Songcrafters.org

Finally, at last... I've got something finished...

Been working on this for a few weeks.

A bit of a rocker... (and an aging lecherous one at that)

I got it as close as I could and then mixed it loud... I've over-cooked it slightly - but it doesn't seem to suffer for it. If I hear anything nassty I'll remix/master to get rid of the limiting, but I quite likes it like this...

I shall now have a rest :D - and spend some "music time" listening to other people's stuff :)

hmmm... don't seem to want to play... oh well, dinner time...

You can get to it on alonetone....

EDIT: Fixed it! My use of the singlemp3 widget (that I always clone from my previous posted song) was somewhat flawed, and it looks like the widget has become a bit choosier than it used to be about being spoken to with the "proper respect"! :D

I shall now go and edit all of my song posts!

Damn buddy, this is deadly. I hear Bon Scott in your vocals here, was he standing in the room with you, drinking his Jack Daniels and winking at you as you laid this down.  I love this one Andy.  I likes the way it is mixed, just perfect, not too hot at all, perfect.  I hear no clipping whatsoever.  Love the guitar solo.  God this is good.  I am going to play it out the big speakers next.  It sounds deadly on my headphones.

Yeah, the reason it took so long to get this one done was the vocals!

I wrote it as a "Bon Scott" song once I'd got the guitars going.

Then when I came to sing it, I discovered that it didn't work if I sang it as "Andrew Russe". I realised that with Malcolm and Angus parts laid down, and "Bon" lyrics, it had to be sung as close as I could get it to "Bon" delivery.

For several weeks I've had the Bon Scott era AC/DC studio albums on rotation on my mp3 player, figuring out his phrasing, backing vocal techniques, etc. Then 2 or 3 times a week I'd get home from work, come up here, plug a mic in and try to become Bon Scott. I usually taped the last effort on each day, and I could see how it was improving. Next morning on the way to work, I'd be listening to AC/DC again, trying to pick up some more clues...

I've actually learnt quite a bit about generating a "rock" vocal doing this. I could do them before, obviously, but now I can do all sorts of interesting new things (not on display yet!), and all of it with a LOT less effort and energy. (Eg. On lead vocal day on this, I did 4 lead vocals, plus one run-through first, so 5 times in total. All in one session with no breaks or pauses between takes. A couple of weeks ago, I couldn't even get through one complete take without breaking down :D).

Oh, on the "too hot" - there's no clipping, but the wave-form is kinda flat during the second half... I mean, REALLY flat! So there was some sever limiting going on, probably during the mastering. But at the moment I can't hear any bad effect from this - mebbe loud rock choruses are meant to have a flat waveform!! :D

hell yeah, dirty deeds bin done
 here. fan freaking tastic.

Rockalicious my brother, that's an outstanding vocal!!
Rock On!

This is awesome rocker, Andy! Brilliant guitars and vocals!!

Fantastic stuff.  Absolutely brilliant.

Paul

Andy I most say all the effort with the vocals really paid off.
You got that edge to it, while sounding effortless.

I listened through headphones and it kicks a**--- the ax work is flawless.

take a bow.

fantastic - the arrangement, playing and recording are fabulous, the vocals are amazing, this sounds so professional.

And then there's the lyrics, great humour. All round classic. Bravo.

Quote from: AndyR on March 21, 2014, 02:01:45 PMFinally, at last... I've got something finished...

And finally I got to listen to it !!

WOW Andy !!

Fantastic, absolutely fantastic!

Quote from: AndyR on March 21, 2014, 03:35:29 PMFor several weeks I've had the Bon Scott era AC/DC studio albums on rotation on my mp3 player, figuring out his phrasing, backing vocal techniques, etc. Then 2 or 3 times a week I'd get home from work, come up here, plug a mic in and try to become Bon Scott. I usually taped the last effort on each day, and I could see how it was improving. Next morning on the way to work, I'd be listening to AC/DC again, trying to pick up some more clues...

Now that's dedication !!!

Flawless! Sounds like it was recorded in a pro-studio. Incredible guitars, vocals and arrangement. And the solo is mashed Billy Gibbons / Angus Young brilliance. A really hot track. Awesome.

