Goodbye Mr Pills (Remix)

[Armistice]

So as I'm working out whether to assemble an album of all these tunes, there are a couple of them from earlier on where some of the mixing and tracking was a bit iffy, so I'm doing some tidying up. "Isn't A Shame" that I posted a couple of weeks back was the first track recorded on this little musical path, this one is the second. You may have heard it before. It predates this place.

I had to do a bit of retracking, nudge a few things around, tidy up pops and clicks, bugger around with drums, do some additional EQing here and there and unwind the excessively hot mastering a bit. I know it's better than it was, but how is it, really?

All feedback welcome.

Goodbye Mr Pills.mp3

Good old TAE from HR gave me the title - I think his brother-in-law (don't remember exactly) who was a mad druggie killed himself accidentally via OD, and in his possessions there was a note he wrote entitled "Goodbye Mr Pills" where he was basically vowing to go clean and was ritualistically saying goodbye to his old self. TAE posted the story in the Clinic and my eyes lit up thinking "What a great song title!" and "Sorry for your loss, TAE", possibly in that order. And the song was born.

Goodbye Mr Pills

He was always a man looking to push the envelope
He said I never met a drug I didn’t like so don’t talk to me of a slippery slope
He was always a man who knew exactly what he wanted to do
Started most his evenings with a choice of pink, white or blue

Goodbye Mr Pills, Mr Pills, we miss you already
Goodbye Mr Pills, what a thrill

He was on a first name basis, with some of the local ambulance crew
And he dated women he met in rehab or NA whose names he barely knew
There was a story on his arms that’d take a life time to tell
He was always on the edge of the periphery, I guess we didn’t know him all that well

Goodbye Mr Pills, Mr Pills, we miss you already
Goodbye Mr Pills, what a thrill

Some people just make different choices
And live their lives guided by different voices
We didn’t ask too many questions
He didn’t listen to many suggestions
He wasn’t overly concerned with making a good impression

And then there was this night, where he pushed it all a bit too hard
He went all in, put his chips on the table and turned his final card
I heard the story from some guy I know, but maybe it was all lies
Said you could see completion in his face and acceptance in his eyes

Goodbye Mr Pills, Mr Pills, we miss you already
Goodbye Mr Pills, Mr Pills, we miss you already
Goodbye Mr Pills, Mr Pills, we miss you already
Goodbye Mr Pills, what a thrill

[ido1957]

Kinda lost the vocals where it begins "Some people just make different choices..." (Chorus was good though)
Other than that, it sounds really good. The guitar "effects/Tone/etc" is very cool, and the sort of spoken verses worked well imho.
I think I've heard this and you mentioned its been "released" before but it sounds fresh still...

[vomitHatSteve]

I remember you posting this before, but don't recall the old mix super well.

The bridge sounds weirdly Alice Cooper in the vocal delivery.
Chorus is nice and lush.

Probably don't tell how you wrote it on VH1 Storytellers; you look kind of opportunistic!

[Armistice]

Kinda lost the vocals where it begins "Some people just make different choices..." (Chorus was good though)
Other than that, it sounds really good. The guitar "effects/Tone/etc" is very cool, and the sort of spoken verses worked well imho.
I think I've heard this and you mentioned its been "released" before but it sounds fresh still...

Cheers ido ...

[Armistice]

I remember you posting this before, but don't recall the old mix super well.

The bridge sounds weirdly Alice Cooper in the vocal delivery.
Chorus is nice and lush.

Probably don't tell how you wrote it on VH1 Storytellers; you look kind of opportunistic!

Ha ha... yeah I totally see what you're saying.

It was after this song that I realised I was singing like an American with some of the vowel pronounciations and stopped, and the spoken word is a bit "affected" but I'm not going back to redoing vocals. Cheers.

[rayc]

know/knew in "...some guy I knew..."comes across harshly - likes it almost distorted but def. louder than the rest of the line.
Snare may be a little too bright.
Very cool, I dig the song David.

[musicturtle]

Really cool tune Armistice. I really like the contrast between the verses and the chorus. Good mix, I agree with Ray that the snare seems a little out of of place for some reason to me.

If I were to put on my producer hat, I would play with some effects or panning to differentiate the verses and the bridge. The "some people just..." part, I can hear some flange happening somewhere to give it that dreamy, drugged out effect. Maybe make the overall effects "wetter" as the story progresses.

Again just my 2 cents. I really like the song a lot and the mix is quite good.

[JD01]

The vocal and backing vocal in the chorus are fucking great.
I think this all sounds really good mate, riffs, are good, playing is really good, can hear everything clearly.
Only suggestion from me is that in the verses it sounds a touch narrow - could you try panning your guitars a bit wider?

[Armistice]

The vocal and backing vocal in the chorus are fucking great.
I think this all sounds really good mate, riffs, are good, playing is really good, can hear everything clearly.
Only suggestion from me is that in the verses it sounds a touch narrow - could you try panning your guitars a bit wider?

