Instrumentation?

[DBarnett]

Well - while the band's at it... y'all could stand to sip a few... let the whole track "ride in the saddle" a bit more loose & friendly.
Maybe go back to the LIVE drum track - so it feels more relaxed; less stiff & quantized.
HTH.
"Whiskey for my men, and beer for my horses!!"

Agreed
"Maybe go back to the LIVE drum track - so it feels more relaxed; less stiff & quantized."

[funsongs]

Thanks, Dave - for having a good sense of humor about it.
TBH - I understand it can be frustrating.

[BuzzReed]

Sounds pretty dang tasty to my ears, Dave. Those horns are so tight though, it's like Peter said.... give 'em all a shot (or two) of whiskey and have 'em loosen up a bit. Add a few rips to the starts of notes, and falls to the ends. These guys are so tight right now that they could be the Tower of Power horn section, haha. Normally that's a good thing though, so I wouldn't stress it much.

Perhaps my biggest issue with this - and this is a nitpick - is that the horn lines don't have much counterpoint to them. Everybody is playing the exact same thing, at the exact same time. Sure, there are harmony notes which make it sound nice, but how about a trombone line playing while the trumpets are sustaining? Or having that sax hit a high note and hold it over the top of the other brass doing a moving line? Stuff like that would bring more vibrancy to the composition itself.

But still, sounds like a winner to me, so I wouldn't stress it too much. Christmas comes around every year, so there's still opportunity for this track.

~~Matt

Matt

Thanks for your comments on this. I was surprised when the screener said ‘library horns’. I recorded four tracks of me playing tenor sax, one Logic Studio Horns trumpet and one LSH trombone. Mixed the brass back leaving it mostly sax.
I’ve been playing a long time but being told I’m not drunk enough is definitely a first!

best

Paul