Hi, all:

Here's another co-write with John Vaughn. Seemed fitting to go with a harder rock style with these lyrics . . . but I hadn't quite gone there before with BIAB, and certainly not quite vocally. John was especially patient with me as I seemingly took forever to come up with something somewhat listenable (at least I hope).

For better or worse, here's the result. Feedback is always welcome and appreciated (my mix, as always, is ever a work in progress). Thanks in advance for taking the time to listen.

My best regards to you all.

Here's the song:

ASHES

Here are the lyrics:

(V) When the wind howls
keeping you awake;
when your dog barks
at your creaking gate;
go bury your head and try to hide,
because I won’t be there
to keep the boogie man outside.

(V) When your phone rings,
it won’t be me;
I heard the fat girl sing,
so our love is history
I’m building a funeral pyre
of sad memories,
I’m burning them to ashes
so finally I’m free . . .

(C) Ashes—they might even blow your way—
Ashes—from all the bridges that I’ve burned today—
Ashes—there’ll be no rising like a phoenix—
Ashes, ashes—burn what’s between us.

(V) No, I won’t be there
keeping you from harm,
saying it’s all right,
cuddlin’ up real warm.
Somewhere on the interstate
a madman screams—
cause you're the woman
who turned all my dreams into . . .

(C) Ashes—they might even blow your way—
Ashes—from all the bridges that I’ve burned today—
Ashes—there’ll be no rising like a phoenix—
Ashes, ashes—burn what’s between us.

(B) Our love was hot, we were writhing in the flames;
You touched that spot and I’ll never be the same;
But it all turned cold when you whispered his name . . .

(C) Ashes—they might even blow your way—
Ashes—from the bridges that I’ve burned today—
Ashes—there’ll be no rising like a phoenix—
Ashes, ashes—burn what’s between us.

(c)2019 John Vaughn/DJ Lekich

And here's the band:

Drums: Real Drums Rock Classic Brit Ev^2
Bass: Real 388 Bass, Electric, Metal Ev 120
Lead Guitar: Real 395 Soloist Metal
Guitar 1: Real 1026 Electric Strumming Dirty Open
Guitar 2: Real 496 Guitar, Electric Rhythm StoneZ
Guitar (Backup): Real 391 Electric Rhythm Metal Ev 120
Guitar (Backup) Real 659 Electric Rhythm Texas Rock Chop

You song turned out quite well...
I really like that lyric line in the bridge "Our love was hot, we were writhing in the flames"...
Nice vivid images throughout your lyrics...
I enjoyed the listen!

Deej,

You did a good job with this. John's lyric works well in a rock format (which is more lenient with lyrics that shoot off in different directions).

A good rock arrangement. A cool opening. Drums sound good. Bass is nice, too (a little "beefier" for a good bottom end wouldn't hurt). The guitars work - a "darker", meatier guitar on one side would give you a bit more "beef", too - but that is a "personal choice" - a lot of indie rock has the kind of "crisp" rock guitars you have here...

A good vocal. You have the power to pull of this type song. Another "personal choice" - I would have it "sit in the mix" a bit more. Adding some bottom using EQ to bump the low mids, perhaps - and rolling off the highs some.

This is a good one. Y'all should go down this road further...

fj

I really liked the lyrics and the phrasing.

Balance was good and the vocals sit really well throughout the song.

Good sounding rocking arrangement, almost like punk. Very catchy chorus. Muting guitar and letting bass shine at some bars is a nice trick. Interesting lyrics with modified quotes like fat girl sing, and no rising like a Phoenix.

Janne

Nice work on this - I loved the raw energy behind it, and your vocals were stunning. It has a really modern feel to it, and it is nicely catchy too. The groove is excellent I thought the mix was professional too. I can imagine this sounding unreal in a live setting.

Thanks for sharing

Fabulous rock and roll vocal!!! I love the twist on the cliche: "I heard the fat girl sing,
so our love is history." -- excellent! Great production!

"I’m burning them to ashes so finally I’m free" has to be my favourite part. Thanks for sharing with us!

Deej,
You deliver an intense vocal so well! I was glad to hear the bridge bring that intensity down just a little there- then back to the burn.
I like the lyrics,the metal guitar and above all the energy.
One very small nit - the background chorus vocals sound a bit loose & don`t quite meld with your lead to my hearing.
An excellent collaboration.

Robert

Nice work Deej56, I really enjoyed the overall tone of this. Fantastic selection of instruments here and the instruments are layered nicely. That guitar tone is very warm! The vocals harmonize well with the other instruments. Looking forward to hear more!

Excellent vocal. |heard a little Geddy Lee in there. Super backtrack and lyric. Well done

cool song

interesting lyrics

good arrangement

enjoyed the listen,

Kenny

Really good job here. I like the energy in this one. Floyd has some good suggestions. I agree, y'all should do more of this!

Steve

Hi Deej5,

that's a real cool rocking song. You got a marvellous voice for that genre. Excellent !

Stefan

Yeah! This is great, love your vocal, it is well suited for this type of material.

Good song, enjoyed the listen.

Deej,

What a great song - awesome mix and a hot vocal.

Loved it!

