notnat
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Grover & Becky ( Final Re-Mix )
This sad song was co-written several years ago with a couple of my old friends. Our band used to play this tune years ago but it was never recorded in the studio until now… The song is based on a true story that actually happened in our home town… Please let me know what you think… Final re-mix 10/5/08 "The Ballad of Grover & Becky" As I said this song is based on a true story, and here it is: From Robert Register...
In October of 1968, Grover Moss murdered Becky Fellabella in her room at the HALF WAY HOUSE, an old two story boarding house on North St. Andrews in Dixie. Grover then took the little ole GIBSON'S DISCOUNT 9 shot 22 caliber owl head pistol he used on Becky & put it up to his own head.
I read about this murder-suicide in the Dothan Eagle as I drank my morning coffee in the Student Union Building at the University of Alabama in Tuscaloosa. I knew both Grover & Becky so this tragic loss of life struck home with me.
In the summer of '68 I helped Grover cut the grass in both of the Dothan City Cemeteries. Becky would always show up each Friday afternoon to get some money from Grover so she could go down to the Green Front Store beside Barrentine's at Five Points to buy their weekend liquor.
Becky was a Yankee who waited tables at Oscar's & she shacked up with Grover in his little crib located behind the Coca Cola bottling plant across the street from the #1 Fire Station. She was the original WILD THANG & it always blew my mind to sit on the curb sipping on my cup of Uncle Ben's White Port & watch her flirt & rub her hands all over the old men who worked with me in the cemetery. I wouldn't let her touch me. I'd never been around such a shameless woman in my life and she scared the crap out of me.
In the summer of '69 I went back to the cemetery crew & I got the details of what happened to Grover & Becky. The man who cleaned up the murder scene told me the story & I wrote a poem about it. He heard everything that happened because he was staying in the room next to Becky's when Grover kicked her door in & killed her so he was able to tell me the story in graphic detail. A few hours before the crime Grover had refused to give Becky money to go to the liquor store. He told her that he had turned his life over to the Lord and there would be no more whiskey drinking under his roof. Becky immediately packed her things and moved into the Halfway House located a block north of Oscar's on North St. Andrews Street.
A couple of years later Richard Burke and I started writing songs using my poetry as lyrics so hearing THE BALLAD OF GROVER & BECKY tonight brought back many pleasant reminiscences of sitting around Richard & Debbie's place at THE PALMS making our own music.
post edited by notnat - 2008/11/07 00:39:04
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Taylor_514C
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RE: The Ballad Of Becky & Grover
2008/11/04 02:04:18
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Hey Frank, I grew up in a rock and roll family, but there was a period during the late 70s to the early 80s when my parents listened to a lot of country - this reminded me of country music from that era. Excellent song - the harmonies grabbed me, and your opening line "Smelling like a Cathouse and Dress fit to Kill" - very nice  Always sweet slide guitar from you. Bass sounds great. There's a few glitches in the mix during the song, and something happened to the ending during mixdown? - it stops abruptly. Overall I liked it - #3 for me after Daily Grind and Deere Tractor. Cheers, Doug
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robby 
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RE: The Ballad Of Becky & Grover
2008/11/04 12:00:47
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I love the vast majority of your stuff Frank, this is no exception. Has a nice Alabama vibe to it.
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notnat
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RE: The Ballad Of Becky & Grover
2008/11/04 12:39:27
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Doug, this song is a little long, almost 6 minutes…
I normally encode at 320 bps, but this song (story) is so long it was over 10 mb… So, I had to experiment with a few different bitrates…
SoundClick didn’t like 192 or 256 bps (very glitchy)…
I finally settled on 224 bps …
Robby, I hope you’re referring to the State of Alabama, and not the band of the same name (Presumptuous @$$%!!$, that they are)…
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ed_mcg
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RE: The Ballad Of Becky & Grover
2008/11/04 14:19:36
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Great sounding track; you guys must be great to see live.
I'm hearing a bit too much tap (~3KHz) on the kick. The verses kind of slow down too much; wonder if there is some instrumental support that could be added to keep thee momentum going.
Otherwise, sounds great.
