New Honey Hunters - "Never Mind"

[Armistice]

Been a while good folks... glad to see everyone's still arguing about the same things down there in Prime Time.

So for those who know me, I completely up-ended my life and moved 1000km north, almost a year ago, and so, instead of having my "studio" in a wood-floored narrow hallway, it's in a 3.5m x 3.5m carpeted bedroom, so I'm still adjusting to how things should sound, somewhat. This is the first completed tune I've actually pumped out from the new locale.

(If you're from TRR, this is actually v2 that I've posted there... ?)

Any and all thoughts welcome.

Ta in advance.

___________________________________________________________________________________________

Updated version based on various feedback here and on TRR. Also a bit more mastered, so it'll be a little louder, which means better, right?

 

[Monkey Allen]

Hi, sounds very nice to me. I'm in the middle of re-jigging my L3.6xW2.7xH2.5m home studio so that I have half a chance of mixing. Your song sounds absolutely fantastic here on my Yamaha HS8's. Very nice indeed. Cool song, well played, very classy parts and arrangement.

 

[dobro]

Yeah, that's a good one. I'm not stoned, and it's not 1967, but what would the bv's repeating 'never mind' sound like if they alternated instead of being in unison? First left, then right, then left... Crazy, but what would it sound like?

 

[Deleted member 203901]

Nice and smooth production....always nice to listen to those analog drums!

 

[Armistice]

Hi, sounds very nice to me. I'm in the middle of re-jigging my L3.6xW2.7xH2.5m home studio so that I have half a chance of mixing. Your song sounds absolutely fantastic here on my Yamaha HS8's. Very nice indeed. Cool song, well played, very classy parts and arrangement.

Thanks Mr Monkey. Appreciate the listen...

 

[Armistice]

Yeah, that's a good one. I'm not stoned, and it's not 1967, but what would the bv's repeating 'never mind' sound like if they alternated instead of being in unison? First left, then right, then left... Crazy, but what would it sound like?

Hey dobro... long time etc.

I may just try that later for a lark. Could be quite spooky. Thanks for the listen.

 

[Armistice]

Nice and smooth production....always nice to listen to those analog drums!

Thanks for the listen - appreciate the comments.

 

[dobro]

Hey dobro... long time etc.

I may just try that later for a lark. Could be quite spooky. Thanks for the listen.

You're being very polite, and I appreciate it. But just try it. Easy enough to dispatch it if you don't like it. But I'm thinking it might be like this: Have you ever had a thought that's come back on you again and again? Of course you have. But has that repeating thought ever been kind of disturbing, like you you don't quite know what to do about it? The left/right thing might sound like that.

 

[RFR]

Hey, welcome back!

Very soothing groove on that tune. I like the balance of all the instruments.

Personally I think the bottom end is a bit woofy , even though it works with the other instruments. Can’t put my finger on it, and I did listen on monitors.

Don’t get me wrong, everything sounds great, and all instruments play nice with each other just would like to have the bass tightened up a wee bit. But that’s just me and I’m not sure 100%

What I am sure of is that I wish the vocal was a bit louder.

But my comments are just personal preferences, I’m no mix authority

Great tune, enjoyable listen, and welcome back.

Ps. Translates well on iPhone too ??

 

[stratmonkee]

Yeah, drums sound great, loved your kick! I'm listening on headphones , and vocals seem a little low at times,although, when the additional backing vocals come in , I hear them better, I really like the panning on them as well. Cool tune!

 

[Papanate]

Been a while good folks... glad to see everyone's still arguing about the same things down there in Prime Time.

So for those who know me, I completely up-ended my life and moved 1000km north, almost a year ago, and so, instead of having my "studio" in a wood-floored narrow hallway, it's in a 3.5m x 3.5m carpeted bedroom, so I'm still adjusting to how things should sound, somewhat. This is the first completed tune I've actually pumped out from the new locale.

(If you're from TRR, this is actually v2 that I've posted there... ?)

