Light at End of Tunnel? (wrapping up project)

[woodman]

Tonight, i'm declaring victory and pulling out ... the Stragglers demo project has blotted out the sun for many months, and i just completed my last rough mix. good thing, cuz if i hafta listen to those tracks one more time, i'm gonna jump off a bridge.

a coupla tunes (three, really) that are further along have been posted on MySpace — you can listen to 'em here: Strags

backstory: we've had no product since the fiddler and keyboard man joined the band. by serendipity, i stumbled into the System 9 ProTools rig we made our 2003 album on, complete with the raw tracks. so i figured to learn PT on the fly, using the old drum tracks to build new arrangements on. a desperation move admittedly, but i got no way to track drums in the 8x15 Woodshed, and i had to have some current product pronto.

a lot of rough edges, but i'm thinking the foundation's solid, and after i give it a rest for a while, i'll knock off the rough edges. my old pal Mark Williams is doing final mixes ... he's an old analog freak who runs his mix through old Dolbys, hardware compressors and a monster antique tape deck.

mix critiques welcomed! hopefully i'll be posting more here on RIP now that the obsessive phase is over and done.

[woodman]

Yesterday we got a rough mix down for my original tune "Carolina Boogie" ... you can listen to it here.

comments??? this thread has died an agonizing death!

[getbent]

Outstanding. That is one great sounding band! I'd pay plenty to see you fellers...

that is the sound I love most!

[mudbean]

Can't listen at work - I'll get on it tonite.

mud

[garymaddox]

Sounds great! You've got a swingin' group! The mix on Carolina Boogie is pretty good. I think I'd try to pull the fiddle break out in front a bit more. Other than that, it cooks! I wish I could catch you live sometime.

[woodman]

here's one a little closer to completion: the heartbreak of strong drink

important note: the ReverbNation player box says The Woodshed, which is my home studio where the tracks were produced, but the band is most definitely Woody & the Stragglers.

[Old Cane]

"we've had no product since the fiddler and keyboard man joined the band"

Can I borrow part of that phrase? I think mine would be more like:

"we've had no peace, ambition or good will toward our fellow man since the fiddler and keyboard man joined the band"

The stuff sounds good, Wood.

[woodman]

Originally Posted by Old Cane

"we've had no product since the fiddler and keyboard man joined the band"

Can I borrow part of that phrase? I think mine would be more like:

"we've had no peace, ambition or good will toward our fellow man since the fiddler and keyboard man joined the band"

hahaha! no, actually it's the opposite ... we went through a series of crises (both personnel and personal) that almost sank the band, but now we've found the will to live. the keyboard has added that spark we needed all along. i still miss the crusty old steel player, but on balance, we're a better and more versatile band now.

[MikeS29]

Woody, I have thoroughly enjoyed your work! I keep singing the Carolina Boogie as I walk around. Also makes me realize just how much I have yet to learn...

[Geoff738]

Sounds good to me!

Cheers,
Geoff

[Big John]

Originally Posted by woodman

........hopefully i'll be posting more here on RIP now that the obsessive phase is over and done.

"Over and done", woodman, this is just the start !!

Sounding good there anyway, you know sometimes you can get too close to a project and it's hard to stand back and be objective but i don't see you've got too much to worry about and you know how I likes that twinned steel and guitar, now ........... up and at 'em.

[mudbean]

Woody! Woodster! The Woodman! Dude, youse guys smoke quite sweetly ... I'm with Randy, we're scalpin' tix.

Is your vocal done with the SM7b through the Brick? It sounds excellentay.

One thing, and I do this, too - we tend to overcompensate in our quest for clarity by removing too much low frequency mud, which can leave things like the bass a bit anemic. Don't be stingy, give it back just a bit more weight (and I mean EQ here, don't touch that fader!), it won't need much at all, and it'll mesh with the kick more & drive things along with authority, even better than it does already. I'm being nitpicky, but you've earned it.

