Bob Oister

Hey, Tom, This is a really cool Blues Rocker with the perfect classic rock 'n roll mix!😀 Great lyrics, excellent instrumental performances, dynamite vocals and a clean, wide, punchy rock mix. The honky-tonk piano and that super tasty blues harp really put the icing on cake! This sort of gave me a cool Georgia Satellites vibe, and it sure sounds like you had fun working on this one.😀 Fantastic work, Tom, really good stuff!👍 Have a good one, Bob

Hey, Absolutely killer job on this beautiful, soothing guitar instrumental!😀 That creamy lead guitar tone is spectacular, and the excellent playing and well crafted melody lines are fully top notch. I love the smooth fluidity of the guitar parts as they weave their way throughout the different sections, and the mix sounds perfect for the genre.👍 Really nice work, great stuff!😀 Have a good one! Bob

Hi, Gary, This is a fantastic Classic Blues Jam!😀 Great musicianship and vocals and the live recording and mixing are simply outstanding! Excellent work by all involved, that's how the blues were meant to be performed and captured.👍😀 Thanks for sharing, have a good one, my friend! Bob

Hey, Kevin, This is a dynamite song!😀 Really well written and performed, with great vocals and a wide, clean sounding mix. I really like how the crystal clear guitar tone works so well against the crunch guitars, and you've got great instrument separation throughout the mix. The guys made some great suggestions above, and I also agree about the hats and kick coming up a bit. I also agree with Mark about the early Tom Petty and the Heartbreaks vibe. Nice work, Kevin, really good stuff!👍😀 Have a good one! Bob

HarryC: Hey, Harry, How's it going, my friend? Hope you're gearing up for a rocking weekend!🤘 Big thanks for giving this song a listen and also for your very kind comments! I truly appreciate it, and it's always great to hear from another hard rocker like you. You always do a dynamite job on your song posts!😀 Thanks again, Harry, I'm very grateful for your input, support and friendship here on the forum!😀 Have a good one, buddy! Bob

Rik: Hello, Rik It's really fantastic to see you over here at the new forum! I hope your health issues are improving and that you're feeling much better and doing great!👍 Thank you so much for giving this a listen for me, and also for your very kind words!😀 On this one I used my PRS Paul Allender Signature Model for all of the rhythm and lead guitar parts. I find it to be very versatile with the multi EMG coil-splitting configuration, so it provides a lot of variable tone options for different types of tunings. Thank you again for taking time to check this out and commenting, greatly appreciated, Rik! I'm looking forward to hearing some great new song posts from you here on the forum!😀 Have a Rockin' weekend, brother! Bob

thegaltieribrothers: Hey, Paul, How are you, my friend? Hope you're doing well!😀 Thank you so much for checking this song out for me, and for your very kind, encouraging comments! I always really look forward to and greatly appreciate your input on my posts, because you've always been a true gentleman, and the quality of your songs is always excellent! Thanks again, Paul, I'm very grateful for your friendship and support here on the forum!😀 Best Wishes, Bob

NOTE: Once again, extremely sorry for the late replies due to reasons mentioned above in the first post! Hoping to be able to be around here much more very soon!😀 Thanks again!😀 Bob

Hey, Tim, Dynamite job on this killer rocker, as always from you guys!👍 Monster, molten-hot song with amazing musicianship and fantastic vocal work, and you did a great job synching up the fan video with the studio track. Excellent work, brother, spectacular stuff!🤘 Have a good one! Bob

Grem: Hey, Grem, How's it going, buddy? Hope your gearing up for a great weekend!👍 Thanks so much for lending your very good ears to this one for me, and also for your input, good observations and encouraging comments!😀 I know what you mean about the drum fills. Not really being a drummer, the drums are always the hardest part for me, and LOL, 😀 believe it or not, my wife is always on me about the drum fills being awkward and way overdone! For the main parts of the song I usually just try to play what I'm hearing in my head, keeping a fairly simple, steady beat on either my Yamaha drum pads or my M-Audio KeyRig, and track just the kick, snare and hi-hats first, and then I add the fills and crashes, etc later. Sometimes this can lead to some pretty awkward drum tracks! 😀 Thankfully, the guys here on the forum (and on the old forum) usually point out where I went too crazy and I try to fix things up. I'm still on the fence about that semi awkward fill right before the bridge on this one, and might end up simplifying and smoothing it out a bit. Thanks again, Grem, I truly appreciate you taking time to listen to my stuff and provide excellent input, observations and suggestions, and I'm very grateful for your friendship and support!👍 Have a Rockin' weekend, buddy! Bob

emeraldsoul: Hey, Tom, How are you, brother? Hope you're doing great! Big thanks for giving this a listen, and also for your great input, good observations, and very kind words!😀 For this new mix, I took good suggestions from you, Lynn and Doug, and tried "massaging" the EQ a little bit on the Kick Drum and Bass, and also a couple other tweaks I mentioned above. I'm hoping the touch ups and minor changes are an improvement. I you get a chance to check out the new mix, please let me know what you think. Thanks again for all your help in the past, and your support and friendship, greatly appreciated, buddy!👍😀 Bob

bjornpdx: Hey, Bjorn, Thank you so much for checking this out for me, and also for your very kind words!👍 I truly appreciate your always good input, observations and suggestions, and also your friendship and support here on the forum! Thanks again, greatly appreciated, Bjorn, and have a fantastic weekend!😀 Bob

