Many of you will have heard Andy, one of our students, sing on here before and this is a track which we wrote together. The project was done from start to finish in Powertracks, basically because we played in all the tracks instead of using RTs. You all know by now that I'm a big fan of the Powertracks mixer and it played a big part in putting this song together. It might not sound like it, but we used up all 48 tracks! Each section of BVs had it's own sub-mix with separate dynamics and reverb routed to the sub-bus and the lead vocal occupied three different tracks, again with different effects and with volume and effects automation.

The lead vocal and acoustic guitar is Andy and I'm doing the BVs, electric guitars and keyboards. The electric piano and fretless bass are Forte, the Hammond is Trio and the cellos are Edirol Orchestral. The effects are mainly PG music with an Antress balancing amp on the main output bus.

No Matter What
If you ever want to love me
If you ever decide to take a chance
You know I will be waiting
All it takes is just one glance
If you ever need a lover
Or maybe just a friend to hold your hand
Come on over, baby
It takes two, lets make a stand
No matter what, you'll always have a friend in me.

My heart it yearns for you
There ain't nothing that I want to do
You're the only one for me
Take my hand and I'll make you see

If you ever see the sunrise
And don't want to watch it on your own
All you do is call me
You'll find my number on your phone
If you ever get that feeling
And your favourite song is on the air
If you need to share it
Call my name and I'll be there

Many thanks to all who have the time to listen.

ROG.

I really enjoyed this one. Excellent production. I'll be listening a few more times this afternoon.


Charlie

ROG,

Vocals sound nice, very nice and I like the break-down just before the guitar solo starts.

Interesting mix ideas about 3 vocal tracks. Were they 3 separate takes or 3 copies? Hmm anyway that has started me thinking about my vocals!

Anyway I am very glad I listened to that, very glad

I have a "see how good a song is" test. I open the door, wind up the song loud and wait for a neighbour to say something and I got a reaction today, the FIRST!!! Next door's Husky started howling. or was he singing along

up to your normal high standards ROG

Alyn

Thanks, Charlie.
Listening more than once is the best complement!

ROG

Quite rewarding too, ROG. I begin to hear some of the nuances after several listens in and come away even more amazed at the product you and your students accomplish with each submission.

Charlie

Hi Alyn.
The way we did Andy's vocal was to record the verse, the pre-chorus and then the chorus, each on separate tracks. This made the mix easier, as we needed different volumes, dynamics and effects on each part of the song. We'd never have done this if we'd had a restriction on the track count, as we would have had in the days when we worked with tape.

Thanks for the listen, the nice comments and I hope the dog wasn't too distressed.

ROG.

Thanks for the vocal info, sensible really, Why hadn't I thought of that!
Congratulate Andy on a good lead vocal.

No Nuke the Husky always howls when he is let out , this time his timing was perfect.
I too have just listened again, door closed this time LOL

Alyn

ROG and Andy...

Nice job. That opening is sweet! Very much a signature ROG sound.

Cool melody on this - a little bit Henley, a little bit Grass Roots...

I like that little crack that Andy has in his vocals...

That lead really sings! Nice! Super tone.

Enjoyed a few listens...

floyd

Really love the feel of this!! Sort of a Neal Young rocker. Drums sound very BIG. Nice vocal/solo. Good write! A winner all the way around! Take care. Greg

Hi Floyd.

Many thanks for listening - always value your views.

Once we'd got the basics of the melody, Andy went to work experimenting with it and adapting the phrasing to suit his own style. The catch in his voice really works well, adding emotion to the vox and I put a bit of 4Khz on it to bring it out.

Pleased you liked the lead - old Telecaster this time, DI'd with the California Sun Plug-in.

Thanks again, ROG.

Hi Greg.

I DO like the Neil Young rocker reference!

I use Realdrums a lot these days, but on this one it's sequenced up in midi using samples we made up ourselves, all heavily compressed to get the big sound.

Thanks for the listen and kind comments.

ROG.

+1 to what's already been said. Prof ya did it again. What a cool pop song/production.

I especially liked that melody, Andy's terrific sounding vocal oozes emotion and that guitar solo is super.

ROG, Big sound! Andy's vocal sounds great. The guitars sound great throughout. That's a super idea about the three tracks of vocals. Like Alyn says, Why didn't I think of that. I sometimes boost my chorus vocals with volume automation, but your technique allows for different processing. I liked everything about this. Nicely done. Tom

Hey Josie.

Many thanks for the review - I always like to get your opinion.

Yeah, Andy can really pile on the emotion and I don't even have to remind him to do it these days!

Glad you liked the solo, too. It was a fun chord sequence to solo over and another chance to use my old Telecaster - still my favourite guitar after all these years.

Take care, ROG.

Hi Tom.

Thanks for the nice comments. Glad you liked the guitars - coming from a guitarist like you that's a great complement.

