Here's a faux master of the latest collaboration between Torrey and I - along with Greg Loyacano.
[Link no longer valid]
Here's the mastered version...
TLMIE MASTERED
Written by Bliss/Cochrane
The drums are BIAB as usual. I had almost no trouble sitting them in the mix this time.
Torrey Bliss wrote the melody, sang lead, backing and harmony vocals plus edited the lyrics.
Greg Loyacano played the three guitar tracks - Les Paul into Marshalls.
James Dodd did the solo on his Crimson custom into a Blackstar.
My end of the task was done in BIAB 11 and then in Reaper with native Reaper plugins, (comp & EQ plus a combo of those two to create a de-esser and 1 instance each of reverb and delay). The only non Reaper VST was PSP Vintage Warmer 2 which was used on the the vocal bus (semi driven tape), the guitar bus (semi driven tape) and the rhythm bus (light driven tape). I do have a squillion VST/plugs but have slowly moved away from using them.
I played bass.
The narrative is, basically, a biographical essay of one of the most influential writers of the 20th century.
I will be sending this for mastering but know you folks would probably like to comment, suggest or review the track and this version is fairly compliant with the forum's preferences.
Here're the lyrics...
The Last Man In Europe.

The last man in Europe struck a match
Another chain smoker in a Spanish trench
Front line Sietamo: copped one in the throat
Fascist’s bullets - no antidote

Even in the darkness was seen between the shots
“England’s brighter blue between the chimney pots “
Doss house, tea, bread, margarine
Beggars, mine workers: sights can’t be unseen.

The last man in Europe struck a match
Huddled but not cowered, sewed another patch
Matches, cigarette, an unbroken chain
Up to Wigan Pier and back again

A home guard rifle underneath the bed
Grenades on the mantelpiece better than being dead
Wife, death, the boy in nanny’s lap
Rumours, replace tumours, war filled the gap

Sanatorium isolation, type writer, cigarette
Smokey paraffin fire, can’t hold the boy yet
Politics of art, art’s politics
Economy, conformity, a gentler fascist.

The last man in Europe struck a match
Sucked in the air: each breath he could snatch
Nicotine, blood stains, colour teeth and lips
Death draws each breath in bloody sips


Please feel free to comment on any and all aspects.

Really well done! A great groove, and nicely catchy too. Definitely an earworm, and I found the vocals to be really memorable. Reminds me of rock music that was coming out in the 80's almost. I can't help but imagine how good this would sound live.

Thanks for sharing

ray...Torrey...

Rockin'!

The tracks sound really good. Drums and bass and guitars really Pop!

The solo is nice. I thought it could come up in volume slightly.

The vocals are excellent. They have the kind of "dramatic immediacy" that characterize Elvis Costello or Joe Jackson - a good match for the song/style.
I thought they could have come up just slightly - to "sit even" with the guitars (they seem "a bit back" from them).

The song is well written, interesting... though many of the references elude me - haven't read that much Orwell.

Good stuff, y'all.

fj

Well...
You forced me to some research... you tricky-little devil
Fortunately your lyrics then made more sense to me...
You guys have produced a great sounding composition...
And I imagine it will sound even better after you polish it up with the mastering process.

A heady lyric ( a few gritty lines zapped me as they went by and made me curious to learn about some references).
I like the driving sound ... and hearing Torrey sing a hard rock tune!
I guess I`ve missed your other collaborations with the Blissman
The guitar solo sounds excellent -maybe a bit buried in the mix.

Robert

Hey ray, fantastic choice of instrumentation on this. Excellent mixdown on all of this and the vibe is very appealing. The bass sounds wonderful. Well done!

Can't comment much on mixes. Extra-fine lyric and delivery of same. Kind of a cross between Ian Anderson and Metallica. Looking forward to the power from a "louder" master.

Sounded great, I heard The Clash in it, maybe because of the political lyrics. Great job getting all those words to flow naturally in the melody. Very impressive all the way around, listened several times.

We have a long standing interest in history so your lyric drove us both quickly to google as we have both read a bit of Orwell but never anything biographical.

That is a brilliant write and it was worth the price of admission alone just to try and find the events in Orwell's life from which you drew your references. The imagery is remarkably vivid.

Then the song iced the cake with the absolutely in the pocket performances -- vocals, guitars and bass. Guitar effects are mostly above my pay grade but the rhythm guitars on all your productions seem to have something with the distortion that sets them apart from the pack...in a good way.

Great collab y'all!!!

J&B

PS And thanks for the history lesson...

Ray, Torrey & Greg
When the gala / wine event for Album release will take place?

Very strong collaboration! Listens very smoothly, no painful points or such (to my ears), kept me entertained all the way. Grungy uplifting Lyrics are a bit coded, but with help of mr.Google I was able to get a sense of the story.

Thank you for sharing and congrats to all who participated!

Misha.

Ray / Torrey,

This song is a very cool production - great lyrics and the mix is awesome!

The real standout for me though is Torrey's performance. I think he is an outstanding singer, but this is a really inspired vocal - one of his all time best.

Loved it!

Bob

Very good song and production!

I need to revisit Orwell to fully understand the lyrics... it is at least 25 years ago I read his books and I know too little about his life. This song is great inspiration to look up information about him again.

Thanks a lot for sharing!

Will

Really awesome vocals! Overall the song is great. Thanks for sharing.

Deryk,
thanks and YES, Torrey does a fantastic job and wrote an excellent melody to hang the words on.

FJ,
Thank you very much. You picked it was Orwell so you did well. The majority of references are biographical and I doubt many folk have read about the man. Clearly I've read a few of the biogs as well as all of his works.
I'll have a listen to the vocal & solo levels later today - thanks.

