Thanks for taking the time to listen and the kind words. Best to you
Hey Paul,
This is a pretty cool song! I like it. First of all the duet of course: your voices sound great together and the rap with different timing to the backingās great. What these young dudes maybe donāt know is that rap is as old as- well Iām not sure - but it wasnāt Eminem or even Grand master Flash that started it all. There were numerous raps in the sixties and early seventies that Iām aware of - Iām thinking of a fantastic rap by Isaac Hayes (if youāre into extremely fat soul). The guitars are great too: I like the way the different acoustics intertwine with their fingerpicking. I agree this may be one of your very best Paul!
Now I canāt let you off without bashing anything 
I agree that itās better without drums. The light percussion is working, but could be better. Youāre using what sounds like a small shaker (one of those 'eggs Iām guessing ) on the 2 and 4 as if it was a snare. Its got quite a lot of attack for a shaker. One of the things I like about those egg things is that the attack can be more gradual so it gets more flow (I donāt know how to describe it otherwise), a rocking, back and forth sensation like waves on the shore or something. It might work well in this song too Iām guessing. Is a sampled shaker? If itās live with a real shaker: try shaking it back and forth on all four beats with a bit of an accent on the 2 and 4. Maybe you can get a sampled shaker to do something similar. It wonāt make a prominent difference, but itās something you could try. I have a felling this is actually a pretty sexy song. Itās all about love lost, but basically youāre getting pretty intimate with unwritten messages 
. Am I right?
Hi Evert I have seen in other posts that you know a lot about percussion. When I first started messing with the acoustic tracks, I used a click track. For some reason it was hard to keep time to. I switched to the EXdrummer shaker stock beats and yes accented on the two and four. I turned the volume up so I could keep time, then decided to lower the track and keep it. Not sure if it is needed at all. I then used some more drums later at a lesser volume. If the song ever grew legs I would have someone else do that track. My daughter listened and suggested to speed up a little also.
I didnāt realize how easy and fun this would be. Also the drag and drop feature makes it easy for od farts too. Really a completely different direction on this one. Thanks for the detailed help
Well, a lot is a lotā¦ I was once singer in a salsa band for a while and one of two percussionists in the band helped me get acquainted with some basic rhythms. So I know basic cowbell, guiro, shakers and such. I later picked up drumming. But you need to know a lot more if you really want to be a good percussionist, and I canāt pretend to be one. But I do love using percussion!
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Hey Evert, I took your advice and removed the shaker all together. Loads fast now without the EZ in there. Also tightened up some levels and bumped the track from 94 to 98 bpm cuz it was dragging a bit. Going to try mastering now for the first time. Your input much appreciated