Had this one going for quite a while, finally got an opportunity to complete it…Still coming to grips with my new surroundings, so please have a listen and let me know what you think - thanks!
Edit New mix just uploaded here V V V (Mix 2)
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Listened on an iPhone with some fancy Sony earbuds. I really dig this song. Is there a back story or is this something you just came up with?
This is my first (inexperienced) shot at a bash and really, I don’t hear anything that needs bashing. I could hear every instrument and the vocals were clear. Good job.
Having said that, after a few more people give their input, I will listen to the song again and pay attention to anything they might point out.
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Thanks Al - glad you dig it…
The story is just an imaginary scenario. It was inspired by the fact that I come into contact with a lot of different people from all sorts of socio-economic situations. It seems humans love to discriminate on that basis, but human frailty is not so choosy.
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Very interesting composition Andrew! What’s it called, btw?
I have little to offer from the technical/mixing side; but I have some comments on the song as a whole. For me the big departures in the choruses and bridge, where the chord structures really take a left turn from the main verses’ structures, are awkward. They seem kind of pasted together, if you get me, and what I think it needs is some work on the transitions between those disparate sections, some smoother “on ramps” between those sections.
I don’t have any great suggestions for how to do that, unfortunately, but I’m reminded of a comment you made in one of the Tchad Blake vids you posted, about how you’d done some unusual transitions in a recent mix etc. I think that kind of approach is needed here to tie these segments into a more cohesive whole. Sorry I can’t be more specific Andrew, but I’m getting out of my league a bit here…!
But as far as the overall sound goes, as I said in the other thread, I’d never be able to guess you just changed recording spaces. Things gel as they should and are plenty audible across the freq & panning ranges. Looking forward to what comes next!
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Good song you got here. As is expected the finer details and the balance is spot on. Taste wise i find the treatment on the chorus vocals is not working for me. Too dry and almost detached from the rest of the song. I think that you could continue with the distorted theme you got going.
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I LOVE the rowdiness of this song! It’s killer! I’ve only listened on headphones so far, but I’ll try to check it out on the monitors tonight. I do agree that there is a bit of abruptness between the verse and chorus. But given the rowdy flavor of the song, it almost gets away with it. I’m not sure what to suggest there, but this is a great example of what I’d love to see us all learn from here.
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You know your way around the mix deal-E-o. There was not anything technically pulling me out of the groove.
I am going to say some stupid stupid things right now, so please do not kill me ha!
Alright, now there were not any glaring tech issues , but there are 2 things that stop me from committing 100% to your creation you are bringing to life.
1 there is no conviction on your delivery with the vox, you are not connecting with the emotional content. This is written from a 3rd person perspective, I need first person compassion! Think everlast-what its like song, when I hear him singing about these characters he portrays, I feel like he actually cares for the people and he is their voice to bring light to their situation. Which brings me to…
2 the production of the song is way out of proportion to the lyric. You are a master at your craft and have a firm grasp adding amazing touches to compliment a song, I feel you went too far with the flare. The flare is taking me away from trying to make that emotional connection to these people you are singing about. I am like " fuck harry and his mortgage, that was an awesome reverse vox lead-in!" I would hand-write the lyric out on a piece of paper and really look at the words and get to what you what you are trying to convey with this song. Right now the lyric and emotional impact is surpassed by the music and production.
All of this was is in my fhumble fhumble opinion. Love cpt.
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O my… hooked me in right from the gnarly beginning… but the treats just keep going…
Wonderful song - love it!! That little twisty guitar hook that plays solo, is just so tricky and cool… how you close everything down around it and that feels so seamless…
Great fx, love the drawl in your vox. There are such a lot of cool things within this mix, I love the sonic twists and the chord shifts that feel almost kaleidoscopic. Great lyrics… Great musicianship in there too… (rave rave)
In terms of bash, I’m hesitant coz I’m still in that excited - man that is good! - phase… 
Okay I’ve listened a few times now and being me, I’m wondering about just nitpick tweaks - playing with that vocal distortion a smudge here and there… it’s an awesome effect and the vocal is really great… I’m just hankering for a tiny bit more intimacy with it. I think that’s because of the swamp rock genre vibe, where I’m expecting a little more raw and sometimes the distortion gives a sense of distance… I love the BIG sense of chorus and the ‘Harry was…’ distorts… yum… I was wondering whether you could just have a few close-and-intimate vocal bits to hook the audience in… hmmm like what you do with “Charley was down but he wasn’t out……” but just a smudge more to get that cool storytelling vibe with explosive power… fab exploding reverb action at devour… going to have to listen to that with headphones on later to catch the full experience.