Douglas Kirby: Hey, Doug, Thank you so much, buddy! I really appreciate your detailed input, observations and good suggestions on my stuff, and also your very kind words of encouragement! Especially, because your song posts are always really well written and performed, and top notch productions!👍 I'm grateful for the Halford reference, I did a lot of Judas Priest in my cover bands over the years!😀 Also thanks for the input on the bass clarity situation that you, Lynn and Tom picked up on. As I mentioned above, that all important EQ balance between the bass guitar and kick drum is always one of my toughest challenges to try to dial in to the point where both are clear and present in the mix. I'm definitely going to make a few EQ adjustments for the remix later this week. Thanks again, Douglas, I appreciate your time, input and friendship!😊 Have a Rockin' week! Bob

Joad: Hey, Joad, Thank you very much, I really appreciate you checking this new one out for me and also your observations and very kind words!😊 I always end up with a couple songs on each of my albums that are a little different from the rest and don't seem to fit exactly into my usual Hard Rock/Metal genre. For some reason this one sort of reminded me a little of 70's Southern Rock, so I think I may have channeled a touch of early Allman Brothers into the little dual lead fills. Thanks for noticing and commenting, greatly appreciated!😀 Thanks again, and have a Rockin' week, buddy! Bob

daryl1968: Hey, Daryl, How are you, buddy? Hope you're doing great!😉 Thank you, Sir, I really appreciate you checking this new one out for me, and also your encouraging comments! I always look forward to your input, observations and suggestions because the quality of your posts is always top-notch.👍 I'm hoping to be able have some time to do a few minor EQ touchups on the bass and drums for just a bit more bass definition and put the new mix up later this week. Thanks again, Daryl, I'm always grateful for your support and friendship!😀 Have a good one! Bob

Freddy J: Hey, Freddy, How are you, buddy? Hope you're doing great!😀 Thanks so much, Freddy, I'm really grateful that you liked the song, and also that you, Jesse and Lynn caught on to my subtle attempt at mimicking gear shifting with drum fills and slight tempo changes. I sincerely appreciate your input and kind words of encouragement! Thanks again for your friendship and support, Freddy, greatly appreciated!👍😀 Have a good one! Bob

Hi, Gary, Grem and Simeon, Wow, this is an absolutely fantastic and very beautiful piece of music!😀 Excellent songwriting and arrangement, Simeon's piano performance is powerful and very moving, the instrumental performances and orchestration are outstanding, and Gary's vocals are deep with emotion and really phenomenal! The mix is top notch, perfect for the genre, and radio-ready sounding to me. Wonderful collaboration, guys, and Grem, I'm sure that your friend, Dina is very happy somewhere and smiling about this amazingly beautiful tribute!😀 Best Wishes, Bob

Hi, Paul, It's always good to hear a new song from you! Nice work on this pleasant sounding, very catchy pop rocker!😀 Excellent vocals and musical performances, great song message, and the mix sounds clean and wide with nice instrument separation and a fresh sounding overall vibe!👍 Wonderful job, my friend, have a great week! Bob

Hey, Dynamite job on this absolutely fantastic guitar instrumental!👍 Spectacular guitar tone, excellent emotive playing, perfect melody lines and a crystal clear, wide, fresh sounding mix! All of the other instrumentation was also top notch, providing the perfect bed to showcase the amazing guitar work. Outstanding work, this is really excellent!😀 Have a good one, Bob

Hey, Michael, I guess I'm late to the party and missed the first few versions of this one, but I'm really glad I was able to catch this cool high energy rocker!😀 Great topic and songwriting, as always from you guys, excellent musicianship and performances by all, and a nice, full, punchy modern sounding mix! I agree with Douglas, as soon as Sean's killer vocals started, Dennis DeYoung, whose vocals with Styx I always loved, immediately came directly to mind. All the instrumentation was great, tasty guitar work, rock solid bass and keys, and I really like the synth stuff on the choruses. Excellent job, guys, definitely another winner for the Scandalous Grace repertoire! Great stuff!👍😀 Have a good one, boys! Bob