Really cool tune Armistice. I really like the contrast between the verses and the chorus. Good mix, I agree with Ray that the snare seems a little out of of place for some reason to me.

If I were to put on my producer hat, I would play with some effects or panning to differentiate the verses and the bridge. The "some people just..." part, I can hear some flange happening somewhere to give it that dreamy, drugged out effect. Maybe make the overall effects "wetter" as the story progresses.

Again just my 2 cents. I really like the song a lot and the mix is quite good.

know/knew in "...some guy I knew..."comes across harshly - likes it almost distorted but def. louder than the rest of the line.
Snare may be a little too bright.
Very cool, I dig the song David.

Thanks guys. New mix with tweaks various addressing some of the points raised - wider guitars, top end of snare, vocal level in the middle - except the dreamy drugged out midsection - sorry turtle - and there's only about so much I can do with the volume in the spoken part without resetting the whole thing and starting again, which I'm loathe to do.

NEW MIX DOWN FURTHER

[JD01]

Just started this and I immediately preferred it when the wider guitars started! Your voice really sounds like your sitting in the mix now too.
Where do you usually pan your guitars? My main rhythms are almost always hard panned.

If you're happy with this I'll stick it in my keepers directory.

[Armistice]

Just started this and I immediately preferred it when the wider guitars started! Your voice really sounds like your sitting in the mix now too.
Where do you usually pan your guitars? My main rhythms are almost always hard panned.

If you're happy with this I'll stick it in my keepers directory.

I normally go pretty wide, but it depends upon how many there are JD - so with this one there are 6 guitars playing through out the verses - 3 different lines played twice and put L & R, and when you mentioned I checked to see what was where and I had one pair 100 L/R, the second 60ish L/R and the third 30ish L&R = which is probably spread over more of the spectrum than I would now - but this was a very early tune in my little journey, so I'm not surprised. Anyway I pushed the inner two pairs out to about 80 and 60 and it's hollowed out the middle a bit more and you get a bit more guitar wider.

Good suggestion.

Pretty happy with it but we'll see if anyone else has any nits - I tend to get into "make everything louder than everything else" mode sometimes, so I'm hoping I haven't over tweaked anything.

[JD01]

Cool. Soubds good to me.

[Armistice]

Cool. Soubds good to me.

Hey JD - if it made it to the keepers directory chuck it out and install this one... in a blinding flash of the obvious I figured out how to get more volume into the spoken word bit to make it a little more audible. And I took a gnat's testicle off the bass and minor minor adjustments to the bvs...

Goodbye Mr Pills.mp3

Cheers

[JD01]

Cool - having another listen now.

EDIT: Its good.

[rayc]

Latest mix - tres bonn moit.
That last tweak worked really well.
I'm looking forward to your new CD.

[einstein magoo]

This has turned out really well! I remember from the other place and the Tull comments over there. Yes, very reminiscent to me of Heavy Horses era Tull, particularly "The Mouse P'lice Never Sleep" song. This is a keeper!

[Armistice]

This has turned out really well! I remember from the other place and the Tull comments over there. Yes, very reminiscent to me of Heavy Horses era Tull, particularly "The Mouse P'lice Never Sleep" song. This is a keeper!

Thanks Mr Magoo - I'm probably several minor iterations along from the version up here by now - bit of nudge here and there - minor stuff.

I don't get the Tull thing myself, and I do know Mouse Police, but people keep saying it to me so they must be hearing something. I'm off to the shops for a codpiece then...

[WhiskeyJack]

I love Armi tracks. You nestle those vocals into your jams on a top shelf level. I love it. They just jump right out at me out of your mix.

Fucking Wizard.

2:11 and onward for a bit. Whats going on there? there is layers of vocals on there? Are they separate takes or some kind of delay thing going on? I am straining a bit to hear them. I feel like whatever they are need a bit more of their own space.

That ending is tight as shit. Loves it.

[Armistice]

I love Armi tracks. You nestle those vocals into your jams on a top shelf level. I love it. They just jump right out at me out of your mix.

Fucking Wizard.

2:11 and onward for a bit. Whats going on there? there is layers of vocals on there? Are they separate takes or some kind of delay thing going on? I am straining a bit to hear them. I feel like whatever they are need a bit more of their own space.

That ending is tight as shit. Loves it.

Thanks WJ - I've probably done a heap more nudging, particularly of the spoken work section, since I last uploaded... I think when I originally recorded it, it was my first attempt at that sort of spoken stuff and I wasn't overly confident - I did more of it in later tunes. When I listen to it now I just think "WTF was I thinking about saying 'ask' in an American accent?" Didn't even realise I was doing it until the next song I recorded when I worked out I was automatically singing in American, and stopped, but too late for Mr Pills ...

Here's the current mix:

Goodbye Mr Pills.mp3

[rayc]

Singing in Uhmerkan is automatic. It is the sound of RnR. Regional derivations please me more I must admit.
The remix is REALLY tidy and the energy hasn't been reduced by the twiddling.
Wonderful stuff David.