Hot off the press (with a little help from Mr Styles B) for your critical perusal…
New Mix:
Original Mix:
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Hey Andrew, upon hearing the very first chords of this song I recognized it as the short audio snippet you posted a few weeks ago, though this is much more polished.
I’m glad that I’m listening to this through my laptop with my headphones, because I can get the complete experience and I hear all the intricacies and embellishments so much better than when I listen through my ipad.
I gotta say, this one doesn’t disappoint ! I listened to it 4 or 5 times pretty closely…,though I’m under the slight influence of alcohol. 
Jeez, I always love your arrangements and the way you spice your songs up with fun, interesting and very entertaining embellishments. It’s like a rock ‘n’ roll orchestra in surround sound. I’m getting stuff coming at me from every angle and that makes it feel very 3 dimensional. I begin the listening experience with a critical mind and with the intention of trying to catch everything that’s being thrown at me…, there’s a guitar part coming at me in the right speaker but I’m trying to keep my mind on what the other guitar is doing in the left speaker, and I’m also trying to stay tuned in to the bass and drums. It’s like I’m playing ping pong but there’s 5 ping pong balls coming at me at high speed. This song moves pretty fast too, so that makes it even more of a challenge…, and the alcohol may not help either, haha. If it sounds like I’m complaining , I’m NOT ! This is exciting and a very enjoyable listening experience!
I’m kind of laughing at myself because as I’m listening I’ll hear something cool that I want to mention in my critique but then another cool thing will pop up soon after and I’ll want to mention that also…, then by the end of the song I’ve had so many complimentary things to say that I can’t remember them all. After the 3rd or fourth time listening to this I realized that I’m way too absorbed in the musical punctuation and exciting flourishes that I’m missing out on being a casual listener and just sitting back and enjoying the song (but I am really enjoying the whole production and the flourishes). It’s like a party in my ears! I need to do a few listens with a less critical mindset just to simply hear the “song” itself as opposed to the big, fun musical orchestra that I’m trying to critique. That’s what I’m going to do next…but man, that orchestrated ear party is so fun.
Here’s just a tiny bit that I took note of and held onto through repeated listens. I really liked how you began the bass with the quarter notes and then went to eighth notes…I know that sounds like a simple thing but it seems like a cool choice. There was a lot of good bass choices throughout. I wanted to mention that at around the 2 minute mark you have what sounds like a really cool grooving bass (I think that’s the bridge part?). I really like what the bass is doing there, so much so that I wanted to hear those bass notes even clearer. The bass is pumping nicely there (I don’t mean compression pumping) so I think a little bit more emphasis in volume or EQ’d clarity would make that even better, though it’s already really sweet as is.
The other thing I should mention was that I really loved the way the solo was arranged, mixed and pieced together. It felt like two guitarist trading off their leads with each other by the way you had the licks panned and sometimes one solo part would start playing while the other one was ending their solo part.
Ah, another thing I took note of - You’re vocals sit REALLY well in the mix. I hear every word you sing and yet your vocals are not above the instruments. I’m not sure why they sit so well. Maybe it’s some combination of arrangement choices, vocal tone and range, compression, and the vocal saturation that you often use? What’s your secret?
Whatever you’re doing, continue doing it. I’m going to listen to this one a few more times just to enjoy the ride. Great job !!
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That is definitely a rocker. Really well done.
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Man, this kicks ass guys!! Stellar across the board (see what I did there?), especially those guitar performances and tones. Saaa-weeet!
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Crazy good. Love that intro and when the drums “kicked” in. I was prepared to say that I liked the first part before it took off, I have since changed my mind. It is ALL smokin. Wicked is so good at picking tracks apart. Can’t believe the time he takes to help folks. Like to hear you put some lower voxs in there somewhere. Never heard you sing anything under D. ha ha I am not surprised by your tracks anymore. I have come to expect quality. This is killer Mr Auzy
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Now there’s a title. It needs a graphic 
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Yeah Dave, maybe we can be part of his roo crew. I’ll run the sound system out of sight maybe “down under” the stage. Whadia think ‘Maaaaaate’ ???
Thanks man - I’m hoping the alcohol didn’t help the mix too much!
I like it!
Thanks! That bridge part is a pretty simple pumping 8th note rock variation of the classic jazz/bues technique where you connect chord tones by a completely chromatic run up or down. I’ll see if I can make it a bit clearer, but that’s a pretty busy part of the song, so I want to make sure it doesn’t fight the vocal too much.
The main part of the solo (guitars in the middle and on the right) are courtesy of Bob @StylesBitchley’s fine playing. I had already played a solo myself on the demo there, but I wanted to get some fresh input, so I asked Bob if he could come up with something, and sure enough, he did and it was awesome!