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drumstixkev
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RE: The Ballad Of Becky & Grover
2008/11/04 14:40:47
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I just love the music you put out. Another great tune, but I agree with Ed that kick needs a little low end to it, just to bright. At 4:30 the slide guitar could come up a bit, especially when its played that well. I have to say you have mastered the art of mixing when it comes to every instrument having a place and being heard in the mix. Just another fantastic performed and written piece. GREAT JOB!
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Guitarhacker
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RE: The Ballad Of Becky & Grover
2008/11/04 15:21:52
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I like this... real country sounding tune....
I noticed that the drums...maybe the toms... not 100% sure..... are a bit hot... they really hit kinda hard on my system.
That was the only crit I heard... nice job on the steel....vox...and all the other instruments.
My website & music: www.herbhartley.com MC4/5/6/X1e.c, on a Custom DAW Focusrite Firewire Saffire Interface BMI/NSAI "Just as the blade chooses the warrior, so too, the song chooses the writer "
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No How
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RE: The Ballad Of Becky & Grover
2008/11/04 15:29:56
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Nice song, Frank. It sounds like the hi-hat is up real close (out of proportion to rest of kit) and the pedal steel is almost inaudible. The rest sounds great. 
s o n g s – Beauty lodged in a bad hotel has no value. Raymond Lull
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JSGlen
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RE: The Ballad Of Becky & Grover
2008/11/04 18:20:08
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Another excellent job on this Country song. Great Bass sound. What is your Bass set-up? Drums are kind of hot as already pointed out. I love your music, and I'm as "Country" as one can get, once you get past the fact I'm from Ca.
ADK Quad Pro, Intel Core i7 3770 IVB 3.5 Ghz, Windows 7 64 Seagate 500G Sata 600 OS Drive, Seagate 1 TB Sata 600 Audio Drive, 16 gigs of ram, 700 watt Coolermaster Silent Pro power supply. Apollo Quad Interface, Dangerous D-Box, Burl B2 ADC, UAD 2 Duo, Avalon 737, UA LA 610 MK II, UA 1176 LN Hardware, Focal CMS 65 monitors, Avid Artist Control. Sonar X3d Pro Tools 11 & 10 Wavelab 8
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notnat
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RE: The Ballad Of Becky & Grover
2008/11/04 18:23:07
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ORIGINAL: ed_mcg
Great sounding track; you guys must be great to see live.
It beats the alternative... LOL Thanks for your comments, My ears were fried by the time I finished this last re-mix... I'll get back to it in a day or two...
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spacey
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RE: The Ballad Of Becky & Grover
2008/11/04 19:18:10
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Man Frank the first thing to hit me was the sound...Loved it and the mix.
Then the music and singing hit me. Loved it pure and simple. Very inspiring.
If I can swing a country tune I'm going to thank you..until then, thanks for this.
Michael
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thepogue
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RE: The Ballad Of Becky & Grover
2008/11/04 20:58:39
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very well put together and love the vox! nice chording...love the way it smoothly pulls...great job w/the duel vox like the way their spread...
Has a John Hyatt feel...love it...my fav. from you to-date!!
makes a man wanna take a couple shots!
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rolifer@verizon.net
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RE: The Ballad Of Becky & Grover
2008/11/04 21:26:51
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Frank
This is a great tune.
The mix is great except for that hi-hat. It is a bit too up front and could use a touch of reverb in it.
Still a great overall job.
Well done
Ron
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notnat
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RE: The Ballad Of Becky & Grover
2008/11/04 23:12:22
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Thanks everyone... It's pretty dark subject matter, but makes for a good story...
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Maxprizm
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RE: The Ballad Of Becky & Grover
2008/11/04 23:59:40
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You definitely have a authentic sound. When I see a song by you I always know it's going to be good. I think this one is my favorite of yours, I like the dark subject matter  I often wish I could write material that is so accessible like this. Great sounds man.
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robby
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RE: The Ballad Of Becky & Grover
2008/11/05 00:10:16
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Notnat, I would like to talk with you about your mixes. i.e.,
How do you get them to sound the way they do?