This is a better than good rocker Andy! A stunning mix and performances. Everything sits exactly where it should be and your words/voice have a definite Bon Scott vibe to them with a killer chorus. Lastly, your guitar solo has all the tone sweetness and phrasing to put the song over the top. Nice work!

Farrell

That is great rockin' song!!!

A super "two guitars" riff, love the vocals as the AC/DC great ones
Frankly, a stunning performance, the guitar solo is truly awesome

Jean-Sébastien

Great tune Andy ... great mix and sound all around ... dig your style.

Nice Bon Scott delivery too ... but still you ... EXCELLENT!!!

Kb   

Andy.this is great. As far as I'm concerned any song that has the lyric "Standing there In your underwear Saying that you need some food" can never be bad. But seriously this is top notch stuff......good work here and a great guitar break too.

Andy ( funkyaxe )

Putting this one on the big sound system tonight, sweet man, real sweet.  You channel old school rock very well.  Sounds very good.

Thanks folks :)

Now the dust has settled on it, it's kinda grown on me too... (I tend to go through "oh wow! this is fab, listen to me" as I post, then "oh well, I'll do better next time" after a few days, and if I'm lucky, I end up with "ok, I'm quite happy with wot I did there..." ... this seems to be one of those for me).

This made me laugh:

Quote from: funkyaxe on March 25, 2014, 02:39:44 PMAs far as I'm concerned any song that has the lyric "Standing there In your underwear Saying that you need some food" can never be bad.

It was getting that couplet early on that gave me a "song" worth finishing over the rocking stuff that was kind of in place with a title and not much else.

And what's even better - it's all true!! (Except I don't really have a teddy bear, he's entirely metaphorical... oh, and I haven't smoked a pipe for 30-odd years!)

Fantastic vocal got the Bon Spirit in it for sure but a 100% Andy R goodness another for the Pod....outstandingly good Bravo!!

take a bow son.....

Hell Yeah this is damn good!! I`ve listened to this a few times. It`s like a lost AC/DC song but only in a way to me. The beginning definitely sounds Malcolmish but the chorus sounds more an AndyR song.

I have to say you have the Bon Scott style down but to me again it still is you and i`m glad it is because it makes for
that originality. Beauty playing and tone on the solo my friend.

Since you did this style. You should listen to the band Airbourne if you haven`t heard of them. They are Aussie too and admit they are an AC/DC clone, but the singer is different and incredible!

Keep Rockin!!

Great post all the way around. Love the tones, singing, mix...you name it.

Got these corny toes a-tappin'.

Blooby

Quote from: Gnasty on March 27, 2014, 09:23:43 AMSince you did this style. You should listen to the band Airbourne if you haven`t heard of them. They are Aussie too and admit they are an AC/DC clone, but the singer is different and incredible!

Really? I'd heard of them, but didn't realise that was what they were like - I'll check them out :)

Oh yeah... and yes, the chorus is definitely a "me" chord sequence :D. After it appeared I wasn't sure about using it because I was trying for early AC/DC, and it's a bit "rock" rather than "rock and roll". But then the lyrics and vocal kinda loved it, so I stuck with it.

Fabulous rocker, with great guitar and vocal. Love it.

I can hear a range of influences in this, but the end product is unmistakably you.

I really do think that some of the songs produced in the last year have been, in my opinion, been some of your best work that I have heard from your time on this site, and no exception here!

Wow! This is an awesome song and the production is top notch. Well done, Andy.

WOW! You really nailed down the AC/DC sound, Bon Scott era ... The production is top notch as well. Great guitar riffs and cool vocals!

Classic rock at it's best. Definite shades of Bon Scott & those guitar parts are immense. Excellent ballsy rock tune of the highest order!

Don't have much time to get on here at present but chanced to see there was a newish AndyR song to check out, so I thought I'd better check it out. And I'm really glad I did as it's superb and totally wonderful! Great old school rocker with wry and slightly dodgy (but fun) lyrics. The production is really nice and sharp, no evidence of being squashed, I guess it's just traditional these days to apply a brick wall limiter and have a fairly flat wave form. The guitar sounds are absolutely fantastic, really sharp and they cut through the mix so well. The parts complement each other beautifully and the solo is great, you could trade punches with Billy Gibbons!

