Broken man

[GT]

Here's a new one, got out my acoustic on this one.

Please give it a listen, and let me know what's right & what's wrong.

http://www.listeningroom.lycos.com

Search: gtmuse

Song: Broken man

GT

[drstawl]

Really pretty song. I'm looping it right now at work.
Your vocals need to come up in the mix.
I liked the way you blended the acoustic guitar picking with that electric lead. A POD?

[Emeric]

Very nice song. The lyrics need to come up.. a lot.

You got some major guitar squeak going on. Sounds like a compression problem on the acoustic, can't tell for sure. Either adjust the compression, or edit out the squeaks - seems to jump out of nowhere.

Bring those vocals up. Nice guitar playing all round, nice vibrato on the leads.

nice vibe overall.

[flattop]

wow, really nice tune GT!!!, i really like the interplay between the guitars,,,,,,,,,,,,,,the recording is great, yeah i agree with the above, yer vocals can come up, other thatn that, i'm listening to a classic man!!!!!!! this song will stay thats for sure,,,,,,,man i'm gonna go back and play that again lol

[GT]

Hey,

Doc,

Thanks for giving this a listen. I'm still a little mic shy singing, that's why the level is low. I'm trying to make a point of singing more to try and get better. This is kind of the one area, where I'm like a kid who has to practice the piano, when he'd rather play ball. Glad you like the song!! Yeah, I used the Pod, It took awhile to find a setting that blended, and sounded like it was in the same space, as my acoustic. I finally ended up with, Fender Champ amp.

Emeric,

I recorded the acoustic first, (my old Guild, D-50), and thought the squeak was loud, but I thought that when I finished the mix, it would be less noticable. But you guys got them ears!! I didn't use any compresion, I don't have a compressor. Thanks for pointing it out. The chords were the sliding down the neck type. Next time I'm going to try
that finger ease spray stuff, I think that would quiet down the squeak. The acoustic was recorded in stereo, just
thought you'd like to know. Oh, and love to bend them strings!!

Flattop,

Very kind remarks, I appreciate very much!! Glad you liked the guitars, this song kind of wrote itself, guitar wise, everything played of the acoustic, that was the heart. I'm working on cultivating my voice, I actually thouht it was too loud, I find this to be the hardest part.

Thanks for listening

GT

[Bow]

You already heard all the professional opinions and suggestions for recording, so just want to say something from a newbie point of view...

The guitars sound awesome..... and I see you recorded th eacoustic in stereo...whch explains teeh cool finger squeak that goes from right to left!

The electric sounds great...I might need to look into a POD if I can't get my 9002 Zoom repaired.

As far as vocals go...I really know what you mean about just leaving them buried in the mix...I do the same thing....

Great tune... I like it!

[GT]

Bow,

Thanks for the kind coments, and welcome aboard.

[bball jones]

Nice airy feel with interesting interwoven guitar melodies, and instrument arrangement.

Very good overall production, although as previously stated, bring up the voice.

Love this style and you are quite good at it, and this seperates you from the pack.

[dobro]

Really nice song, and well-played and recorded. I came here looking for acoustic miking, and it's way electric! You do need to bring the vocal up in the mix, like 5 dB would probably do it. I really like the way you sing, btw. You sound like you were raised on Neil Young, but your music's more engaging. Really. I prefer his stuff when he concentrates on songwriting and lets others do the playing. Yours just sounds good.

[GT]

Thanks Dobro,

I'm glad you liked it. Didn't think I would see it back here.

Yeah this one the acoustic and voice were recorded at the same time, binaurally. Voice should come up, it's hard to be objective of ones own voice in the mix. Should have moved the mics up a bit.

They say that binaural recording is the purist form, but unforunately were the mics need to be to optimise voice, is not were they need to be to optimise acoustic guitar at the same time. Maybe binaural would work better with better mics, I don't know.

Paul Simon got better results, he used to use Neumann U-87s I beleive, not sure if he went binaural or not. One song in particular that he sang and played at the same time was "The Overs" off of Bookends. This recording blew me
away when I first heard it, still does.

Once again, thanks for listening

GT

[Slackmaster2K]

First impression: tom petty or fleetwood mac.

Then Neil Young! Holy cow you really sing like Neil Young! Unlike most of the weirdos on this board I happen to love Neil Young for both his songwriting AND musical abilities. (of course having a similar voice doesn't mean that you like him but...)

Anyway, pretty nice mix overall. I could hear the bass seperate from the guitars and the drums seemed to be in place for the most part. Like the others have said, the vocals really need to come up...big time!

Oh, and you need a better MP3 encoder. Are you using Blade or something? It totally trashed the song. Do a search for SCMPX and you'll be MUCH MUCH happier with the sounds of your MP3s.

Nice song, great playing, great singing. I'm glad I listened. Good job GT.

Slackmaster 2000

[dobro]

Slack - how could you tell the mp3 encoding was lousy? I ask merely for information, you understand.

[GT]

Slack,

Thanks for the very kind words. I think the reason the sound could be better, is because I encoded this one at 96kbps. Since it was a five minute long song, it seemed only fair. I think I will stick with 128kbps, from now on.

I'm using Music Match, seems to do a nice job at 128kbps, but not at 96kbps.

Yeah, Neil Young is awesome, have most of his albums. He gets some great recording quality as well.

I'm just now trying to get a better recorded sound out of my acoustic, hopefully next recording will be a little better.

Thanks again, you guys are very encouraging!

GT

[Slackmaster2K]

Dobro,

It sounded all "whooshy"...you can hear it most in the high frequency stuff like the cymbals and hat. Listen closely to them and it sorta sounds like a tape dragging. Anyways, the 96k encoding explains it!

Slackmaster 2000

[jitteringjim]

Great song GT -
I've been looping it for about 20min. now - I have to disagree about the vocals coming up, through my KRK's they seem to sit rather nicely in the mix.
One comment though, the song seems to be heavier on the right by a few dB, maybe due to the encoding...
Again, great tune, nice guitar work - the whole thing gives me an REM kinda vibe. I like it.