Life ain't a Cookie Jar

Nothing fancy this time, just a standard 12 bar I-IV-V blues, although it's the first time we have done a major key blues.

The band:

1922:Bass, Electric, TexasBluesRockSlow12-8 Sw 060
675:Organ, B3, Background Blues Monday Sw 065

I used EZDrummer2 to build the drum track, and I'm playing the lead and rhythm guitar parts.

Mixed with reaper using iZotope Neutron 2 and plugins from Waves, mastered using Ozone 8 and LMC

EDIT: Uploaded a new mix, tweaked the vocal as per suggestion from Tom.

EDIT2: More tweaks, also uploaded to Soundcloud

Life ain't a Cookie Jar (2018, Christiane Spruit)

Life won't treat you kind 2x
tossing and turning and cry
howling like wind in the chimes
Life won't treat you kind
No matter how you pray
turn around or walk away
Life won't treat you kind

Heaven, heaven can wait
Just let me get something straight
Life ain't a cookie jar
just getting drunk in a bar
heaven won't get that far
no matter who you blame
it is always the one and the same
heaven wont get that far

Solo

down down down
down to myself
the key of life, lies top of the shelf
next to the open jar
no matter who you are
Life ain't a cookie jar
(guitar)
Life ain't a cookie jar

All comments welcome!

Dave and Chris, Now that's what I'm talkin bout!!! Fantabulous performances. Good write with an intriguing hook line. Masterful guitar work with the perfect amp setting for the song. The only change I would make to the mix is to bring the vocal back a hair and add a touch of delay and reverb. In other words the vocal seemed too upfront and very dry. This is a great song that just needs a minor tweak. I'll be listening again for sure. Tom

Dave / Chris,

Wow! You guys are in excellent form! Tremendous performance - loved the mix.

Much enjoyed!

Bob

Thanks, Tom! I updated the mix with your suggestion.

The amp sim I'm using on this is the Custom '57 BTW.

Dave&Chris,

Another super Blues track. Everything is "sweet" (like a cookie)

Nice vocal. Good job on the drums. The bass sounds especially good - beefy and punchy. Organ is nicely done, too...

Killer guitar work.

Y'all are really good at this.

fj

Hi BlueAttitude,
Nice and gritty, great intro playing those cookies just right!

Dave & Chris

Excellent blues. Dave sounds like you've played the blues before! Some wonderful playing accompanying Chris strong vocal.
Nice overall sound - the guitar sounds superb.

Peter

Wow. My kind of cookies. Awesome guitar work. Just love your tone. Very sweet playing. And Christiane's vocal was just superb. Well done...

Oh yeah! Love it. And were it not for 12 bar blues our catalog would be reduced by half!

Another killer vocal and great guitar. We'd like to point out how sweet the fills are. A lot of guitar players don't weave around the vocals like that.

All is good. The mix is open and airy and the sparse production is ALL that is needed to showcase the vocals and guitar.

Right square in the middle of our wheelhouse!

J&B

Thanks Bob, happy you liked this!

Dave/Chris,

I think you nailed the vocal mix on the Soundcloud version...and your guitar sounds great.
Begs to be played loud!

Robert

BlueAttitude,

Nothing here not to love. Awesome lead guitar work and overall excellent production. Really enjoyed my listen on this one. Thanks for sharing!

Kind regards,

Deej

Thanks as always, Floyd!

I didn't do much to the bass, just added the EQ section from Neutron so I could add a dynamic EQ node to pull down a specific frequency that was booming. Other than that, no other processing.

I dig the organ sounds in this BlueAttitude! Very smooth vocals too they sound great! really fond of the progression too. Thanks for sharing this!

Thanks LPman!

Yes, once or twice Thanks, Peter!

Thanks, Scott! Always on the hunt for the ultimate tone ...

Thanks very much, Bud, and thanks especially for mentioning the fills! I like doing the call and response thing with the vocal, lots of fun.

Yeah, needs to be loud for sure! Thanks, Robert!

Thanks for stopping by, Deej! Really liked the song you posted, looking forward to hearing more from you!

Not much else to say that hasn't been said.

Thanks for the listen and comment, David!

How the blues should sound!! Oozing with blue! Great guitar and vocal. Love the feel of the arrangement and mix. Great!! Take care. Greg

Dave,

This is a really solid tune, and some good playing there buddy.

I am sorry about the picture though, to see you in such a state.

Cheer up buddy. It is going to get better.

"Oozing with blue!" , great line! Going to remember that one.

Thanks for the listen and comment, Greg!




Thanks, David I see you have a new one up, I'll be along shortly to give it a spin.

Dave/chris,

Real Blues and as good as it gets! Everything is superb here! The vocal is perfect and those smokin' licks on that strat (I would guess) are GREAT!! You folks always bring it! Thanks, Torrey

Good ear, yes, I'm using a strat on this one.

Thanks, Torrey!

Excellent tone for a SIM.
It helps that you've a more overdriven tone than gain stacked.
Top job in EZDrummer - it oh, so easy to overplay a kit in those programs, (that's why I've settled on RealDrums because they're real and not overplayed).
Vocals sit nicely - the tweaks certainly worked. I know quite a few people who ignore reverb on vocals - preferring delay - I've not learnt how to be subtle enough with delay - I've only just learnt with reverb.
Back on topic - cool stuff.

Nice work guys,

Love the lead guitars!

Rob

Thanks for the listen and detailed comments, Ray!

Yes, amp Sims have come a long way in a short period of time and continue to get better. Waves just released a new one designed by Paul Reed Smith that is supposed to be quite good, and the one I use, S-Gear, is due for a new release soon.

I mostly use RealDrums too, the only time I use EZD2 is when I need something specific that I can't get with Realdrums.

For the vocals, the final version has both delay and reverb.

Thanks again!





Cheers, Rob! I see you have a new one, I'll be along shortly to give it a spin.

We've now listened to this through three different sounds systems. The mix sounds great on all three and the song seems to just get better and better. And it started out great!

J&B

Oh I like this! So much has already been said that's right on. I would type more, but it would cut into my listening to it again time. Great job! Really great job.

Well, the current mix is actually the fourth since the initial upload, mostly tweaks to the vocal based on the thread Floyd started. This mix has both delay and reverb on the vocal, and I added some saturation too.

Thanks for giving this another spin, I appreciate it!



Hey, thanks very much!

I'm enjoying reading your posts over on the mixing forum, you obviously have a lot of knowledge on the subject.