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Posted By: floyd jane I Can't Walk The Line - 10/09/12 03:35 PM
BIAB continues to amaze me! Wanted this one to be just a "guitar band" sound. Ammazed by how few tracks were required to get what I wanted...

I Can't Walk The Line

Here is the list of RealTracks:
RealTracks in song: ~~520:Bass, Electric, Pop HalfNotes Ev 165
RealTracks in song: 978:Guitar, Electric, Rhythm CountrySwingGrittyHeld Sw 140
RealTracks in song: 1718:Guitar, Electric, Rhythm TexasBluesRockStraightBrent Ev 120
RealTracks in song: 1708:Guitar, Electric, Soloist CountryBrent Ev 165 (Bluesy)
RealDrums in Song: NashvilleEven8^1-a:Sidestick, HiHat , b:Snare, Ride

I added the vocal and harmonies.

Hope you enjoy it. Comments/critiques welcomed.
Posted By: occ Re: I Can't Walk The Line - 10/09/12 06:14 PM
Hey Floyd!! I really like this one. Good use of RealTracks and vocals and harmony is good. Good country song. occ
Posted By: SpaceDog Re: I Can't Walk The Line - 10/09/12 06:37 PM
Floyd,
Excellent tune. Great sentiment!
SD
Posted By: Achordocaster Re: I Can't Walk The Line - 10/09/12 11:46 PM
Very nice! Catchy tune, good mix, good vocals... What's not to like

Greg
Posted By: Brallan Re: I Can't Walk The Line - 10/10/12 12:12 AM
Very nice, Floyd... I think I went to High School with Lisa.

Seriously, you have a lyrical gift. What seems important to me, and what is often lacking in so many efforts here on the forum, is a natural, conversational style of lyric-writing... singing the way people actually talk. This is especially true in country music of course, but I am sure that Ira Gershwin and Oscar Hammerstein would know precisely what I mean as well.

There have been some great threads lately here on lyric writing, but I don't recall whether this simple crucial idea has been presented and absorbed.

Keep writing, PG Music software is ideal for your style.
Posted By: F.M.M. Re: I Can't Walk The Line - 10/10/12 12:47 AM
hi floyd great production mix everything vocals all top notch thanks for sharing eric
Posted By: Sundance Re: I Can't Walk The Line - 10/10/12 12:51 AM
+1 to what's already been said. I like it.

Btw, really nice job of mixing in the swing track with the even ones and making the tracks work together.

Posted By: seeker Re: I Can't Walk The Line - 10/10/12 02:24 AM
Floyd,

Great song again...

As Josie said +1
Posted By: floyd jane Re: I Can't Walk The Line - 10/10/12 02:01 PM
occ, SD, Greg, eric, Frank - thanks for the listen and the kind comments

Josie - I've figured out that you can never know what will fit until you try it - so I try as many as I can - even if the name suggests it won't work.

Brad - You're right. A lyric should always be conversational. And the cadence of the words need to fit naturally with the melody. Cover that and you've got it pretty well licked..
Posted By: PgFantastic Re: I Can't Walk The Line - 10/10/12 06:27 PM
Very well constructed tune, great clean vocal. Song is very well mixed. I use to have that same mentality until I figured out you reap what you sew.



My Music
Posted By: Steve Young Re: I Can't Walk The Line - 10/11/12 03:46 AM
Floyd,

Very nice! Well written, and well produced. I really enjoyed this one!

Steve
Posted By: Tano Music Re: I Can't Walk The Line - 10/11/12 02:34 PM
Real nice song...how cool it is when BIAB makes it come together like this!
Floyd Jane...what style did you use?
Posted By: Noel96 Re: I Can't Walk The Line - 10/12/12 09:37 AM
Hi Floyd,

Great writing, great arranging, great mixing and first class singing. The hook is excellent. I was very impressed by the way you set the metaphor up and milked it for all it was worth. That's a skill I've still got to master! Thank you for showing me how it's done well

All the best,
Noel
Posted By: floyd jane Re: I Can't Walk The Line - 10/12/12 06:44 PM
PgF, Steve - thanks for the nice comments.

Tano - I did not really use a Style. There was a one there when I opened BIAB, but I ignored it and replaced all the instrumnets with RealTracks, so the style relly had no affect.

Noel - you are certaianly no slouch in any of those categories yourself - so I certainly appreciate your comments! As for "milking the hook"... I lean towards "commercial Country" (bet you never guessed that!) and when you spend a lot of time writing you end up thinking about it all the time and looking for "hooks" that lend themselves to such a treatment. Something that has more than a single dimension. It makes the writing a lot easier.
Posted By: eddie1261 Re: I Can't Walk The Line - 10/12/12 08:01 PM
Nice. Now what part did Pickles sing?
Posted By: BruceI Re: I Can't Walk The Line - 10/13/12 02:35 AM
I agree with many of the previous comments. Good song, with a very natural-sounding track in spite of the mix-and-match (with even and swing parts). Convincing vocal too. Reminds me a bit of Clint Black.

The lyrics are good and tell a consistent story, but somehow the chorus feels a little long and talky or "versish" to me relative to the verses. I often have the same problem, and of course this depends on the song, sometimes a longish chorus works. I tried to think of it as a climb (or pre-chorus)/chorus - it does have something of that feel. But often when there's a longish chorus, there's a hook line that comes earlier and then repeats (Clint Black "Nothing but the taillights" comes to mind). Of course you do have "stand in line" and later "walk the line."

Just some thoughts, NSAI-workshop style. I'm only saying this because you mentioned commercial country where I have been told the hook has to be not just good, but "undeniable." Mine have all been denied.

Thank for sharing,
Bruce
Posted By: floyd jane Re: I Can't Walk The Line - 10/13/12 01:36 PM
eddie - Pickles sat this one out. She did the beer run.

Bruce,

Some interesting thoughts. Thanks for taking the time (and for listening in the first place). Certainly don't mind the Clint Black comparison. His first album was one of the best country albums ever recorded, IMO. Like you mentioned, these things are sort of on a song-by-song basis. The idea of a "hook" has changed significantly over the years. "Old country" was filled with them. I've always thought of them as "the clever hook". The song is written to wrap around that "clever hook". And it is often repeated several times. It was once the dominant writing style (Nashville-wise, anyway). That pretty much "went out of style" quite some time ago. Nashville publishers sort of "turn their noses up" at those kind of songs these days. Ocassionally, you will hear one, but not often (Brad Paisley does it as well as anyone). These days it's more of a "title phrase" that a song is written around - it's not really a "hook" in the traditional sense. And a good percentage of what is recorded these days have more a "verse-y" chorus.

In this case, the "hook" did not lend itself to being at the end of the verse or at the beginning of the chorus, so it becomes the chorus "wrap up". Just the place it landed... I'm finishing up a mix on a song that just POUNDS the "hook" - perhaps a bit too much - and I was thinking... "No one really records these anymore."

As an example, the song that "got the closest" for me (Clay Walker had it "on hold" for 3 months. Once he released it, Jeff Carson picked it up and actually recorded it for his second album, but it was dropped right before the album was released) is very similiar to this one - it only had the "title phrase" at the end of the chorus... so you just never know. It really does "depend on the song".

Again... thanks for taking the time... I appreciate it.
Posted By: MarioD Re: I Can't Walk The Line - 10/13/12 02:59 PM
It’s all been said, great song, super vox and outstanding lyrics.

Your songs are getting better and better and this is your best one to date IMHO!
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