How do you get the big bottom sound? The kick and bass? "In your face" without overwhelming the song? Which you manage to do?
It seems like everything "sits" where it needs to sit, and is clear, and the mix is loud, and clean?
I mean, a lot of folks put music up here, but your mixes are really outstanding... I'm currious about the process? If it's secret, that's ok. But it renders some impressive results.
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Jonbouy
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RE: The Ballad Of Becky & Grover
2008/11/05 00:29:15
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Frank Darn man you've gone and done it again, another thoroughbred from the stable. I prefer yer bluesy stuff to the country fare but any FT song is fine by me. Like others I've got issues with the kit sound being a bit too chunky presently but I see you're already on that. 'Cathouse' I took a bit too literary at first so the smell that was being conjured up was quite different to the one you'd experience in a 'knocking shop' that I finally worked out was the translation... Great playing, that vintage scotch whisky of a voice of yours and your production chops ensuring yet another winner.
"We can't do anything to change the world until capitalism crumbles. In the meantime we should all go shopping to console ourselves" - Banksy
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notnat
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RE: The Ballad of Grover & Becky
2008/11/05 15:53:08
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I’ve followed the advice of several forum contributors, and made some changes to the final mix of this song… Added some low-end to the Bass Drum… EQ’d & moved the Hi Hat back in the mix, and added a little reverb to it… Brought up the Steel Guitar volume a bit… Recorded another Dobro part and panned the two Dobros wide… Re-recorded a couple of Slide Guitar licks… Please let me know what you think… "Ballad of Grover & Becky"
post edited by notnat - 2008/11/05 16:02:59
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tomjeff76
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RE: The Ballad of Grover & Becky
2008/11/05 18:14:48
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Notnat, great song. You have a such a smooth singing voice. It sounds as if it's effortless for you to put down a vocal track.
TomJeff My Songs Yamaha MM6 Line 6 Tone Port UX2 Korg PadKontrol Music Creator 4 EZDrummer
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Mamabear
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RE: The Ballad of Grover & Becky
2008/11/05 19:17:55
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Yes, another great song from you, Frank and it does sound effortless. And very good!
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notnat
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RE: The Ballad Of Becky & Grover
2008/11/05 21:19:14
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ORIGINAL: Jonbouy
Frank
Darn man you've gone and done it again, another thoroughbred from the stable.
I prefer yer bluesy stuff to the country fare but any FT song is fine by me. Like others I've got issues with the kit sound being a bit too chunky presently but I see you're already on that.
'Cathouse' I took a bit too literary at first so the smell that was being conjured up was quite different to the one you'd experience in a 'knocking shop' that I finally worked out was the translation...
Great playing, that vintage scotch whisky of a voice of yours and your production chops ensuring yet another winner.
'knocking shop' ha, that's one I haven't heard before... Jon, that was my old friend Richard Burke singing that tune... Richard is also the vocalist on "What I Know" and "Love In My Eye"... He's got some great pipes...
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foxwolfen
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RE: The Ballad Of Becky & Grover
2008/11/05 21:40:18
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Well, this song explains why you did not have a huge appreciation for the industrial dance music the other fellow posted LOL. They are diametrically opposed in the popular music spectrum. Sadly I am in the other spectrum myself, but this sounded pretty good to me mix wise. Hard to tell if there is too much bass or not, I would have to plug it into my main hifi with the sub, but it does sound a touch bottom heavy on the smaller monitors. Cheers Shad
A scientist knows more & more about less & less till he knows everything about nothing, while a philosopher knows less & less about more & more till he knows nothing about everything. Composers Forum
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CLEAN
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RE: The Ballad Of Becky & Grover
2008/11/05 22:16:45
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Frank, that is great - just a great tune. Vocals are really nice.
Count me in as a fan.
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jamesyoyo
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RE: The Ballad Of Becky & Grover
2008/11/05 22:29:26
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Everything is prefect: the singing, the instrumentation, the clarity of the mix...except those cheesy drums absolutely destroy it for me. What a distraction.
There is no variation on the level of the kick drum, no dynamics. Enough has been said already about the actual sound of it. It sounds so drum machiney.
