PG Music Home Forums General Discussion User Showcase Don't Sell It, Don't Give It Away (2.0)

Video: Don't Sell It, Don't Give it Away
Audio: Don't Sell It, Don't Give it Away

Four years ago Janice was still in transition from years of singing bluegrass to exploring new genres (thanks to BiaB!). We had been on this forum for only a few months, had yet to do our first collaboration and I had not discovered our current production software.

"Don't Sell It" along with a couple of others at that time received some positive forum comments that help us believe it was worth our efforts to move into new genres. A month afterwards we completed our first collaboration (with floyd) and I began an endeavor to learn more about mixing, production software and songwriting and move beyond my decades of recording strictly bluegrass (old dog, new tricks stuff )

We felt the tune would work with a video and deserved a new mix (hopefully, I have improved somewhat over the years!). So during the holidays I built this video and completely remixed the song moving all the tracks from GarageBand to Logic Pro X. We wanted to keep the solo/fill tracks the same so they weren't regenerated. Also Janice wanted to keep her old vocal as it is reflective of the time.

The mix goal was to emulate an early Western Swing sound.  Some of the first WS bands (1920's - 30's) had not yet added drums and used what we call a "sock rhythm" guitar and sometimes what bluegrassers call a "chop rhythm" mandolin along with the upright bass, fiddle and piano (the piano and fiddle tended to play pretty hot under the vocal...much more so than was done later on in WS). 

I included the following info in the original post. "We discovered the roots of this tune at PublicDomain4U listed under “folk blues.” Oscar Woods first recorded the tune and it is noted primarily for the fact that he played a National steel guitar in the lap Hawaiian style. This may be the beginning of many country and blues styles on this instrument. According to some reports he lived on until the 1950’s while others say that he disappeared in 1938. It's a shame so little is known about him. I played around with the lyrics to make them a bit less risqué and to make them from the female perspective (and added a minor chord)."

Pardon the ramble, Happy New Year, and we always appreciate your time to listen and comment!

J&B

Janice: vocal (Blue USB mic)
Bass Kickoff: Real Track 462 Jazz soloist
Guitar: RealTrack 559 Jazz Rhythm - 4 to the bar.
Mandolin: RealTrack 616 Country - bouncy rhythm
Piano: RealTrack 450 Jazz - “A” only
Piano: RealTrack 1865 Western Swing solo (comped from multiple RT generations)
Fiddle: RealTrack 1296 Western Swing Rhythm
Fiddle: RealTrack 1871 Western Swing Solo (comped from multiple RT generations)

Mixed in Logic Pro
Effects: Ozone 7 Advanced, Alloy 2, Nectar 2 and Logic Pro.

The lyric is shown in the video.

Wow what a fun tune that was. had me chuckling throught the whole song. Well done. I had not heard those lyrics before and the vocal, production and video were excellent.

Thanks Scott. Amazingly he recorded several cuts with the then governor of LA. That would have been a trip!

J&B

Great song with strong distinctive vocal gives this a special quality.
Jumpin' song, so good, the mix is excellent, haven't heard the original
or your first version but this one is hot!
Enjoyed!

Kenny

Thanks Kenny. Glad you liked it and, yeah, it does a bit of the ole jump blues feel.
I had so much Western Swing on my mind I hadn't thought of that.

J&B

Bud & Janice,
Enjoyed the new (and previously) the old versions.
Nicely done - the video is engaging and the new mix sounds great.
The vocal work is superb and the song is expertly crafted.
Wonderful.

Peter

Janice & Bud,

Love the new mix on this - Janice's vocal is as strong as ever and sounds great against this version.

Well done!

Bob

We don't remember hearing the first version of your song.
However this one sounds great. It has got a very Merry feeling to it all.
We love the piano real tracks that work very smoothly in the mix.
That blue USB mic is that the Blue yeti Mike? (Because I read some very positive comments on this microphone).
Very nice vocals by Janice! Bud, great lyric video, they're getting better every time.

Rob

Thanks Peter...just something I could do in pieces over the holidays.

J&B

Kenny got it! This mix sounds great!! And nobody can sing better than Janice!! Nice! Take care. Greg

J&B, I Agree! Great Music!

J&B, I Agree! Great Music!

Thanks a Bob!!

Hi, Janice & Bud !


What a swing on this
ol´blues !!!
This is so good I don´t
find the relevant words
for praising both arrangement
and performance !!!:))


This is one of your best blues tunes
without doubt !!!!

Cheers
Dani

Dear Janice & Bud...

Anything that makes me want to get up and dance is good! The song is irresistible.

It's exciting to imagine Band-in-a-Box playing a central role in the perpetuation and practice of music from "bygone" eras. It would make many of us BIAB users musicologists as well as musicians.

And thanks for introducing me to Mr. Oscar "Buddy" Woods, whom I had never heard of until I visited your post. Just when I think I've heard it all, I realize I haven't, and most likely never will, which is good, because it'll keep me listening...

Ms. Janice, you have a downright welcoming "come right on in!" kind of voice that would cause even the shyest wallflower to think twice before turning down an invitation to dance from the gal he was makin' eyes at from across the floor.

Thanks for making such happy-sounding music. "Happy (musical) New Year" to both of you!

"bluage"

Thanks you two and happy new year!

Yes the mic is the Yeti Blue. It's an excellent mic. I don't use it as much as I did when we recorded this song because of I bought a Focusrite USB interface so that I could use a Rodes NT1 that we've had for some years. However, having revisited Janice's vocal on this remix I not sure that I can hear a difference.

Thanks again!

J&B

I remember this song very well. Still love it.

Thanks Greg and happy new year!

J&B

Nice production and arrangement. I enjoyed my listen.


Charlie

Always did like western swing and Janice's honky tonk bluesey
vocal sets the song off nicely.
Reminds me of the pre rock and roll records I used to listen to.
Enjoyed Oscar too. Cheers.