[evanjavo]

What's up, everybody!? Sorry I haven't commented anybody's work lately, I will do so asap.

First off, this is all Boydie. Yeah, I wrote the song and provided the foundation, but he's the one that gave it life. He came up with little bits and pieces that I have never even thought of before which have made it that much better I think. I know I've thanked you again and again, but thanks a thousand times more, Boydie. So enjoy, everyone, and don't be afraid to share your thoughts and opinions.

http://soundcloud.com/revolve4round/coasting-from-the-sun-boydie

*Some of you may remember this from my very first post on the forums, and if you check out my little acoustic version then you'll see just how far this song has come.

Twenty miles outta town
It's a journey if you wanna be found
I feel like packing up my things
And hanging with the crowd

The summer's gotta thing for rain
And it makes me feel I have to stay
Too bad I think of nothing more
Than spending time away

'Cause I'm coasting from the sun
While staggering down the street with a smokin' gun
Nobody ever has the sense to lose their minds
I'm coasting from the sun
Imagine if the real was an illusion
Nobody ever has the sense to lose their minds
They'll lose their minds

Every day is like a week
The world is spinning but I'm still asleep
And by the time you shake me up
The stars are all I see

The neighbors dig a lotta soul
They bring it down until the day is old
I hope they know the night is young
And everyone's back home

I'm coasting from the sun

[The Chemist Tree]

I like the offbeat rhythm and the layered vocals. The drums could be a little tighter in places though (eg the crash cymbals in the chorus).

I like the vocal sound a lot, it really adds to the power of the track. You also have a nice ending here, with cool sounding guitars throughout.

Nice One.

[ABeautifulVirus]

LOVE this track. very original with shades of The Replacements. guitar tones are sweet. vocals spot on w/ just enough grit. cool hook in chorus. drum offbeat pattern works beautifully.  there is a vibe here and song construction that is successfully planted in my head, not only the hook, but the verses as well. when a songwriter pulls that off i am impressed.  extremely well done.  this is something i would buy.

[montydog]

Sounds great and I love the drums also. Very high level of musicianship and singing - it's a commercial quality recording.

Kudos to all involved.

[man of simple pleasures]

yeah great stuff, i thought this was a great track from the original acoustic demo you done, this just makes it come alive, great guitar work!

you gotta be excited by all this like, you be itching for the rest of your songs to get this treatment!

[nooms]

im dead pleased for you revolve, excellent song and boydies done a great job ..
gtr and vocal really cracking... love the 'supersonic' entry into each chorus,..im not keen on the drum pattern, unsettles me a bit especially at the start  but im easily confused so matter of taste i suppose cos the song sounds like the real thing !

[Kafla]

This is very good indeed

You are a one man forum Boydie

[S.T.C]

Good work guys,,does sound Oasisy..

[Boydie]

Thanks for the comments on the production/performance guys

I really liked this song when it was first posted and could hear a full production in my head so contacted (revolve)around to see if he would be up for me doing a "full band" production

I am keen to spend some time this year developing my producing, arranging, recording and mixing skills alongside my songwriting

I therefore needed material to practice on - and I thought it might be a good opportunity to help out anyone that is not able to make full blown productions of their songs but want a "fuller" sound than what they have

This is the first track where I have programmed the drums "from scratch" - the objective was to go for a very loose, "live", feel - hence the pattern, which was pretty much "played in" live using a MIDI keyboard

It was absolute hell trying to resist the temptation to just hit the quantise button so I did minimal tidying and intentionally left in the odd "mistake" for a live feel

Having gone through this track I would tackle the drums in a different way on my next track to try and keep the loose feel whilst maintaining a more solid kick & snare

I will take a rest from this track for a few weeks and may come back to it and do a version with tidier drums but at the moment I am liking the quirky feel


All of the guitars & bass are DI'd uing either Guitar Rig 5 (heavy sounds), Amplitube Fender (cleaner sounds) and Amplitube Ampeg SVX for the bass - the sounds possible by just plugging a guitar into a laptop never cease to amaze me!!!

