be this? Can't tell! :D). Very little, if any, EQ was used on them for this mix, and maybe some reverb.

I'm impressed, they sound great. Really fit well with the song and the mix, thanks for the detailed explanation of how you did it, I enjoy getting insights into your recording process.

Quote from: AndyR on September 11, 2013, 06:52:25 AMActually, I'm beginning to wonder about my addiction to trying to sound like a "real band" - can't seem to shake it off at the moment, though :D

Don't wonder and don't lose the addiction. Call the band "Andy's Addiction"........

just the best listen , andy you are good man

I missed this. Gotta hear AndyR when i can. Very great song as usual and i love that guitar tone.

 Vocals rule as always and i love the sweet guitar solo of course!

Ye gods Andy! Unbelivable voice! The quality of writing is unreal, you have such a Paul Weller/Squeeze vibe in this one, I loved it all, but man your voice is staggering, and the arrangement & production are superb! If you ever play live let me know!

Andy

Good songwriting and performances Andy! The mix is stellar and very dynamic. The build ups into the choruses are so smoothly done... very pro all around. I dig the outro Tele lead with it's classic sound with a bit of grit...nicely done!

Farrell

Interesting on how you record the drums, with the EQ - they sound really nice - and real, which is very cool.
B

The production on this is incredible! Bass work is tight as hell! Love this!