TruckerMusic, Danziland, Vicent, & That Heavenly Choir ...

Army of the Lord: http://www.ourstage.com/tracks/TCNRFRAHNFUO-army-of-the-lord
 
Author, Song, Lyrics, Arrangement, Genre: TruckerMusic (Clifford)
Lead Vox: Philip
Counter Vocs and Solos: Danzi III
Rhythm Guitars and Solo Guitars: Vicent (Vechung)
Counter Guitars and Guitar Scats: Philip
Groove and Percussion: Clifford
Choirs and Scat: Danzi III, That Heavenly Choir
Bass Guitar: Danzi III
 
Please critique!
Extreme thanks to Clifford and Danny for making this possible.
Extreme thanks to all of you, my fellow artists, who share similar battles.

OK, you asked for it....

I absolutely love this Philip with one big exception... unfortunately it's your lead vocal.

It's not that your lead vocal is bad.  It isn't.  It's just that the track itself is utterly stellar and, to my ears, the vocal doesn't quite match up.

If I were mixing this, I'd try to pull out all the stops processing your vocal.  I'd auto tune it (I'd try a Kanye West and a 'normal' version), I'd probably compress it more, and I'd apply effects.  Plus, I'd make the vocal a bit louder.  This tune is about the message and some of the words are lost, which isn't acceptable IMO in this tune.

Hope you're not mad at me.  This is a FANTASTIC production.

Peace,

Ian

Philip,

Been looking forward to listening to something new from you for a very long time, and boy was this worth the wait.

I thought everything about this was extraordinary. The vocals were immense in my opinion. Good to hear your children too.

Well done to all who produced this amazing piece of music.

My only crit would be it was too short. I want more.

Mark.

This sounds amazing! Great production!

I dunno, Kev, the kick is thumping loudly over here.

Thanks all, I'll respond in detail later:  Ian, Mark, Rick, James

Kev, the kick thumps pretty low (in the subs); on many systems it won't be as thumpy.  Danny would probably agree (he did post-production).  On my car system, it requires the sub.

I wrestled big-time trying to get Clifford's kick and bass-drums heard around 100Hz for tinny systems ... but I lost it by then -- haha!  Hopefully the skating rink will have a decent sub.

EDIT:
 
OK, back from church.
 
Mark, thank you for your validation and encouragement; I'm so glad you could listen.
 
James: That is Danzi III groaning from the depths of the soul.  Thank you so much for validating his excellence.
 
Rik, Thank you for your particular notice of the orchestrations ... we wanted this to be rich yet strait and dancy ... for roller skating.
 
Scotty:  Thanks for validating my most psychotic fears of all ... the elusive bass-drum, where originally it got drowned by other instruments, and Danzi and I struggled to strengthen the bass-line ... with the kick as dominant with the beatz.
 
Kev:  You always exceedingly encourage, and, TBH, I value your performances above mine.  Like Danzi, I prefer to orchestrate and jam.  The lead vox evolved into this sensitive 'ordinary' vibe ... to not detract from the soul, message, etc.
 
Ian:  Though message-centric 'holy ground', the bass-line and soulful chorus climaxes were to dominate this mix (for skating/dancing).  That said, we did about 30-50 vox auditions/takes for the lead (5+ different singers) and 'settled' for this: Sensitive, humble, ordinary, sincere, mildly soulish to compliment the climaxing "Army of the Lord" soul cries ... At least for this version.  Personally, I don't feel an urban rapper would have helped.
 
We thought of others: FactoryYoyo, Tony/Twisted (a distinct possibilty), Cian McGovern, etc.  Danzi wanted non-preaching "loving sincerity" instead of clever-dramatics and fx's.  I immediately realized he was right!  Many Christians and non-Christians would be turned off by preachiness, dramatics, charismatics, fx's, cleverness, and hyper-articulations ... let alone non-sincerety with this message.

Beautiful collab.  Everybody shines here.  There's plenty of lament and beseeching all colored with oogles of heart and hope.  What a nice message to hear!

Very interesting piece Phillip.

I enjoyed it.

Philip and crew:
  A very complex and creative tune.  Love the various elements popping in this one.  The mix sounded right on target in my ears and it is a very tight sounding tune.  Congrats on a great collab and a marvelous tune.  Nice job!

bapu


The thing I love most about this collab is Phillip and Danny working together. 

