A Short Way Over You - Travins 'n Tondreau, is our take on a Montgomery/Gentry song, (but that's us.)

https://soundcloud.com/dtravz/a-short-way-over-you

BPM: 125
Style: _BLSHF^1.STY
RD: BluesShuffle^6
RT: 654 Guitar, TexasBoogieShuffle Sw 140
RT: 680 Guitar, RockBritSoulful Ev 85
RT: 787 Guitar, CrossoverClean Sw 16 090
RT: 571 Harmonica, Background Blues Monday Sw 65

We used the RT guitar tracks to set the rhythm up with the RDs. They are threaded thru the song as necessary. I played the bass lines while Paul recorded a multitude of guitar tracks that we raided as we saw fit. The harmonica parts completed the solo section, and, oh yeah, no harmonizer used. Just Paul over dubbing countless takes until we dropped!
It was our first effort of using BB to frame the song, and then RB to add our tracks, mix down, and generate the final version.
Big learning curve, lots of mistakes, but worth the education.

Thanks for listening.

Doug

Excellent song. Awesome rhythm to the song. Excellent playing and singing

Hi Doug.

I DO like that one.

Great song nicely done. I particularly liked where it dropped down around 2.20 - that was a really professional touch.

Vocals were great, though some of the quiet words were disappearing into the backing just a bit. Maybe a touch of upward limiting on the vox track might help, but I'm being really picky here. You've shown us now that you don't need that harmonizer!

Another track that benefits from playing LOUD.

A good one.

ROG.

Doug/Paul,

Great track. Good production. Tasty bass line and guitars.
The vocals have a great "raw energy" to them - y'all definitely done need anyone else singing your songs!!

The harmonies sound good, too. If you get around to trying the harmonizer in RealBand... one option (trick?) is to add four tracks of that in at a level that you have to REALLY listen to know they are there. Mixed in with your own harmonies, it gives a nice wash of harmony "overtones"...

The mix is good. I would like to hear the drums (snare in particular) up some to really drive the rhythm (you'll find that I tell people this all the time... it's one of my soapbox items...)

FUN song!

floyd

Hi Doug and Paul,
An enjoyable listen.

Guenter

I like this --- the arrangement, the vocals, the instruments and the mix. Really strong rhythm. I'm with floyd on the snare and as somebody who's consistently mixed drums down I never thought I'd come around to this! But I've learned that some of the groups whose rhythm I really like, e.g., Mellencamp, etc., always have that "pop" on that snare. Pardon the ramble -- this is a fine production and we really enjoyed it.

Another excellent Blues Shuffle!!
I may throw it all up, grow my hair again and get back to the 60's. Now then, where DID I put my hair??!!
Well sung and good choice of Style and tracks. Who needs a harmonizer?
Well Played, guys
ian

Doug...

This is our first time to listen to you. We've been here a couple of weeks now. Love Shuffle Blues and this one rocks! Usually "busy" mixes don't appeal too us, but you have everything balanced and perfectly placed...it was great! loved the vocal harmony. Thanks for a great listen...

Al & Di

Well I'm energized with all the nice feedback. Thanks.
I tend to agree with your comments. One of my weak spots is with the final mastering of the final mix. I never feel I get it right but don't want to tweak and tweak and tweak to make it sound different, but make it sound better...like the snare shot. I too, love the crack of a hot snare but I need to work on making it stand out on the track without clobbering other parts. I did a better job with the snare on another song we did. I need to be more patient and put it down when my ears crap out for the night.

Hey Doug...

There are a few different ways to get "more snap" from that snare...

The first to try is to EQ the drum track in a narrow range that catches the snare - and bump that up. I mix in Sony Acid Pro, so I use the available EQ plugin. It looks like this....



Note the bump is at about 1.5k. Try that in whatever your EQ choice might be...

Yeah, I'm going to give that a try. I plan on working on some of these mixes in the near future. I shoot wedding videos for the DJ I work for as her audio/video tech, (I get to do the load-in/load-out too which is not so good), and first have to complete the remaining wedding video I shot this past October. After that I'm a free man to start my remixes.
Thanks.

Good job on the cover tune.

@Guitarhacker

Herb
Thanks. I think I lead everyone to believe that this IS a Montgomery/Gentry song that we covered. I should have been a little clearer. This is an original song of ours that we think best sounds like something Montgomery/Gentry would do.
And, I'd love to have them do it <grin>.