PG Music Home Forums General Discussion User Showcase Last Fast - dead simple & quickly over with.

Hello Folks,
I started this on Monday.
After a bit of guitar strumming I worked out a progression for chorus and then built this one from that beginning.

MASTERED
IDEE FIXX

Constructed in BIAB, tweaked in their too...some chords, though right for the key weren't right for me.
"****** Song Summary *************
Title: final fast
File:final fast this.SGU
Key= A, Tempo 130, Length (m:s)=2:53

Style is _LOITER.STY (Loiter Quarter Kick Rock Shuffle)

RealTracks in style: 2749:Bass, Electric, RockShuffleHardDoug Sw 120
RealTracks in style: 2752:Guitar, Electric, Rhythm RockHeavyShuffleChopMurray Sw 120
RealTracks in style: 2751:Guitar, Electric, Rhythm RockHeavyShuffleMurray Sw 120
RealDrums [in style:RockShuffleQuarterKick^03-a:Open Hat, Snare, b:Toms, Snare"
I replaced all BIAB but the drums but they stuff that was BIAB generated REALLY helped me decide where to go with this.
I had a set of vocals sorted yesterday but they embarrassed me more than usual this morning so I ditched them and the melody and came up with a new vocal on the run.
The Bvox in the verse are too loud but I do want you opinion on the bvox levels generally as well as the non chop guitar on the right.
Some of the lyrics are indistinct - this time by design...sort of genre appropriate i though...I may be wrong - YOU BE THE JUDGE.

Idee Fix

Streets filled with methylated ghosts
Keep company with fear
Stoned, cold & lonely
An everyday Monday year
And the euphemists, alchemists, pessimists
Pay fifty cents a glass

Armed salvation warriors
Professing inanities
Like real human dolls they come
With peroxided personalities
Inner city mutants
Die a little every day this
Contagious fast food famish is
Carcinogenic so they say

A clock drinker’s promises
Of a brand new second hand world
Fighting tenement phobia
Like defensive autistics curled
And the euphemists, alchemists, pessimists
Pay fifty cents a glass

Armed salvation warriors
Professing inanities
Like real human dolls they come
With peroxided personalities
Inner city mutants
Die a little every day this
Contagious fast food famish is
Carcinogenic so they say

SOLO (?)

Streets filled with methylated ghosts
Of a brand new second hand world
Stoned, cold & lonely
Like defensive autistics curled
And the euphemists, alchemists, pessimists
Pay fifty cents a glass

A clock drinker’s promises
Of a brand new second hand world
A brand new second hand
A brand new second hand
Brand new second hand world

ray,

This is gettin' there fast.

Some very cool descriptive phrases in the lyric...
like "Streets filled with methylated ghosts"

The vocal sounds good, though it should come up just a bit.
The BGV works. It is only slightly "too loud" in comparison to the lead, but I think it would be just right if the lead is bumped up slightly. It sounds a little dry (to me) for a bgv. A touch of reverb would put it in a good place.

Bass and drums sound really good. Guitars sound good. (They are panned too hard for my taste). The guitar on the right is balanced well volume-wise with the left guitar, but seems a bit "too distinct" to my ear. But that might be because you put it in my head to pay attention to it (combined with the hard right panning).

fj

Ray...I'm glad I stopped in to listen to this!
What I liked: your doubled voice seemed groowl-y, throaty, and it added real interesting color to the emphasized phrases; and your lyric construction contained so many interesting word pairings, I couldn't pick just one or two to mention!
And...after listening, I was left with, "what in the heck is this about??" -- probably exactly the kind of reaction you were looking for with your indistinct lyric.
I'll defer to others on the mix, but, again, glad I listened!

Ray,
Brave stuff! I read and re-read lyrics couple of times today before listening, I expected something completely different Very cool marching punk (if there is such thing). Your vocal techniques are improving significantly with each song. Saying this is not to make you "feel" better, you are taking pretty big steps. Doubling worked great. Remember this setup, perhaps it is your signature sound. I like it. I have no suggestions on this except to me it is done. Don't over cook it. Thank you for sharing!

