New recording/new mix
The Yankee Flyer. This is a new recording/mix of a song on my 2nd CD called “Brand New Start”. It’s about the train called the Yankee Flyer which was built in the mid 30’s to revive train travel in New England. I first learned about the train about 10 year ago in an article that I read in the news paper. I actually wanted to re-do the song because I thought I could make it sound a lot better.
I’m playing all the instruments including the mandolin. The drums are loops by Mick Fleetwood. The song was recorded on nTrack 3.3 and mixed down using that software and a lot of plug-ins.
I hope you like it.
PS - I’m logged on as Midnight Toker because “Mr Soul” is having the same problems as phoo was experiencing, i.e., can’t change anything or post anything.
Sounds great Mike! Loved the mandolin. Good tune, good mix. Harmony vocals sound great!
Only thing I would change, the crash cymbal a little too hot in the mix, but doesn’t take away from the song.
Enjoyed it!
Yaz
Yaz - thanks for listening. I can bring down the crash symbol - thanks for the suggestion.
Wow - great song and I really like the vocals. And pretty cool that Mick Fleetwood played drums on the song! (does he get royalties?)… congratulations.
I guess my only comment would be that the bass feels like its lagging a tiny bit. I suspect that the timing is mathematically perfect, but I think the song would have greater urgency (especially in the chorus) if the bass led the beat by a small amount. Or… the whole tempo could be a notch faster.
Jm67 - thanks for listening.
Fleetwood doesn’t get royalities (because these are drum loops); however, I’m technically not supposed to list his name on the credits (although it’s probably OK to mention him here).
Did you think that the drums were mixed to far in the back?
The bass probably lags behind because I am playing it, 
I also doubt that the timing is mathematically perfect.
I experimented with the tempo of the song before I started and this is actually alittle faster than the original recording.
I did have it alittle faster than this but I settled for this tempo in the end. I would have to re-do the entire song to make it faster.
I always tend to play the songs alittle slow.
Thanks for the comment though.
Is the crash too hot, or is it also an EQ problem? Remember when you told me a few days ago to cut at 1K, yaz? Might the same thing work here with the crash? It has the same dark sound to it, to me. Whadoiknow, of course…
About the dragging bass - again, is it the bass, or is it the way the drum loops work together? Anyway, that’s the best thing I have ever heard from you, Mike. I like that, a lot.
Thanks Tom.
I worked hard on this one although I didn’t put any more time into it than I have done on any of my other songs.
However, I had the advantage of having recorded it before.
The drums have the same EQ that was put on them when Fleetwood recorded them.
I doubt if I could improve on them.
I do think the crash could come down or I could choose another crash (I have a bunch on the CD).
Using loops it’s really easy to fix things like this.
I listened to the bass again & it doesn’t lag to me.
It’s about as simple as a country bass can get & I don’t see how any other style would work.
I do hear times when I’m not right on the beat, so I probably could improve upon it.
I also think that the drums & bass work well together, so I’m not hearing what you guys are hearing here.
I experimented with different mic’s on the acoustic, mandolin & my voice.
In the end I used my Rode NT-1000 on the mandolin and my voice.
On my acoustic, it just sounded better using the built-in Fishman pickup.
I can’t seem to find a mic that does better than this.
Tom - can you hear the PSP Audio Easy Verb?
I use the Twin Reverb on the electric & another setting for the vocals.
Fine job Mike! I enjoy it a lot.
Thanks for sharing!
D
Diogenes - thanks for listening!
I forgot to mention that when I wrote this song (10 years ago), I had the “City of New Orleans” in mind (although I in no way was attempting to re-create that song because that would be impossible).
Can I anyone see the “idea” that I “borrowed” from the “City of New Orleans”?
Almost forgot - there’s actually a web site about the train now (it’s been restored) - see www.flyingyankee.com. When I read the original article about the train, the guy had just bought the train to restore it. I literally forgot about the train until I moved back to NH this year & then I googled it. To my job, I found that the guy’s dream (who’s now deceased) to restore the train was coming true.
Hello Mike,
Listening to this now with a critical ear having heard the other comments. I’ve heard this around 6 times and honestly, I wouldn’t change a thing. I take the point about the bass leading the beat to bring more urgency to the song but I’m not sure that would add anything. This is a real laid back song and very enjoyable as it is.
Nice vox and harmonies and love the mandolin,
Great stuff
Ian
Ian - thanks for listening.
You hit the nail on the head - this is a simple, folk rock song. I’m much rather improve the lyrics than anything else on it. It was very difficult to tell the story of this train in 3 verses & a chorus (I’m still not sure I’ve done it justice).
Having said that, I always like to improve the rhythm of any song I do, particulary the one’s where rhythm is important. And certainly the rhythm of this song could be “improved” (made tigher).
Eyup!
This is very good Mike.
Have you been practising at the crossroads 
Steve
Steve - thank you for your kind words.
I haven’t been practicing at the crossroads but I was playing a bit more during the beginning of the year. However, since I’ve moved, I’ve had little time to play so now my calouses are gone & my fingers are getting feeble again (don’t you hate that). You should have seen me struggling to lay down the mando track.