"One For The Road" (Acoustic) Mix #4 - 11-8-15 (No AD/HD Percussion! LOL!)

Bob,
 
I love this song, the story and the feeling (in the realm of "nothing else matters" BUT...
 
Timing with the bongo does not suit this song, is that a loop yea? I think this should all be tightened up. I think if you found a loop with more bounce and syncopation (less drum hits) then played guitar to lock in and then do vocals to lock in further. Only my 2 cents
 
Also a harmonica may create the ambience that you need too, just a thought
 
Cian

I can't find the link in the "upper right" Bob.

whack:
 
Hi, Cian,
 
Thanks so much for lending your good ears and great input again, I can't thank you enough!
 
This song was another one of my "Lightning Bolt to the Brain" songs that I wrote and recorded completely from start to finish in a grand total of exactly 53 minutes.  It was after seeing on the late night news that a very good friend of mine that followed my last band for more than 12 years, had died tragically in a 3:30am house fire that left nothing but a charred foundation of the family home.
 
I really threw this together quickly and had never used percussion in any of my other stuff, but in my head I was hearing a 1970's "Coffee House" folk percussion vibe.  So, I tapped out the original bongo track on my midi controller, found a fairly steady sounding section, hit <CTRL> L and quantized the daylights out of it. LOL!
 
For this new Mix #2, I took your advice and simplified things with a light shaker and a much more subdued conga track.  I'm hoping it fits the mood of the track a bit better.
 
I also split the clips and tweaked the timing of my hastily recorded acoustic guitars to try to lock things in a little better.
 
Thanks again, brother Cian, greatly appreciated, my friend!
Bob
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kevinwal:
 
 
Hey, Kevin,
 
Thanks so much, buddy, I really appreciate your good input and very kind words!  Especially about the "feeling" in the vocals, as you can see why in my reply to Cian up above.
 
Yes, Sir, for this new mix I redid and greatly slimmed down the percussion track, and did some chopping and nudging to hopefully fix up the timing issues in the acoustic guitar tracks.
 
I'm really grateful for you taking time to help out with this and offer your observations and good suggestions!
 
Have a good one!
Bob
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Randy P:
 
 
Hey, Randy, How are you, buddy?  It's really fantastic to hear from you!
 
Thanks so much for checking in on this one for me and for your excellent input, observations and ideas!  I truly appreciate your input, especially because way back when I first joined the forum, your killer Rip Roren stuff on Soundclick, along with that of a few of the other original core members of the forum at the time were part of the reason that I decided to stop lurking and actually sign up to the forum!  I also seem to remember a few cool collabs that you did with Larry, James and a few others here at the time.
 
For the new mix I took your good advice and held back the violin track for a while to let the opening guitars breathe before bringing it in later to build some texture and dynamic change.  Great idea!  Sometimes I forget that removing elements can help out a song just as much as adding them.
 
As I mentioned above to Cian, I threw this whole thing together from dead scratch in less than an hour, after some shocking news, and this was my first ever attempt at a hand percussion track because I'm usually trying my best at hard rock and metal drums.  So, I also tested out your side stick, hats and soft kick drum suggestion, but I couldn't seem to get it to fit the '70s Coffee House vibe that I was going for, so I ended up redoing the percussion with just a quiet shaker and some slower, very laid back congas.  I'm hoping it glues thing together a little better without being a distraction.  I also split the acoustic clips and did some slipping and sliding to try to tighten up the timing and lock things in a bit better.
 
Thanks a bunch, Randy, I really appreciate you stopping by on this one, and always value your opinion highly!
 
Have a good one!
Bob
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Mesh:
 
 
Hey, Mesh,
 
How are things?  Hope you had a great weekend!
 
Big thanks for your good input and help on this one!  You, Randy, Kevin and Cian gave me exactly what I needed to try to get this hastily written and recorded song into much better shape!  You, and the rest of the great people who participate on this forum are truly the best!
 
As per your suggestions, for the new mix I redid the percussion with a much slower tempo and added a very quiet shaker to accent things a little, and I touched up the guitar timing a bit to lock things in better.
 
Thanks again, Mesh, I'm always grateful for your input, friendship and support!
 
Have a great week, buddy!
Bob
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Rimshot:
 
 
Hey, Jimmy,
 
It's great to hear from you, buddy!  Thanks for trying to check this out for me, and I'm sorry you're having problems trying to listen.
 
If you're trying to listen on the Test Mix Page on my website, and you're on your mobile phone, my flash media player is probably not showing on the phone and you can listen on the SoundClick link instead.  (I'm actually in the middle of revamping my website and hope to have the new, improved version up in a few weeks!)
 
If your listening on your computer, the media player on my Test Mix Page is right under the Bright Yellow "TEST MIXES" text, directly to the right of the White Text that says:
 
"NEW TEST MIX UP ------------------->
Check Out "One For The Road"!"
 
Just click on the photo of my ugly mug standing in the sunset with my guitar, or on the list of test mixes below the photo.
 
Please let me know if you have any more problems!
 