Misha.

I THINK I've addressed most things mentioned fj, THANKS for the clear guidance.
The guitars are wide panned because the drum track is almost mono - normally overheads provide a wide stereo image but this RealDrum track is VERY narrow. In V2 I used some artificial stereo widening on the kit but couldn't go too far without sounding weird.

Thanks Tano.
An older set of lyrics from the days when I was REALLY into the taste of words.

Misha,
I hope you're referring to V2!!!!
I think it's pretty well cooked too.
Thanks for your very generous words.

Hello Ray ...

Your music is always a surprise and always entertaining. I liked Misha's description ... Marching Punk! The lyric left me scratching my head at times ... but that doesn't mean I wasn't entertained by them. Just the opposite ... A lot of interesting lines that I'm gonna digest as I re-listen a time or two. Kind of like the lyric to Procol Harum's "A Whiter Shade Of Pale", I just accepted the it at face value and let the song take me along on its journey. two real nice journeys!

Best to you and please be safe ...

Alan

Ray,
I listened to both and they do have slightly different mix and feel... different not as one is better than another, to my ears. But if I had to chose one, I would probably go with original.

Misha.

Ray,
V2 sounds very close to cooked to me ( if anything I would have liked the low bgv a little more forward in places to punch out some of those key phrases that stick ( which is all you need to be clear on this song)- "peroxide personalities" & the repeated "euphemists, alchemists, pessimists" to pickout a couple.
I`m not sure you need a solo- has to be suitably aggressive if you do... otherwise, let it be!

Robert

Listened to V2. Loved this tune.

Sounds great to me Ray. I had a listen to both. I wouldn't say I preferred one over the other, both sound good to me.

There are a lot of interesting lines to be heard in this and so I think the vocal in V2 could still be a tad louder or perhaps the guitars a tad lower - but I'm partial to vocals and this is not a genre I'm very familiar with.

It's a very gritty production and somewhat futuristic perhaps, which is what I think you were going for.

Take care.

I like where V2 landed.

The right-side guitar now is nicely blended into the whole.
The BGV is significantly "less distinct" and I think that works. It makes the main vocal "pop" at those points. Maybe not what some would expect of a second voice, but very effective to my ear.

A good balance throughout.

fj

Hi Ray.
Musically ahead of my time though I prefer the original but feel that the overall volume could come up a bit.

Vic

I liked the opening riff and was almost hoping the song would be built around that, but fine as is. Vocals are good, wish I could do as well. Energy is very good. Lyrics are good, cryptic, but then so is T.S. Eliot for me. Overall, I enjoyed all the little things you put into this to make it good.

The raw vibe is there and fits the style and the lyrics. The performances are great especially lik.e the guitar solo, stylistically right on. Way to work fast (I wish I could do that, I'm kind of a tinkerer)

Heck, Misha's description of "marching punk" is worth the price of admission.

"An everyday Monday year"
Yes it is. And your little vignettes describe it well ... I think.

It all works for us. Hard panning has its place, even nowadays, and irrespective of the mono like drums it would IMO work for this tune.

We feel like the lead and BGV's are absolutely in the pocket both from a vocal performance perspective and as they sit in the mix.

Nary a nit.

Strong stuff.

Enjoyed the listens.

J&B

Hi Ray,

I agree with Tano that after listening to your song some riddles remain on what was going on in the lyrics.
I told you Punk isn't my kind of music, although you managed to let me listen to all your songs. Till the end! And I even start liking it more and more. In this song your vocals were very cool. And understandable! And the band was good. Not a buch of noise, but distinguishable instruments. And that is very good. Now I only have to work on the -complicated- lyrics, but it looked they were put together in a clever way. And it only took you 'a while' to make this song.

Congratulations!
Hans

Hi Ray
I enjoyed this. Interesting lyrics and your vocals sound good to me. I'm getting a bit of a Clash vibe, which I like.
Regards,
Leon