View attachment 118212

Any and all thoughts welcome.

Ta in advance.

It's a clean mix - things are placed well - vocals are a low - unless you wanted them to be under the music - it doesn't sound like it to me - The bass is good needs to be compressed more to solidify it IMO.

 

[Armistice]

Hey, welcome back!

Very soothing groove on that tune. I like the balance of all the instruments.

Personally I think the bottom end is a bit woofy , even though it works with the other instruments. Can’t put my finger on it, and I did listen on monitors.

Don’t get me wrong, everything sounds great, and all instruments play nice with each other just would like to have the bass tightened up a wee bit. But that’s just me and I’m not sure 100%

What I am sure of is that I wish the vocal was a bit louder.

But my comments are just personal preferences, I’m no mix authority

Great tune, enjoyable listen, and welcome back.

Ps. Translates well on iPhone too ??

Thanks for the listen ... I have done some various adjustments including to vocal levels, both by zeroing in on specific syllables with automation and also generally giving it a bump and working on EQ. Assuming I can edit the original post I'll shove v3 up there. I haven't been here much since the board format changed, so not entirely sure how it works these days...

 

[Armistice]

It's a clean mix - things are placed well - vocals are a low - unless you wanted them to be under the music - it doesn't sound like it to me - The bass is good needs to be compressed more to solidify it IMO.

Thanks for the listen. I've made a few adjustments to the vocals and bass which, hopefully, will appear above... or below. Somewhere... ?

 

[Armistice]

Yeah, drums sound great, loved your kick! I'm listening on headphones , and vocals seem a little low at times,although, when the additional backing vocals come in , I hear them better, I really like the panning on them as well. Cool tune!

The usual "no-one likes to hear their own voice so we bury it as far as we can" thing I expect...

Thanks for the listen. I've done an update, somewhere in this thread...

 

[grimtraveller]

The usual "no-one likes to hear their own voice so we bury it as far as we can" thing I expect...

Since I started recording, I've never particularly minded my voice. But sometimes, it's been lower in a mix than what one would usually expect, because I tend to think of the voice as an instrument as opposed to the sun around which all the other planets orbit.
Since I had my thyroid removed in 2017, I've had to approach my own vocals from a completely different place. Having a deeper voice means I have to think about how the voice interacts with the bass. But it sort of works, I think.

You have a very definite style, particularly since you reconstituted yourself as HoneyHunters. I think "What would we do with Eternity, anyway ?" is a fabulous album. This song would fit right in with the melancholy mood of the album.
By the way, is that an actual drumkit on the song ?

 

[K-dub]

My main issue is the bass groove is stomping over everything - as the mix is predominently up the middle. You have to kind of try to hear "around" it.

 

[Armistice]

Since I started recording, I've never particularly minded my voice. But sometimes, it's been lower in a mix than what one would usually expect, because I tend to think of the voice as an instrument as opposed to the sun around which all the other planets orbit.
Since I had my thyroid removed in 2017, I've had to approach my own vocals from a completely different place. Having a deeper voice means I have to think about how the voice interacts with the bass. But it sort of works, I think.

You have a very definite style, particularly since you reconstituted yourself as HoneyHunters. I think "What would we do with Eternity, anyway ?" is a fabulous album. This song would fit right in with the melancholy mood of the album.
By the way, is that an actual drumkit on the song ?

Hey GT, how are you doing these days? Give me an update... PM me if you like.

Thanks for the listen. No, not an actual drumkit - I'm just getting better at getting more realistic sounds from it. Same VSTI as the album, but I understand it better now. ?

I haven't listened to the album in ages - when I do I have the usual, "If only I'd done X here instead of Y..." thoughts.

