The Girl In Denver - Farrell original- The final version

[SwanSong]

HI , Another farrell great. always a speial treat to listen to
ur songs.. loved it. best of luck re contest..this should so well
in that contest. cheers as always Neil .!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Simon M]

Good songwriting, I lespecially like the chorus and the way the song "pulls back" at the end. The acoustic sounds great too. Hope to hear the finished article soon. And good luck with the contest.

Cheers

Simon

[Farrell Jackson]

Thanks Fenderbender, Hook, side effect, Neil, and Simon for the words of encouragement!

I've added three more instruments ( lap steel, electric guitar, and harmonica) to the song. That's all I'm adding  except the new drums. Frank Northcutt has agreed to do them. Once I get the drums then it will be done and I'll post up the final mix.

Farrell

[boneonbone]

Great song....performance....mix....loved it.  Wish I could get the clarity out of my Taylor (710) recorded that you did with yours.  What mic's did you use and where did you place the acoustic in the mix?  Any post effects to it?  Trying to pick up all the tips I can.   (btw, I have a daughter living in Denver so of course I had to check it out)

[Farrell Jackson]

Great song....performance....mix....loved it.  Wish I could get the clarity out of my Taylor (710) recorded that you did with yours.  What mic's did you use and where did you place the acoustic in the mix?  Any post effects to it?  Trying to pick up all the tips I can.   (btw, I have a daughter living in Denver so of course I had to check it out)

Thanks boneonbone! Your Taylor 710 is a fantastic guitar...it should record real well.

The types of mics and placements are the key. I have three tracks of my GS mini that are blended together. The micing technique I used is a combination of the Mid Side/XY technique. There are some pretty good youtube videos that show you exactly how MS or XY is done. I'll describe what I did as best as I can.

I set up two matched small condenser mics (Superlux) in an XY configuration. With XY you place the heads of the mics as close together as you can get them with out touching. One mic crosses the other at about 90 degrees. I have a bracket that mounts on a single boom stand to hold two mics which makes positioning easier but you could do it with two stands. One mic is angled toward the soundhole/body and the other toward the 14 fret on the neck. This gives a blend of neck sparkle and body mellowness without either being dominate, boomy, or harsh. The reason you place the heads together tightly is to reduce any phase cancellation problems...basically the sound gets to the mics at the same time so they are in phase with one another.

The third track is the onboard magnetic pickup. Once I got a decent take, I panned one mic track hard left, the other hard right, and the pickup track centered. The mic tracks are not eq'd at all. I just raised the fader levels to get the balance of neck/body that sounded right. I did eq the center track by +3db at 4k to add some airiness to the overall acoustic sound.

On the effects being pre or post fader.....I like to use pre fader when I can because you have better control of the effect with the fader but sometimes it just doesn't work. I tried it but all I got was a washed over reverb/delay affect, which was too much. So I went with post faders on the two outside tracks with a reverb/pan delay effect. The center track is dry. That's about it.

Wow that was long one. I hope it makes sense because I was even getting lost there a couple of times, lol.

If you want more info on this just PM me.

Thanks for the good words and I'm sure it's cold right now in Colorado!

Farrell

[Speed Demon]

Smooth as silk! No less than I expected, Farrell.

Excellent workmanship all around.

[Pine]

Real nice tune here Farrell...well written and very well performed. Loving the GS and thinking of getting a GS mini mahogany to keep my 314 kce (koa) company.

I have to agree with the others...this sounds so nice stripped down i'd go easy on the layers. the lyrics need to be the focus...the story told without alot of distraction. Looking forward to the update tho.

Thanks for all your support over the years old friend. You were instrumental in launching my recording career!

Pine 

[Farrell Jackson]

Update: I've finally finished my "Girl In Denver" submission for the Country Music Contest. Based on the feedback I got from you all and others, I kept the song simple and didn't load it down with a gazillion tracks. I did add a lap steel solo (my son inlaw Jeremy), subtle harmonica to the intro and outro, bass, real drums (Frank Northcutt), and some whammy guitar chord/lead fills using my Jagmaster. I'm uploading it to Songcrafters and also the soundclick player. This is the best I can do. I hope you like it and that it at least gives them a run for the money.

Thanks for all the help guys!

Farrell

[Geir]

Farrell, this is excellent ! A perfect arrangemant and mix of a great song. You sure know how to make a production sound pro !!

Well done and good luck !

[Pine]

Very nice Farrell...well done on all counts!

Liked the lap steel and loved your harmonies on the chorus.

Good luck in the contest!

Pine