PG Music Home Forums General Discussion User Showcase Log Cabin Jam

The experimentation continues with a song a bit edgier than my usual.

Background:
Ever write a song inspired by a memory from your distant past? Here is one memory.

My “crew” and I were just a tad North of puberty and chomping at the bit to explore “the world of adulthood”. One of my chums discovered a girl scout cabin deep in the woods. When he took us there it looked abandoned and there were certainly no girl scouts there. We decided it was a girl scout cabin because it had an outhouse . . . which we never used. So plans were instantly hatched for the upcoming Friday night. Somebody stole a case of beer from a neighbor’s garage and we all showed up at the cabin with bags of potato chips and sacks of candy to kill the taste.

I put my boy scout skills to use and built a fire in the fireplace. We then dared each other to drink more and more in between the singing and stupid dancing we were doing. For most of us, this was our first introduction to beer. Within 2 hours the 5 of us were drunk as skunks and vomiting into the wee hours of the morning. Whenever anyone vomited they became the subject of much laughter from the rest of us; and we all had our turn at being the subject. [I know . . . dumber than dumb on multiple levels.]

When daybreak arrived we all staggered back to our homes for proper hydration and well needed naps. It was a long time before I touched another beer after this experience. This song is inspired by this memory and I always smile with gratitude when I think back as nobody got hurt and we didn’t even burn down the cabin

Technicals:
110 BPM

BiaB
RealTracks in song: 1949:Piano, Acoustic, Soloist PopRootsyJohn Ev16 100
RealTracks in style: 3358:Guitar, Electric, Rhythm BritBluesRock Ev 120
RealTracks in song: 4172:Guitar, Electric, Rhythm LatinRock Ev 125
RealTracks in song: 3759:Guitar, Electric, Soloist FusionGrittyBrent Sw16 100
RealTracks in song: 1260:Guitar, Electric, Soloist PopShining Ev 120
RealDrums in style:BluesRockEv^4-a:Snare, Open HiHat , b:Snare, Ride

Me
Electric Bass
Percussive Organ with note bending in the bridge via Korg keyboard
Octave Brass in last two verses via Korg keyboard
Ride Cymbal in last two verses via Studio One Impact XT and 16-Step Sequencer
Crash Cymbal at the end via Studio One Impact XT (this still needs work)

If you listen thanks, and comments welcome particularly on the song structure and the panning applied.

Log Cabin Jam

I enjoyed your song and the way it keeps building. It keeps our interest by adding your instruments and I liked the big Octave Brass sound. I must try out that Blues Rock style you used - well done.
Regards Dermot

Cool toe-tappin' tune. Fantastic groove to it and I liked the guitars you chose. I thought the intro sounded a little hollow until the bass came in. As Dermot mentioned, the song really builds well. That note bending organ and brass were a great touch. I thought the structure was fine and the panning was good. It kept me focused in the entire time.

Brad

Hey Dermot,
Thanks for the kind words. Yeah, I really like the blues rock in BiaB. It has a crisp and driving force to it.
As for the octave brass, like that too. I wish there was a way to drill down and find out how they produced this voice. I believe 2 oscillators are involved.

Thanks for the review Brad. The note bending was achieved using the X-Y joystick on the keyboard. I think when you pull all the way right you get a note a fifth higher than the original note and when you push all the way left you get a fifth lower. It's also velocity sensitive and transitions from note to note very smoothly. This may have been the first I recorded its use in a song.

Nicely done BT.
I was waiting for a vocal to come in.

Vic

Very cool tune and arrangement...great selection of instrumentation...love the guitar solos...once I heard the piano riffs I wanted more...great listen and super construction of the BiaB tracks!

Howdy BT....

The composition itself I think is fine.
Straight forward and easy to like.
Probably a good backing track for the lead players too.

The "panning"....I'm not a fan of the hard panning of lead tradeoffs and they are slightly uneven to my aural receptors.
It's a bit distracting and I think it's totally unnecessary.
If that's a must for your creative purposes I would (at most) pan them at 11:00 & 1:00 or 10:00 & 2:00.
With the limited instrumentation (I'm not hearing keys), and if it were my choice, I would pan the rhythm guitar at 2:00 and all the leads at 10:00....or vice versa.
I'd but the bass at 12:00.

You have a good cut here and this would be my quite subjective opinion.
Which, of course, you can ignore totally .
I do hope that helps....