Hope this helps, I always look forward to and greatly appreciate your input, observations and good suggestions on my stuff!
 
Have a good one, Jimmy!
Bob
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Bob, hi. Nice big acoustic sound - love it. This tune has a really nice melody and your vocals sound great. I do think there is a timing problem on this one - the shaker?
 
All in all, as always - a superior tune.

I also agree with all points from Cian on keeping it simpler on the percussion.....
 
This is a very good song you got here Bob and that percussion can be a slight distraction from the excellent performance.

Hi. Besides the shaker being kind of off - beat and could use some tightening up, I would say that this is a catchy song with great potential.
All the best.

daryl1968:
 
Hey, Daryl,
 
Thanks so much for lending your good ears to this one for me, and also for your very kind comments!
 
I greatly appreciate it, especially because I always enjoy the amazing quality of your productions, always top notch stuff.
 
Sincere thanks and best wishes for a great week, my friend!
Bob
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MarkusClinus:
 
Hi, Mark, how are you, buddy?  It's great to see you back on the forum!
 
Thanks for stopping by and giving this a listen, and for your encouraging words!
 
Yes, Sir, for this new Mix #3, I decided to just completely scrap the shaker because as you and a few other of our forum friends mentioned, it just ended up being an off-time distraction.  So I went back to just the light, subdued congas and the stripped down acoustic guitars like it started out.
 
Thanks again, Mark, I'm very grateful for your input and comments.  Have a great week!
Bob
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whack:
 
Hi, Cian,
 
Thank you, brother, I truly appreciate you hanging in there with me for a second listen, and your always good input!
 
You're 100% correct, for this new mix, I decided to just scrap the shaker all together and let the quiet congas go it alone in the background.  Back to the simpler, stripped down acoustic song that it should be.
 
I also just want to mention that your new post "Lost For You" is absolutely fantastic! Great stuff!
 
Thanks again for all your great input, help and suggestions, your friendship and support means a lot to me!
 
Best wishes,
Bob
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Mesh:
 
Hey, Mesh,
 
Thanks, buddy, I really appreciate you coming back for a second listen on this one and also your good input and suggestions!
 
Yes, Sir, for Mix #3 I got rid of the distracting shaker and went with the simpler percussion that you and Cian had mentioned from the beginning, and I think it's much better.
 
Sometimes I think I try to experiment too much and end up with needless distractions that take away from the root of the song, so I'm really glad that this forum is here to weigh in with input and ideas on all the details and whether they seem to work or not.  Every single comment, suggestion or observation by anyone who takes time to post here in the forum seems to always help point out things I may be missing or improves the song, arrangement or mix.  That's what makes this such a great place to get better at this stuff!
 
Thanks, again, Mesh, and have a good one, buddy!
Bob
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ohgrant:
 
Hey, Grant,
 
How's it going, buddy?  hope your doing great!
 
Thanks for giving this a listen and for your input, observations and kind words!  Yep, I stripped out the offending shaker and ended up with just a very simple, quiet conga part to fill in the gaps.  Back to basics!
 
I greatly appreciate you checking this out for me, and taking time to help out.  Have a good one!
Bob
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Zargg71:
 
Hi, Ken,
 
Big thanks for taking time to check this out for me, and for your very good input and encouraging comments!
 
Yep, I decided to lose that distracting shaker completely and just simplify things a bit.  Hopefully, it's helping to iron out the timing issues.
 
By the way, your song post for "Weirdo" is really cool, I love the punchy vocals and gritty guitars!  It's definitely got a great "Tool" vibe, really good stuff!
 
Thanks again, Ken, greatly appreciate your input and comments!
 
Best wishes,
Bob
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Bob, Mix #3 is much better without the earlier distractions and it now has a much better focus on the excellent vocals/acoustic guitar (BTW nice strings too).
 
I also tend to add things in my songs that really don't need to be there (it's that one man band syndrome...lol), but I always try to remind myself in that old saying "less is more".......which usually works out for the better. 
 
Well done Bob on this whole project, you've done a great job!!

Hello fella,
 
I'm listening through the cans, what I've noted is that the guitars kinda bounce from left to right and makes me a little dizzy, (there's a bit of electronic buzz on the left as well). I can't really make out what the bongos are doing, lose them, and perhaps some gentle snare work would help(brush sticks?) and the odd bass drum. The vocals sounds ace and I'm liking the melody. Keep working on it, it has the potential! :)

I am listening to mix #3 and if it was not for those bongo's it would be a good song but they are not letting it work for me, timing feels allover the place.  Sorry Bob.

 

New Mix #4 - 11-8-15 (No AD/HD Percussion! LOL!)
 
Note: LOL, Finally took EVERYONE's advice and dumped my feeble attempts at bongos, congas, shakers, tambourines, sidesticks, etc.!  Also did a little more tweaking on the acoustic guitar timing, so I'm hoping that thanks to all your help, I was able to salvage this one, and I can get back to my usual hard rock and metal!  Whew!!!
 
Thanks again, everybody!
Bob

This sounds much better here, though it feels like it wants to burst into a bit of classic hard Bob rock to close it out.