http://soundcloud.com/lawrence-olivier/ready-for-another-round (3rd remix 10/28/13 pm)

This is the last song from my "Home Recording's II" CD. I want to thank Floyd Jane for introducing me to the Ozone mastering software. I remixed the song and ran it through a Rock preset and it really came to life.

Baib: drums; bass; two electric guitars; a resonator guitar; and a harmonica that I doubled then "destroyed" with Guitar Rig amp modeling software.

As usual the lyrics are about an ex-girlfriend (with a bit of hyperbole)


Ready For Another Round

Well she’s been with half the men in town
It’s ok I’ve been with half the women
She’d love to try and lay the law down
I ain’t taking, no I’m giving

Oh she likes to slap me on my face
And I love to slap her on her butt
We fight and fuss all night long
Even when we’re making love

Hell I know she ain’t the only gig in town
But I’m ready for another round

yeah some might call this rock n roll
Others might call it sinning
But I’m hanging on, yes I’m hanging on
Until I feel I think I’m winning

Then she flaunts her stuff right in my face
And I hate to turn around
We fight and fuss all night long
I guess you couldn’t call this love

Together we make an awful sound
But I’m ready for another round

Well I call her on the telephone
To tell her I’m running late
She says if I ain’t home by ten
Don’t bother coming home at all

Now that sends my blood into a boil
My mind into a rage
We’re gonna fight all night tonight
It’s so wrong but that’s ok

I ain’t sure if she’s the best I could have found
But I’m ready for another round

Lawrence,

Cool RAW in-your-face rock'n'roll! Sounds like someone put a great garage band in one room with mics to capture a one-take and let 'em loose. I think the drums should be up some to really be a part of the action. Everyone is tearing it up - the drummer should be too... (maybe just a personal preference).

Your vocal sounds like you were born to lead this band. Pure fire.

COOL, cool song. A raw energy every bit a match for the band. Love the changing couplet chorus. Nothing but solid.

floyd

Hi Lawrence.

Yeah, I'm right with Floyd on this one. If I didn't know different, I'd swear that this was a live recording.

It's really good to see someone who isn't scared to pile on the compression for Rock and Roll. It sounds as if it was all tracked on tape with the VUs banging on the end stops - exactly how it should sound.

Loads of energy in this track and a great vocal to head it up. Loved every minute.

ROG.

Floyd, I brought the drums up and added a bit of delay to the vocal. If you listen again let me know what you think of the drums now.

ROG thanks for listening. That mastering app "Ozone" really shoots things through the roof! I'm playing around with the demo version now but will probably buy it.

The big mistake most people make is to get the demo version of Ozone.

Because....


Once you hear what it can do there is no way you're not going to buy it.


I like the song and the tracks sound good. Nice job on the vocals too. Everything seems to fit together pretty nicely.... I have no issues with that.

My issues and nits go to the sound quality itself. ROG said it sounded like the VU's were banging on the stops.... I agree. It sounds distorted from being overloaded. I don't know that Ozone caused that, although it is possible to get Ozone compressing the tar out of something. I think it's likely the tracks are either kicking too loud or you have too much compression/limiting on them to get them loud.

I also hear a nasty high end brittleness on things.... vocals, cymbal crashes, the harmonica solo... look at pulling the high end in the 3k area down a bit ... it probably won't take much to get rid of it. I think it's also a factor of the distortion since distortion creates tons of harmonics above the fundamental frequency.

Start at the tracks and be sure they are NOT banging the stops or in the red if they are LED meters....

I like to start with a rock preset that I have edited and saved. Also keep in mind, at least it's my primary directive with music.... add nothing that adds nothing to the music. Quite often I will have Ozone running with several of it's modules turned off.

I almost never use the ozone reverb module. The EQ can be a bit tricky... you need enough high end to make it nice and crisp, especially the vocals, but not so much that it is brittle and harsh. It's a fine line to walk.

Don't be afraid to use several instances of Ozone..... I put one in the master bus... that one's a given since it shapes the entire song as a unit.... and I will often have one or more in some other busses as well..usually in the vocal bus to shape the lead and BGV...