(EDIT: firesong heard piano riffs which I didn't for some reason.
It that's the case I'd go 10:00 & 2:00 with the rhythm guitar & piano and all leads at 12:00)

Back to it....

Thanks Vic, how I wish I could sing . . . like you gifted guys and gals !!

Thanks fs, I too am loving the VERY talented piano players PG Music has hired.

Hey chulaivet, thanks for your good inputs. I will try to implement them in future songs.
FWIW, Guitar 3 was panned Hard Right and Guitar 4 was panned L66, everything else had zero panning. The thinking was I wanted to seperate the 2 guitars so they wouldn't be confused as the same guitar. I do agree that the panning was a bit prominent but I thought that's what people like. I too prefer less prominence so that the blend is more central. There is probably a whole science behind this topic.

As for the BiaB piano riff that you didn't hear, it's short and begins at 1:40. There is also an organ riff at the same time that I am playing. But the organ may have too much volume which stepped on the piano too much. For any instrument I play I lean towards increasing the volume at least a little for 2 reasons 1) I hope others can give good critiscm on my playing and 2) when I'm "old" and my hearing begins to fail I'm hoping that I'll still be able to hear the parts I played.

Ha....grab an oar....we're in the same boat. I'm 76 this year...whew.

The panning....I think you'd arrive at acceptable separation with most panning at appr. 8:00 & 4:00 or 9:00 & 3:00.
I'd start with 10:00 & 2:00 then use your ears to decide.
As a rule, in the song writing context, I just don't think Hard panning is necessary or appealing from my POV.

Glad you accepted my points as I intended.

Back to it....

Nice sound... feels a bit like I fell into the 60's or something.

The piano bits sounded a bit more up front than anything else, but I'm listening to my monitors instead of headphones.

Interesting story, fun listen!

Needs vocals


I think it's a good song and a pleasant listen. It builds nicely and I always expected a singer to join the band.

It's funny that there are instrumentals that are supposed to have a singer and others don't.

I like your story, Steve, but there didn't seem to be "the happy ending" you guys were expecting. When I read your title, I was expecting a cool jam in a wintry cabin. Man, imagine a jam like that with all the musicians this program has to offer. You chose very well. Really nice build starting with the guitar, then bring in the bass followed closely by the rest of the rhythm section. Then the first soloist comes in on the right, soon followed by another on the left. The piano takes center stage and fades behind the guitars. This is just like a good jam. Then you WOW us bringing in the horn section who, up until this time, were hidden in the shadows to the back of the stage. Yeah, really good mix and a very enjoyable jam.

Funny... the other day I heard a bunch of girls about your age giggling about how they had a night of free beer and got to see a bunch of guys really making fools of themselves back at scout camp.

Hi Steve,

Your memories of that beer drinking bunch of boys, waiting to meet the girls (I thought) is a very nice one.
about the drinking experiences I think most of us will have their story on that.
Mine would be a little different than yours, but at the end I wasn't sober anymore.

a good song, a very nice solo, but -to be honest- like Vic I had hoped the vocals came in somewhere.
But that's because I like vocals in a song.
Now I read you can't sing, but have you tried it? Who knows? Some here at the forum also had no idea they could sing, but it turned out they could!

Hans

Thanks David, I guess it does have a 60s feel. If so it wasn't intentional.

Thanks BD. Now that you mention it I guess it could use vocals.
If you sing, let's collaborate.

Hey Marty, you are a HOOT !! We certainly wished that bunch of girls magically showed up that night, but alas, the truth must be told. They were no where to be found

But back to music. Thanks for your indepth review. The "message" I intended to transmit in this arrangement is exactly what you recieved. This is one of the many things that makes music so cooool, that it can actually communicate! Keep thumping, singing, writing and arranging man.

Hey Hans, we weren't waiting for the girls because the cabin looked abandoned. BUT, being a crew of normal, healthy post-puberty males with hormones rushing from head to toe we certainly would not have shooed them away if they had showed up. As a matter of fact, most conversations were either about girls, music or sports . . . in that order. Regarding that night I guess one could say

No sugar tonight in my coffee
No sugar tonight in my tea
No sugar to stand beside me
No sugar to run with me

Regarding the vocals, the best I can muster is the ooohs and aaahs in the background. But I do agree, vocals would be nice. Maybe somebody will express interest in collaborating at some point.