PG Music Home Forums General Discussion User Showcase Billionaire

Soundcloud: Billionaire
YouTube: Billionaire

DEVELOPMENT
Most of my songs posted to the User Showcase Forum have been middle-of-the-road and not intense. For some time, I’ve been wanting to record something heavier. This song is in a genre I will call ‘Tinnitus Rock’.

(EDIT: Soundcloud track replaced with side-chain ducking applied to lead guitar 24/1/2026.)

I wrote the riff over the top of the 4-chord progression for this song back in 2016 ... and it sat there until late 2025. Originally, it had the title 'Sweet thing' but that was just a placeholder. Given the heavy rock style, I thought it would be a good opportunity to outwork my views on the super-rich and wealth inequality, so the title and theme Billionaire was used. The angsty feel of the lyrics suited grunge.

As I started off with just the riff and chord progression from 2016, I had to choose a style, write melodies, add a chorus and write all the lyrics. I had in mind I wanted the riff to have a guitar sound like that found on ‘Come as you are’ by Nirvana, so I added distortion, chorus and reverb. In BIAB, I changed from the original RealStyle of _ELECTAM (Uplifting rock with tambourine) to _IMPURE (Guitar solo grunge rock).

RECORDING INFORMATION
Style is _IMPURE.STY (Impure Guitar Solo Grunge Rock)
RealDrums in style:RockHardLA^5-a:Snare, Loose HiHat , b:Snare, Open HiHat
RealTracks in style: ~684:Bass, Electric, PopHalfNotesSync Ev 120 – with distortion added
RealTracks in style: 3729:Guitar, Electric, Soloist GrungePopGritty Ev 110
RealTracks in style: 3727:Guitar, Electric, Rhythm GrungePopDist8ths Ev 110
RealTracks in style: 3728:Guitar, Electric, Rhythm GrungePopGritty2-note Ev 110
Additional RealTracks used:
RealTracks in song: 648:Guitar, Electric, Rhythm PopRockBritHeavy Ev 120 - only in verse 3
RealTracks in song: 697:Guitar, Electric, Rhythm ElecRockDirty Ev 120 - only in verse 3

Me:
Main vocal doubled – with 2nd -12dB and slightly right 18%
Backing vocals x 3 with low shelf pulled all the way down at 300hz + reverb
Riff played on my Ibanez AMV10A with EQ, distortion, chorus and reverb
Mixed in Reaper 7.59

LYRICS
VERSE 1
We pay through the nose for the things we don’t own
And we’re led by our noses by the screen on our phone
No-one new can buy their own home
You’re hidden in darkness so you remain unknown

Play INTRO

VERSE 2
Millions strive to make it week to week
Maximizing profits for the shareholders for whom you speak
I pay monthly but with nothing of mine
I feel like just a number to you – one in a line

CHORUS
It takes a billion Aussie dollar coins to fill over fifteen hundred swimming pools
Allowing you to do this, we’ve become the biggest of fools
Your wealth is greater than the GDP of many a small nation
And you move it around the globe to avoid the taxation

VERSE 3
The one percent grow at exponential rates
And the rest of us eat with no food on our plates
You sow the seeds of our discontent
You divide and conquer through our growing dissent

VERSE 4
One against the other shaking fists in the air
If you push us too far, you’re going to poke the bear
You grew rich on the back of our taxes
And you’ll meet your doom on the end of our axes

CHORUS
You accumulate your wealth just because you want more
You don’t know what it’s like to have the wolf at your door
Who will buy your stuff when there’s no-one left to buy
But I bet your gold purse will catch the tears you cry

OUTRO

CHORDS
See chord sheet attached

Sounds great overall, Andrew, I like the attitude. Love the intro. Cool riff! Good write.

For me I find the lead playing at the same time as the vocal a little busy, I'm more a fan of the lead guitar answering the vocal than competing with it. But! That's just my personal taste

Musically I love what you did in verse 3, followed by the build, very effective.

Good song, listened both on YT and SC.

Andrew,

That's a great sound. Love the edgy feel of this one. Your vocal is perfect for the arrangement. Excellent mix as well.

Nicely done!

