Those of you who have a fondness for early Beatles recordings will likely dig "It's a Ride," in which their iconic single "Twist and Shout" is referenced in the chorus.
I recall many a night falling asleep to oldies music when I was but a little Greedy Humpty Dumpty-watching preschooler, freaking out about ghosts and zombies while attempting to divert my attention away from the darkness by listening to the radio. "Twist and Shout" in particular happened to find itself in regular rotation on many of those nights, leaving an indelible impression upon the musical perspective of my young mind. At the time I had no idea who these mysterious musicians were or how they were able to craft such catchy, uplifting songs but I knew that I loved what they were doing and felt comforted by the happy vibes (which undoubtedly helped to keep the monsters under the bed at bay). As a fan of both The Beatles and nostalgia for the good old days, I thought it would be appropriate to immortalize that aspect of my childhood in this song.
Like just about all of the other tracks for the album at this stage in the recording process, "It's a Ride" is essentially finished. Besides myself, only three other people have heard the work-in-progress unmastered version and all have expressed their sentiments that it will surely be well-received by fans of psychedelic music who also have a penchant for catchiness.
I am dedicating time today to finish the drum overdubs for the kick and snare as well as some additional mixing. For one reason or another this particular track has been a struggle to mix, with the bass often coming across as too muddy and indistinguishable which I remedied to the best of my abilities by adjusting the EQ on the kick drum to counter the gain boost I have for the bass at around 73Hz. I recorded a piano track in stereo which I duplicated in mono and EQed differently so as to add a bit of clarity to some critical single-note parts which had been buried in the mix when the piano was stereo only.
Seeing that my drum mic setup is not the most ideal (I am forced to use what I have available as an eternally-debted college graduate) I have found that layering extra isolated hits (snare, kick, a few cymbals) helps to supplement the punchiness required for a decent mix. I am using my vocal mic (AKG Perception 120 condenser) as a centered overhead and a Shure SM75 dynamic in front of the kick. If any drummers or producers out there know of a more optimal way to mic a drum set using only two mics, please let me know!
So there it is then. Still a ways to go in respect to overall mixing but it is certainly sounding much better now than it was yesterday. Always a good thing to be able to say that.
-R
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