House of Mirrors

My one man band, 9-Car Pileup, really made a mess of this one. Enjoy!
 
NOV. 18, 2018: There's a new rough mix here, based on everybody's great suggestions. I'm trying to get a better guitar solo and a better bass part, so I'm not calling it finished yet.
 
Nov 29, 2018: As described much later in this thread (Post #23), here's the final mix. Thanks to all!

That was a rollicking good time Larry.  

David, Ed, Bjorn - Thank you for listening, guys. I haven't been in the SONAR or Song forums much lately, so I wasn't too sure if anyone was still here. The shutdown last year knocked me sideways and I spent months auditioning other DAWS, only to learn that SONAR was still alive. I haven't moved over to the Bandlab version yet but I'm still a Splat user, although now when something doesn't work right I have to face the possibility that it's not just a setting that I have wrong, but a FATAL FLAW in non-updatable SONAR.
 
This was my first time using Session Horns (the hundred-dollar basic version), and I know nothing about horn arrangement, so I'm sure it's -- as I mentioned above -- a mess. I just layed the brass onto an old unfinished track. Now I'm kind of liking it so I may have to go through and see if I can play the other parts better.

Freddy J, you are too kind, and I love you for it.

That was really good Larry. I think the horns could come down a smidgen, for what it's worth. Nice job man.
 
Bill

Already added some nice new features Larry might be worth a visit to the main forum to have a read in the stickies at the top

emeraldsoul - The bass is mixed that way because it's a synth played by me and I am not good enough on keys to pull it off. However, I am looking for a real bass player to fix it for me before I mix it again. Thanks for listening!

Good rock 'n roll country song here.
 
Horns sounded great, bass + drums needed to be louder for me.
 
Thanks for sharing.
 
Good Job!
 
paul

Lynn, Galtieri Bros, DougK1824: Thank you for the compliments and the suggestions. There's a link to a new rough mix in my original post.

Excellent work Larry! This tune bops along really well and I think the horns fit very well. The kick is a little mushy and I think it would help define the bottom better if it was tightened up. Otherwise, no complaints.
 
Regards,
Dan
 

man what a great boogie!
 
dig the walking bass line, and the horn samples hit just right.
 
this mix sounds muddy to me, especially the vocals.
 
it's just a lack of high end clarity,
the louder you play it the better,
but it's still got some 'haze' across the high end
 
nice arrangement,
and i dig the guitar solo just as it is on the 2nd version.
 
 

daryl1968, dcumpian, Starise, batsbrew, markno999 and everyone before whom I've already thanked:

Thank you all (again) so much for listening and especially for taking the time to help me get this into shape. As I have mixed it I have relied heavily on your expertise and suggestions and I believe what I have now is way better for your advice. I don't expect to burn any more of your time on this one, but I have posted a "final" mix here (as if I'm not going to tweak it again some day - I already have plans...) if anyone would like to see where it stands now.
 
Now I have time to get back to watching all 40 Christmas movies on Netflix before the holiday season runs out.

You're gonna hate - I prefer the first mix to the final mix. :D It's fatter, more bass and generally louder.
I love the vocals, great rock and roll sound. The drums neeeedddd to be real though. For this kind of track, you need a real drummer. Love the guitaring though. 

Larry, I totally understand. Don't get me wrong. But I do feel the drums could be 'humanized' a bit more.
My old BFD had a great option for humanizing the drums (varying the hit velocity/ occasionally playing a rim shot etc..) the results can sound quite convincing, more authentic. Some drum programs these days sound too souless, which is great for modern pop, but terrible for old fashioned rock and roll.
Your track sounds rock solid, I just feel the drum sound lets it down a bit, that's all.
If you have a bit of dosh to throw at some projects, you can hire a drummer on-line.  There are guys who will play to your wav track and then send you the stems.  I personally have never used them because I don't have much money to throw at my hobby, but if you want to, they are available. 
Sorry if I ruffled your feathers man. Didn't mean to.

Larry Jones
 
It never ends, does it?

No, it never does.  Every time I think my track is where I want it, someone points something out and I go back to the drawing board.  In fact, I've just pulled out a load of sessions from 2015 today because I have some new tools that I think would improve the sound.
One advantage of using MIDI drums is that you can play about with lots of different drum VSTs without too much hassle. I've got BFD (the first edition which had really high definition sample hits and great humanizing tools), Session Drummer 1 & 2 (each has its own sound, so worth playing with) Addictive Drums (cool but sometimes too clean and precise for my liking).
What I sometimes like doing is using two or three drum VSTs in the same mix. Try replacing the individual drums with others that don't come in the preset styles. I've found AD is great for mixing kit parts. I love using the mallets with jazz patterns and the Cajon and wood block with rock beats.
Another avenue to explore is the Drum Replacer - Take the drums you've got and bounce down each drum/cymbal to indiviual wav tracks then run them through Drum Replacer and mess around with the sound. You can then layer this on the original track to give more ummph.
Just some ideas.