Driving In The Fast Lane


This is a song I put aside several months ago. It's a guitar Jazz instrumental. I've been a fan of Larry Carlton for many years and decided I would try to compose an original in his style. I think I got pretty close. The busy bass line and semi-aggressive drums are significant markers for his style, so I concentrated quite a bit on getting those two elements as close as possible. And on his live performances, he always has an EP to fill the soundstage, so I went with that, too.

If you're not a Jazz fan, this may not be your cup of tea. If you are, hope it rings true to my intentions. I have 7 or 8 hours invested in this one, quite a bit of time for me.

Thanks in advance to all who listen and drop a few words for me.

Alan


Here are the people to blame for this having happened:


File:Driving In The Passing Lane.SGU

Key=D , Tempo 125, Length (m:s)=3:17


Style is _ZOOMIN.STY (Zoomin' Soul Jazz Guitar Soloist)

RealTracks in song: 2260:Bass, Electric, FunkyGroove60s Ev 100
RealTracks in song: 4856:Organ, Rhythm SoulJazzGroovinFunkRHComping Ev 100
RealTracks in style: 4885:Guitar, Electric, Rhythm SoulJazzFastFunk Ev 130
RealTracks in style: 4886:Guitar, Electric, Soloist SoulJazzFastFunkBrent Ev 130
RealDrums in Song: BongosEv8
RealDrums in Song: TambourineSteady8ths
RealDrums in style:SoulJazzFastFunkEv16: a: SyncSnare&Kick,HiHat b: SyncSnare&Kick,Ride




About My Mixing For This Song - Some Of It Applies To All My Mixes:

For anyone who might be interested, here's most of my reply to Bob (Robert Dean) regarding the dynamics of my mixing approach. Although it's specific to this particular song, much of it applies to my general approach to most songs.

I particularly appreciate that comment as that's the direction. (He was commenting about the dynamics of this song). I was attempting to take this. As far as dynamics, that took a little extra work, primarily with the bass line and the drum kit.

For a bass line that busy, tone is crucial - otherwise it can quickly get mushy or too thin. I gave the bass a fair amount of attention, mostly using BIAB's five-band EQ. I slightly pulled back on the bottom (everything lower than 60 was brought down about 10%). I then added a little more to the mid-range - not much, just a small amount- mostly between 200 & 250). And voila!

I did two things slightly differently with the drums. I usually give the drums a small amount of reverb (30 -40) to make them meld a little better with the other instrumentation. Sometimes I also give them a small amount of upper-mid EQ to enhance the toms a bit and, to a much lesser degree, give the cymbals a little more body. But in this case, I gave the entire drum kit less reverb (10), and I gave some additional high-end EQ to emphasize the cymbals while also brightening the smaller toms.

Anyway, that was my process. I'm fortunate - and thankful - to receive some nice comments on my mixes. Drums and bass play a large part in my listening preferences. I've read up a lot on mixing drums - instrument placement, too.

Last edited by Al-David; 09/16/25 04:59 AM.
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