3 songs from new cd

[Steenamaroo]

hi guys,

these are songs from a cd which i have been working on for a friend for quite some time now..

we've been through more mixes of each than i care to remember, and i'm looking for some fresh ear opinions,,

i've always got valuable responses from this forum, so any thoughts are welcome

thanks everyone.

http://www.webforni.com/steen/dm/smiles.mp3

http://www.webforni.com/steen/dm/day.mp3

http://www.webforni.com/steen/dm/rent.mp3

[mattdee1]

Originally Posted by Steenamaroo

http://www.webforni.com/steen/dm/smiles.mp3

I only had time to listen to this one, but it sounded great to me! I wish I could get vocal clarity like that.

[Steenamaroo]

hi there,,thanks for the reply

if it's any use, all vocals are done on a shure sm7b into a focusrite octopre le.

i used very minimal effects,,just bass roll off, and a reverb on an auxiliary track, with automated send level..

[ajmauburn]

I really like the sound of that little lead lick on Smiles. My only beef with it is that it's kind of bare for my taste. But then again, I love hardcore music, so I'm a little biased ha ha

[Steenamaroo]

hey,,that's fair enough, and thanks for the comment.

i'm glad you commented on the guitar lick,,,that was my part

[Steenamaroo]

any of you audio pros care to chime in?

i'm genuinely looking for (constructive) criticism while these tracks are still being mixed.....

thanks everyone.

[guitar zero]

From a mixing standpoint, I hear nothing that needs changing. These mixes are very good. From a production standpoint, as I listened to smiles, I felt it had that rolling momentum feel, perfect for adding instruments one at a time. First a bass, then later a shaker, then possibly a bed of strings, sort of like a snoball rolling downhill picking things up as it went along, then slowly dropping them out as the song winds down. It didn't happen, but it's still a beautiful song as is. I'm very impressed. This is the type of music I buy and listen to. Great job. Great lyrics. Did you write them? What's your recording chain for acoustic guitar, and what type guitar?

[guitar zero]

Just one more post to change my number of posts.

[Steenamaroo]

haha,,,unbelievable man....i'm gonna have to send u an mp3 if you don't mind!!


thanks for writing back btw.

i'm laughing cos we mixed the song pretty much exactly as you described...

bass first, then percussion then strings, then piano,,,i think,,then everything drops out for the outro,,,gradually..

the mix wasn't grabbing us (probably more my mixing than the music itself) and we decided to go for a more live feel,,,but i still have the session saved..

i'll upload an mp3 and link it if you're interested.



as far as recording chain, it's pretty humble.

all guitars were done on two sm81s into a focusrite octopre into a 003 over adat then mixed it PT8.

vocals were the same chain except on an sm7b.



Although i would have a good musical input, the songwriting is down to a guy called Pete Gardiner,who is a friend of mine....

i think he's a pretty talented lyricist...




thanks again, that was all good to hear

[bryantx512]

This is nothing like what I would normally listen to. But I find myself very drawn in. Very nice. For me, the vocal is a couple of dB too hot somewhere between 6-8kHz. And there's something with the reverb I'm not digging. Maybe it's just a little higher in the mix than I prefer. Again, nice.

[Steenamaroo]

hi there, and thanks for that....

is that applicable to all the songs or just one?

the reason i ask is i've eq'd and reverbed differently on pretty smiles.

[guitar zero]

Originally Posted by Steenamaroo

...i'll upload an mp3 and link it if you're interested...

Absolutely, yes. I'd love to hear it.

[guitar zero]

Oh yeah, and what was the guitar?

[Steenamaroo]

erm,,,it's a taylor....can't remember the exact model number,but i'll find out


old version of the song is at www.webforni.com/steen/psmiles.mp3

not 100% what stage this copy was at, but you'll get the idea of where we were going

[guitar zero]

Originally Posted by Steenamaroo

erm,,,it's a taylor....can't remember the exact model number,but i'll find out


old version of the song is at www.webforni.com/steen/psmiles.mp3

not 100% what stage this copy was at, but you'll get the idea of where we were going

Yep that's it. I would guess the reason you didn't like this mix is the strings are too thick and a little too loud, and it kind of muddies it up and takes away from the great acoustic sound you've got going. Love the layered vocals toward the end of the song. Didn't care for the back up vocals in this version at all. The rest of it sounds fabulous to me. When can we expect this CD to come out. I'll buy one for sure.

GZ

[Steenamaroo]

"great acoustic sound" THANKS

your reason for us not liking the fuller mix is exactly right...it just got messy

although i feel that a bigger sound works on the other songs,, pretty smiles is kinda special??, so i prefer take two...


i think i've gotten confused a bit, are you saying you didn't like the backing vocals on the fuller version? but you do like them in the sparse version???


strangely, any vocal extras used in the sparse mix are the same takes as were in the full mix,,,just mixed differently,

but if that's what you're saying, i'd be inclined to agree,,they sound better in the sparse mix.


There are 8 tracks on this cd that were finished, before i went back to butts! lol...

myself and the artist are off all week, so i'll update as i go!

thanks so much for your input and positive comments!

