Took longer than expected to get my live tracks back this time around, but I think it may have been worth the wait.   This is an updated mix, still without fine tuning, with the acoustic flamenco-style guitars.

The guitarist retained most of the prior concept, but added a very cool acoustic solo during the finale (ending) section.  The finale is still a bit open and I’m leaning towards having the horns play backup. Speaking of which, that’s the next step: I’ll be sending this off to the New York Brass musicians now and then we’ll move on to the mixing stage.

Danny from New York has shared the opinion that this tune would be better served with a Spanish-style horns section.   He suggested that we ditch the sax to keep more of a latin vibe; so I decided to try it out by replacing it with a subdued trumpet to get a flavor for where this may be headed. All of the brass you here are merely placeholders, I didn’t fuss with getting the tone dialed in because it’s soon to be replaced with the real thing! I’m anxious to see what the New York boys comes up with…

Tranquilo is beginning to come together.  This is a preview mix with the live recorded drums and bass guitar properly integrated, at least in terms of mix level.  I’m quite impressed with the stereo drum track I received from StudioPros – I placed it into the mix without any tweaking!  Pretty much the same for the bass guitar track except some minor low frequency shaving below 120Hz.

I’ve just reviewed the acoustic (rhythm) guitar track but I’ll wait for the lead guitar recording before placing those into the mix.  The finale section remains “wide open” for now and I’ll make some decisions as to who will take the lead.   One thought: What about letting the sax player rip along side the guitarist?  The piano, me, could just go into “tranquilo mode” or fill in as necessary?

Should have the guitar tracks in by the weekend and then we’ll move on to recording live sax and horns!  More to follow…

This is the fun part… where I get to sit back and see what my team of professional musicians comes up with. We’ve developed a definite process which starts with the rhythm section, the heartbeat of music. This is the recording I just approved for the drums.

The tune comes to “life” at this stage because there’s simply no substitute for “live recorded” instruments, and I trust you’ll agree by simply comparing this version to the previously posted stem mix.  Next will come the bass guitar track that, for a tune like this, I suspect will conform more or less to the MIDI bass track you presently here – the exception being the finale – At present, it’s very open, but I’m going to encourage the bass and lead guitars to really let it rip as we draw to a close!

And, to reassure you, the piano solo you’re hearing in the bridge is a “place holder” – and first take for that matter; it will be re-recorded and played with greater precision.

My next update will contain both bass and guitar parts and will take things to a whole different level. Finally, my New York brass musicians will lend their talent to killer sax and horn parts. And by the way, we do all of this work completely over the Internet!