Ride Ride Cowboy

[dave.king1]

Here's a song I've had in the mix process for a bit my mate Bob wrote it and Max sings all the harmonies, I am guilty of all the instruments and the recording process.

This is the first one I've used the Waves SSL E Channel strip on and I'm very happy with the outcome

https://soundcloud.com/suthol/ride-ride-cowboy-6a-16b

I have a couple of rock & blues pieces on the go as well so we do cover a bit more ground than country

[wokkaboy]

recording sounds good DK, country isn't my cup of tea but keen to hear some rock and blues songs !

[dave.king1]

Thanks Woks, I put it up on SC to get some feedback from the guys on a recording forum I also inhabit and figured I should share it here.

There are two remixes since the one posted here that are a quantum improvement in terms of instrument balance and horizontal space

A couple of comments received from recording professionals in the US who have been mentoring me

Here is the comment that I got on the previous mix ( 5e )

Wow, the SSL worked a trick! The wide-panned vocals are distracting to me ... you might try pulling them in a little tighter, like +12 and -12, distinct from the lead yet still working as a "section," if you will, and letting the guitars carry the water for full L-R spread. ... The left voice is quite a bit hotter than the right one. ... Kick's pretty hot for a cowboy song.

Max's spoken bit is blurry — did you EQ your reverb? I usually start rolling it off at about 500, so the low mids and lows don't generate extra mud (they take a longer time to decay than highs). Another way to get clarity on the lyrics is to add predelay if your reverb plugin has that control. That allows the transients to form before the reverb kicks in. About 30 ms usually will do the trick.

And on the mix posted here ( 6a )

Hey Dave, this is one fun song!
I love it. Your tracks are starting to make great strides in sonic quality.
That's a cool sounding mix, if you don't mind me saying!

I know this is a work in progress still, so hopefully my comments are
just reworks into what your Western Music sensibilities are.

Authenticity is always a key factor for me. this might be why
modern country just doesn't do it for me. That said, I feel
like i want to hear some clippity clops on percussion. you know,
the sound of horse hooves on stone cobbles or something.

I kind of like the panning thing you got going on there, but it might need to be
a bit more consistent in it's application. If the vocals are going to be that wide
then why not just move it to one side, and the other can be for the background vocals?

I tried listening for a middle to latch onto, but all I could focus on was
either the bass or the kick drum down the center. No vocals lived there
this time around, and that's where i wanted to hear them OR just hear
them out of one side.

There's a vocal line in the chorus line that sounds out of tune.
An easy fix. All you have to do is replace it with an existing one
that works already available in the song.

[Andy40]

Nice work DK, you can tell a fair bit of effort has gone into it. I'm with Wokks that country isn't my thing, but sometimes I love the licks and tone. The tele? tone in the solo bit sounds cool too

Thanks for posting

[dave.king1]

All Tele on the bridge pickup Andy.

Pickups are the 52 Blackguard spec that I had wound by ex forumite Tony W, who seems to dropped off the planet altogether

[wokkaboy]

Hey DK, I got a set for my baritone tele wound by TonyW, he was banned from the forum for a late night rant

[Andy40]

All Tele on the bridge pickup Andy.

Pickups are the 52 Blackguard spec that I had wound by ex forumite Tony W, who seems to dropped off the planet altogether

yeah i noticed that

[dave.king1]

Finally had time to sort out the previous mix I posted, the levels are now pretty good and the couple of bum notes in the lead vocal fixed along with a couple of timing issues in the harmonies.

The harmony problems weren't obvious but when you put it on repeat and listen critically for half an hour or so any little annoyances become gratingly obvious.

A total of 7 hours spent editing between 6a & 6b. The upload is a 16 bit wav file that will obviously have the SoundCloud vagaries applied to it.

Equipment used, 64 bit Win 10 PC, Reaper, native Reaper EQ, Comp, Delay & Verb plugins, Waves SSL E Channel on vocals and master track.

Peavey PV6 USB mixer, Sennheiser MD427 mic, Sony MDR XD100 headphones & Altec Lansing monitors

Yamaha bass model unknown upgraded with Fender Seth Lover designed bass HB, Squier Thinline upgraded with Village Blackwood pickups.

Drums are VSTi Sennheiser Drummica and guitars were straight into the mixer, vocals were recorded on an old 32bit Win 7 Toshiba Sattelite running the same release of Reaper.

https://soundcloud.com/suthol/ride-ride-cowboy-6c-16b

I'll put up something other than straight old school country in the near future