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Howdy!!
I hope everyone is well

This is a collaboration between Bob Gardner and myself. Bob reached out to me through the forums here because we both have similar styles and asked if I wanted to possibly work together. Yes! Cool!

Bob also plays guitar and bass and we both use EZ Drummer. This was Bob's piece originally and he asked if I could add Harmonica and anything else I thought would work
I added the blues harp, rhythm guitar, B3, and some drum parts. Nice pickin' Bob

This is for no particular listing, we hope to create an album of this Genre for future use

This is the first project, there has been no FX applied (EQ, compression, etc.) so the mix is just volume and panning....pretty much. I did use Ozone Elements to bring up the overall volume

I'd like to hear what you think of the arrangement and instrumentation, what needs to be fixed or what needs to go, you know, the bad stuff

Does it have an appropriate ARC? That's a big one.... Does it develop? Edit points?

Man, thanks so much Taxi people. You are always a HUGE help

Hi Dave,
Nice work! I like the live sound to the drums, and band as a whole. Great harmonica and slide guitar, and a well composed ending. I think the development and arc is fine. If there's a weakness, I'd say the keys part is a bit plain by comparison with the rest. I'm not sure it needs any more edit points, but if you want to include something clearer the obvious place (to me) would be at the start (and maybe at the end) of the keys breakdown. Its clearly good old 12-bar, so not for any contemporary listing but it'll make a star contender for any uptempo traditional rocky blues listings. This is the type of music I notice all over American Pickers, for example. Good luck with it .

Telefunkin wrote: ↑

Fri Jun 04, 2021 12:14 pm

Hi Dave,
Nice work! I like the live sound to the drums, and band as a whole. Great harmonica and slide guitar, and a well composed ending. I think the development and arc is fine. If there's a weakness, I'd say the keys part is a bit plain by comparison with the rest. I'm not sure it needs any more edit points, but if you want to include something clearer the obvious place (to me) would be at the start (and maybe at the end) of the keys breakdown. Its clearly good old 12-bar, so not for any contemporary listing but it'll make a star contender for any uptempo traditional rocky blues listings. This is the type of music I notice all over American Pickers, for example. Good luck with it .

Thanks Graham! Your input is very valuable

Absolutely love this. The ole three chord progression. ha ha Our band was playing this yesterday. Might me just me, but when the keys (with no backing) came in the vibe/drive died. I don't really like keys in general, so don't take my comments seriously. keep on a rockin

feaker66 wrote: ↑

Fri Jun 04, 2021 12:38 pm

Absolutely love this. The ole three chord progression. ha ha Our band was playing this yesterday. Might me just me, but when the keys (with no backing) came in the vibe/drive died. I don't really like keys in general, so don't take my comments seriously. keep on a rockin

Hey there Feaker!
Yes it is old school 12 bar blues, it's just a starting point for this album collab but I think it's a good un
The B3 seems to be the "weak" part
I was going for the "bringing it down around the 1 minute mark formula to bring it back up and out strong" i.e. the Craig Pilo interview - Taxi TV but I may have missed the mark https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wmSVKcM7c_Q&t=3647s
Thanks for the insight buddy

I tend to agree with Graham on the keys... but, overall, it's a solid cooker; I was diggin' it.
Nice work, team.

funsongs wrote: ↑

Fri Jun 04, 2021 12:59 pm

I tend to agree with Graham on the keys... but, overall, it's a solid cooker; I was diggin' it.
Nice work, team.

Thank ya Pete, I always look forward to your comments my friend

DBarnett wrote: ↑

Fri Jun 04, 2021 11:02 am

Does it have an appropriate ARC? That's a big one.... Does it develop?

I guess the comments about not liking the keys or that the track 'slows down in the part with the keys', is simply because the melodic pace of the keys solo is half time of the previous instruments. Thus the Arc does not develop as expected and instead slows. Therefore the simple change is to increase the melodic rate of the keys solo (play a faster solo, more 16th notes and no halfs). Definitely there is a way to make the existing keys melody fit but it would require foreshadowing by slowing in the other instruments first which probably means lengthening the track with a slow-middle and that is probably not desired in this track's target anyways.

superblonde wrote: ↑

Fri Jun 04, 2021 1:45 pm

DBarnett wrote: ↑

Fri Jun 04, 2021 11:02 am

Does it have an appropriate ARC? That's a big one.... Does it develop?

I guess the comments about not liking the keys or that the track 'slows down in the part with the keys', is simply because the melodic pace of the keys solo is half time of the previous instruments. Thus the Arc does not develop as expected and instead slows. Therefore the simple change is to increase the melodic rate of the keys solo (play a faster solo, more 16th notes and no halfs). Definitely there is a way to make the existing keys melody fit but it would require foreshadowing by slowing in the other instruments first which probably means lengthening the track with a slow-middle and that is probably not desired in this track's target anyways.

Good point SuperBlonde, I'll experiment with that (16th notes), makes sense
Thanks!

Hey Dave! Cool track with some nice authentic performances!

I would agree with what superblonde said re the 16th notes - could work.

This might be just nitpicking (and a personal preference) and I know this is not the final mix but I personally would also put the drums a bit louder (tambourine sounds a tad louder in comparison)- I believe that would make that rockin riff jump out even more! Again, could be just a personal preference

Good job and good luck for this collab (and any other work down the pipeline)

Cheers
owen