That alone is worth the price of admission.

+1.  They didn't exactly get off on the right foot on their first encounter in this forum! 
 
This is simply fantastic!  I love every bit of it.  I can see Ian's point, but I also see Philip and DAnny's point about it.  I like it.  everything is just fantastic!

Wow this song was very well done!  The clarity of the mix is incredible even with all that is going on.  The only part I could think to improve is around 1:30 there is a little choir section that sounded like it was auto tuned up 2 octaves.  I think a real childrens or womens choir in it's place would make that part.  (I realize auto tuning up 2 octaves is alot easier than finding 12 children who can A) sing and B) have an attention span long enough to record the part) lol.

Anyhow, I really enjoyed it, excellent song, singing, playing, orchestration and especially production
Thanks for posting this!

Philip


Danny is amazing to work with and I pray God enables him to be my friend forever:

Other than that: To me he is fully 10/10 as: emotive-singer (well beyond the rock star level), virtuoso performer, pre/post-production mentor, with utmost attention to detail and pop artform ... faithful, swift to help anyone, etc., with exceeding compassion, heart, love, etc., as we all strive to be. 

As far as I can tell, he has no enemies, no ignore lists, etc.  (I wish I could have those attributes)

Somehow he gravitates toward passionate producers and artists to help them upgrade themselves, and directly collab with them, regardless of genre.

In this age where home studio mixes and performances seem (IMHO) to out-perform all other music, I nominate Danny for president.

Wow....bringing me to tears over here, Philip. What awesome things to say...thank you so much man! I'm so glad you feel that way...from the heart...and friends forever we shall be! :) I promise not to write up a long winded novel here....but, pretty much all you say there is true. I don't have anyone that *I* consider an enemy, but I know there are quite a few that don't particularly care for me. That's ok though...maybe one day they'll change their minds and I'd help them if I could. I actually gravitate towards anyone that may be in need that will listen and at least try some of the stuff I say to be honest. At least they can say "ah, you talk a good game pal, but none of your suggestions worked for me...thanks anyway...but no thanks". LOL!
 
I just love music, man. All typed of music. Sure my heart belongs to pop rock and metal, but I sincerely love everything and feel it all has a beauty as well as an art that we all can learn from. I've borrowed from all styles of music and mastering has opened me up to so many incredible pieces I would have never listened to without it, ya know? I'll work with a rock band one day, a rap band the next...a pop duet of 2-10 year olds singing their own material and then a guy playing acoustic folk songs where our feet stamping on a wood floor became our percussion. It's just a beautiful thing. To me, a true musician is one that loves and accepts everything "music". There's always some beauty in a song if you listen hard enough. Sure, certain things aren't my cup of tea, but I try really hard to listen for the positives and it's rare that I come away from something saying "yikes, that was bad!" LOL! I must admit though, I'm a sucker for a solid hook and can listen to incredible players that are musical while accepting that stuff....but it's just not my thing anymore. Anyway...thanks so much for the kind words. I'm really glad we had the chance to work together and look forward to working with you again in the future. Thanks again for everything, Philip. :)
 
Reece: yeah a bit of a rocky start there....but as soon as I talked to Philip on the phone, the first thing I did was apologize for anything that happened in the past. But hey, sometimes the greatest friendships that last a lifetime start a bit rocky...I'm totally cool with that and like it better when there is no animosity between brothers. We're all here in the world together, ya know....might as well make the best of it as a team. :)
 
-Danny

Hi, Philip,

Wow, this is an absolutely spectacular, very cool sounding collab!

You, Cliff, Danny and Vicente all did an amazing job on your respective parts, and the writing, arrangement, playing and production are simply out of this world.  Everything sounds fantastic and the mix is modern sounding and pro quality all the way.

Outstanding work, guys, very impressive stuff!
Bob

Hi Philip and everyone else involved,

Yikes! This is really outstanding. Great performances, arrangement and production.

Totally pro sounding to me. I could go on and on but you get the idea :-)

 
Stunning collaboration guys!
 
And what a job on the mix, this sounds absolutely massive chez Strummy

I have to say it was quite different from where it started.  Great job what Phil and Danny did to finish the track!