James and the Canadian go Blue

[elwoodblues1969]

Kara,

However wrong my version is,I was given permission to craft it the way I think it should sound and when I did that,I was being disrespectful to the artist?I don't get it.

-Thom

[offthewall]

 
This is not connected to any comments about this song, more to explain my personal attitude to it.

In 1964, when I was 15 years old I was playing in a 'pop group' doing covers of Beatles/Stones/Searchers type of songs. I got my first guitar when I was 13.
We set up at a local gig and went to start the first song. I got hold of the mic stand with one hand whilst holding my guitar in the other .... and was electrocuted ... thrown across the stage with my hair on end .... finished up in hospital with severe burns to both hands. 
Anyway, to get to the point.
A lady friend came to visit and brought me a couple of LP's to listen to when I got home to recouperate.
This was the turning point. Some music I had not heard of before 
John Lee Hooker and Sonny Boy Williamson were my mentors from then on. 

The more I sourced, and listened to, this type of music the more I related to it.
At that time in the UK there was no access to Blues music unless you had a big brother or cousin who went to sea and could bring stuff back from the States.

What people have often got wrong, in my opinion, is the feeling that 'white men can't sing the blues'.
Listening to this music taught me that, especially coming from a heavily industrialised area where men worked hard for little money and had all of the social deprivations of most oppressed sectors of society, if you felt the story in the song then you could transmit that story to the listening audience.

I feel that, nowadays, people so often 'pigeonhole' musical styles so much that, to learn to play 'in that style' can produce the music ...... 
I have to disagree and say that, to produce the music you have to 'feel it' first.

So ..... from my point of view, this project is all about playing the Blues ..... not really about how it actually fits in to an accepted style !

I'm off to bed now.
Maybe I'll play the blues a bit tomorrow to get this outa my system.
 
James

[Oren]

...In 1964, when I was 15 years old...
... I got hold of the mic stand with one hand whilst holding my guitar in the other .... and was electrocuted ... thrown across the stage with my hair on end .... finished up in hospital with severe burns to both hands...
...What people have often got wrong, in my opinion, is the feeling that 'white men can't sing the blues'...
... to produce the music you have to 'feel it' first...
... from my point of view, this project is all about playing the Blues ...

James,
You were 15 years old in 1964??!! Yikes, we better get this song done before you expire from antiquity...
Although I didn't reach age 15 until 1970, the two-prong-plug-permacurl-hair-treatment was still a frequent perk for those of us who played an electric instrument and sang... speaking of feeling the music...
And I agree blue is blue, no matter what your heritage.

Here is another crack at a homegrown percussion track - this time, a toe tap accompanied by a table rap.

Plus, some vocal effort...

[kara]

Kara,

However wrong my version is,I was given permission to craft it the way I think it should sound and when I did that,I was being disrespectful to the artist?I don't get it.

-Thom

Thom,
I never said that you where disrespectful, I was only explaining how I see the job of mixing a song.
Let's respectfully agree that we disagree 

k

[kara]

A new version of my mix.
After getting in the second drum track of Oren, I thought it was good but lacked a bit of swing for the song. Therefore I decided to make a mix of both drum tracks, to add a bit of swing which goes with the rest of the band.

Finally I decided to move the band from the town hall to a bar 

k

[elwoodblues1969]

Woah Rony!You are really dialed into this...it's got a whole lot of soul! An incredibly seamless production of all of the elements...the boot/table tap tracks are superb,the way you've woven them together!
I really like the left pan on James's voice also and the bar effects are right on the money!  



-Thom

[folderol]

This has to be the best mix yet 
Great song too.

P.S.
With anti-smoking laws for so long isn't it about time they repainted that club

[kara]

Thanks for the approval 
The mix isn't perfect yet, but it will be once I have all parts 

k
 

[Oren]

Kara,
Combining the two percussion tracks accomplished the impossible - a coherent beat from my mother's oldest son(me)... Schweet!

[offthewall]

 
I'm getting deeper into 'stuff' over here ..... 

But last night I said:

Maybe I'll play the blues a bit tomorrow to get this outa my system.

so here is a couple of sections on the harp !
The idea, as with most of the project, is for you to cut and use the best bits and reject the rest ..... 
Do your worst, mon amigos. 

 
James

p.s.
stellar mix, Rony 

[Oren]

James,

Thanks for that harpoonage - can't wait to get to the cut-and-dodge action

Attached are the two percussion tracks as I will deploy them in my production -  mixed and compressed for your convenience.

And... the vocal again... this time with the two missing verses inserted (finally thought of some lyrics... )

[kara]

First the bad news : We took the harpoon in emergency to the hospital where he was undergoing heavy operations  It seems they cut up in pieces and then reassembled the piece in a different order  I wonder how the guy looks right now 

Now the good news : He's still alive 

For those interested in mixing techniques (you never know    ) , an extract of my mix logbook

1. When I compared both vocal parts (Oren & James) I noticed that they didn't realy sounded as in the same room. This is a typical problem when mixing tracks coming from different places... First of all, I saw (with my ears  ) the vox track from James was recorded straight from the mic and the one from Oren went trough a compressor (I think). The vox of James sounded a bit thin compared to Oren. To give the vox of James a bit more body I used an old which I learned from an old studio engineer : I splitted the stereo track in 2 mono track and slided one of the track a bit (couple of msec's) forward. Instant result

2. EQ'ing of the tracks
a. Toe&table (kick simulation)
    Roll off below 40 Hz
    1 db boost - 60 Khz
    1 db boost - 5 kHz (gives a bit more attack)
b. Other drum track (snare simulation)
    Roll off below 300 Hz (we don't want to interfere with the kick and the bass)
    1 db boost - 3 kHz (attack again)
    1 db boost - 7 kHz
c. Bass guitar
    Roll of below 40 Hz
    1 db boost 800 Hz (give it a bit more body in the mix)
    1 db boost - 2,5 kHz (accentuates the attack on some notes)
d. Harp
    Roll off above 15 KHz (we want to leave room for the snares)
e. Guitar
    Leave room for other instruments :
    -1 db - 2,5 kHz
    -0,5 db - 7 Khz
    Accentuate his great sound :
    +1 db - 8 kHz
3. Adjust levels and make submix.
4. Add reverb.
    I decided to drop the bar and take the band to a studio, still respecting the live feel.
5. Normalize
6. Export to OGG

All done in Audacity and no Vst's
A little 5 hours job 

k

 

 

[offthewall]

      

Rony,
What a mix   

That is superb, maestro mixer.

My only criticism would be that you used too much of that dang harpoon ....... you were supposed to chop out the bad bits ..... um, sorry ..... the 'worst' bits 

Fantastic.
 
James

[kara]

     

 ....... you were supposed to chop out the bad bits ..... um, sorry ..... the 'worst' bits 

It"s all part of the gig James  I just couldn't decide which part to left out. Perhaps if other parts will be added, I'll chop something off 

k
 

[Oren]

All done in Audacity and no Vst's
A little 5 hours job 

Outstanding production, Kara!

This is a great example of how a talented engineer/producer can take some very "raw" musical input and edit-effect-mix a pro quality production.
What James and I hope to do is continue refining the song. He will compose/record another guitar track once we have the vocals finally in place. I will do my vocals again (all in one take) once I decide how to include "rain on your parade" in the lyric. Then, I would like to lay down some blue guitar.
With luck, a song from two ragged old rock-n-roll refugees will develop into a polished piece of "radio ready" digital audio.