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Bootstompin’ bopper
Greetings Dana and MP folks!
It’s been a while since I’ve had something to share mix-wise. BUT I have a fun bootstompin’ bopper in the works with a Nashville-style singer I met in Bali. The concept is Beyonce’s “Single Ladies” meets Dolly Parton “9 to 5”.
Typically I come to you for final mix notes and everyone gives me great production notes (haha) which I do actually incorporate. So here’s one pre-mix! It still needs some bells and whistles, or maybe even less stuff here and there.
Would love to hear your production thoughts!
Many thanks,
Jeremy
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7 Replies
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Yeah man! Dig it! SUPER fun!
Love the drumbeat, the overall party feeling, and the “graceland” style bass. Very cool
A couple of quick notes — not sure if they are helpful, but just some things I was thinking with my “critical” hat on.
(If it’s not the final vocal yet), perhaps the singer could be a little more “laid back”. Feels kinda on top of the groove a little? Laying it back, a little “drunker” might make it groove harder?
I wonder if at some point literally just dropping it down to the drums and vocal for a short moment could be impactful? Maybe worth exploring…1:14 comes to mind?
Can’t wait to hear it when it’s all done. Cool to hear you producing someone else’s vision, too!
keep rockin!
JLew
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Ooh, love these ideas J-Bear! Drums-vocals breakdown would be sick. And I often manipulate timing in Melodyne to lay-back and “drunkify” vocals that were performed a bit to on top of the beat. Always fun to try!
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Oh, just saw this. That’s reassuring! I’ll get a the vocal a little drunk on the track… she is in the bar after all. haha .
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Thank you so much, Jesse!
Great notes. It is the final take and totally I agree… I’m gonna nudge the lead vocal and pocket them a bit.
I’ll def try a strip down moment!
“Grace-land bass”! Glad it felt that way to you. This is definitely my first time in this genre and we were just winging it with an Indonesian bass player. haha.
I’ll share an update with these notes and Dana’s and a few more bells and whistles down the line.
Thanks again!
J
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Duuuude! So awesome hearing a new banger from you (and your excellent collaborator)!
- Great booty on that kick
- Singer sounds great!
- “Woo!” Vocal sound effect is super hooky!
- This audio sounds a bit lo-fi / crunchy – is that intentional? Sounds like a mp3 set to a very low setting?
Productionwise, I could really use more harmonic textures – turn up those rhythm guitars, add some synth textures that enter in choruses to fill out the awesome sparse production of the verses, offering bigger contrast verse to chorus.
In that same vein, for the final chorus you could even introduce a honky-tonk upright piano rhythmically comping the chord progression with lil’ country-blues ‘twankles’ popping out – a final nod to the Dolly Parton influence, lest the track get too overtaken by the Beyonce/modern vibes. Again, just fun ways to introduce contrast and keep the listener surprised.
You’re already doing a killer job introducing fun new textures and ear candy. I’m just looking for some big chords or chordal-support in those choruses to really sink my teeth into.
Also could be fun to add a couple SFX here and there, like a mini riser-suck-up moment right before the chorus hits, then a big thunderous “bang” on the chorus downbeat. Not necessarily what I described specifically – just some ideas of what I’m talking about.
Lastly, if there’s any way to get the singer to add some adlib moments that step out from the regular melody, that could help. Currently, the verse and the chorus both linger on that G# (the 3rd) and I dare say I get a lillll bit worn out by that repetitive G# by the end of the song. If you were to have her sing the last chorus in a higher register (say, focusing around the root E), adlibbing the hell out of it while the rest of the BGVs cover the regular chorus melody, that would prob help a lot- AND offer even more of a payoff. Just an idea.
This is sooooo good, homey!!! Love it mucho!!!
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Thank you, Dana.
I’ve put these notes as to-do’s along with Jesse’s. I think the low fi quality is a very sloppy blown out master bus. Ha. I’ll remedy that.
Great ideas on fx and instrumental additions… we’ll try some honkey piano and chorus whole synth stuff – I actually have a fiddle and slide guitar session coming in hot (inspired by Shaboozy’s “Tipsy / Bar Song”).
My favorite note is the 3rd chorus adlib. 100% agree. In fact, I already asked her to do a Chappell Roan belt at the end. I shared your note to do some other adlibs on the G# as well.
Looking forward to reporting back when we’ve given these all a whirl!
Thanks a million. ✊
Jeremy
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💜
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