Ain't No More Oil (In the Ground) — mix content

[woodman]

Here's one I started before Christmas and wanted to finish up before gas prices go up to $4 per gallon ... finally got the bass track from my busy pal Tom Kuhn (who also contributed a harmony vocal) and I think it's finally ready for review.

The first (spoken) verse has a bit of vocoder for that creepy feel. Note the blatant theft of a Tchaikovsky melody in the middle section. ... As Zappa said, "The amateur borrows; the professional steals."

Have at it!

Ain't No More Oil (In the Ground)

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[peteycaster]

Another great effort, you're banging these things out at an astonishing rate! I suppose that's retirement for you. Can't wait.

Everything seems to be sitting right from where I stand (or sit). Bottom end is good. The drum fill at approx 2:15 (Meanwhile, back in the Middle East) goes a bit astray but I am sure you are on to that. Love the bluesy swampy feel. I felt the "oohs" work really well, they are nice and tight and at just the right level to my ears.

[woodman]

Thanks, Petey — yeah, that fill was really klunking up the flow of a key line there. Took out some messy snare and rewrote the kick pattern to foreshadow the hoodoo instrumental. Always appreciate your thoughts!

[64Strat]

from 0:00 to 0:54, the snare and your vocal is up front. I'm sure you did this on purpose but I'm wondering if the guitar shouldn't be a touch more forward.

I'd like to hear more guitar at 3:26 and beyond too.

Lastly, the last cymbal ring out cuts off too abruptly.

really nice start!

[Telesavalis]

Funny how that topic has never faded from the music scene since it first popped back in the 70s during the Arab Oil Embargo years...when US gas skyrocketed to 45 cents a gallon!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hpFHT...d&noredirect=1

[woodman]

I remember that, TS — everybody saying, "we'll never see quarter-a gallon gas again!" I'd never heard that Tower of Power tune before, but it's uncannily similar in some ways.

64, upon closer scrutiny, I believe I did cut the dying ring of that cymbal off — when the whole point of the ending was the dying cymbal! ... That first verse is real delicate, doesn't take much guitar to obscure the lyrics. I'll see what the traffic will bear. After 3:26, no prob — I can probly pump 'em up a bit.

[Janitor Julius]

Great songwriting and execution. It'd be easy for a tune like this to come off as hokey, but your voice makes it sound super authentic. Awesome job!

[klasaine]

Originally Posted by woodman

... As Zappa said, "The amateur borrows; the professional steals."

A quote he took from Igor Stravinsky.
Sounds good!

[woodman]

Originally Posted by klasaine

A quote he took from Igor Stravinsky.
Sounds good!

Ha! I never knew that. Interesting to hear the quote's heritage precedes the rock 'n' roll era!

[Geoff738]

Sounding good here - through my stuffed up ears.

I too would like the rhythm guitar a bit fuller and/or louder off the top. But that's just me.

cheers,
Geoff

[woodman]

Yeah, Geoff, I pumped the guitars up a little after 64's comment. I was real paranoid about the lyrics getting thru. I'll post the remix once the jury's in.

[Norton72]

What a great song and I love that swampy guitar! This is definitely the best part of the TDPRI.

[woodman]

Over the years, it's been rare for me to hear the words "turn up the guitar," but it does sound better with a bit more chunk! Maybe I'm getting conservative in my old age?? Several other tweaks and a little tidying up.

Ain't No More Oil (revisited)

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[64Strat]

Originally Posted by woodman

Over the years, it's been rare for me to hear the words "turn up the guitar," but it does sound better with a bit more chunk! Maybe I'm getting conservative in my old age?? Several other tweaks and a little tidying up.

Ain't No More Oil (revisited)

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payback for badgering me on more guitar in 'She Said' I guess.

I'd say it sounds spot on now.

You're on Logic, right? At the end of the clip, do you have the option of an exponential decay fadeout?

The reason I ask is I would still extend that last cymbal crash decay a few seconds more and let it decay into oblivion. It's better now but I think just a bit more. Trivial stuff but I think it's that last little touch to finish out a really fine effort. Just my dos centavos.

[woodman]

Originally Posted by 64Strat

You're on Logic, right? At the end of the clip, do you have the option of an exponential decay fadeout?

If I do, I don't know about it ... Geoff or ScatMan might know, though, being longtime and savvy users. Here's what's weird: I pulled the ending out to 8 beats past the crash hit — absolutely no fade on it, BTW, it's ringing free. ... I can't hear anything after the 6th beat, even soloed thru headphones, but I tacked the extra two beats on to make sure.

My thought was ears or gear ... your gear is a quantum leap beyond mine, and as for ears, mine were trashed by hand grenades and artillery even before I abused them with decades of rock 'n' roll; that's why I put a lot of stock into what you guys are hearing when I post a mix.

So I put the Voxengo Span plug-in on the overhead channel to see what the software's hearing. The visual soundwave had fallen off the graph just at the 7th beat. The upshot: I'm hearing it up to the 6th beat; the software's hearing it up to the 7th beat. If you're hearing something beyond the 8th beat, you might be hearing something ordinary people can't hear. I'm not ruling it out!

[dburns]

Sounds good to me...cool tune!

[64Strat]

Originally Posted by woodman

If I do, I don't know about it ... Geoff or ScatMan might know, though, being longtime and savvy users. Here's what's weird: I pulled the ending out to 8 beats past the crash hit — absolutely no fade on it, BTW, it's ringing free. ... I can't hear anything after the 6th beat, even soloed thru headphones, but I tacked the extra two beats on to make sure.

My thought was ears or gear ... your gear is a quantum leap beyond mine, and as for ears, mine were trashed by hand grenades and artillery even before I abused them with decades of rock 'n' roll; that's why I put a lot of stock into what you guys are hearing when I post a mix.

So I put the Voxengo Span plug-in on the overhead channel to see what the software's hearing. The visual soundwave had fallen off the graph just at the 7th beat. The upshot: I'm hearing it up to the 6th beat; the software's hearing it up to the 7th beat. If you're hearing something beyond the 8th beat, you might be hearing something ordinary people can't hear. I'm not ruling it out!

okay, so I hear it out to the 7th beat and then it cliffs at low level.

If it were in my software, I would go into the piano roll view (assuming that cymbal hit is MIDI) and right click on it and change the duration to a much longer duration. Then, I would use the fade out option I have at the end of that clip that allows an exponential decay and adjust it so it fades gracefully into the oblivion. Not sure how Logic works and what tools you have but I hope that my suggestion spurs an idea on how to fix it.

[woodman]

That's a great option, but right-clicking in Logic doesn't do the trick ... but there may be a different path to the same result. I'll see what I can dig up on it. I've often wished I could "stretch" MIDI percussion hits in the same way you can with synth notes.

[Geoff738]

Originally Posted by woodman

That's a great option, but right-clicking in Logic doesn't do the trick ... but there may be a different path to the same result. I'll see what I can dig up on it. I've often wished I could "stretch" MIDI percussion hits in the same way you can with synth notes.

Superior lets you go in and muck about with the envelope - dunno if EZ'll let you do the same.

Compress to bring up the tail?

Render to audio and use the time stretching stuff (I still haven't really dug into that yet, so not sure if that'd work at all).

Cheers,
Geoff

[woodman]

Geoff, the little bit I've done with time-stretching degrades the audio pretty depressingly ... maybe compress, ramp the automation on the ring a little, and fade-out. I'll play with that and see what happens.