Originally Posted By: JimFogle
Herb,

As always I'm late to the party so I'm not sure if I'm listening to version 1 or 2 but I can tell you the version I'm listening to was uploaded Jan.9, 2015.

There's a lot to like about this song. I like the subject of the lyrics and your vocal delivery. The production sounds clear and punchy. I like the short mandolin solo then the longer fiddle solo with modulation.

You've mentioned in the past how you'll take multiple RealTrack instrument tracks and edit them together to make your fills and solos. If you did so in this case, I hope you'll expound on that topic some more because the fiddle solo especially sounds like a performance recorded just for this song.

I'm fairly sure you were looking for a punchy sound, and you achieved that goal, yet I wonder if the song would have been better served if you used a more "classic country" flatter equalization with a fairly steep 12K or 12.5K roll-off at the top.

I agree with you that the song has more of a 6/8 than 3/4 feel to it.


Well, you know what they say, better late than never.

This is V2.

Jim.... on the production... here's how I approach it. I render out the tracks for the instruments I want to use from Real Band and load them into SONAR. One of the first things I then do is insert volume envelopes in ALL tracks and pull everything down to zero except the drums, bass, and acoustic guitars.

I "try on" different tracks... to see what works best for the intro.... will one instrument do the job or should I split it between 2.... same thing applies to the fills... do I want fills here and if so what instrument.... and would something else sound better there? On the solo, it's pretty much the same decision process. Mostly based on feel or intuition. Nothing in this process is necessarily wrong or right... it's simply my vision for the song. What sounds best to me.

As I listen to the solo... or the fill, or the intro, if I hear it played with notes that don't seem to be doing the job I expect it to do...and trust me when I say that making that call is extremely subjective..... I will simply reopen Real Band.... find the same real track and render it again.

I then import it to Sonar and place it side by side with the first track....insert a volume envelope and see if the second track works better in that section than the original track did. If not... I can render again.

In this song, 2 renderings of the fiddle, dobro, and piano were needed to give me what I needed for this song. In the past I have gone up to 5 tracks.... in THE BEST CHRISTMAS...the guitar center solo is 5 tracks edited into one in Sonar. All 5 tracks were similar but had enough difference that made picking and choosing the parts like being a kid in a candy store.....

In this photo, you can see the duplicate tracks and the envelopes I used for volume control to bring instruments in and out of the mix as needed. If you look closely at the 2 fiddle tracks and compare the waves, you will be able to see the difference between them.



If you have more questions.... PM me.

Last edited by Guitarhacker; 01/13/15 03:09 AM.
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