Bob

Deej56, this track sounds really good to me! You have it mixed well and you have done a great job with the vocals! Your vocal reminds me a lot of Tom Petty! Thanks, Torrey

Deej, that is rockin. Great lyrics and a super vocal. Nicely edited. I love the holds. Well mixed and I enjoyed my listen, Tom

Jim, VideoTrack, jannesan, Ezkiel, Ember, Joe, Kenny, Steve, Crossroads, Blue, radeon, Torrey, and tommyad:

Thank you all for the listen and kind comments. It seems a never-ending battle to muster what little talents I have to make BIAB sound close to what I hear in my head. In the end, if I can make it sound somewhat listenable, then I’m a happy man—and it seems for the most part that you all enjoyed. This tune has its flaws, but I’m glad it resonated notwithstanding.

All the best to each fo you,

Deej

Floyd,

Your comments and suggestions are astute as always. Yes, the rock genre gives a bit more leniency lyrically. And I hear where you are coming from with the sound of the guitars. I was going for, as you say, the indie rock “crisp” sound—and actually, I couldn’t get it just like I wanted—but there’s a part of me wondering if I should have went for a bit more depth.

I struggle a ton with finding the balance between my vocal and the mix. On this and other songs. I don’t have a lot of control on my vocal . . . kinda too strong in spots and not enough in others. And I really have little idea when it comes to massaging it on the EQ. But I try.

Glad the song had some merit nonetheless.

As always, your feedback and guidance is very much appreciated.

All the best to you, friend,

Deej

Robertkc,


Thanks for the listen and kind comments. Your suggestion is spot on: There are actually two back-ups running, but one is pretty muted. It was meant as a harmony, but didn’t quite sync. So I was left with a single back-up vocal, panned left. Not quite the sound i was shooting for . . . so your call out is spot, spot on. Something pretty easy for me to tighten up.

Thanks so much for the feedback!

Deej

Scott,

Not a huge Rush fan (though “Time Stands Still” is one of my all time favorite songs)—but it’s the second time someone has called out my vocal as reminiscent of Geddy. Not sure I hear it, but It’s a fine thing to think I hold even a matchstick . . . though I am somewhat of a realist. If anything, it’s more like a spark in the dark. :-)

My kind regards to you,

Deej

Hi Deej,

This is very, very good!

What always strikes me with your works is your well-honed sense of musicianship. It extends from the shape and rhythm of your melodies to the way you set your lyric and into your thoughtful creative arrangements. Your chorus on this one stood out to me. It captures the momentum of the lyrics so well.

I read above that you battle a bit with mixing. I can really relate to that! It's my biggest struggle when it comes to getting a song together. A couple of things that I do that seem to help a bit are:

(a) having a recording whose mix is similar to the genre I'm striving for and whose ambience is similar to what I'm chasing -- I then A/B my mix versus that recording.

(b) alternating the mixing process between headphones and speakers -- each output showcases different imperfections for me and by alternating a headphones-only mixing session with a speakers-only mixing session leads me to process things differently; after a half a dozen mixings through each output, they eventually meet and I'm happy how it sounds on headphones as well as speakers without any further tweaking.

I've still got a long way to go when it comes to mixing, though, so please keep that in mind when you read the above.

All the best,
Noel

When your phone rings,
it won’t be me;

Love that!!

This is a very, very good write.....I always loved those bitter songs (wrote a lot of them after being dumped by one particular girlfriend)!

Driving beat and passionate vocal deliver this fine song so well! Great job!! Take care. Greg

Nice lyrics and a very good composition of music. I really like the work you did with the RealTracks. And your vocal is great!

Cool song!

Will

It's hard to parse out all the elements of this song because the vocal is so powerful that it's hard to get away from it and listen to other things

We have never mixed a song with this feel so we'll defer to comments from others about the specifics. Everything sounds, well, strong comes to mind. HUGE drive.

The great vocal and fine write are really standouts for us. Lots of great lines....we really liked "Ashes—there’ll be no rising like a phoenix"

J&B

Noel,

Thanks so much for the thoughtful reply. Awesome advice and tips. Here's the crazy thing: I listen to my mixes on two/three different types of headphones, on the laptop, off the bluetooth in the car . . . and it all sounds different depending on what I listen through!!! But I like the idea of using external speakers . . . which I don't have yet (other than my Sonos), so something to yet acquire.

On the other type, I struggle to match up what I hear in my head and want the song to sound like with songs from other bands . . . and then mix in my limited capabilities with BIAB. It's a learning process. I have faith that I'll get better at it (or at least I tell myself).

As ever, really appreciate your support and input.

All my best,

Deej

Greg and Will,

Thanks so much for the kind comments. As noted above, the genre is forgiving on lyrics, but glad they resonated in spots . . . and the vocal definitely tested my range . . . but happy that worked as well. Still wondering if I should have gone down a half-key. Regardless, really appreciate the listen.

My best to you both,

Deej

Hi, J&B,

Really nice to hear from you--thanks for stopping in . . . you're missed (at least by me) in other places as well. This one was a little out of my comfort zone, so no worries about chiming in there. Just kind of went where the lyrics led me, for better or worse. Just happy some aspects shined.

Hope all is good with you both.

My best,

Deej

Deej,

Really nice rock arrangement!
Nice bass and excellent vocal.
The short guitar solo is just right balance with the song.
It makes me feel The Hollies' early days.
Enjoyed my listen a lot.

Best regards.

Shigeki Adachi

animaro,

Thanks so much for the listen and kind feedback. Glad it was worth your time.

My best regards to you,

Deej