Sensational, lush, rambunctious excellence, even for non-dog owners!  Dog-walking is now a majestic train rolling along the cosmic curbside!

Also, the rock symphony is exquisitely balanced (to my ears); the lead vox is tunnelled center (without excess thickness), the way I love it.  I slammed up the volume without fear of losing my wits in a perfect balance of instruments.

Guitar twanking and keyboard pomp compliment lead singer and vibe most sweetly.  I love it how every band member is spot-on with the fun.

I'm ready to go out and walk 2 blocks with the dog cat!

Oh yeah, it worked on the second try, much to my delight as I had missed the best parts. Love the bass and drums. I'd like the hear the rhythm guitar a bit brighter (if it were my mix), and I might roll some of the lows off the vocal, but otherwise it was tight. And rockin'. A lead guitar I WISH I could play.

mcourter


Oh yeah, it worked on the second try, much to my delight as I had missed the best parts. Love the bass and drums. I'd like the hear the rhythm guitar a bit brighter (if it were my mix), and I might roll some of the lows off the vocal, but otherwise it was tight. And rockin'. A lead guitar I WISH I could play.

Thanks mc! Glad you got it to play. On the brighter guitar....I think Bub commented on that too...that was my call. I had asked Ed to low pass a bit on it. The original would have probably been perfect for you guys. But here's the problem with that...at least in my opinion.
 
When you have a guitar sound with quite a bit of gain or a more modern type gain sound, those sounds are supposed to be dominant. In a mix like this, having it dominant would have killed the vibe. When you leave the high end sizzle in and have the guitar a little lower in the mix like we prefered to do with this, the guitar can sound like a little sonic bee buzzing around. When you drop the highs just a bit, the guitar is a bit more mid range sounding but also seems to sit better in the mix because it's not sizzling up too much. Though we wanted this to to rock, we had to keep it in control and I think it complimented the tune pretty well that way. Extreme gain guitars can completely destroy a mix like this if you're not extra careful. You don't want them out too far, yet you don't want them back too far. You don't want them to sound muddy, but you don't want them too sizzly either. LOL!
 
When it's a bit lower in the highs, it adds girth to the tune especially when it's back a bit in the mix. If you raise those highs, you no longer feel the guitar pushing the girth end....you "hear" sizzle and we get the little bee buzzing syndrome. But, it's all subjective really. We just tried to carve up spots for all the instruments to shine....and when you have gainy guitars with sizzle, that sizzle can actually stand out a bit too much or just sound a bit too sonic for the vibe of the song...if that makes any sense? Thanks for the listen and the comments...much appreciated. :)
 
P.S. You could play lead guitar like that...trust me. Most of my stuff is all blues delivered in a way that you think it's more technical than it is. I call it "exaggerated playing". LOL! :)
 
-Danny

Spacealf- Thanks for the listen, and humor is always appreciated on this end.

Bob (rscain)- Ah, flattery will get you everywhere... many thanks for the nice comments.  BTW- Loved the tune you had posted.

Bub- Thanks for the additional listen and comments.

arlen2133


Okay...
So since I'm NOT normally a rocker, this is a new experience for me (but I LIKE IT!!!!).
Fun song with a lot of great things happening.  I love the vocals Phil, easy and cool all wrapped up in one.
The organ is so sweet in there!  and the guitars are smokin! (now I know why they said Danny had to hose them down afterwards LOL!  Love the bass and (did I miss anything?).  Great redo!
I'm almost jealous!!! So I'll just have to put the song on my station so I can listen over and over. 
Only thing I would mention is that it fades really fast.  Was that done on purpose?

Thanks Arlen, that's very kind of you. Glad you enjoyed the tune. As for the fade, I call it a "bapu-ism" LOL! We kinda had a bit of an issue with the end. The fact of the matter is, there isn't really one other than something I experimented with for the ending that Phil and Ed weren't down with. But because there wasn no real ending other than the thing I experimented with, Ed had to kill things fast before my ending came in. I think he could have started the fade sooner so it wouldn't have cut off as abrupt, but because of the way we set it up without an ending, he wanted all the stuff to play in the end without being so far down in volume that you'd miss them. I didn't get a chance to listen to the final version before he posted it or I would have recommended a longer fade starting ealier.
 
But in case you're curious about the ending I came up with....I tried to sell the guys on a piece of Carry On Wayward Son by Kansas. There's a slow riff oriented part in the tune that I thought would be a killer ending and also a part that may make people think "wow, is Philz gonna cover that next?!" But it didn't fly too well with them so we killed it...but the part still exists in the tune which is why Ed handled it to shut down before it came. So I'll take the abuse for the fade due to me creating a part that we never took out. LOL! I still think with an earlier start and a longer fade we would have been fine...but Ed will have to chime in on what went down there as I really don't know other than my speculation above. Thanks again for the listen and the comment...maybe we'll make a rocker out of you yet. Hahaha! :)
 
-Danny

I accept full responsibility he fade on the song. Danny has it mostly right.

I started the fade on the master bus at the beginning of the last three turn around phrases and used a "slow fade" preset from SONAR. Danny suggested drawing my own fade. 

I admit it I got lazy and did not do what my mentor (and friend) suggested.

One day, maybe I'll open the project and see if I can do a better fade.

Disclaimer, I hoped for an abrupt end with Phil singing "Walking The Dog" acapella. That was not to be. I prefer abrupt ends over fades (almost) any day. 

Whoops, missed some friends here.

Markno999- I've been playing this song since the 60's and it's nice to know that the tune doesn't come out sounding straight out of the 60's.  Thanks for that!

Arlen- Thanks for stopping by, and thanks for the kind words and the add on your station.

Rick- Good to see you, and thanks for the compliment on the vocals.  Truth be known- Those were my draft vocals, and when I went back to redo them, I just could not capture the same feel.  This has happened to me more than once... wierd.

How in the world did I miss this one?  Wow -- I think Rufus would love this take of the song.  I know I did.  Really great performances by all and excellent mix.
Absoflippinlutely terrific job  --- hot licks and all!!
 
Freddy J