Down On My Luck

andrushkiwt

andrushkiwt

Well-known member
Trying something different, a live/unplugged style/sound. This is an original recorded at home studio with my Laravee acoustic, jazz bass through GNX3000, live cajon and shakers and tambourines, recorded with sm57 on guitars, sm7b on vocals, and both on the cajon front and back. Abbey Road plate A Waves version for reverb. various paid and free EQ's and compressors.

Please let me know what you think of the mix and overall sound/vibe.

 
andrushkiwt said:
Trying something different, a live/unplugged style/sound. This is an original recorded at home studio with my Laravee acoustic, jazz bass through GNX3000, live cajon and shakers and tambourines, recorded with sm57 on guitars, sm7b on vocals, and both on the cajon front and back. Abbey Road plate A Waves version for reverb. various paid and free EQ's and compressors.

Please let me know what you think of the mix and overall sound/vibe.

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Sounds great to me. Kind of reminds me of James Taylor but still original. Sounded like a pop or skip at around 2:17. Great song!
 
It's a nice catchy tune. Not listening on decent speakers, so I can't give a critical comment on sound, but it sounds reasonably balanced on a cheap pair of computer speakers.

I didn't hear any pop or skip like Eric. Might be a streaming glitch, or these speakers didn't show it.
 
andrushkiwt said:
Trying something different, a live/unplugged style/sound. This is an original recorded at home studio with my Laravee acoustic, jazz bass through GNX3000, live cajon and shakers and tambourines, recorded with sm57 on guitars, sm7b on vocals, and both on the cajon front and back. Abbey Road plate A Waves version for reverb. various paid and free EQ's and compressors.

Please let me know what you think of the mix and overall sound/vibe.

Click to expand...

Overall sound/vibe is sooo good! One of the percussion elements sounds maybe a bit too prominently "jangly"? Otherwise sounds great!
 
I can hear the James Taylor vibe in your vocal. The intro hit me more like some Rickie Lee Jones. You've got some nice, clean guitar work here and the keys are a nice touch. The mix is nice. Is that you doing BG Vox? Nicely blended, IMO. Overall, very professional studio sound.
 
Eric V said:
Sounds great to me. Kind of reminds me of James Taylor but still original. Sounded like a pop or skip at around 2:17. Great song!
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I'll have to check it, thanks for pointing it out. A previous mixdown had some distorted sounds, so I wonder if that's happening again here.
 
spantini said:
I can hear the James Taylor vibe in your vocal. The intro hit me more like some Rickie Lee Jones. You've got some nice, clean guitar work here and the keys are a nice touch. The mix is nice. Is that you doing BG Vox? Nicely blended, IMO. Overall, very professional studio sound.
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Oh ya, doing it all here. I think I had 8 total background vocal tracks, 4 on each side, doing 2 groups of harmonies to make it sound more choir-like.
 
Serendipity Records said:
Tambourine. On second listen it fits in OK in the mix, I think it's just not quite the sound I'd personally go for with a tambourine. Anyway, it works, so don't worry about it :thumbs up:
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Got ya. Pretty sure I would have did a high pass around 500hz, 3-4db of slow compression, and send to the reverb and delay channels. Maybe a cut around 650-800hz where the room sound builds up across all the tracks. What kind of sound could the tambourine have that would improve it, in your opinion?
 
Oh Yeah', very nice!
The only thing I can suggest is more high end separation in the reverb to match the track panning, but that's very minor ;)

Great Stuff!
 
JAPOV said:
Oh Yeah', very nice!
The only thing I can suggest is more high end separation in the reverb to match the track panning, but that's very minor ;)

Great Stuff!
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I used the trim on the reverb to remove about 2db of highs from it altogether. I didn't like how it sounded with the percussive instruments and top end of guitars and I wanted a somewhat darker, warm mix.

Can you explain a little more what you mean about its separation in relation to where tracks are panned...
 
The "dark" reverb seems to pull everything back to center... or, the frequency is saturating in the center? My ears just crave more "atmospheric width", but like I said... minor crit :)
 
JAPOV said:
The "dark" reverb seems to pull everything back to center... or, the frequency is saturating in the center? My ears just crave more "atmospheric width", but like I said... minor crit :)
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Ah I see, no that's most likely because I have a panning tool on the reverb channel and it is set to only 62% of the stereo image. To me, it gives a more vintage vibe to have the entire reverb be more centered instead of fully panned.
 
andrushkiwt said:
What kind of sound could the tambourine have that would improve it, in your opinion?
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I like a less "precise" tambourine sound, maybe a tambourine with more jangles on it? For lack of vocabulary, think of closer to white noise than sleigh bells? But again, it isn't a problem at all for this song. Good stuff, I want to hear more :)
 
Serendipity Records said:
I like a less "precise" tambourine sound, maybe a tambourine with more jangles on it? For lack of vocabulary, think of closer to white noise than sleigh bells? But again, it isn't a problem at all for this song. Good stuff, I want to hear more :)
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So it's a matter of the specific tambourine being used and not how it's mixed.... I knew next to nothing about them when I got that one several years ago from my local mom and pop music shop. I'm sure there's a more pro-produced tambourine out there.
 
andrushkiwt said:
So it's a matter of the specific tambourine being used and not how it's mixed.... I knew next to nothing about them when I got that one several years ago from my local mom and pop music shop. I'm sure there's a more pro-produced tambourine out there.
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Yeah, that's right. I recently got a new one myself which fit the sound I tend to like from a tambourine. I think -- as far as tambourines go -- if it's the sound you like, it's good enough.
 
Serendipity Records said:
Yeah, that's right. I recently got a new one myself which fit the sound I tend to like from a tambourine. I think -- as far as tambourines go -- if it's the sound you like, it's good enough.
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I hadn't thought much of how it sounds, but I'll look into nicer tambourines since I have been using them a lot lately. I do see what you mean about sleigh bells... now I totally hear that , lol
 
andrushkiwt said:
Trying something different, a live/unplugged style/sound. This is an original recorded at home studio with my Laravee acoustic, jazz bass through GNX3000, live cajon and shakers and tambourines, recorded with sm57 on guitars, sm7b on vocals, and both on the cajon front and back. Abbey Road plate A Waves version for reverb. various paid and free EQ's and compressors.

Please let me know what you think of the mix and overall sound/vibe.

Click to expand...

The song has a Harry Nilsson/Kenny Loggins vibe to it - I don't like the percussion sound - and what is it with the jingle bells? - they don't really fit to my ears - love the idea of it just not what sound you are using - Vocals are good - guitar is recorded exceptionally.
 
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