One True Thing

[lyle_from_minneapolis]

This one goes in a new direction, for me at least. Any suggestions will be greatly appreciated. Thanks!

http://soundclick.com/share?songid=6959884

One True Thing

Salesman came on my TV
With a new brand of justice
He said everything’s changed, nothing’s the same
You’ll just have to trust us
If you think with your heart they tear you apart
It’s a dangerous war
Every man that we find will be guilty
We can’t let them speak anymore

Is there one true thing in all the tales you tell me?
One true thing, could be anything, in all that you say?
One true thing in all the words you've spoken
Is there a promise unbroken?
One true thing that you can tell me today
Before we take you away?

One thing I know
Every man has a story
We can cover our fears
In a blanket of glory
There is always a love to be found
Still you say it isn’t so
Will you answer one question before you go?

Is there one true thing in all the tales you tell me?
One true thing, anything, in all that you say?
One true thing in all the words you've spoken
One promise unbroken?
One true thing you can tell me today
Before we take you away?

So I wandered for years
On a carpet of lies
Through the walls of the prisons
Hear the screams and the cries
Listen to me, listen to me
Won’t you listen to me
If we lock our own souls into cages
How can we be free?

Is there one true thing in all the tales you tell me?
One true thing, anything, in all that you say?
One true thing in all the words you've spoken
One promise unbroken?
One true thing you can tell me today
Before we take you away?

(Copyright 2008 by Mark Kaufman)

[kiramdear]

Wow, not what I expected from you. The words and singing are great. I think your vocal should be a little louder and a little less effected. Your performance can bear a cleaner delivery. and the bass can come up a notch, too. This is reggae after all. Guitars sounds good, which ones are you using? They're perfect. Drums sound natural, not canned. What are you using for drums?

Sorry, my inner artiste is running at the mouth again

And thanks for turning me on to Soundclick, Mark. I set up my own page and became your fan already!

[lyle_from_minneapolis]

Thanks Kira!

Both guitar sounds are my Reissue '57 Stratocaster, just with different effects. The drums are wav file loops from "Drums in the Big Room". The trouble with such loops is that once you use them, you probably won't ever again...but they do sound good.

I'm surprised about the bass...on my system and in my car, that bass is just a-blastin'...I definitely need to get some real monitors one of these days.

Thanks for the comments! Very helpful.

-Lyle

[tennis_nick]

I wouldn't bring up the bass fader, but I would bring up the EQ knob around the low frequencies until that "thump" becomes more apparent.

I like the vocal effects, I'm gonna try to make sense of this.... The reverb sounds like it repeats the vocals 3-4 times, I think it would sound cleaner if it would only repeat 2-3 times.

I like the guitar on this track, it's a cool vibe.

[kiramdear]

The bass sounds good on my old Bose 901's, loud enough for a rock mix, but I love those dub and reggae tracks where the bass is so dominating. That's not to say they're the greatest monitors, but they're pretty darn good. I've been mixing my stuff to them and the mixes seem very portable.

Tennis Nick has a good suggestion, in lieu of more loudness overall.

[lyle_from_minneapolis]

Funny, I had a delay on that vocal that repeated but once, and it sounded good except for phrases like "new brand of justice" where it seemed to stop too short, and I wanted to hear it echo off another time or two. So I just created a duplicate track, turned the volume down by half, and shifted it over so it served as a second set of echoes. That gave the four hits: first track has vocal and one delay, second track has repeated vocal and delay.

So, come to think of it Tennisnick, if I nudge that duplicate track back so it overlaps with one of the echoes, it will sound like 3 instead of 4...

[lyle_from_minneapolis]

Okay, I took a lot of advice from here and elsewhere. New version posted with more musical stuff.

Next stop, lyrics. I need to clarify who says what in this song.

Thanks for all the help!

[ram]

I'm liking this Mark/Lyle... great sound - great tune!!

[dogload]

Hey Mark- I was pleasantly surprised by this tune! It made me think of The Clash rather than UB40- well done!
Actually it put me in mind of The Clash meets 'Dark Side'-era Pink Floyd (have you heard Easy All-Stars' 'Dub Side of the Moon'? Genius. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Easy_Star_All-Stars)
Anyway, I think the instrumentation is really nice, and your vocals come across very well- again, more Strummer than Sting (hurrah!). I notice you have remixed the song- perhaps the drums are too low in the mix now?- although I am listening on desktop speakers at work.
Is it still ok to have political issues in songs though, or will there be a knock on the door at 4a.m.?