I’m feeling quite inspired now… so cool!!
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Ok just got home and listened on better headphones. There is plenty of low end in there, so what I was missing on my lousy work speakers would be above the crossover point of your sub. Don’t change anything based on my monitors, but I would guess it to be one octave above the root bass note. Everything else is beautiful, and the little suggestions I made on rr are less pronounced on a second listening.
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Hi Dave, thanks for the thoughtful and detailed critique.
The song is called “The Ballad of Charles and Harry”…
Without wanting to discount your impressions of the arrangement, I’m actually very happy with that side of things. In terms of a songwriting gesture, the verse/chorus contrast was a totally unforced, un-analysed and intuitive move. It just felt right on the acoustic I was playing in drop D tuning when I composed it. Nothing else about the song felt special, but that one move made it stick in my mind as unique. As a result I really intended to amplify and intensify the massive contrast between verse and “chorus”, both in tonality and actual key.
I can understand that it certainly doesn’t conform to standard ways of doing things, and that some people will hate it, but that wasn’t the goal here - I wanted to be adventurous, and I wanted to create a unique sound. Arrangement and impact-wise, it pretty much came out exactly how I wanted it to, so I won’t be re-recording or rearranging anything…
…and it’s good to know that that the sonics are reasonable, because that’s the main thing I’m struggling with at the moment.
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Thanks for your input Eric - the only thing I did different with the LV in the chorus was to take out a fairly subtlety-mixed in distorted parallel version.
I actually did try using the same sound for the chorus (because I’m lazy and I prefer not to change things if I can get away with it), but it didn’t work to my ears. I wanted the chorus vocal to be very clean, to match the contrast in singing styles.
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Thanks Cptn! I always get a kick out of reading your “motivational speeches”!
I get where you are coming from with the first person thing, but that’s not the concept I had in mind. I’ve written songs in the way you describe before, and I kept this deliberately different - A ballad, a ‘story’ being related.
As to the vocal having no conviction - well, it certainly didn’t feel like it from my POV - much sweat and raw vocal chords were expended. Maybe it’s not evident in the end result, but I did put in as much emotion and conviction as I could muster.
…and the critique about the lyric vs production are fairly taken… However, for better or worse, this aesthetic is one I am currently compelled to explore. On reflection, I do feel the verses could ride the “grittier” sonic line harder - that’s something I’ll be trying to achieve in subsequent remixes.
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Thanks Emma - I think you’re really onto something here that’s been bugging me. I’d like to ‘tighten up’ the sound of the verses more and make them more intimate sounding. I think the vocals are a big part of that, but on reflection, I think perhaps I should dial down the “size” of the drums for that part too - I think a little bit in a few different areas will add up to a lot.
Hey Bob! Thanks for giving it a couple of listens and confirming that for me. As I said above, the low end translation is something I’m struggling to come to grips with at the moment, so information like this is golden - much appreciated!
I meant to tell you when I posted earlier. I REALLY like your voice! I had no idea you could sing like that!!! 
Thanks Bryan! Glad the rowdiness came through well - that was the goal.
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Thanks - When I was younger, I loved singing, but as I got older, I realised I didn’t really love my voice…In bands, I usually sang out of necessity (no one else in the band could sing better) than because I wanted to be the singer.
Now I find it harder to keep my voice in good shape if I don’t sing live all the time. When I was singing regularly live with bands, it felt much more flexible. I try not to hate it, because I would mix it down way too low…but it’s the only one I’ve got, so I try to make the most of it.
I wish I had the guts to sing. It’s something that has bothered me for a lot of years. The reason I play guitar is because I don’t sing at all. Some day I hope to.
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It’s interesting - I’ve said this before, but I think it bears repeating: Vocals are pretty much 95% about confidence…hence, it becomes a classic chicken/egg scenario - How do you get confidence if you aren’t confident you sound good?.. how can you get to sound good until you have the confidence to put it all on the line and put yourself out there?..
…And this is one of the few great things about getting older. Most of us get into music when we’re young/in our teens, and often there is a HUGE element being/looking cool to others. That over-self-consciousness is death to vocals. As you get older, you simply DON’T CARE as much about what others think, so it’s a golden time to just go for it. I know of cases where people have “found their voice” in there late 30s or even 40’/50s…
Of course, even when I was a kid, I always knew I was not/never would be cool, so I sang anyway!.. At the time, my (now) wife thought that attitude was cool. 
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OK, copy that Andrew! And don’t get me wrong, I don’t hate it, it just was a bit jarring to me, but clearly that was the intent. So it’s on me to go back and listen again and get a better handle on it.
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