Keep The Motor Running - redux

Hi to all my forum friends.  I submitted this song earlier this year and got enormous help from all of you in the production of this tune.  I made numerous changes based on your suggestions and then shelved the song until just the other day.  I made three changes in this last mix that I hope will help.  I scooped out some of the mid-lows in the bass drum and guitar so they would sit well in the mix without being too boomy.  I also added a short delay to the vocal harmony while leaving the lead vocal dry to give the vocals some depth.  My question about that is-does it make the vocals sound too much like they're in a different space, or does it work for you?

I hope to make this the lead off song on my next CD, so it's important that I get this right.  However, this will be the last time I put this song up because I'm pretty sure people will start getting tired of it.  You've all been tremendously helpful, and I hope you can help me one more time with this.  Thanks in advance for all the help I've received and all the help that is coming.

It can be found here: http://www.soundclick.com/player/single_player.cfm?songid=10399684&q=hi&newref=1

This was a great song and I just loved the lyrics. They tell a story for sure, almost sounds like they were Obama inspired, with all the unemployment and such. You spoke about 30 years down the drain, wait until its 50 years down the drain! I'd love to hear that song. Totall awesome guitar and background instrumentation on this. Really enjoyed this one. Peace be with you. Blessings, John

Thanks for your quick responses.
Rikkie, this is what I'm looking for.  I just added a touch of tube distortion in Pro Channel and the gloss from the EQ, and it gave the acoustic more body than before.  Plus, I turned the track up a notch to balance it against the electric gtr.  Good catch.  

John, this is actually a semi-autobiographical song of the last 18 months of my life.  It was merely an accident of ordinary human nature.  Fortunately, I made it long enough to get a pension, so I've been a little more fortunate than many.

James, I knew I could count on your good ears.  I want this song to be a bit more jingly-jangly than others in my collection.  It depends on the next song, of course.  The second song has to have some contrast, yet have a common thread.  I used the "Generic Magic Lift" preset from Vintage Channel VC-64 on my acoustic, and, as I said to Rikkie, added the Pro Channel to give it some body.

Already the benefits of your help is paying off.

Sounding good lynn , real nice growl off that dirty guitar , groovy bass line , nice pan split ...

Hey Lynn, I missed this one first time around, but glad I caught it now - what a fine song, and a terrific mix. Got the headphones on, and I can follow every instrument, really nice work. Love that bass line. I like the way you have the lead and acoustic guitars panned too, just right. Vocals fit perfectly to my ears. Nope, can't find nuffin wrong with this...

Hi Lynn,

Good song and playing on this all around. Mix sounds pretty solid and everything is audible...which is a good thing. Everything else is subjective when you get things to this point. If I may...a few subjective things that *I* might try.

The acoustic is indeed a bit thin...but only because it's by itself on the left. You know sometimes how we layer heavy guitars and put acoustics behind them to give things a bit of a percussive attack? This would be the perfect sound in that situation...but because you have one dirty on one side and that acoustic on the other, you can definitely add more mids to the acoustic to give it more identity as well as over-all thickness. I'd give try mids in the 600-800 range to thicken it up a bit. It's good you don't have that nasty low end I hear in a lot of acoustic guitar prints these days. The mids should curb the thin sound as well as soften the high end sparkle automatically. Try not to alter that high end...it cuts through nice to me and is only a little bit abrasive due to the mids being nearly gone in that sound.

The only other thing I'd like to hear, is a bit more high end in the snare drum from say 5-8k. When the snare hits in that part on its own, it sounds fine...but when the music comes back in, it sound a little dark to me to where it could use just a slight presence bump so that it has a bit more identity.

That's about it though...solid mix, like the bass and the performance was really what I was impressed with the most. That dirty guitar tone is great...make sure you save that baby for future use...warm yet it has the right amount of presence/top end in a good way. For some reason, this song reminded me a bit of the theme song to True Blood the HBO series...not sure why...maybe it was the vocal or something in the melody, but it reminded me of that sort of vibe. That's meant to be a compliment. :) Really nice job on this. I too missed it the first time around but I'm glad I got to hear it this time. :)

-Danny

Danny, thanks for your comments which I totally agree with.  As I stated above, I already made changes to the acoustic to give it more body while preserving the high end sparkle.  I've not posted yet, but it already makes a big difference.  As for the snare drum, I will try that and let you know how it turns out.  I appreciate you lending your ears to this project, as you hear details that few others can.

Tony, I have so much respect for you that this is indeed high praise.  Thank you for being a coproducer.

great indie rock song Lynn, i hope this will indeed make you a little money! no crits on the mix from me, it's a lesson in balance indeed...

I really like this! Sounds great!....
 ....with a couple of small exceptions. As said before, the acoustic needs to be brought toward the center more and fattened up.  I think the snare could use more snare sound. It seems to "Poppy" to me, but again, that is subjective.

Scott, thank you for your kind words.  I have already addressed those issues, and all of you that pointed that out to me deserve all the credit in the world.

Daren, or ABV, I'm so glad you hear it that way.  As I said above, this really happened to me, but the weird thing is that I wrote the song two weeks before I lost my job of 30 years.  The unwritten part of the song is-I made it to my pension just in the nick of time.  HEY, maybe that ought to be a song.  

Wow, Lynn: this is a first for me!

"Keep the motor running"

This is my fav of yours, currently.

Honestly, this works wonderfully for me on all levels, AS IS! 

(My only personal minor gripe is that its slightly over 4 minutes ... the message hook is so strong that it catches me quickly the 1st 2 minutes and doesn't need to go overboard to 4 minutes, IMHO.)

Perfect performances, perfect balance, perfect message/hook, etc.
Just pure awesomeness man!

Hey Lynn, sorry I haven't got around listening to this.

It's actually really good, I can't think who it reminds me of, I can hear a specific band it reminds me of.

Like the lyrics, they have that excellent all round meaning that everyone can relate too.  Like that quirky delay sound at the end, which creates the motor sound.

Ok the mix is excellent, the acoustic is a little thin as some have mentioned but in the overall mix it works and can be heard through the whole track.  So I'm nitpicking.

My biggest complaint is the snare, it's way too boxy.  Try Danny's sugestion or and cut at the 400hz-600hz mark, this will hopefully get rid of that boxy sound.

Nice work though, catchy tune.  The vocal sound was spot on too.

Peace Ben

Hi Ben, thanks for listening.  Though I haven't posted it, yet, I have addressed the snare drum to make if a little more crisp.  I wanted to make sure that it wasn't too thin.

Daryl, I'll pay attention to the vocal EQ.  Contrast is always my goal, so I'm glad you lent your ears to this because this is what I'm looking for from my forum friends.  It always helps me to listen to one of your songs to get my ears adjusted.

Thanks for adding your names to my long list of coproducers.

Jeez, we need to get together. Steve Miller, for sure.

I really liked the acoustic, indie folk rock in this tune but it still had a pop melody; which I think is cool.

I felt like the pick attack and the hats slightly clashed with each other; but I couldn't even begin to offer how to fix that; if you heard it.

Good tune my friend.

Sounds good to me Lynn. The harm fits nice. Nice tune.