New song. Please have a listen.

[matthoggard]

This is my first mixdown of this song. I really want more production advice than song writing advice. I know there is still work to do but I wanted to get yall's ideas on this first draft.http://www.taximusic.com/song.php?song_ ... am=trueFor those who would like to critique the song itself here are the lyrics.Another day in the life of a country man© 2008 Matt Hoggard, Mark CalhounEvery day in some small townThere's a little cafe they gather aroundRight on the corner of main street USAThey talk about the drought and the heatWhos bailin hay, whos cuttin wheat.only God knows if they'll ever get some rain.Chorus They help each other when they can.Always there to lend a handIts another day in the life of a country man.If your building fence im not for hireYoull get me for free and Ill bring the wire.Another day in the life of a country man.Their pickup trucks are the tools of the tradeYou can bet your life theyre American madeThe measure of a man is his brand.They drive Chevy's and Ford's and even DodgeThey're livin by the grace of GodOnly He knows how much they love this landChorusThey help each other when they canAlways there to lend handIts another day in the life of a country man.If your building fence Im not for hireYoull get me for free and brother Ill bring the wireAnother day in the life of a country man.Most make their livin right off the landSome spend their days as an oil rig handThere aint no nine to five'rs out thereThey dont quit till the job is doneThey work dawn to dusk it aint much funBut for each other there's always time to spare.

[wta]

If your building fence im not for hireYoull get me for free and Ill bring the wire. Their pickup trucks are the tools of the tradeYou can bet your life theyre American made Great freakin lyric! LOVE IT! My family is all from central Canada and this is right up their alley man, serious. My dad would LOVE this tune. I'm a bit out of the loop on producing country but the mix right now is really hard to get a feel for the vocals, they're in the background and the snare doesn't sound like a snare, actually the drums just feel they're synthetic with alot of treble. Diggin the bass, nice round punchy feel. Steel is out front for sure and sounds a bit out of tune in several spots. Is there a drum/ kick or something in the intro? Something sounds there but not there? Mmmm, not to sure. Ya watch your pitch on that steel guit man. I'm typin as I'm listening so if this reads abit weird, I can hear where your headed with this man, just a cool straight country tune remindes me of John Cougar Mellencamp, Lynyrd Skynyrd or Alabama. I'd skip "ass" and say something like "wife" or "dog" or something, donkey just take such a bad rap in country tunes it might be a bit cliche man... Maybe a donkey friendly version might be in order. HAHAHAHA! Yep I hear where your going and I'd go there man, love this tune. '-) wta

[matthoggard]

Thanks Will,The drums are hust the basic drum bed. I got tired and havent finished the drum group mix.there is a snare/tom/kcik fill in the intro but i just upped the levels to get a feel.This was the first run through of the mix. Ill be asking for some help on sound and levels.Still looking for that elusive big vocal sound but im gettin there.The lyric is actually "you can bet your life they're american made". When I sung this the other night I had a few Wild Turkey shots and thats what came out. Call it the live version if you will Thanks for listening. No steel guitar. All acoustics. Me and my co-writer had fun playin this one.M~

[cameron]

Hey Matt,Nice song buddy, and LOVE the lyrics too... but there's definitely something wrong with the level of the vocals. I know your stuff normally sounds really good so I gotta wonder if you uploaded the wrong version or had something set wrong on mixdown.Cam

[matthoggard]

No, just a first mix and trying some different things.I just got tired and wanted to get some opinions on what to do with the mix. I cant quite get that big sound just yet. But its the first mix.Ill keep pluggin along.I was hoping youd like the song. Its more Americana I guess but it sure is fun.Thanks guys.

[heinsite]

great job matt!the lyrics are a winner, and so are the verses, sorry for the critique, but you need a more 'OUT THERE" CHORUS, that diffentiates from the verse. trust me...the music is top notch, though i can't hear your singing hardly at all--what happened??? it's all there, but somethin' happened to the mix man...oh, my hein family is from dunlap iowa, most of the cousins have left, a few still there in corn and mostly soy beans...my dad a hundred frickin years ago and the entire hein clan moved to (and i shit you not...) "SUCCESS, SASKATCHAWAN" for a few years in the 20's--1920s, then back to iowa--long story short, the hein family took part in a bound 2 inch thick book called "Success, the History of a Town", or something like that....the page on the Hein family starts with, "the hein's lived on the outskirts of Success" dead serious statement...well...my brother paul is 13 months younger, and wittier than hell--he says "hell, the hein's have ALWAYS lived on the OUTSKIRTS OF SUCCESS !! LOL...anyway, i dig the tune, get it, feel it, sorry for the little story...but the tune evoked that!anyway again, fix the mix, make the chorus musically more different from the verse, and you win man!!that's all i got, thanks for the listen!all the best,warren

[cameron]

Hey Warren, you got me bustin' a gut here. Hell, that could be a song on its own, "The Outskirts of Success"!!! Hehe.Matt, decent song for sure... maybe just raise the vocal levels and repost it?Cam

[suzdoyle]

Hey Matt;Awesome song. I agree with a couple of the posts re: vocals need to be louder, and the chorus could use something different so it has more contrast to the verse -- perhaps 3 chords in the first sentence of the chorus -- e.g. b7 chord 4 chord and 1 chord Or something a bit different in the melody.Smart lyrics, and good overall sound, IMHO. ,Suz

[momof4]

hi, matt, i'm critiquing only the lyrics here b/c i can never download stuff from people's Taxi site, but i figured i could at least chime in on those. i think you've written such a great lyric full of imagery about the life of the country man, and the only thing i would suggest is to rewrite the verse to maybe "sum up" the song more. i know what you're saying...everyone helps everyone, they're all like family, they're so generous, etc., but the way it stands right now, it kind of sounds like a continuation of the verses instead of a stand-alone chorus. does that make sense? anyhoo, just my two cents, of couse. and i think you've done SUCH a great job with these verses - so descriptive, makes me want to drive to smalltown USA!erin

[devin]

Hey Matt!I'll post my thoughts before I read what these other fine folks have said...it's just my $0.02 so just take what makes sense...- intro is great, but you could get to the vocal sooner...starting sooner would let you get the chorus underway well before that "minute mark"- vocal is low, it sounds like you have a good track there...crank it up!- My biggest problem is always always ALWAYS my lack of verse to chorus differentiation. Things like vocal cadence, syllable count, vocal melody, instrumentation can all be used to make the chorus really stand out...I'd suggest finding a few more ways to make the chorus "pop" and stick. (Then tell me how you did it, 'cause I'm in the same boat er...ah..."truck" in this case!)That's what I got out of it....hope that helps on the production side. The instrumentation and vocal sound really good...nice!It's a great tune, and it feels like I'm going to carry it around with me for the rest of the day (thanks for sharing) Now I'll go read what the other folks picked up on...