Lynn: Hey, Lynn, Thank you so much, brother! I always look forward to and appreciate your input, observations and also your encouraging comments on my stuff, especially because your song posts are always so well written, performed and produced, and always pro sounding!😊 I'm glad you and Jesse picked up on the "shifting gears" motif, I wasn't sure if it would actually come across or not.👍 Thanks for the helpful advice on the kick drum and bass guitar not playing well together. I'm glad you, Douglas and Tom mentioned that, because it's always something I struggle with, and the opinions on the forum always help me better adjust the EQ carving for the next remix. I think a lot of my problems with the bass/kick situation comes from mainly using my 5-string bass, and that low B always seems to get in the way of the type of kick that I prefer. 😁LOL, coming from multiple decades of playing live in huge clubs and outdoor venues with very large sound systems, I'm used to a "shotgun" snare and a "cannon" kick drum! That always seems to cause a bit of a dilemma when trying to get the bass and kick to coexist in the mix and translate on multiple devices. As for the songwriting question, I never actually sit down with the intent to write a song. I get what I jokingly refer to as "brain bolts"⚡. I could be reading a book or news article, watching a TV show or movie, working or relaxing, and it's like an involuntary lightning bolt hits my brain with a chorus or verse melody, some basic lyrics, harmonies, guitar riffs, rhythm tracks and even a music video all at once! Then comes the crazy rush to capture the main melody and idea on my smart phone or pen and paper before it disappears. Then, usually weeks or months later I end up cranking up Sonar and trying to recreate what I was hearing in my head at the time, and that becomes the real challenge!😊 For this one, I was watching the local tv news and they mentioned something that happened three hours away in Corning, NY, and BANG!, I got an instant flash of when my band was on the road playing throughout upstate New York back in the 80's and cruising on our motorcycles never knowing what the next city, town or venue would be like. Every day and night was always an adrenaline pumping, exciting adventure and full of surprises! Good times! So this song actually started with the title, first verse lyrics, chorus melody and lyrics, and basic chords already in my head. Then the fun started, trying to capture what was in my head and translating it into Sonar and trying my best to mix it.😲 😊LOL, Anyway, sorry for the long, boring story, but that's pretty much my process. Thanks so much again, Lynn, I really appreciate your insights, suggestions, friendship and support here on the forum. All the input, observations, suggestions and comments from all the forum users here are what makes this place such a great resource!👍 Have a good one! Bob

amiller: Hey, how are you, my friend? Hope you're having a great week!😊 Thank you very much for taking time to check this out for me, and also for your input, observations and very kind words! I'm truly grateful for your input and support on my stuff, greatly appreciated!😀 Have a Rockin' weekend!👍 Bob

Wookieee: Hey, Wook, Thanks, buddy, I really appreciate the quick listen and look forward to what details the famously furry ears pick up when you get a another chance to check it out!😊 I always look forward to your input and trust your furry ears implicitly!😀👍 Thanks again and have a good one, Wookster! Bob

Jesse Screed: Hey, Jesse, How are you, buddy? Hope you're having a great week! Big thanks for taking time to check this out, and also for your good observations, input, and very kind words!☺️ I'm so happy that you picked up on and noticed the slight tempo changes and "clutch shifting" drum fills. You totally get what I was going for as the theme of the song! I was actually afraid that I might have overdone the drum fills and disrupted things too much, but I'm hoping it's getting the point across without distracting too much. By the way, dynamite job on your recent collab, "Gun" with Freddy, great stuff, you guys make a really cool team!👍 Thanks again, Jesse, greatly appreciated! Have a good one! Bob

Hi, guys! I just uploaded a Test Mix for a new song called "Destination Unknown". If you can spare a few minutes to check it out, as always, any and all helpful comments, suggestions, constructive criticism, input and ideas are very welcome, and also greatly appreciated!👍 Big thanks in advance for any observations, suggestions, comments and ideas!😀 Bob ==================================== NOTE: Mix #2 Finally Up! Hi, Guys, So sorry for the very late replies! The past few weeks were super crazy busy with work, some great concerts and parties, and then unfortunately, 2 deaths in the family in 13 days. Anyway, I finally got a chance to get back in the studio and work on mix #2 after all of your good input and suggestions. I just uploaded the new mix to the original link below. I did a bit of EQ tweaking on both the kick drum and bass guitar to try to get them to work together a little better and also to try to squeeze a little more definition out of the bass. I also added a touch more EQ on the keyboards for a bit more separation in the mix, and slightly adjusted the volume levels of all the instruments. I'm hoping it's somewhat of an improvement and closer to where it should be. Thanks so much to everyone who took time to listen and provide input and suggestions, I truly appreciate your comments, help and support! And, if you do get a few minutes to listen to the new mix, please let me know what you think and if I'm headed in the right direction. Thanks again, guys, greatly appreciated! Bob "Destination Unknown" https://soundclick.com/share.cfm?id=13899168