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by **Mr. Marty** » Sun Jul 17, 2022 4:23 pm

I have only been on stage before a large crowd once. I was terrified. It was a university talent contest. I played a tune of my own creation. I couldn't play it today as I cannot even remember the opening chord. I was in my early 20's. It terrified me. I did get a good applause. A duet singing a James Taylor song won.

The only time when I was happy playing before people was with and in front of friends. That has always been my most pleasing moments in music. It still would be though it does not happen anymore. Like you, I just did not practice enough. What I heard was always more complex than what it really was. I still have that problem today but not so much. So what I played was not even close to the songs I was covering.

So, what is the goal here? For me it is the act of playing. Mixing/mastering is the means to an end though anticipation of the end product drives the work. It sound like for you the pleasure is the tech. But we have the same end game, the song. I find your work to be genius at times.

by **DollarBill** » Sun Jul 17, 2022 11:09 am

Heigen5 wrote: Sat Jul 16, 2022 9:40 pm That's what I usually do too, i.e. record my vocals few vocal lines per a take. It's probably a very common method. Only live bands would require to practice the whole thing in row.

I know more than a few bands have struggled to recreate live what they managed in the studio (or parts a hired hand recorded after the drunk band passed out). I'm just glad there's zero chance of me getting on a stage again, did it many times in a variety of non-paying ways, but I never once enjoyed it.

by **DollarBill** » Sun Jul 17, 2022 11:06 am

Mr. Marty wrote: Sun Jul 17, 2022 3:21 am I usually do a single take on rhythm tracks. Edit the track to correct for timing issues. On leads I normally do two or three full song takes. Pick one and use the other two to correct flubs. Vocals, one take...unless I absolutely blow the lyrics or get way off tune. Harmonies can take many tries...in bits. I always like singing harmonies but I absolutely suck at it.

Those few takes is why your tunes have an honesty I could never fake. I console myself by explaining that it's not about some purity of performance for me, it's just getting the idea of some theoretical song out of my brain and into a WAV as faithfully as I can manage, but the truth is I should have just practiced more in my youth when it would have helped, especially with consistency of rhythm. I do try to play more "legitimately" if it's something acoustic or vaguely classical or bluegrass, but the more polished the song, the less I worry about how I got there

by **Mr. Marty** » Sun Jul 17, 2022 3:21 am

I usually do a single take on rhythm tracks. Edit the track to correct for timing issues. On leads I normally do two or three full song takes. Pick one and use the other two to correct flubs. Vocals, one take...unless I absolutely blow the lyrics or get way off tune. Harmonies can take many tries...in bits. I always like singing harmonies but I absolutely suck at it.

by **Heigen5** » Sat Jul 16, 2022 9:40 pm

DollarBill wrote: Sat Jul 16, 2022 9:30 pm
Mr. Marty wrote: Sat Jul 16, 2022 4:25 pm Damn, Lost what I typed.
I like the harmonies. Could be a bit more up front.
Great key changes and mad guitar skills.
I always struggle with the line of putting the singer in the band vs in front of the band, and it always seems to be a song by song determination on what I think is right. Consistency? Bah, that's for people who know what they're doing!

But seriously, thanks man, though you should never be impressed on guitar skills when the solo is recorded in bite-size chunks with 80+ takes because you can't be arsed to actually practice.

That's what I usually do too, i.e. record my vocals few vocal lines per a take. It's probably a very common method. Only live bands would require to practice the whole thing in row.

by **DollarBill** » Sat Jul 16, 2022 9:30 pm

Mr. Marty wrote: Sat Jul 16, 2022 4:25 pm Damn, Lost what I typed.
I like the harmonies. Could be a bit more up front.
Great key changes and mad guitar skills.

I always struggle with the line of putting the singer in the band vs in front of the band, and it always seems to be a song by song determination on what I think is right. Consistency? Bah, that's for people who know what they're doing!

But seriously, thanks man, though you should never be impressed on guitar skills when the solo is recorded in bite-size chunks with 80+ takes because you can't be arsed to actually practice.

by **Mr. Marty** » Sat Jul 16, 2022 4:25 pm

Damn, Lost what I typed.
I like the harmonies. Could be a bit more up front.
Great key changes and mad guitar skills.

by **Heigen5** » Fri Jul 15, 2022 5:57 pm

The drums in this track were pretty complex sounding, but yeah, they sounded like live-drums.

I play midi-keyboards, took some piano lessons when I was young. I think I play 90% of my midi with it.
I program my drums, and there's still lots of room for getting better at it. The biggest challenge is to find 'right' drum samples per track for me.
I think if your track sounds busy, then it's very challenging to make the drums work well.

:drumming:

by **DollarBill** » Wed Jul 13, 2022 7:31 am

Ashley wrote: Tue Jul 12, 2022 12:30 pm A great track by you guys, very enjoyable, well done, thanks for sharing!!

Thanks for listening Ashley!

Heigen5 wrote: Tue Jul 12, 2022 12:58 pm Nice salad kind of a rock-pop tune. Lots of complexity in the structure and the guitars were my favorite elements in this.
A question: what kind of the instruments in this tune were live-played and what were midi?
Anyway, a great tune overall.

Thank you sir! Keyboards are often played live, especially Matt's on most Relative Rabbit songs, but this one most of the keys were MIDI as that was just the way I wrote the initial theme with the piano & marimba. Guitars & bass were live, and with the 25/8 pretty tricky until I got the "feel" for the odd time. Matt plays drums for real, but I think most of his drum parts get edited quite a bit or written fully in MIDI, but still are aleways better than I can do as my few years of drum kit ownership did not translate into good drumming. I always think the parts sound better on "realistic" / non-electronic drumming if they're done by someone who at least remembers how many arms and legs a drummer has

by **Heigen5** » Tue Jul 12, 2022 12:58 pm

Nice salad kind of a rock-pop tune. Lots of complexity in the structure and the guitars were my favorite elements in this.
A question: what kind of the instruments in this tune were live-played and what were midi?
Anyway, a great tune overall.

by **Ashley** » Tue Jul 12, 2022 12:30 pm

A great track by you guys, very enjoyable, well done, thanks for sharing!!

by **DollarBill** » Tue Jul 12, 2022 5:04 am

Trobador222 wrote: Mon Jul 11, 2022 10:40 pm Like the Beatles meet Yes!

Thanks so much! Of course if we were even a quarter as good as either of those bands, they'd still be 4x as good

by **Trobador222** » Mon Jul 11, 2022 10:40 pm

Like the Beatles meet Yes!

by **DollarBill** » Mon Jul 11, 2022 3:44 am

This one isn't from the last album, so it doesn't follow that concept-album thing of the other recent songs. To be honest, I don't know all the words, so I'm not sure what the lyrics are all about. I sent a demo to Matt of the initial piano idea and mentioned wanting to have lots of start/stop, and to "mind the gaps" which ended up getting tossed out by the end, but the title stuck.

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