Updated Textural/Progressive Funk Rock Odyssey with New Intro

Yes, here I am, showing up like a bad penny - back again to annoy you all with this :persevere::

I have updated this mix with some alterations in the intro, courtesy of the fine suggestions of @Sven. Please have a listen and let me know what you thinkā€¦ Thanks

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Hi there Penny,

I like the intro better now, it flows and it drags me along with it, quite naturallyā€¦
Iā€™d still be a bit careful when the riff guitars are added at 2:18 - still feels a tad intrusive to me and Iā€™d lower them. If you need to UP something at this point, Iā€™d consider adding a few dB on the bass. To go with the ā€œbulldozerā€ themeā€¦ I feel the guitars are competing too much with the vox.

Donā€™t have a problem with the loud guitars at 3:11 - as thereā€™s no vox to run over thereā€¦

Itā€™s a cool tune and it reminds me of this Dutch bandā€¦ for some reasonā€¦

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Sounding pretty damn good Andrew. I still dig the chorus in the beginning, but yeah, itā€™s pretty 1980s.

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Sounds really good, thereā€™s not much advice i could give here. Iā€™d personally spread the hats out a bit more if it was me but only personal preference. Nice chops man.

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Great sound and playing/singing too, thanks for sharing this. So are you label shopping or do you have other plans?

Maybe @feaker will lend you his bulldozer for a video?

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Well, I hope if you use it you have eaten your cheerioā€™s. because you have to crank it to start it.

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Cool, thanks for the idea, and thanks for taking another listen, Sven!

Iā€™m a bit confused what youā€™re getting at here, because the main riff guitar plays in between the chorus vocal phrases, so to my way of thinking it is a ā€œcall and responseā€ sequence. If there are vocals that it ā€œruns overā€, they are background vocals that are meant to beā€¦wellā€¦ in the background.

ā€¦so I think Iā€™m going to stick to my guns here, because the riff is a BIG part of the chorus, and the song was actually written around it. Believe me, Iā€™ve tried it at different levels, but the choruses simply lose energy and focus that way, because it is so intrinsic to the song. I did aready increase the bass level quite substantially compared to the verses - any more and it becomes muddy and starts to swamp the drive of the drums.

Thanks - yeah, I can hear similarities in the chordal figures of those Hammond riffs - cool track! - Iā€™ve never heard them before.

Thanks for your help, mate - much appreciated!

Thanks Dillon - haha, yeah - as much as I love Andy Summersā€™ stylings in The Police, I resisted the call of the Chorus this time!

Thanks Terry - You know, I was just noticing that the main riff guitar is on the same side as the hihatā€¦ hmmā€¦ maybe I should swap those guitars in the stereo imageā€¦

Haha, very funny. No, Iā€™ll leave the ambitions to the kidsā€¦

Now thereā€™s an idea!

Sounds dangerous - might run myself over!

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nice andrew i am liking it. The only thing is the high is panned right and prefer left panning. That is just personal preference, although i am curious as to if you always panned them this way why have i not noticed and why do you choose to do so?

Thanks Eric - I always pan things from audience perspective (assuming right handed drummer) - I always imagine myself watching the band on the stage. I guess thatā€™s why I tend to pan drums a little narrower than many. ā€¦ no real reason, just personal preference

Yeah interesting I always mix it from the drummers perspective which really makes no sense but I canā€™t help myself. I am a little surprised that i have never noticed before. Anyway good song. I am looking forward to this album.

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Huh - I never imagined drum panning was such a contentious issue! Every single mix Iā€™ve ever posted has had drums panned from audience perspective, and this is the first time it has ever been mentioned!..

TBH, it doesnā€™t really bother me to hear drums panned the other way, just as long as they sound good! Mixing is a million different little decisions, and thatā€™s just one of the manyā€¦donā€™t overthink it, make a choice & go for it, I say! :beerbanger:

This is really, really good Andrew. Stop screwing with it. Any nitpicking at this point is totally subjective. I just listened to this today, and even the bridge sounds natural to me now, whereas the first listen had me wondering a little about it as I listened. Get out the bubbly and christen the ship.

Thanks Bob! Yeah - I only made this one change - it only took me 10 minutes (literally)ā€¦ The rest of my spare time I have been working on your mix (I promise)!

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Yeah it donā€™t matter really. Well i have not noticed that you pan it that way and i always enjoy your production so that proves that .

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Andrew,

Wow; another awesome sounding mix. So many cool parts. The middle break is really neat.

This is my first listen, but I guess I am not getting the guitar harmonic at 14 seconds on the introā€¦meant to be dissonant, I guess.

Great guitar sounds and playing once again. Drums sound killer. Loved it.

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I might have to do a ā€œPurple Rainā€ style chorus cover of this mofo, the urge is that strong. Itā€™s hard to be a tree in the desert. Is it a douglas-fir?

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Thanks Kevin - glad you liked it!.. Yeah, I always like to throw a little dissonance in the gumbo - it spices things up a bit!

The biggest challenge was that there are actually about 50 tracks of backing vocals that I had to submix into stereo stems to make manageable - it was been quite a task, but it ended up sounding something close to what I envisioned in my mindā€™s ear, so Iā€™m pretty happy.

Thanks for taking the time to listen and comment!

ā€¦Well it is!..any kind - otherwise thereā€™d be more of 'em, innit? :wink:

Pretty much flawless to me. Canā€™t imagine the amount to bgvā€™s you messed with. Most I have had is four. Oh wait, this isnā€™t about me. This song has much appeal. Hope the best for you on it

Paul

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Andrew, I think you can turn the oven off and take it out, ready to serve!

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