As for the vox, well wow. Very well done indeed, excellent performance and very well recorded. They sound pretty dry and clean, so all the more impressive to get such a fab result with no post processing.

All round fantastic, so glad I dropped by to hear this.

Really good stuff. I hope you get rich on this one.
Great memorable riffs.
I wonder what a bit of big hall reverb/delay would do to this?
Top notch.

Your quote Andy from page 2 cracked me up. 
Now the dust has settled on it, it's kinda grown on me too... (I tend to go through "oh wow! this is fab, listen to me" as I post, then "oh well, I'll do better next time" after a few days, and if I'm lucky, I end up with "ok, I'm quite happy with wot I did there..." ... this seems to be one of those for me)."
I can absolutely agree that this has a bit of ac/dc vibe but it has another one early on in the rhythm guitar and that is the Bob Seger Silver Bullet band... suffice it to say none of that really matters because you found some great sounds and rocked it to the moon and back.  Of all the kinds of music I listen to this style is my favorite.  I can dig an acoustic guitar and a voice.  Nothing wrong with that and it's not easy to do really.  However I like to rock and this rocks....

Hehe - yeah there's more rocking in the pipeline.
Some of the acoustic songwriting demos are of songs that are actually rockers.
Not blues-based like this. Or... will there be one I don't know I'm going to write in the next few days??!
Actually, that's a good idea... maybe

Anyway, what's interesting to me at the moment is that you've just reminded me that this one was a "forced" creation.
Someone asked for a song with a few specific words in it.
So I decided to write a lecherous Bon Scott AC/DC song, with those words, about her and the stuff she'd been posting (twitter, I think) in the previous week.
She'd come up to London and had broken the the sink in her hotel room. She had to call reception in her underwear.
A day later she'd tweeted that she was all alone in London, did anyone want to take her out to dinner.
I kinda didn't realise that was directed at me.
(We've never actually met, by the way, I guess that was the time it was going to happen if it ever did. She's "Lala" in various songs and posts)

Anyways, she asked for a song, and I forced it out based on her parameters and my decision on how to do it.
The song took hours, the recording weeks! ;D ;D ;D ;D

Note this one is also slated for remastering, it is the very next one in the list.
I have a Studio One Project open with the following in:

Boho and Blazey - DONE
Cold - DONE
Silver Swan - DONE
Nobody Loves You - DONE
Are You Done - DONE (;D)
The Dressing-up Box - IN PROGRESS

Meet Me At The Crossroads is next, there are 8 more in the batch before I'll refresh the versions already posted.

These things are sounding AMAZING now, and all at a marvelous -13.00dB LUFS so that they won't get auto-reduced on most streaming services (alonetone and songcrafters don't anyway).

If you're after rockers - Are You Done is one. After doing this AC/DC pastiche, I did a ZZ-Top one a few months later.

lol... interesting story about the lady wanting dinner and a song!  Careful... those are the kind of things that get you hooked (ha! I know you are married..) 
I am always thinking about crazy stories.  Most of the time though my "songwriting" of lyrics comes from the music.  I listen to what I have created and write down the impressions that come to mind.  It's make it up as I go.  Generally that is.  Once in a while I have lyrics and do a more trad way of writing. 
Obviously you have great imagination.
As far as your list I need to listen to all of it because that way I get to understand the artist a bit better, what drives them, what they are about.  Plus it offers me insight into other directions.  In the end, I could try all day to be you, or EVH or Sammy Hagar or anyone else and it would be impossible to do.  I am learning to try and discover who I am, as a person and as a musician, singer/songwriter whatever... crazy thing is, we can always grow and change as long as we are breathing!
I do get inspired listening to other artists.  For me these days I am more interested in artists that I get to interact with.  that is cool.  I can always listen to Asia but I cannot message Steve Howe and say hey!
There is music on this site that is as good as anything I have ever heard.  Then again... I really love B sides.  Not saying there aren't big hits on the site.  I believe there are.  Generally though until you hear a song about 10 times or more you aren't going to know.  At least that is how it is for me.  Often times I like the songs on the record that don't get played on the radio.  For example on Foreigners first album the song Starrider.  That is such a great song.  It did get play on the AOR stations later but it was well after the hits...