Steen's back, baby!

:) Great to hear.
It's a little Yam RBX170 that I picked up for £50.
I was, and am, prepared to pop new pickups in it, but I'm not sure it's going to need them. Happy enough so far. :)

Thanks buddy.
 
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Steenamaroo said:
Oh dang..I missed your first comment somehow!
Thanks for commenting, and for coming back.

What are you listening to now? The link should take you to a player with there tracks. The third, most recent, mix has much brighter piano so I'd be keen to know if it's still not enough.
I also carved a little more space for it by panning the guitars a bit better, I think.
Click to expand...

Guess I'm a little challenged. Can't figure out how to change from mix 2 "New Bass Mix". That's the last one I heard.
 
This is really an enjoyable song. Very nice work.

Some of the background instruments seemed low in volume (piano) to me BUT you have to decide which ones to have up front and this sounds pretty good to me.

The vocal eq did not bother me enough to make it a bad thing. It does seem to be sitting on top of the mix just a little...

Sorry to be a parrot but what has been already said is correct imo. Just confirming it I guess.
 
No nits. I think it is a great recording and mix. The guy has a really good voice for sure.
good job man!
 
:) Thank you for making an old pianist happy! Your grand actually sounds smoother, yet more distinct, which was what I thought the song needed.
 
Sounds really good. Vocals really stand out and doesn't seem to have any harsh frequencies. Everything seems to be mixed well. Good job.
 
Very nice work on this! Do you have a sign above your studio door that says "Only those with Don McLean-esque voices may enter"? :) Because this guy, as did Dobro Dan, reminds me of him. Very nice, open sound, and everything sounds rich and pleasant. Enjoyed the listen thoroughly. Thanks for sharing.
 
Thanks Bruthish and Rayc.

famous beagle said:
Very nice work on this! Do you have a sign above your studio door that says "Only those with Don McLean-esque voices may enter"? :) Because this guy, as did Dobro Dan, reminds me of him. Very nice, open sound, and everything sounds rich and pleasant. Enjoyed the listen thoroughly. Thanks for sharing.
Click to expand...

Haha...Yes. I put that sign up a few years back. Seems to be working.
Thanks for listening man. :)

sparky123 said:
took be back to a long time ago. pretty good vocs to me. enjoyed listening.... maybe a little more kick?snare???
Click to expand...

Glad you enjoyed it. :)

A lot of the advice here has helped, especially with vocal placement and piano so thanks chaps.

The few minor nits that are coming through, I'll probably pay more attention to once we have a few more songs done.
He's planning to do 10 all-in, so this will be revisited a few times, I'm sure, with fresh ears.

I'll keep you all up to date. :)

Many thanks folks.
 
I'm well late to this party but thought I'd just say it sounds great here to me. (Mix 2)

I always enjoy listening to your productions. Darren sounds great.

Keep us (Me) posted on any new stuff of his to share. :thumbs up:
 
Mix-2 not anything to say but that guy has a really good voice. Just sounds like a solid overall mix. Very nice.
 
I like.

It almost has a slight '60s feel to it...and, at my age, take that as a compliment not a criticism!

Please don't remove the filler piano...I thought it worked really well.

I look forward to hearing more.
 
LOL. Thank you for all the comments chaps, but how come you're listening to mix 2 when there are three?

I removed the option now and added the first mix of a second song. :)
I've got some work yet to do on the second one, particularly in making the chorus sound more solid.
Hope you all enjoy none-the-less.
 
Er...because your first post links to V2 but the link to V3 is sort of buried further down the page!

Anyhow, just listened to V3 and the most I can say is that I've stopped noticing the mix and just listened to the music. There's always tweaks I suppose but you've got a good 'un even now.

...but does he really have to rhyme love with turtle dove then emphasise it? :)
 
Very pleasant sounding song. I can't really sense nerves in the performance, so you did a great job making him feel comfortable and getting him to deliver.

I wrote down my thoughts before looking over the thread. I then went back and checked out a few other opinions. I am seeing a lot of well deserved comments that the mix sounds good, but without much critical feedback. I am not overly familiar with your work or your production style, so I don't know why this is. I can make an assumption that it is very likely framed within a sense of familiarity that a lot of long time posters have with your work.

The mix is indeed nice and has a definite character to it, but it also has some areas where it could improve. Perhaps this is subjective and again, perhaps this is mostly due to your personal style and choices that you make, but I will throw it out anyway to see what you think. Like with everything else, it's opinions and of course, keep or sweep as they say, but I'd love to hear back on the points I am making.