Bob

‘Tinnitus Rock’. Ha! I love that. Guitar players standing under cymbals. Yep, this is a cool and heavy song, Andrew. Good mix. Also, Ilike the screenshot of the music. The break down really adds a huge gulp of dynamics. You caould sidechain-duck the guitar behind the vocal. I really like the harmony too, and sometimes the guitar overtakes it. Otherwise a brilliant mix.

Hi Andrew,

…..second attempt at a review! Lost the first one after accidentally closing the browser! ….hate doing things twice!!

Another strong lyric driven song with great subject matter. The opening riff sets the tone and we know we’re in for an angst filled ride. The IMPURE style really suits that angry vibe you’re going for. It has the feel of rebellion that a Green Day song has, I can hear Billie Joe giving it his all. I have to agree with one comment, that the lead guitar over the vocals is distracting at times, perhaps you could lower it at those times. The video was excellent as well, you’re getting a professional quality to those these days.

As always a good write, well played song from you Andrew. Kind regards

Hi Andrew.

This is a super sound. I love the topic, and the lyrics fit really well with the style and the arrangement. As Bob said, this is "edgy". In addition, your vocals and mix are great.
I enjoyed listening.

--Noel

Hi Dave - this 'busyness' was deliberate on my part because to my ears, grunge is like a wall of sound, so I tried to be true to the genre - or at least what I interpreted as the genre. e.g. I loathe this and heavy metal that are constantly using crash cymbals that drown out high end. But like you, I prefer space so I think in a few days I will do a little remix to lower the 3729 RT (or splice and dice around the vocal) and replace the track in SC. Re verse 3, I always think about variation in my recordings so it's not 3-4 minutes of the same. Thanks for listening twice!

Thanks Bob - and for the comment about my vocals. I was concerned that my voice is not build for grunge - I kept thinking it's a bit like Chris de Burgh trying to sing heavy metal. I thought I got the BVs right in the mix - they were initially a bit boomy but my mix got them more towards the back I hope.

Thanks Marty - see comment above about the guitar in the mix. I think I know what you mean about 'sidechain-duck the guitar' but could you elaborate a bit more about this technique - or point me to a resource that will explain it? Re the screenshot, I'm going to do this in future with my new releases. The break in verse 3 enabled me to see how much ringing in the ears I actually had!

Yes Lee - I've done that a few times as well. I can never write as well the second time around. Yes, I am getting into a rhythm with the video production - most of my time goes into searching for relevant content - glad you liked it.

Thanks Noel! I'm not an edgy or angsty person by nature, so I can only listen to this type of music in small doses. However, the riff I had from 2016 required me to do something out of the norm to do it justice. I have to admit I have been doing a lot of reading and pod listening on the topic in recent months, so it does get me riled up a bit.

Thanks everyone for listening and commenting!

Andrew

I read the comments before listening, which made me think I might not like this. But everything about it worked fine for me. I think you mixed it well and that is why it works. Your song had a lot of energy and attitude and that was very appealing to me. Whenever a songwriter chooses a political topic, there are bound to be some prosody issues. But you did a good job and there were only a few awkward phrases.

Of course I am in alliance with the subject matter, I feel so badly for young people struggling in this new world economy. If you don't have the kind of skills that command a high salary, you are screwed. If the economic disparity gets any worse, there will be major protests in the streets, I think. We'll see.

G'day Andrew
I really like the way you have assembled the tracks for maximum dramatic effect. Sounds great.
The panned guitars are very effective in adding tension to a serious subject but as others have suggested I also think they could use some ducking, but no biggie. This song has a Midnight Oil vibe IMO (a good thing) which is "code" for a song which makes a strong statement.
So good to hear you exploring other musical territory and you (and I, the listener) have been rewarded with a great song.

just quickly because I think you asked another poster and I wanted to add my dodgy 2c's worth.
"ducking" is most commonly used with bass and kick drum but is also relevent in preventing tracks stealing energy from the main player - usually vocals. Some use plugins like "trackspacer" but I prefer to use a tracks automation (in this case the guitars) and manually adjust the volume down while the singer is active. The automation can be copied and pasted to other tracks where required so you only have to do this once.
IMO manual automation is a fantastic and fun way to rid one's self of some CPU sucking plug ins.

sorry for jumping in, I didn't mean to distract from your very good song and it's important message.

