Boho and Blazey - AndyR Original

Flash Harry · December 04, 2015, 02:45:30 PM

The vocal on this is the stand-out feature for me.

A great and unusual track, I get early Bowie too, but there's some Beefheart and a bit of early Genesis I think in the story telling style.

Nice one Andy.

Hook · December 04, 2015, 03:26:54 PM

I love it Andy, such good production but the kick drum might be a bit loud. Really dig the ebow, I forgot you got one and was trying to figure out what that was. Very cool.
Rock on!

AndyR · December 05, 2015, 03:33:58 AM

Haha! I knew you'd love the sounds an EBow makes, Hook.

I can't make my mind up about the kick drum - I've had the comment from several places, and I was struggling to hear what other folks heard... until artokh74's comment, and I remembered my monitors were chucking it out quite aggressively - I was LOVING it

There's actually a bunch of rhythm stuff going on - a lot more than is usual for me - there's the basic drum program (BR1600 drums). But in various other places this is augmented by:
- Another drum program with Toms (2nd chorus I think)
- Various percussion tracks (tambourines and shakers - can't remember which ones I ended up using in the mix)
- Another drum track played on one of they Cajone drum boxes

I decided to go wandering off down the "rhythm" route because of Florence + The Machine. She explained somewhere that she couldn't/can't play anything, so it was all about "hitting stuff and shouting a lot until the music was done" ... I like the results of what she gets with that, so I thought maybe I'd give it a go, and not allow myself to play any of my usual guitar stuff.

It was working really well, except... When it came to mixing, I had a complete 'mare

I have some earlier mixes that sound really "down" - no bounce or joy at all. I'd decided to ditch the song altogether I felt so down about it... That was a couple of weeks or so. Then I tried remixing, taking the rhythm stuff ever quieter - and it just got worse and even flatter sounding.

Then I suddenly remembered why I'd been recording it like this - it's about the vocal and hitting stuff, the rest is just textures and pretty blue and gold colours...

So I took ALL the bass off the bass and turned it up. Loaded some onto the sub-mix of the other instruments to get some warmth, but turned them down. And... whacked the drums right up front... Mrs R started grooving, and we agreed that yeah, that's what the gigs felt like... so that's what we've ended up with.

So, in a way, it's kind of what I was aiming at. I've just been listening on my studio phones - the kick drum is carrying a lot of the "body" of the whole band, that was definitely deliberate, take it out and the thing sounds very weedy.

I suspect that's what we're getting - I've aimed for something kinda alien for me, got into the right ball-park, but overcooked it a bit and I'm not used to this sound enough to be able to tell yet!!

I am kinda planning on exploring more of this "hitting stuff and shouting" way of doing things - "hitting stuff" has never really formed any part of my concept of making music, and I kinda reckon that after 40 years, maybe I ought to give it a go!

Johnny Robbo · December 05, 2015, 03:51:19 AM

Stunningly good! Your songwriting & production skills are outstanding. I agree with the Bowie comparison, but I also hear shades of Peter Gabriel in there too. You have a singing voice that I'd kill for. Loved it!

Jarle · December 08, 2015, 05:30:27 AM

Great vocal. Well written song. I agree with Peter Gabriel and Genesis comparison, that was my thoughts at the beginning of the song - but it soon became something else, AndyR maybe?