There is a cloudy or hollow sense to the mix overall. I am getting a lot of buildup in the lower mids. It sounds to be in the traditionally problematic areas between 350Hz and 500Hz. I think some cleanup in that area will do wonders for opening this up.

The whole affair is coming across very mono despite the fact that I do hear elements coming to me from the sides here and there. Perhaps this is designed as such for target playback systems, but on a nice stereo system, it is making it feel confined and congested.

Different song sections aren't quite opening up to their potential. There is not enough contrast in levels or instrument focal points as we move from one area to another. I am getting a strong sense that each individual element is either limited, clipped or generously compressed to be very steady as an individual element, and the result is that as we move from section to section in the song, it all stays very steady in terms of overall dynamics. The dynamics and the interaction between different instruments and the vocals within a particular section are good, if not a little bit overly controlled, but section to section needs work. A nice piece like this should bloom and open, then contract, then repeat.

Overall, a pleasant listen and I certainly hear potential in the song and the production, or I wouldn't have taken the time to put these thoughts down. Hopefully this helps a little, even if just to spur some conversation. I really like to listen carefully to the works of others because I find that I learn a lot this way, so getting to the heart of choices that you have made with this mix would be very interesting.
 
Bobbsy said:
Er...because your first post links to V2 but the link to V3 is sort of buried further down the page!

Anyhow, just listened to V3 and the most I can say is that I've stopped noticing the mix and just listened to the music. There's always tweaks I suppose but you've got a good 'un even now.

...but does he really have to rhyme love with turtle dove then emphasise it? :)
Click to expand...


Heh. All the links should go to the same player which had 3 mixes on it.
It's now got 2 songs - one mix per song. I'll keep it that way from now on.

Is the turtle doves thing corny? Haha. That's very much his territory. I stay out of lyrics. ;)

kindafishy said:
Very pleasant sounding song. I can't really sense nerves in the performance, so you did a great job making him feel comfortable and getting him to deliver.

I wrote down my thoughts before looking over the thread. I then went back and checked out a few other opinions. I am seeing a lot of well deserved comments that the mix sounds good, but without much critical feedback. I am not overly familiar with your work or your production style, so I don't know why this is. I can make an assumption that it is very likely framed within a sense of familiarity that a lot of long time posters have with your work.

The mix is indeed nice and has a definite character to it, but it also has some areas where it could improve. Perhaps this is subjective and again, perhaps this is mostly due to your personal style and choices that you make, but I will throw it out anyway to see what you think. Like with everything else, it's opinions and of course, keep or sweep as they say, but I'd love to hear back on the points I am making.

There is a cloudy or hollow sense to the mix overall. I am getting a lot of buildup in the lower mids. It sounds to be in the traditionally problematic areas between 350Hz and 500Hz. I think some cleanup in that area will do wonders for opening this up.

The whole affair is coming across very mono despite the fact that I do hear elements coming to me from the sides here and there. Perhaps this is designed as such for target playback systems, but on a nice stereo system, it is making it feel confined and congested.

Different song sections aren't quite opening up to their potential. There is not enough contrast in levels or instrument focal points as we move from one area to another. I am getting a strong sense that each individual element is either limited, clipped or generously compressed to be very steady as an individual element, and the result is that as we move from section to section in the song, it all stays very steady in terms of overall dynamics. The dynamics and the interaction between different instruments and the vocals within a particular section are good, if not a little bit overly controlled, but section to section needs work. A nice piece like this should bloom and open, then contract, then repeat.

Overall, a pleasant listen and I certainly hear potential in the song and the production, or I wouldn't have taken the time to put these thoughts down. Hopefully this helps a little, even if just to spur some conversation. I really like to listen carefully to the works of others because I find that I learn a lot this way, so getting to the heart of choices that you have made with this mix would be very interesting.
Click to expand...


Hi,
Thanks for the open and honest criticism.
First - which song did you listen to? I'm kinda hoping it was 'money tree'

I'm glad you made the points you did, either way.
The 350-500z thing is good to hear because it is a problem with my environment and I've a history of over-scooping that area and ending up with very thin mixes.
It's something I struggle with, so knowing I've got a bit of room to work is good.

Sounding mono and largely uneventful, musically, is intentional I suppose, although I wouldn't have put it like that.
This guy is guitar+vocal only so while I'm providing the whole mix I'm trying hard to keep out of his way for the most part.
Basically just provide a pleasant bed for him to sing over. If it's coming across like I've gone too far, though, it's good to know.
 
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