Just before the pandemic hit I found myself, at the invitation of a couple of guys from work who do a sort of blues duo thang, fronting a solo gig at venue just down the road - so I did solo versions of all my Jongleurs songs, dug out another that was never recorded, adapted Honey Hunters' "Sometime Soon" and "The Dream's Malfunction" for acoustic guitar, added a new acousticky tune I'd written, and even slipped in a couple of Armistice instrumentals to fill it out... ended up with a 12 song / 45 minute set. It went very well, and I thought "Hmmm... wouldn't mind doing this regularly!" and then the pandemic hit. And about a year ago I sold up and moved self and job and GF 1000km north to the Sunshine Coast and 6 months after that, got made redundant - which has long been my career goal! And about a month after that, the two blues guys, who didn't know I'd moved, hit me up to do the same gig... Oh well.

Anyway, about 6 weeks ago now, the other Jongleur moved himself and his family north to Brisbane, about 90 minutes south of where I live, and as it happens, he's good friends with a guy who runs a music venue about halfway between us, and as it also happens, said guy was looking for acts for one of his June nights, and so, even though we've not played together for close on 10 years, other Jongleur dobbed us in for a spot... so we're madly rehearsing on our own to try to get enough material together to do 300 minutes or so in about 3 weeks time. I'll meet up with him Sunday for a rehearsal down in Brisbane and we'll try to get another one up here sometime before the big night, but we were pretty good when we gigged originally, so I'm confident, so long as he remembers his songs, we'll be OK. Crazy world. Hadn't really factored the second coming of The Jongleurs into my life, and there is the "we live 90 minutes apart" thing, but he's keen, and as I don't have a job, I certainly have the time.

And while all this is going off, GF has gone back to Sydney for 6 weeks for work and I have the opportunity, if it ever stops raining, to complete some tunes by adding vocals - something I hadn't up to know been able to do. Hate singing with someone in the house... So expect a few more in coming weeks.

 

[grimtraveller]

PM me

It's on the way. Look out for it.

No, not an actual drumkit - I'm just getting better at getting more realistic sounds from it.

I didn't think it was, but someone earlier mentioned the analog drums so I was curious.

Same VSTI as the album, but I understand it better

That's me and VSTis. As the years have gone by, I think my understanding of them has grown. I figured out fairly early on that they would always sound best mixed in with actual instruments {not that they're not actual instruments, actually played !} rather than being out front and exposed. But I've also found it best to use them raw, kill any effects, especially reverb, and add my own after the fact. I was also always one for playing them with the mind of the actual instrumentalist, in real time. I use them sparingly, but they've turned out to be everything I dreamed they'd be back when I first heard about them in 2004.
But where I get the chance, I still use actual players. Like, I have trumpets and they don't sound too bad as part of a brass section, but on their own, they're kind of lame. But my son has a trumpet playing friend and I've been getting him to add some parts for me of late. Funny thing though, even the sound of a live trumpet in the room is different from what it's like when recorded. I always find that with drums too.

the other Jongleur moved himself ...we were pretty good when we gigged originally

How is Richard these days ? I always liked the music of the Jongleurs. Actually, all your incarnations have been part of the upper echelon of home recordings. I still think your standalone DAW recordings were, along with RAMI's, inspirational. Every bit as good as anything I've heard on computer or reel to reel.

Hate singing with someone in the house...

I've gotten kind of used to it. In fact, because I do most of my recording in my sons' bedroom, I've sometimes recorded vocals while one of them has been asleep in bed ! I always ask him if he minds, but he always says no.
I sometimes feel a bit self-conscious with neighbours on either side, but they've never commented on it. Well, back in 2003, one of them did say they thought I was giving singing lessons to someone. I thought that was rather novel. I was actually showing my friend how the parts went. That was one of the few times I ever recorded vocals with the windows open because that summer was phenomenally hot. I did it once more, many years later, because I wanted the sound of these birds singing to randomly intersperse on the vocals.

 

[LazerBeakShiek]

Nice and smooth production....always nice to listen to those analog drums!

this is awesome

 

[mcmac74]

This is an excellent song...listened a couple of times...the second version is clearer...loses a touch of the 'smokey' atmospheric touch of the first... I didn't so much mind the vocals being a little harder to decipher on the first. Nice work

Mark