Keep making your great music
Izzy

Thanks Izzy - I used volume automation on the guitar (I didn't know this was called 'ducking') but obviously not enough! I was worried that the guitar might be up and down and this might be disorientating for the listener - anyway, I'll be a bit more bullish with my automation and see how it goes. I just need to have a breather so I have some fresh ears.

Regarding the Midnight Oil vibe (BTW - RIP Rob Hirst), this *is* a protest song but maybe not 'staccato' enough to be Midnight Oil proper? I also missed my opportunity for a bit of crazy dancing and hand waving on the video!

Thanks for listening and your tips!

Andrew

G'day Andrew,

Thanks for pointing me over here from the other sub forum.

I think a certain Mr Garrett would be happy with the song, it's right in The Oils wheelhouse and I can imagine what it would sound like with Rob Hirst (RIP) driving it along.

As for ducking, I use it from kick to bass to allow the beater hit to come through without competition from the bass and also to a bit less aggressively to give the lead vocal space from a dominant fill/backing instrument.

I'm not sure in other DAWs but it's simple in Reaper using sidechain compression, for the kick I do a send from the kick to the bass to land as aux to the comp on the bass, I set the attack at zero and the release at 10ms with something around a 3db cut, I'm sure I'm preaching to the converted and highly skilled here but it could help those who don't understand the concept.

Hi Rob!
To be honest, I wasn’t sure I was going to like this song either. That might sound odd, but I have wrestled with it for a few weeks before settling on this result. With the help of forum members, I can see where I can tweak it to improve it somewhat.
I’m glad it worked for you as well, and thanks for the comments about the tricky subject content!
Andrew

Hi Dave! Glad you’ve popped over for a look and listen! I reckon you have a few songs with BIAB content you could post here and they’d have a lot of appeal.

I’m still not sure enough about this side-chain thing but you’ve given me enough words to be able search for video tutorials.

Second comment about the Oils so I must have added some unintended vibe that our Aussie members have picked up.

Andrew

Sorry to butt in The easiest way to duck guitar with vox using Reaper, which I know you use, is to use the Reaper ReaComp plugin as the last effect on your guitar track. Feed it via the side chain input (3/4) from the vocal track. And then adjust the Threshold to get the level you want. Much faster than using automation. I learned how to do it from a Kenny Gioia video many years ago. Set up the compressor similar to this:

Andrew, love the groovy thang you have goin' on here. That opening guitar section is superb. Love the guitar-driven overall sound, too. Great vocals, and I'd agree that the gentle double tracking suits you very well. Great arrangement, and the bridge is quite tasty indeed. Yes, heavier, but still catchy and cool.

Andrew,

You definitely achieved a "heavy" sound here and it sounds great to me!
Very clever lyric writing!
My favorite part of the song is the chorus section which uses a wonderful melodic structure supported by the perfect sync basslines and guitars moving around it all!
Great song! Well done! TB

Totally agree with the song's sentiments - on social media I've been writing essays on the subject for awhile now, when usually I write about spirituality and evolving consciousness - plus you've got a great chord structure for it, but I agree with Dave in that I find the rhythm section too crowded.

Terrific gritty rockin' tune, Andrew! I did something like that with a Twisted Sister feel which I'll post sometime...a Democrat theme called "Ride the Wave" a couple years before our disastrous election. It was unlike anything else I had done. It's fun to get into something different every so often. You broke out of your usual in a great way. John

From 60's pop to 90's grunge, you have quite a musical range I enjoyed this heavier song, nice memorable riff that somehow reminds me of the 80's new wave. And I like the punk attitude in the lyrics, injustice clearly expressed, which reminded me also of Midnight Oil. Good mix and I enjoyed your expressive vocals and fitting harmonies, very good work! I would be more than happy to hear more of your angry statements

Janne

Andrew, this is a great song.
Great vocal and lyrics
Super groove
To nitpick I didn't care for the guitar playing licks like that while you were singing. It was very busy and detracting from your vocals. However that is just my opinion and others may not agree.
Regardless this is a very good song.