Johnny Cash Tribute Song

Salutations Gentlemen.

My manager (/drummer :lol:) has been after me to get my bandmate Joe's Johnny Cash Tribute Song recorded, so him and I took a crack at it today.

I stuck with "known elements". I recorded the bass and guitars the same way that I always due using the same settings, and used the same patch for the drums that I always use.

As has been suggested before, I dropped the Bass Guitar's 60hz frequency down 2db and boosted the same frequency on the Kick Drum 2db.

I'm not singing on this one, but I used my normal SM58 EQ curve on Joe's vocals that gets rid of most of the mud, which is gradually rolling off the sub 700hz frequencies until they're down 3db while gradually boosting 1k, 2k, 4k, an eventually 6k an 8k up 3db. I also threw in some quick faux echo delay on the vocals at about 130ms.

Apart from that, the mix is "dry", save for some ambient reverb on the guitars from my amplifier. No other EQ work was done.

They're two lead guitars playing double parts, so I have then both shoved to the left and right as far as possible. When solos occur I bring the lead guitar center.

Apart from that, I haven't done much else.

When I recorded, I had my two powered monitors out, so I used them to get my initial mix. They both have 15" speakers and horns (they're about 300 watts a piece I think). It's a world of difference having big speakers to listen to.

Now, since I've been doing some more balancing, I've gone back to my little computer speakers because I don't want 600 watts of sound filling the house at 9 and 10 at night. :lol:

Anyway, here's the first rough mix.

[[See new mix below]]

Nice job!

Cool genre tune and a nice treatment of it, Clint. The kick/bass mojo is working, and the hard pans on the gits works for me. The vocal sounds a little bit out front (take it from somebody who gets busted for that a lot, especially by Geoff!). :mrgreen: If you ducked the "normal" range vocals a coupla dB but left the bass-register parts as is, that might work.

The echo on the vocals is pretty subtle, and a touch of 'verb might make the effect richer, I dunno — try it and see!

You're getting the hang of it, dude!

Thanks fellas.

Try this one out Woodman. I brought down the vocals about 2db. More than that caused the lead guitar to start overpowering the vocals.

I redid the Delay on the vocals and threw some Reverb on top of that too. I think the reverb may be too much though.

https://www.box.com/s/mjkvrk3k76k017drr6iw

Good job

Ha.......great job!
I like the second mix.

Sounding good ... I don't think the 'verbs too excessive for this type of music, although that's a matter of taste to some extent.

Ha.......great job!
I like the second mix.

+1. This is a number 1 on the TDPRI Hit Billboard!!!!!:lol: ( Or it should be anyway).:lol:

I'll be honest... I'm incredibly surprised by what just happened :lol:

I'm still waiting for feedback from the rest of band, but the fact that you guys think it sounds good as is makes me feel pretty warm and fuzzy.

I have to add more vocals to it as the guys are requesting, and hopefully they'll work out. I feel like this song works the best with just one harmony part on it, but I'm just the producer/lead guitarist/band leader, so what do I know :mrgreen:.

Nice playing and singing all around! I too liked the bass guitar/kick drum interaction.. instrument panning too. I liked the reverb on the vocals, maybe a touch less, but as Wood said, it's a matter of taste.

Nice fiddle playin' too, was that you?

I like the two acoustic guitar tracks panned L/R.