Old dog writes new tune!

[kiramdear]

wait a minute...
Sorry, I'm a little slow on the uptake.

I considered the protest song arena since modern kids don't seem to care enough to write them, but when the war is over, so is the song, so I ditched that idea.

Now, Todd, I don't know if I'd say that. I think a timeless new protest song or two is just what the world is waiting for. And those old Dylan songs take on more and more importance every year. It's a daunting task, though, to try to follow "Blowin' In The Wind". But don't give up the fight

[bitzerguy]

Thanks for the details Todd. I am in a similar situation with my voice and have been toying with a Harmony G or one of the Digitech Vocalist series. Listening to your track has convinced me I need to find one. Excellent ideas about the track doubling, and they are certainly very effective.

[teb]

Kira, The problem with protest songs is that unfortunately.......just like when we did it back in the old days........they probably aren't listening, and won't until the whole country gets on the band wagon and stuffs it in their face. Protests can make for some good music though, but they are pretty time sensitive. How many young people today have any idea what "Four dead in O-hio" is about?

I like your song! The instrumentation has very nice transparency, which is always something to keep in mind - almost to the point where if you can't pick out a specific instrument, get rid of it. It may be playing some little, simple part, just to fill in a bit or add flavor, but needs to do so without making mud. This is why really good rhythm guitarists who may not get much of the spotlight are worth their weight in gold. Your song generates power, but maintains transparency, which I really like. By the way, if you want to hear the best example I've ever heard of transparency, go buy a copy of The Carpenters Greatest Hits. I'm not kidding. Sure, it's old and somewhat sappy, but you will have to hunt long and hard to find a cleaner album.

I love your "I am the Walrus" vibe on the bass lines during the chorus. What a great sound. The only thing that bugged me in the whole tune was the lead guitar near the end being all the way over to the left. I got a little bit of a feeling like somebody was playing in the next room over, which was distracting for me (maybe not for everybody, but that's how I heard it). Every time I've tried to do that with a major instrument that's important to the mix I've found that both the instrument's tone and clarity seem to suffer. If you turn the pan knob, just enough to give it a little presence on the other side as well, its sound will often become much richer and cleaner. It can still be off to the side, but the quality is usually better. Try it if you want and see if it makes any difference and still gets you to where you want to go?

[kiramdear]

Thanks, Todd, your advice is well noted. I may actually bounce the lead back and forth a little, too.
Glad you enjoyed it, too. I know what you mean about transparency. I tried to make a big sound with as few instruments as possible which I think is key to keeping it alive. I threw out a lot of secondary events as I saw how well the basic tracks were shaping up, and I abandoned all effects whatsoever, save a teaspoon of reverb in a couple of places.
It's the best way for me to work anyway, having a rather short attention span I like to keep things moving or I lose steam on a project or kill it with overwork.
I was afraid if I ran the lead down the middle it would cancel out too many sounds that held together when separated. But a little presence on the right would probably make it more comfortable, or L-R movement.
Agreed, the Carpenters' production was something to learn from. Talk about presence, too! They were brilliant in the studio. I'm also interested in George Martin's early work creating stereo mixes that worked well when perceived in mono.
How do we define protest music, anyway? If it's anti-war but doesn't make anyone mad, then so what. If we go with the notion that protest music is that which gets us old farts' knickers in a twist, then I guess there's still lots of it out there, even unintentionally so we'd be writing counter-protest music?

[antipodean]

Todd,

As someone who has always kept well away from C&W influences, it came as a surprise how much I like the song and the production. The performances are great across the board. Thanks for letting us all hear it!

[walker]

Fascinating read on the recording process, Todd. Thanks for the details on that 'Harmony G' unit. I've been enamored of vocal harmonies since the first time I heard 'Nowhere Man.' With the Harmony G, can you program it to reproduce the original vocal part at different intervals as it changes notes, much in the way a pedal-steel player changes the color tones between 3rds, 6ths, 7ths, 9ths, etc? Or does it strictly keep a set interval within a chosen scale & key?

[teb]

Mark,
You can program various intervals in, with either one or two harmony voices as well as how far above or below the lead vocal each one is, putting each voice in one of half a dozen different possible positions. You can then have two different pre-set combinations ready to go by just hitting the foot switch. More pre-sets can be programmed into the unit but you would need to reach down and push a button in order to access them mid-song, which might be difficult, so it's not quite as easy as making changes on a pedal steel.. What the various harmonies are, I can't tell you because I can't read music and have no formal training in music whatsoever. I learned from Steve Goodman that a fifth is a particular size of scotch bottle and it served me well through much of my active musical career . Our band used to do a lot of low budget albums as the back-up band for country and gospel artists who wanted to make their own albums. These were often one-day albums with very limited rehearsal or run-through time and usually no more than one or two takes per song. Our lead guitarist has a degree in music education and I'd simply tell him to stay where I could see his hands while we were working out a tune or cutting the tracks.

My biggest worries when deciding to lay out $300 for the Harmony G were that it would sound fake, which as far as I can tell, it does not, and that the harmony generated would be too predictable. I've been pleasantly surprised here as well. You have several choices when you set it up. In normal mode, you plug your guitar in and it follows the chord changes. You can either mix the guitar and vocals at the unit, for a single stereo output (like you might do for a live gig) or you can bypass the mix and run the voices into one track or amp and the guitar into a different one. That's what I do for recording in order to keep my EQ and mixing options open. You learn that you can "lead" the harmony somewhat, depending upon what you play as you sing and you can also goose it with the vocal in places and make small changes in what it sings. It's kind of like having a big bag full of harmoniy bits and what comes out depends on how hard you squeeze the bag...if you know what I mean.

Or - you can run the unit in manual mode, where you program the key into it and it uses that for reference. In this mode it follows your voice only, rather than following the guitar work and the voice. There are three different types of harmony structures available in manual mode, each with a different flavor. I find the manual mode handy in instances where I might be doing a lot of hammering-on or other guitar work and I want the harmony to stay solidly with the vocal, rather than possibly follow the hammering-on. In other cases, being able to change a high harmony mid note, by simply doing a little hammer with your little finger can be really cool. You can do some really wicked Bill Monroe-style bluegrass harmonies this way.

The Harmony G demo video is worth watching and as far as I can tell, everything they show in it is quite do-able and sounds excellent.

http://www.voicetonepedals.com/harmonyg.html

[walker]

That's great info, Todd. Thanks for sharing.

Nice interpretation of "The Fifth." Another tip - once it's empty, you can break off the top and use it for playing slide guitar, as is my understanding.

[ram]

Todd been meaning to get to this since I first heard it - what back in July... there is just too much going on here! I was wanting to write something very erudite about it but suffice it to say it is a really good song, well executed and it keeps crawling up in my head from time to time. The vocals sound very reminiscent CSNY/Eagles/Seals & Croft etc (all of which I love BTW) and as Melissa notes, the guitar is so nice and clean sounding. I am glad you didn’t have to damage any portion of your anatomy in the production of the tune. And using technology is not cheating – it is just a way to get things done without having to hire backup singers..??? All in all a very cool tune! More please…. watch the sharp edges on the 5th 'slide'.