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notnat
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RE: The Ballad Of Becky & Grover
2008/11/06 12:06:56
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ORIGINAL: jamesyoyo
Everything is prefect: the singing, the instrumentation, the clarity of the mix...except those cheesy drums absolutely destroy it for me. What a distraction.
There is no variation on the level of the kick drum, no dynamics. Enough has been said already about the actual sound of it. It sounds so drum machiney.
Perfect, except for the cheeseâ€â€¦ That’s pretty good, right ? I’m sorry you were distracted… Sadly, drum machines often sound like drum machines… Do you think Cakewalk’s “Humanize†feature would help with the dynamics thing ? I really need to make room in my studio for my old drum kit… Thanks’ for listening… Your comments are always welcome, and appreciated…
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Randy P
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RE: The Ballad Of Becky & Grover
2008/11/06 14:14:38
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Frank, this song kind of embodies what I like about Country when its done right. Telling a story with a tinge of irony, with excellent instrumental backing. The harmonies on this are nice icing. Well done. Oh, and by the way, set up the drum kit. You'll be glad you did.
Randy
http://www.soundclick.com/riprorenband
The music biz is a cruel and shallow money trench,a plastic hallway where thieves & pimps run free and good men die like dogs. There's also a negative side. Hunter S. Thompson
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gdugan
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RE: The Ballad Of Becky & Grover
2008/11/06 16:17:34
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Frank,
This sounds terrific! Great singin', playin', and storytellin' and perfect for the genre. Love the chorus! I really enjoyed listening.
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rscain
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RE: The Ballad Of Becky & Grover
2008/11/06 17:30:19
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Wow, really nice track!
The drums are a little hot, but I like drums, so no problem.
What I really like about this song is the arrangement, what a good buddy of mine calls "exquisite chordage". You don't normally hear these type changes in a country tune. Maybe I'm a little weird, but it sounds to me what Steely Dan might come up with if they did a country song. To me that's a VERY good thing.
Besides the drums being a little hot (and that's a personal taste thing, I guess) the mix sounds fine to me. I'm listening at work on some small pc speakers, but everything is there, and sounds fine. Can't wait to get home and listen to this on the big system.
Great job!
My Tunes On SoundClick AMD FX9350 @4 gHz, 16 gb ram, 240 gb SSD, 2 1Tb SS/Hybrid HDs, 1 Tb Fantom External HD, Windows 10 64 bit, Sonar Platinum 64 bit, Studio One 4 Pro, Harrison Mixbus, Izotope Neutron 2 Advanced and Ozone 8 Advanced, ARC 2, NI Komplete 11 Ultimate, TC-Helicon VoiceLive 3, Focusrite Saffire Pro 24 DSP, Focusrite Octopre MkII, KRK Rokit 8 monitors, Sennheiser HD 280 pro headphones, MidiMan Oxygen 8, Behringer X-Touch, guitars and stuff
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notnat
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RE: The Ballad Of Becky & Grover
2008/11/06 18:45:35
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ORIGINAL: rsp@odyssey.net
Frank, this song kind of embodies what I like about Country when its done right. Telling a story with a tinge of irony, with excellent instrumental backing. The harmonies on this are nice icing. Well done. Oh, and by the way, set up the drum kit. You'll be glad you did.
Randy
Thanks Randy... I haven't played the skins in a while, but maybe I'll take a whack at 'em...
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notnat
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RE: The Ballad Of Becky & Grover
2008/11/06 19:02:02
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ORIGINAL: robby
Notnat, I would like to talk with you about your mixes. i.e.,
How do you get them to sound the way they do?
How do you get the big bottom sound? The kick and bass? "In your face" without overwhelming the song? Which you manage to do?
It seems like everything "sits" where it needs to sit, and is clear, and the mix is loud, and clean?
I mean, a lot of folks put music up here, but your mixes are really outstanding... I'm currious about the process? If it's secret, that's ok. But it renders some impressive results.
Thanks Robby, No secret, just good monitors and ears... Oh yeah, and lots of compression... I really like the "Vintage Channel" plugin that's bundled with Sonar 7P.
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