I really enjoyed working on this track, learnt a lot and managed to help someone out - a very rewarding week!

I am happy to work with anyone else that has a track that they want a full production for and they are unable to do it themselves - if I get inundated I will obviously not be able to do them all - but I still want to practice a few things so feel free to drop me a PM with a link to your track

I have a few tracks I need to finish off (watch this space  ) but would like to line a few up to tinker with

My comments stand about the original track - for anyone that missed it here is the original review thread (with link to original version)...

http://www.songwriterforum.co.uk/song-reviews/coasting-from-the-sun-(acoustic-demo)/

[James Nighthawk]

Already reviewed this song, so here are my production notes for ya boydie!

This is good work, but it is a bit sketchy in places. My main gripes are the "looseness" of the non-programmed drums. While preferable to over quantised programmed beats on this type of work, the effect here is more of a sub-par drummer. A real one yes, but not a great one. The sounds chosen are great (perhaps a meatier BD would have helped though, stylistically)

Alas, finding a way to have a live feel while being tight is nigh on impossible with programming. But do experiment as you have already said you would.

The "Coasting from the Sun" line sounds either a little flat on the "Suuuuun", or its an illusion formed by the narrow melody and the bend up to it. I can't quite tell on first listen. Probably the latter.

The guitar work is lovely, both in playing and tones

The vocal is also good. Careful with mouth sounds there, something I myself can fall victim too as I am a close-mic fan. Clear that excess saliva pretake - On my high end 'phones I am getting a few lip smacks popping through

I can see you are itching to sounds as live as you can from a bedroom setup. This is honourable in itself, and you are improving all the time

[Boydie]

Spot on JAMES with every comment!

I made the mistake of programming a loose groove FIRST and then recording to it - so when I did experiment with tidying the drums up a bit it all sounded really odd as the groove of the instruments were reflecting the "off" drums

I will experiment with a solid KICk & SNARE for recording and then introduce some groove afterwards if the track needs it


The "coasting from the Sun" line is probably due to my unfamiliarity with the track

I didn't originally hold the "sun" note in my natural singing style and first takes - but it was an important part of the track for (Revolve)around so I gave it a crack

Damn you for spotting the lip smacking! - I didn't spot these until I came to mixing the track and tried to tone them down a bit - I may have to come around and confiscate your headphones!!!

Another lesson learnt - always check takes carefully when you still have the mics set up!!!!!!

Although it is intended to add to the live and raw feel         ;

[Schavuitje]

This is very good. Really enjoyed the bass in parts and the vocals were cool.
The drums do need tidying but I do like the pattern.
Very nice 

[evanjavo]

Thank you everyone! Boydie really did go all out, can't thank him enough.

A lot of you mentioned the drums. Tbh, the problems never really stood out because I was so focused on everything else going on with the song, I guess. I'm just glad it has drums, period lol.

Lip smacking, Boydie.. Really? Lol jk. Never noticed that neither.

Idk, I guess I'm just grateful to have my song produced in real form.

[ABeautifulVirus]

just wanted to post again how much i dig this tune. the drums don't bother me; gives it more character and honesty. 
truly a gem of a song.

[evanjavo]

just wanted to post again how much i dig this tune. the drums don't bother me; gives it more character and honesty. 
truly a gem of a song.

I'm glad you think so highly of it, ABV.

I gave Boydie a hard time because I knew what I wanted, but at the same time, I wanted to be open to suggestions. So when it started taking shape and it wasn't quite what I had in mind I guess you could say I "freaked" out. (To be fair, I waited way too late to put up a version on Guitar Hero that I thought represented what I wanted.) But everything changed after I heard the version you hear now. I'm totally pleased with it.

All I want is to write music people enjoy for what it is, and I believe Boydie captured what I was going for. I'm not looking to revolutionize music or to be different just to be different. Catchy songs you can't get outta your head and will be remembered years to come is what I'm after.