"Ghosting" Chuck Berry, McCartney, and the Beach Boys.

[Oren]

New vocals, duplicated in stereo, delayed left and right, with a touch of reverb, for that "outdoor concert" feel. Just a few bars so you can critique the sound and mix.
Extra guitars on the way...

[manning]

Oren mate.
GEE BLINKIN WHIZZ mate..
holy cow.
YOUR A MIX HERO !!
LOVIN THE VOCAL n THE MIX....LOVIN EVERYTHING MATE.
NOW ITS GOT POWER !!
suckers got legs now.
what can i say ??
great work mate. HUGE KUDOS.
YES SIR OREN..I BOW DOWN BEFORE YOU SIR !!
Queens MBE n all that.
god bless n MUCH RESPECT.
ed.

[kara]

I knew this would be good
And it's even better !

k

[Oren]

Careful, Gents,
my head is beginning to swell

Some guitar, hopefully in a style that suits the beach party theme...  recommendations?

[offthewall]

 
Quite a stellar mix, Mr Canada. 

As for the guitar .... I got no adverse comments other than that it is a tad more 'restrained' than I would have expected ..... but I suppose that IS the mark of a sympathetic player.  You truly have hit the knack of playing off against the other instruments so that the overall mix is never overwhelmed .... 

In other words ... 
 

 
James   

[manning]

chaps.
my 2c.
i frankly think its critical what decisions are now made
by us all regarding the song.
we have to ask ourselves..
"what would the old great song producers do at this point". ?
for me the mix before june 9 was spot on.
and a concept to build on.

heres what i'm hearing in my mind.
there are 2 lead break areas.
in those 2 areas i hear the organ in rhythm mode
back in the mix, and 2 outstanding leads.
either lead guitar OR mebe in one break a sax solo.
then for added icings as the song is for women also it
would be nice to have some female voices in the voc choruses.

the song is darn close now, and its a question
how to do the icings on the cake as it were.

let me also say , as i said superb job on the  mixing by oren..
but i also want to give kudos to all the folks who contribbed
with bass n organ etc. its very neat the way the organ comes in and out
in the mix. ie..organ mainly in rhythm mode with likkle
"upfront flourishes".

one other thought i would like to share.
i'm sure like myself everyone here thinks up numerous song ideas
each month.
(i prolly get about 20 a month n its highly frustrating one cant bring all to fruition.)
but the way this song is progressing underlines
that for one person "to do it all" on a song is well nigh impossible.
in summary it has to include other gifted folks as a team effort.
as per this song.
 
ive had the fortune in the past to talk to people who were there when certain
big songs were produced. and in every case it wasnt one musician..
but a team effort.
and the same i feel goes for this song. it shows the great value
of collabing cos different people bring different ideas.
kudos to you all.  
let me also say what i absolutely LOVE here at KM
is the "friendliness" of things. unlike many other places
on the net. and the collegial atmosphere etc.

i feel we are now in the home stretch on this song...
just suggesting in this phase we think very very carefully
how to make the song even better in this final phase.
many important decisions at this juncture could really
make it superb. the final sound picture will make or break it.
thus i think we should discuss such.
hit me up with your thoughts  .
as kara said "its even better".
but lets not rest on our laurels..lets make it even
better still.

[MarioD]

This is a super mix Oren.  Great job!

How to make it better is a very hard question to answer! I like to keep in mind that sometimes one can polish a song so much that it ends up dull.  This has a good vibe right now so let’s not loose that.

For me the question is in what era do you want the song to sound like?  If contemporary then this is just about finished if not finished and it sounds super.  Now when an old stereotyped picker like myself hears a song about Malibu Beach with a chord progression, instrumentation and vocals (all expertly played and sang BTW) like this I think of the sixties surf sounds. Now if that’s the era we are aiming for then IMHO the lead guitar sounds be more like a  Mosrite or Fender sound with a touch of reverb; think of the Beach Boys, Safaris, Jan and Dean etc.

Just my thoughts-FWIW.

[Oren]

Mario - just the kind of feedback I was hoping for.
There are two guitar phrases solely aimed at Chuck Berry territory - the rest is patterned after the guitarist from SugarLoaf (of "Green Eyed Lady" fame), and is much too "'70's" for this number.

There is, however, a whammy bar on this G&L, and some very spanky clean sounds in my old Digitech - sufficient to lay down some Ventures licks. I'll get right on it.
Would you care to jump in with a few more of your own...?

