Knockout - (original song)

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Junk Bond Trader

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Published on December 18, 2020 11:58:20 AM ● Video Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r944ooxAjSU

Duration: 3:11

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62

A song that came together really quickly, which isn't typical for me. Wrote and recorded it over a few days. A real soft, simple, (bitter)sweet song. I used a boxing match as a metaphor for fighting with myself. I've seen Elliott Smith do this in sections of songs before, and I more than likely drew the inspiration for the idea, from him.
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The Mix:
Mixed and recorded in Reaper. Vocals up close on an sm58 turned down. I started with the guitar track, and it came out really clean, which really made all subsequent mixing so much more effective, having less mud in the stereo field. I went clean on the vox, no verb. Very subtle EQ, just a high pass at 40hz and small dip around 350khz, and subtle compression taking off 2 or 3 db from the peaks. It was still a very punchy mix which I like. Then I added verb on selected lines, and limited everything lightly to retain dat PUNCH. The guitar was a mono recording, recorded with an SM57. Split it across 4 tracks, two panned 45 L, 45 R and offset a few ms. The other two panned hard LR, also offset a few ms, BUT offset the opposite way (left track first, vice versa). Ambient verb added to all 4 guitar tracks via aux bus. Just experimenting, and it worked out wonderfully. I altered the compression and Eq for all four guitar tracks differently, subtly, to give a nice dynamic tone.
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The initial chord is a simple triad containing the notes C#, F, Bb, picked, and it gives off a slightly dissonant, mildly harsh chordal quality, and then resolves nicely when the C# shifts up to D. I was once told you shouldn't start a song on a dissonant chord. Pfft! I think that "rule" is total trash. If you're feeling tapped in, and that's what comes out, it's gonna be good.

The "dum dums" is a deep cut homage to Bjork's "Birthday".

Lyrics:

It's goin' down,
Inside my skull,
A bareknuckle fight,
A one man brawl,

And all I know is it won't be pretty,
so concentrate and demonstrate.
Don't get used to feeling shitty,
Eat your own tail, with your teeth in a pale, on the eastern end of the city,

dum dum dum dum dum

you cant say that, that, that I don't care.

Cos really it's, pretty much all that I do,
I'm just not as bothered by it, as you,
you wont get through the round by coastin',
concentrate, on swinging straight.
Major lack of oxytocin
And love's a lot, like a Mandelbrot - a sailor's knot tied in thread.

I love myself,
I hate it here,
I blink and breathe,
Hush hush my dear

Don't blink now its gettin' gritty,
Concentrate, and demonstrate.
A bloodbath on the edge of the city,
A twelve round bout, I got cold knocked out,
And the crowd cheers only for more.