[Steenamaroo]

ooh,quick question,,there's something in the mix that i hear, and will find very hard to describe, but here goes,,


in the section beginning "but my pot of gold's just another mistake"

there are four chords repeated.

fm DbM AbM EbM

on the EbM each time, can you hear a feedback kind of noise at C natural pitch?

if follows an offbeat rhythm like, if you tapped

"quaver crotchet crotchet crotchet quaver" over the bar, the noise would fall on the crotchets"??


i duno what it is, and i only hear it on some bars, but i just thought i'd see if anyone else hears it!

[guitar zero]

[QUOTE=Steenamaroo;3128098]i think i've gotten confused a bit, are you saying you didn't like the backing vocals on the fuller version? but you do like them in the sparse version???

strangely, any vocal extras used in the sparse mix are the same takes as were in the full mix,,,just mixed differently,[Quote]

Not true. At about 2:30 there's a background voice that echoes "it aint easy" that's there in the second mix. It's not there in the first one, instead there's something that sounds like a uillean pipe. The echo "it aint easy" is what I said I don't like, but you've already gotten rid of it.

[Jpwikid]

Listening to Smiles....Sounds like Counting Crows, don't know if that's a compliment or not but reminded me of them anyway.....Pretty bare tracks but sound ok...Good job.

[Steenamaroo]

yehp,,fair point, i forgot about that bit.....i'm at the stage where it's all a blur,lol.

crows is a compliment we're both fans! thanks.

any comments on the other songs? pretty smiles is gettin a lot of attention, but in terms of mixing, it's the odd one out on this album...

[guitar zero]

Originally Posted by Steenamaroo

yehp,,fair point, i forgot about that bit.....i'm at the stage where it's all a blur,lol.

crows is a compliment we're both fans! thanks.

any comments on the other songs? pretty smiles is gettin a lot of attention, but in terms of mixing, it's the odd one out on this album...

I still think with smiles, the rolling snoball effect is the way to go, but it needs to keep the acoustic feel. Maybe an acoustic bass, a shaker, solo violin. The synth strings were too heavy for this song. Thin it down to a single violin. That would pair well with the lamenting tone of the singer and his angst of having to say goodbye. It's by far my favorite of the three.

[Steenamaroo]

good call!!

i'll be back!

[gecko zzed]

I've had a quick listen to "Smiles".

Some quick comments

1 The vocal is impressive and highly engaging. A voice rich in character and delivering the lyrics intimately and with intensity, yet without resorting to theatrics. I have listened to a number of other tracks in this forum, where there have been subdued vocals, and I have suggested that they could generate more excitement by injecting some emotional intensity. This track demonstrates exactly the point I was trying to make. Awesome!!

2 The guitars are really nicely recorded; a clear, crisp sound.

3 There are some harmonies appearing through the course of the first half of the song. These are spot on . . . rendered tastefully and mixed very subtley, and the phrasing is spot on.

4 The droney harmonium sound (I'm not sure what you used) in the background (I'm not sure what you used) is effective, and likewise tastefully restrained.

5 Lyrically the song is original, interesting and blissfully free of cliches. "A cross between a habit and a real bad day", "the days move like a heartbeat", and "I'm hangin to the bottom of the end of the world" are terrific lines.

6 But towards the end of the song the main vocal does its thing while there are background voices do something else, and this bothers me. It's a neat idea, and one I've also used. The reason why it is not working for me this time is because there are lots of syllables, and lots of percussive ones at that ("my pot of gold is just another mistake . . .") . . . lots of 't's, 'k's and 's's . . . and so I'm hearing the jaggedness of these bumping against the main vocal, rather than the words themselves. I'm not sure what you can do about this, although I'd be happy to see the song finish at about 3:30, fading out on the guitar duet. Maybe you don't need to do anything, because it's only my view. No-one commenting so far seems to have been bothered by it.

This is a very impressive track, and you should be proud of your achievement.

[gecko zzed]

Some comments on 'Rent'

Firstly I'll echo the comments I made for 'smile'. Very tastefully and thoughtfully done, with good musical ideas and strong, well-crafted lyrics and vocal delivery.

Some additional points:

1 Essentially the song is based (with variations) around a Bb F Eb sequence. You've mixed this up pretty well with the variations, but you might also like to let the bass have a bit of freedom, and rather than sticking to root notes of the chord, it could wander around every now and again (for example, where the chords go Bb F Eb Eb, the bass could go Bb A G Eb). Had you thought about doing stuff like that?

2 At 54 seconds the kit comes in, and from there to 1:23, it's doing this kinda busy stuff compared to the restraint of the bass. From 1:23 onwards, I think the kit is fine, but I wonder whether it is just a bit too busy in that first 30 seconds of its appearance.

3 The end of the song kind of wanders off with the acoustic guitar. My inclination is to finish sharply at the end of the word 'rent'.

However, another great song!!

[Steenamaroo]

hi gecko,

thanks for taking the time to listen,and respond in such detail.

i have the chap coming round tonight for some work, so i'll look into those ideas and all the others!


hopefully i'll have something fresh to post up through the week!