(interestingly, Hendrix preferred Mosrite to Fender, and only used Stratocasters on stage where they might get damaged (or set on fire ) - his studio and at-home guitars were Mosrite)
       ________________________________________________________________________

Ed - we'll keep at it. There's plenty more that can be done without "over doing", if we're gentle...

[MarioD]

Oren, although I’m busier than a guitarist at the Guitar Center with a stolen charge card I’ll try to make some time to lay down a track or two.  Would you be able to send me, or post, an OGG file without a lead and tell me where you would like the leads added and I’ll give it a try.

[manning]

sorry back late.
had family stuff.
mario..re lead breaks.
2 main areas..
first is after i sing "in malibu " .
1min35 secs to 2mins..ending just before the downward guitar
progression.
second area around 2mins 54secs to 3min18secs.

oren mate ..
could you post the MalibuVocMix.ogg
for the full song length ie..just like that mix
that i love so much that you did.
and with the organ pulled back in rhythm
mode rather than upfront in the 2 lead areas ??
thus then mario can do his thing.
is that ok ??
i agree twould be nice to get 2 legendary surf style leads
in those 2 lead areas. a la mosrite.
that would be neat.
imho those 2 lead areas are vitally important to
make the song even better.
i tried several lead ideas myself but failed to find anything
i was happy with. so i beat myself up...lol.
in  my mind however i hear single note
melodic leads in those 2 areas a la the old surf bands styles.

[Oren]

...As for the guitar .... I got no adverse comments other than that it is a tad more 'restrained' than I would have expected ..... but I suppose that IS the mark of a sympathetic player... 
 

James,
Thanks for your positive comments! Guitar players get a bad rap (although well-deserved ) for playing too fast - too loud - too long... I try to compensate in some small way...

[Oren]

OK, Mario,
Here's the mix with that Hammond pulled back a bit in the guitar solo areas - 1min35sec to 2min, and 2min54sec to 3min18sec.

Once all the instruments are in place and the mix is working, I'll give the whole shebang that "outdoor concert" treatment to put it "in the same room" as Ed's vocal - so that all the instruments sound like they are on a stage out on the beach. We need to get the mix right, first...
           ________________________________________________________

Oh yeah - I left the two Chuck Berry "camel walk" guitar pieces in the mix. If they don't work, let me know...

[kara]

This is getting better with each release, somebody here becomes a real expert with Ardour...
Now to be honnest, I'm not over entousiastic about that solo guitar sound, the playing of course is great but that sound doesn't realy fit in the song in my humble opinion.
I would rather expect a sound like the Shadows had in there era ?

About guitar players :
Years of playing in live bands learned me something, at the end of a concert a guitar player says allways the same thing
- I couldn't hear myself enough.
- Did you hear that great solo of me ?

By coincidence, we where auditioning a new guitar player for our group yesterday. The guy has over 20 years of experience in several jazz bands so i was pretty convident about his skills.
He came in pretty humble playing some gently rythmic guitar on the background while we where rehearsing. The proof of his experience was that he didn't ask any chordsheets, he just asked for every song in what it key we played it!
At a certain moment we where performing 'The girl of Ipanema'. I stopped in the middle of the song and said to him; since we have 2 guitar players now, one who does the rythmic section, you could do some gentle counter melody soloing in the background while the girls are singing the theme.
ok he said and what happened? The guy went wild ! At a point that our leadsingers where loosing the theme and didn't know what  to sing anymore
The proof....

You seem to be an exception Oren

k

[Oren]

Now to be honnest, I'm not over entousiastic about that solo guitar sound, the playing of course is great but that sound doesn't realy fit in the song in my humble opinion.
I would rather expect a sound like the Shadows had in there era ?

It's easy to remove those last two guitar bits, and go with a completely clean style. I can't do Chuck Berry without some distortion, so it will be Ventures/Shadows all the way. It should prove to be an interesting challenge.
I seem to remember playing "Walk, Don't Run" and "WipeOut" once upon a time...

[manning]

Oren.
i'm easy mate.
just want everyone to be happy.
in my mind i hear melodic clean surfy guitar leads,
but if thats not possible,..i'm happy with whatever
everyone is happy with.
cos i dont want to douse anyones enthusiasm n fun.
i can get too darn "picky" for my own good sometimes.
my apologies if i get too picky mate...
its just your mix has got me all excited with the possibilities
of this being a gonzo song.
 
i must say youve done a stirling job bringing the mix this far.  
god bless.