Way to go!!

mud

[Tele-writer]

Carolina Boogie is a really nice tune. I'd like to hear a bit more attack on the kickdrum and a touch more shimmer on the cymbals (3.5K or so). You've got everything else settled in nice. Might be able to push the vocal out a little more on the chorus too so it'll be punchier. But hey, I've got guitarplayer ears so...

Good job so far man!

[woodman]

appreciate the comments from all your finely tuned ears ... my strategy is to focus on one tune at a time until i have rough mixes of all seven tunes, then revisit each for the sort of fine-tuning you're talking about. that will give me a chance to recover from the total immersion so i can step back and look at each tune in its own light rather than as part of a tidal wave of tracks that have drowned my brain in micro-details.

the final mixes will be run through a reconditioned 1980-vintage MCI tape recorder to give bottom-end punch and added warmth. i've bookmarked this thread for a sort of notepad to refer to as the process unfolds, and will post raw mixes as they emerge for (hopefully) your further commentary. thanx to all!

[asatfan]

Very nice Woodman! Kickin' little tune....where's my dancin' boots?!

[woodman]

Originally Posted by Big John

"Over and done", woodman, this is just the start !!

Sounding good there anyway, you know sometimes you can get too close to a project and it's hard to stand back and be objective but i don't see you've got too much to worry about and you know how I likes that twinned steel and guitar, now ........... up and at 'em.

spot on, BJ ... what i meant in that bleary-eyed initial post (after spending 12 hours with the tracks that day/night) was that i was tying a knot in the micro-editing, closing the door on laying down new tracks and submitting the sessions to my mixdown partner (he of the gear and ear) for the push for final product.

a female singer i've done sideman work for has been working on an album for almost three years — she'll have what i would consider a "wrap," then get another idea and lay down new tracks. at some point, you gotta call it good to go and move on to post-production. then you can take the big-picture view and address the concerns such as many posters here have raised. so now it's onward through the final phase.

Originally Posted by mudbean

Is your vocal done with the SM7b through the Brick?

yes indeed — that combination turns out to be perfect for my rather weird voice. and i got the tip on both right here on the RIP forum. yeah baby!

[eddiewagner]

Originally Posted by woodman

"Carolina Boogie" ... you can listen to it here.

he woody, that is really good stuff. wish i could play like that master woody. and your vocals sound really relaxed and , dare i say, authentic. i would also dig to see you guys play live. eddie

[ibobunot]

Get this thing finished I wanna buy a CD or MP3....

[woodman]

another mixing session Tuesday, and we've got five tunes on the verge of being good to go. i'm releasing them in selected quarters as "advance mixes" ... you can listen them here. they should be downloadable, so help yourself! of course they're MP3s, but that's life on the interweb.

i'll post the other two once we wring 'em out, then post final mixes when they emerge in weeks to come.

[note: still got some boom on the toms in Guajira, our token Latin song, but we'll clean that up in the next session. let me know if you hear stuff that needs work!]

[Big John]

Somewhere Bob is saying "Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaah Woody"

[LoveBandit]

CAROLINA BOOGIE!! YEAH!

-LB (my Dad was from Raleigh)

[ibobunot]

Originally Posted by Big John

Somewhere Bob is saying "Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaah Woody"

I tried to download it but there is no joy in Dullsville....

[petebradt]

Woody, make damn sure your guy knows not to squash the life out of the final masters. Gene Rabbai in TN did great with ours, and we also had the benefit of Bill Hullett sitting right there as our proxy (thanks Bill, I still owe you one). Gene does GREAT mastering if you ever get your product to that stage. You'll want 24-bit 2-mixes to send to Gene.

[woodman]

Originally Posted by ibobunot

I tried to download it but there is no joy in Dullsville....

bob, you may have better luck downloading it from the home page ... i enabled "streaming and download" on all of 'em.

[Big John]

Ooops, I meant "Somewhere Bob (Wills) is saying "Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaah Woody"