These days, with so many tracks available, we use a new track for anything which might need it's own settings. It's why we always have such a high track count. I sometimes think back to the eight-track tape machines and how track eight would always have bits and pieces scattered all over the track. Each bit would need a different setting and there was no desk automation. We'd end up with several pairs of hands all trying to work different parts of the desk channel at the same time and all falling over each other. Happy days!

Thanks again, ROG.

Holy cow! 48 tracks? Sheesh...my old brain would
need a giant flowchart between the monitors for me
to even think about something like that. I mixed in the
60's and 70's and not in our wildest imagination did we
ever dream it would come to this.

This production sounds HUGE....but nothing gets in the
way. The soundstage is stellar on our KRK's. I'm down
with floyd's mention of Don Henley. We have enjoyed
Henley for decades and Andy, for us, has that feel.

The write, the vocal, your playing, the arrangement,
the production...the whole package is outstanding.

This one got added to our SC playlist before the
song was half way through.

WTG guys!!

J&B

PS enjoyed reading about how it all came together.

Loved the vocals. Very cool tune. Guitar intro was very nice as well

Hi J&B

Thanks for the listen. We always admire the standard of your own stuff, so it's especially nice to get such positive comments from you.

Yeah, the track count does sound excessive, doesn't it. One of the elements which contributed to this song was the amount of BVs. There are four different BVs - Oooh, Aaah, and two lines with lyrics. Each section was recorded on separate tracks, so that we could do sub-mixes. The Ooohs and Aaahs were in two-part harmony, so had eight tracks each and the lyrics BVs four each, giving us a total of 24 tracks. The beauty of assigning each section to a sub-group is that once we had a balance within the sections, all the BVs were controlled by just four faders.

I sometimes get annoyed with computers, but at the end of the day, there's no way I'd want to go back to the old systems!

Thanks again for looking in.

ROG.

Nice work; great vocal; thanks for sharing!

Hi, Rog and Andy !:))

WOW, what a tune !!
and so expertly
executed in every
aspect !!!

My Rogfav from now on !!

Cheers
Dani

wow! That's a major production. Sounds totally professional. Cheers.

Hello ROG,

Seeing the title: 'No matter what' immediately made me think of Boyzone (which I like by the way, haha). But this was something completely different.

it's a beautiful song, very well done and I very much like the backing vocals on the chorus.
One little nit: through my speakers I detect some distortion in the mix, especially in the chorus. Is this correct?

Apart from that, this is up to your usual high standards!

Rob

Hi Scott.

Thanks for the listen and the nice comments.

ROG.

Many thanks, Robert.

Always value your reviews.

ROG

Hi Dani.

Many thanks. Pleased that it's now your fav track!

ROG

Hi RichMac.

Thanks for the listen. Professional is what we aim for, so your comments are much appreciated.

ROG.

ROG and Andy,

It's lots of applause from here in Melbourne for you both. This was just great to listen to.

Andy, you've got a great set of pipes on you; moreover, you know how to use them! Terrific song, terrific lead work, too.

ROG, this production must have taken quite a while to pull together. It seems like a 5,000 piece jigsaw puzzle and every bit only has a single spot made for it. Impressive.

This is a creation that you both have every right to feel mega-proud of.

All the best,
Noel

• a recent song: Just A Little After Midnight

Hi there R & A-M.

Thanks for the listen and the review.

In the chorus there are some over-driven guitars chugging on Root/5th and I think that this is probably what you're hearing. It's the only part of the song which has them in and I've listened again and can't hear any distortion other than that which is intended. Those guitars are there to lend a bit of power to the bass in that section and you've got good ears to separate them out from everything else which is going on!

Very pleased that you liked it otherwise.

Cheers, ROG.

Hi Noel.

Always pleased when I get a review from you.

Yes, it did take a while to put together. The basic chord structure, melody and lyrics came fairly quickly, but it's all the bits and pieces which take the time. This is when working in Powertracks is such a delight. It would have taken ten times as long on tape, if it could have been done at all! We'd have needed to record all the BVs in one go, instead of being able to track them all up.

Anyway, many thanks for listening and all the kind words.

ROG.

Hello

great song and tone used

It must have been a hard job to use all 48 tracks!!

can you tell me what effect you used on the guitar?
It is highly helpful for me.

Thanks.

Hello.

Hi Sergio.

Thanks for the listen and review.

For this guitar solo, the guitar went through an old (1970s) Carlsboro amp with a line out to the computer. The effect was California Sun, which is an absolutely brilliant plug-in. Even better - it's free and you can get it from here.

http://audiorammer.com/site/?q=freetortion-series/volume-v-california-sun

Read about it on this screen and then click "downloads" at the top of the screen. It's simple to use and works well for both clean and over-drive sounds.

The sound was probably helped by the fact that I was playing a 1959 Fender Telecaster - I've had it for a long time, so I didn't pay a collector's price for it!

Cheers, ROG.