REFERENCE

Trading Pictures

Reference Aesthetic:

“Sultans of Swing” – Dire Straits
– Guitar mood

“You Got The Silver” – The Rolling Stones – Let It Bleed – 1969
– Stereo separation, clarity, girth

“Long Way Home” – Tom Waits – Orphans – 2006
– Stereo separation, bass guitar, vocal presence, ominous, omnipotent vocal

Tom Petty / Van Morrison / Neil Young (Crazy Horse vibe on the guitar solo)
Rolling Stones / Traveling Wilburys / John Mellencamp / Allman Brothers (especially the piano sections)

Intensity, a timeline, a deadline
A “wet that’s been freshly dried” sexy ready to go out on the town mindset
Fast travel, stolen cars, deception
Hotel grand lobby

Notes:

Can we mix in a couple minor supporting stem tracks from the demo? They match perfectly in time, and can be used in a minimal, tasteful manner. Specifically some guitar and vocals.

– wish to include demo stem “guir 2” as a JE lead guitar interwoven with Keith’s lead guitar..

– wish to include stems “vox“, “vox 2“. The two “vox” tracks to add proper register to my vocal timbre. They can be ‘blended’ in, to support the lead vocal track? Or mixed in at a lower volume? I also like the background vocal banter in these tracks, and suggest they be included in the studio cut.

Demo Stems: [Stems-Trading-Pictures.zip]

Vocal:

Whole vocal should maybe emphasize low- mid-low EQ to grab any of that register – I wish I sung in a lower register, more of a speaking sexy vocal — this could largely be remedied (in my mind, ha) by including demo stems “vox” and “vox 2” as subtle support.
Why?: The vocal I provided in studio is upper middle register, sounds whiny and pleading. I owe it to my excited mood that day. The song should be darker, sexier, no pleading.. confident. More like quiet speaking. Almost haunting, with a low (low-end?) reverb?

Guitar:

Joe Eddie guitar line lightly interwoven with Keith thru solo, and at song intro. Use demo stem “guir 2”, et voila! I also like the noodling throughout with this guitar track, it adds urgency among verse vocal lines.
Why?: Only the slightest pinch of JE guitar character, subtle signaturing.

Optionally, include the other guitar tracks if we feel the acoustic guitar texture is a plus. “guir 3” and “guir 4” are twin duplicates of an acoustic guitar track.. it’s subtle, but perhaps the texture is useful. “guir” is an electric rhythm track, which has a nice percussive feel.

Sax:

Suggest should be buried beneath piano, as a support
Why?: The piano is great, melodic, musical. The sax as lush bedding, melodic ornamentation.

Cymbal swell splashes to accent the sax in the humming bits .. add via ai

(Tell Me ‘Bout) The Good Things

“It’s Good To Be King”
“You Don’t Know How It Feels” – Tom Petty – Wildflowers – 1994
– Space in the verses, power chorus

“Downtown Train” – Tom Waits – Rain Dogs – 1985 (2023 Remaster)
– Space, lovely stereo mix

This is intended to be a cocky Rolling Stones, sassy Mick attitude song

Notes

Go heavy on the bass, please

2:01 use the vocal line that says “love ain’t free” .. reduce the sound of the mistaken ‘love is free’ vocal

This take sounds more buoyant than how I imagine the original sentiment … maybe it’s just in hearing the rough mix.. the double vocal.. USE THE MORE ‘SPOKEN’, mundane vocal.. it’s supposed to be dark and masculine .. not sure I got us there .. THAT SAID, the buoyancy maybe makes it more interesting .. more pop-sensible ??

2:10 – 2:38 transition – 2:58 – “indulgent middle” .. needs motif, something to tie it all together.. too long of an instrumental, feels detached
3:38 coda return of motif, if there is one .. Joe Eddie guitar accents? As Casey called it, an anti-solo .. with audio collage of arguing couple

Thoughts on Arrangement

I brought the studio bounce track into my DAW along with the demo, for my own sonic experimental purposes (I like to hear some of the demo parts added to the studio cut).

The studio recording is the green set of tracks at the bottom of the picture.

Because we played the arrangement slightly differently in the studio, I had to cut it up and make a few minor adjustments to get them to play together all the way through. Interesting how we came up with different ways to do the same thing.

Demo Stems: Here is a link to the .ZIP of the stems from my demo: [Stems-Good-Things.zip]

I again wish to put forth the idea of using a few elements from the demo tracks in the final studio mix. Again, specifically the lead guitar lines, and the vocal tracks, again for the same purposes of adding character and reinforcing my voice.

First Name Rock, Last Name Roll

“Johnny B. Goode”

“Hangin’ Round” – Lou Reed – Transformer – 1972
– Sonic brilliance on this mix! I would love to produce a song that has this rich stereosonic feel

Notes

I really appreciate on the demo version of this song there is a stereo separation with the staccato Chuck Berry style guitar lines… it would be a pleasant concept to bring over to the studio product. I think Keith did a really nice job on this song, bringing out the rock and roll character and adding some choice fill lines. I again would be interested in bringing in some Joe Eddie guitar ornamentation from the demo stems, just to spike the aesthetic.

I would also like to use, from the demo stems, a bunch of the vocal as background tonal color, and also lots of the “ow, ow!” action .. unless this gets overruled by you folks with finer taste

Thoughts on sax? Can it be mixed in to be subtle, there, present but not overbearing? I like it because it feels “Blues Brothers” -esque … and the guy from Springsteen’s band .. and the guy who played with the Stones … and the classic Saturday Night Live finish … … but if it detracts from the overall feel of the song.. thoughts??

I would love for this song to be presented as “rock& roll iconic”-ally as possible.. we recorded it with our own character.. how this fits into the rock & roll canon, I don’t know, fingers crossed.. I want it to feel good, embody the spirit, tell the tale, wild motherless child, rock ‘n roll baby

ADD COWBELL TO MID- LATTER HALF .. it’s in the final line of the lyrics, and is important symbolically .. if even just one clang! although I think it could be tasteful through the 2nd half