Originally I intended to get another guitarist from around here (who played on the track “When I Die”) to create a lead guitar triple-threat trade-off through the song, but he had to cancel the session we arranged.
In any case, I played some stuff, Bob played his solo, and I kind of wove the two together to try to create a similar idea - I’m glad it turned out!
I used the Sure Beta 52a on the lead vocal, so I think its tone worked pretty well for this material. Apart from that, it’s just multiple stages of compression. Using the “unison” thing on the Apollo twin X, there is a UA 610B preamp emulation followed by an 1176, then an LA2A that are “baked in” to the recording. Then, in the mix, I have tape simulation, more 1176/LA2A compression, another 1176, and some parallel compression/saturation from a UAD Fatso.
Thanks so much for your detailed listen and comments - much appreciated!
Thanks Eric!
Thanks Dave - glad it comes across ok.
Thanks Paul - glad you like it.
You mean, like these? (which are in every chorus)
… So you didn’t listen to the end of the song then?
It finishes on an A:
Thanks, I’ll keep that in mind - In future, I’ll try to do something really awful just for you 
All jokes aside, thanks to all who have listened and commented so far…
To be perfectly honest, I’m not at all happy this mix yet - The low end isn’t right, and I think I need to finesse the snare to sound a bit beefier… At least it’s a starting point…
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Sounds nice, Andrew, great job as usual. We play well together, especially since we never played it together. I wish now I would have played out through the end. It sounds great as it is, but hearing it in context made me think of more licks than a fourth grade class at an ice cream shop. Fun tune, thanks for letting me be a small part of it.
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Thanks Bob - your part was awesome - thank you SO much!.. You know you’re always welcome to throw on more!
That’s great! 
I shall store that for further use!
Here’s an updated mix with some changes. I think the low end sounds a lot better now, and I fattened up the snare some… Made a few other tweaks too:
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Holy crap that “special” track thing i have listened to a bunch of times. That alone could be a fun thing to bring out. I can’t believe the stuff you put on those vocals that doesn’t clutter the mix. Great stuff, I hope more listen to this.
No, you are right, I don’t listen to the whole song most times. my bad
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Thanks man! I’ve always loved music that reveals more to you with each listen, so it’s fun to try to build a production like that.
Andrew, this one is very polished and definitely radio ready.
When is the album coming out ?
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Thanks!
I’m thinking it will be early 2022 all going well. I’m on to song # 8 of 10 now, but I’m also back at work, so my time to work on music is now much more limited.
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Really nicely done Andrew, that kick sound, hot damn that really is something else, huuuuuge!
I found that descending chromatic vocal hook in the chorus unique as hell, really cool stuff.
The whole package is hard to fault tbh, super slick, great vocal performance and some buttery guitar chops throughout.
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Yes! Mate, you’re the only one who has picked that up!
I’ll admit, I honestly wasn’t trying to be clever or anything - it just came out that way like it was the most natural thing in the world! In fact, I didn’t realise I’d done it until I started recording it. Then it hit me: “The chorus on this song is just plain WEIRD! The main notes in the chorus are a descending chromatic line, and I don’t know of many (if any) songs that have a chromatic melody in the chorus.”
Credit where credit is due: The cool lead break is mainly Mr Robert Cameron, aka @StylesBitchley. Thanks Bob!
Thanks for listening, mate - I appreciate your comments!
Very well done on all accounts. Very tasteful use of reverb and delay, starts off dry and then gets big but doesn’t sound verby to my ear.
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I’m late to this, but really awesome stuff! Just curious, am I hearing a little bit of honky-tonk piano (a la Lynyrd Skynyrd) in the background (starting 3:10-ish)? I thought I heard it, but if it’s there it’s so low in the mix I can be sure. If it’s there (or perhaps add it as an addition), I think it would be cool to feature that for at least a few riffs or seconds in the mix if you can fit it in. Maybe I’m just hearing a part in my head from the vibe of the song, but that’s what came to my attention on top of the other great things.
BTW - Listening to the “New Mix” in the OP.
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Thanks Ingo. You’re right, the reverbs are fairly subtle in this one. Most obvious ambiences are coming from delays.
Thanks Stan! No, you’re definitely not imagining things - There are some Piano and Hammond organ parts tucked in the bridge, featuring my very, very limited (read zero) keyboard skills. I tried to keep them just audible so hopefully they would reveal themselves more clearly after a few listens.
I featured the bass a little more in that part after @Wicked’s comments above, and I think it might have covered up the keys a little bit more than I wanted to, so it might not hurt to goose their volume a little more now:
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