Whiskey Train with electric lead

[cameron]

Hey Wig,You cleaned up the confusion at the beginning and the drums are much better (except as noted below), but now to my ears the bass isn't holding down the bottom end, as was previously mentioned. I'd also like to hear the strings a little louder at the beginning and at places it sounds like the strings, harmonica and guitar are competing with each other. I also heard a couple places where it sounded like there were two drum tracks not quite in sync with each other. Your vocals are a perfect match for this song.Cam

[wignelson]

May 6, 2009, 7:11am, heinsite wrote:hey wigs,revisited the "train", still like it, only comments are on the INTRO,--way too long again, --me like the guitar, and the harp, would LOSE the strings in the intro, --you really don't need the later chorus taste from :23, it makes us wait too long for the words...like it otherwise, good work!warrenThanks for riding on the train again, Warren.I know I need to redo this song and I will because it's starting to haunt me now. Good advice to lose the chorus taste.I just was beating that arrangement to death and I should know better.I'm sure you're getting a little tired of hearing this one, but when I redo it, it will be worth it.Thanks for the advice,Wig

[wignelson]

May 6, 2009, 7:44am, rld wrote:Boy...this mix needs lots of help IMO.General feeling is its way too cluttered.I can't even tell what some of the instruments are, its just a wash of sound at times.Notice the section starting at :45. There is a jumble of sound...and it mysteriously clears up at :53...till :57, when it starts to clutter again.Bass part is not working as far as holding down the bottom and driving the song with the drums.Your vocals seem panned left of center and have a different room sound than the rest of the music.I'd start over with bass, drums, vocals and bring in other instrument one at a time making sure they add something and that they have a defined space.Thanks for listening, RLD.Good advice all of it! Yeah, the bass line changed about three or four times with different instruments and they all don't do the job.There is a lot of the clutter that you mention and I fought with the placement of the vocal during about three mixes and still don't have it centered. The problem is I record with two condensers in stereo and if I move at all it becomes heavy on one side.I plan to place the mics vertically in the future instead of horizontally. That should help. I appreciate your listening to this poor song that I have effectively beaten to death. Wig

[wignelson]

May 6, 2009, 4:24pm, deantaylor wrote:Hey Wig,I like the feel of your backing track. Intro is way too long, imo. I really like your lyric and the chorus melody. Though one line in the lyric bugs me .... It's drivin' me insane ... I think it is too cliche/overused for this lyric .. your other words are very good .. I'd see if I could find another line here.Vox do sound very far away from the music.DeanThanks, Dean,You are right that the line is too cliche and has to be reworked. I just got a little lazy with the lyrics because originally I was enthralled with the agitato strings bouncing off the ringing git changes that have all but gotten lost. This song needs to be redone from the ground up. I will shorten the intro and try to get those vox down the middle where they belong.Thanks again, Wig

[wignelson]

May 6, 2009, 6:27pm, derekmcfarland wrote:I like the crispness of the drums.I agree with other posters about the length of intro.The vocal does stand out as being drastically different from the rest of the mix. Also, from a performance perspective, I was having trouble with the timing/rhythm of the vocal phrasing compared to the drum beat (especially the verses). Chorus is closer. Hope this helps. Thanks for sharing this song!DerekThanks, Derek,I know I need to redo the vocals and they will be retracked. The vocal phrasing is a little lagged, which worked well in earlier mixes because the rhythm was tighter and there were some dream vox that got lost in later mixes. Thanks for the spin and I know I can do a better job on this one. It has been a learning experience, which hopefully I can apply to some later work.Wig

[wignelson]

May 7, 2009, 5:11am, watksco wrote:There's a great vibe in there somewhereI'm hearing some groove issues with drums/bass against the vocals. IMO I'd be re-working the rythm to match the vocal more as I think that's where the strength is.Cheers,ScottThanks, Scott,Yeah, I got sold on that vibe myself and then tried to chop up and embellish an earlier mix after I lost the actual files from a hard drive crash. That really sucked. I was too lazy to redo the song from scratch, when that's really what it needs. The original had a dreamy kind of rhythm that was cool and the bass line was actually a patch called Piano/Bass and gave it some crispness and bottom at the same time. I might revisit that patch on the next installment.Thanks for listening, Wig

[wignelson]

May 7, 2009, 9:23pm, cameron wrote:Hey Wig,You cleaned up the confusion at the beginning and the drums are much better (except as noted below), but now to my ears the bass isn't holding down the bottom end, as was previously mentioned. I'd also like to hear the strings a little louder at the beginning and at places it sounds like the strings, harmonica and guitar are competing with each other. I also heard a couple places where it sounded like there were two drum tracks not quite in sync with each other. Your vocals are a perfect match for this song.CamThanks, Cam,You're right on about the drums being loose and doubled and that the bass line doesn't hold up the bottom end. It's really thin and cheesy now that I listen to it again.I'm glad you like the strings because that was what intrigued me in the beginning about this song. The vocals got away from me and sound like they're not in the same room as the rest of the song.I appreciate you revisiting this monster and your suggestions are very good, as always.I'll get there eventually. I never give up.Wig

[jjktunes]

I agree about the intro, especially for a pitch through Taxi. I have changed a few of our intros to be shorter for taxi's sake.