Torrey and I decided not to write a song but to prepare an assignment for the forum.
It's the "chalkie" in me, sorry.
On another level - THANKS for the generous assessment.
You've passed the assignment.

Thanks Robert,
Torrey's chops are top shelf aren't they?
"gritty" is good I assume.

Thanks Joe,
It almost mixed itself.

Tangmo,
Thanks - the delivery of the lines is really fine.
Interesting concept for a MashUp you've proposed.

TM,
The guitarist is a BIG Clash fan and the bvox have a bit of that in them too.
Torrey did a fine, fine job making the words fit the mouth.

J&B,
Thanks very much.
I reread all of his works and a bio in 1977. I've reread sporadically since then and have chanced upon a new bio or two in that time. He was a very driven, flawed and contradictory fellow. He tried to promote revolution in England while drinking in pubs but gave up when he discovered there was no taste for it in pubs - just the beer.
The vocals are absolutely ace. The guitars are Les Paul into a Marshall Superlead, (I think), at ear mashing volume and captured with a blend of two mics. No EQ, no compression and no FX. The amp and mics did all the influential stuff.
Pleased to have sent you to the search engine - every day is full to the brim with potential learning.

Misha,
Thank you but the gala release will be booze free for me.
I'm glad the internet lead you to real news.
You are, as always, very generous.

Bob,
Thanks - my principal response is ^^^^WHAT YOU SAID^^^^^

Will thanks very much. I can now say MISSION ACCOMPLISHED!

Ember,
thank you and YEP^^^

nice rocker!

great job Torrey

sounds like some of Costello's venom in there (a good thing)

enjoyed the listen!

Kenny

Do I get an "A"... Do I get an "A"

Great collaboration for a wonderful production ! Christian

Yes, excellent rocker!!! Great job Ray and co. (Torrey knocked out a great vocal). I also feel the vocal could come up a little, at least in places. Really good stuff!! Take care. Greg

Loved the guitar tone. Cranked Marshall.... man, can't beat those things for tone.... well maybe you can but it's a tough fight.

Loved the groove on the song.... has a Lou Reed rawness rocking kind of feel.... Brit Rock.

Nice job on this

I would like to say a big thank you to all of you who have taken time to listen and comment on this song! I want to state that Ray has been more than generous in his giving me so much credit in this song, but the truth is that this one is a product of his musical genius and incredible lyrical abilities! It was very easy to develop a melody for this when he presented it to me with the backtrack already in place! The melody just seemed to present itself after listening a couple of times. All I had to do then was massage the words a little to make them fit and ad a couple here and there! Greg and James did excellent work with killer guitar sounds that I just loved! But one of the most under-appreciated parts of this one is the super bass line that Ray layed down for this! Over all I feel it came out pretty good and was very proud to be a part of this one! Once again, thanks to all of you for lending us an ear for a few minutes! T

Brilliant guitars! And I love the vocals and harmonies!


Great lyrics and energy!

Very cool song. Guitars were awesome. Torrey also had a awesome vocal and lyric. Really like how you mixed the song. Very cool song

Hi guys,

in my last post I wrote that due to unpleasant reasons I don't have the time and peace to follow the forum for a while. But I don't want to miss all that great stuff, so I started to at least dash through the posts yesterday and songs and I'm glad I did. But dashed? Just until I read this post and listened to that great collab.

Man, I am impressed - this is something very special. Congrats on those really awesome lyrics and well, as long as Torrey is involved top notch music is guaranteed.

Everything just fantastic - great mix and mastering, too. Like I said: I'm impressed, no: deeply impressed.

All the best,

Stefan

Thanks Kenny - he & the guitarist, Greg, made this one live, breathe & spit.

Thanks Christian,
I appreciate your words.

Greg,
Thanks. Rest assured that the vocals sound great in the mix before Soundcloud got to it. How could it be otherwise with Torrey's voice?

Mt hacker -you're right about the tone.
Greg played an LP through a vintage Marshall head and vintage pair of 4x12s at brain smashing volume to get that Marshall gone wild tone. Luckily he's in Texas so I didn't have to hear the session.

Thank you Gruverider,
It's rather nice working with people who do such staellar work - Torrey & Greg on this, Misha, katya & Christian on other stuff - all lift the quality quotient.

Thanks Scott - the guitars and vocals are as you say.
I was lucky with this one: the mastering engineer responded with words to the effect of: " The mix was good so I just mastered it."
That was a treat to read.

Thanks Stefan,
I was a little worried that the heaviosity of the narrative might get in the way but Torrey pushed it beyond that limitation.

rayc,

The chord progression going up with the pitch of the whole tone is very Rock.
The Bass phrasing is also great.
I feel you have a supernatural spirit.
The song really swells.
Torrey's vocal perfect fits this tune.
Enjoyed my listen a lot.

Best regards.

Shigeki Adachi

Ray, Torrey and Greg...



This is a fantastic listen. Everything about it grabbed my attention. Love those guitars! Torrey's singing is also magnificent. The genre sits 'hand in glove' comfortable with Torrey's voice... a perfect fit. And the arrangement and production... they sizzle with competence. This is first class audio quality all the way.

Excellent lyrics, too. I love how rock opens the door for creativity when it comes to lyric writing. Ray, you have the knack as a fine wordsmith!

I smiled when I read how Reapers EQ + compresser were used to create a de-esser. I watched Kenny Gioia explain this earlier this year and I've been using it ever since. I think that it's the best de-esser around and so easy to set up and contorl. I also saw a video of Kenny's on how to reduce backgound noise using ReaFIR and I've been using this on my vocals ever since.

All in all... brilliant listening!
Noel