I'd do a remix if this was mine.... because, even powerful, wide open rock and roll can sound clean and tight without loosing it's rawness. Unless you're doing a grunge thing, the sound could be much cleaner.

As usual, that's simply my 2 cents and opinion.

Hi Lawrence,

yes, I call that rock 'n' roll.
Very refreshing.

Guenter

Love the picking and the harmonica, the raw vocal is perfect for this style. Thanks for sharing!



My Music

Hi Lawrence,

I love the energy of this. Your vocals are really spot on for this style.

I do agree with Herb about doing a remix to clean it up a bit. You can do that without losing the "raw" feeling, and still keep a fully compressed sound.

Really enjoyed it.

Steve

Hi Lawrence
I love the "rawness" of this song. The lyrics are also something else. I enjoyed it.

Lawrence, smokin rock sound! Great vocal. Herb is right about the high frequencies. I sent you a pm about where to buy ozone. I just recently got it myself. Keep writing and posting. Good work. Tom

Hey Lawrence.

The drums are better (IMO). As Herb pointed out, there does seem to be something a bit out-of-kilter. More highs than lows. If you have the highs bumped up on the resonator and/or the harp you might bring them down some (Certain Ozone presets will raise those highs some more). You never know with a mix until you work it. It may be that there just isn't enough bottom to the mix to balance out the high - the bass could come up some - that might balance it out... You'll get there - it's a rockin' track...

floyd

Guitarhacker, I went back and you were right there was a meter running red. I fixed that and worked on the eq. Thanks for the feedback.



Guenter, straight up I IV V rock-n-roll


PgFantastic, thanks for listening



Steve, thanks I tried to fix it


Joanne, thank you and I did have a lot of fun with those lyrics!


Tommy, thank you for your help


Floyd, thanks again

Hi Lawrence.

You've received a lot of excellent advice about the mix, but a word of caution - sometimes you can end up with a mix which is technically better, but which loses something intangible from the original. The original might not have been technically perfect, but it was bursting with character and personality. I'd hate to see this get lost.

It's like when we used to work on the old split consoles which had tape returns into the desk with just two-band EQ and volume, so you could set up a monitor mix while you were recording. At the end of tracking you'd switch the tape returns to the main channels which had full EQ and all the aux sends to the effects units, so you could do the proper mix. Quite often you'd find the simple monitor mix sounded better than the one you'd spent a whole day working on and it was hard to know why.

I did say it sounded like the VUs were banging on the end stops, but I loved the track and the mix. As I said before, very live and full of character. Great stuff.

ROG.

Glad to be of service. I know that in my early years, lots of people with ears and knowledge superior to mine assisted me with the details in my mixes. You never learn if people are telling you how good something is when there are problems with it.

It's as much about knowing what to listen for as it is about how to fix it once you find it..... but you gotta be able to find it before you can fix it. I find that to be the hardest part.... finding it.

I try to be as kind as I can when I criticize something so that the person takes the advice kindly. In my time I have inadvertently made more than a few people mad.... so I try to temper the advice so it is useful to as many as hear it.

It's a nice reward when people come back and say.... " Hey, you were right.... I found this or that problem just like you said..."

So, keep on working and learning.... it's a process... then pass it on.

Awsom tune really nice!! Sounded like I stepped into a good bar in Texas

Loved it. Nice listen....

I feel like I just went downtown to a small club and saw a damn good rock band. Janice commented on how well the dirty harp worked with your voice. Another one to go on the pod. Keep 'em coming!!!

Hi, Lawrence !!:))


If I had a female friend
somewhere around when your
tune came out, I would have asked
her to dance with me, no doubt !!!:))
Impossible to stay unmoved
in front of this rockin´tune !!:))

Cheers
Dani

Hi Gruverider,

Rock on baby! For my next round, I'll have what you're tastin'!

Dean Clark (aka Aleck Rand)

Hi Lawrence,


There's nothing that I can say that floyd hasn't already said a million times better. I love the overdriven edge to this. As with everything I listen to from you, the song finishes and I'm left awestruck!

Regards,
Noel