Another New MP3: "The West Texas Wind" for comments...

Great acoustic and slide guitar sound. Very warm and genre-appropriate. Sounds like a quality guitar.

I also like the instrumentation of just vocals, guitar, and bass. I'm a fan of stripped-down arrangements. That said, it would potentially benefit from adding just a snare drum played with brushes. That would really fit the overall mood of the song.

A minor criticism, I'd tighten up the overall arrangement. The song is quite long, especially for what it is and what it has to say. Something more 3:30ish would probably hold the interest a bit better than something almost 6 minutes long.


CT
 
Ben, I really liked this... put some deep imagry in my head... Might not be the imagry you were trying to invoke, but it I was really picturing the desert and a shack, heat ... and meloncholey...

Very nice song... was a pleasure listening to... Although, I agree with Thomas about the length...

Keep up the great work, my friend.
 
Yeah vocals worked nicely....loved the rattlesnake sounds in the intro...talk about images....the suggestion from both Charles and Teddie about the length is something I echo.....the guitar sounds are really really good, and that brushy snare thing Charles mentioned would be a good thing too.....nice mix by the way...gibs
 
Hey guys... thanks for the great constructive comments... and I guess, now that I look at all my tunes, that I'm the king of the long song... maybe its because I grew up with album rock or something... but, you are all right... short and sweet is a definate asset...

Charles, I checked out your site and liked your stuff... glad to know I'm the not the only non-rocker on here... actually, was checking out your guitar... is that a Washburn Monterey Artist?? I have one and man its the best playing fingerstyle guitar I have... the body is a little small to be loud but its got some blusey guts.. listening to your songs, it sounds just like mine... I've only used it on Heaven's Gate (the fingerstyle guitar part) on my website...

Teddie... glad you liked it, and you picked up on the imagery that I strive for in my writings...

Gibs... thanks again for the comments and I think that is the first time I have had someone say they liked my vocals!!! lol and the fact that no-one put that on their list of things to work on is encouraging... I've really put more effort into them since hearing what Teddie can do with vocals...

Thanks dudes!!!

Ben
 
Great sounds. I'd probably put more delay on the voice, to give it more space.

When it comes to songwriting, I feel you often try to put to many words into to little space, and it feels crammed. So skip a few "lonesome" in the "lonesome man"s, and such. You need time to breathe too. :)

Then again, this is NOT my style of music AT ALL. :)
 
Another song that might be suffering from too much "squeeze". The compression might be adding to some of the noise in the recording, as well. Lazy tunes like this deserve a little more room to breathe, IMO. I like your vocs on this one better, but there are spots where the delivery felt a little too clumsy. In some spots the "clumsiness" worked to your advange, too.

There's that same intersting "character" that grew on me as in the River Queen. You've got a neat thing goin' on in that regard... I really think you can hone that a bit. A few vocal lessons might go a long way (I've been putting it off, too ;)). I also think the length of the song could be offset by changing up a few things in the instrumentation. Bringing in different "motifs" each time through could break things up just enough.

Just my $.25, keep 'em commin'.
 
Hey regebro and pg... thanks for the great comments... this forum is really great for making me think about what I'm doing and not doing... and its great critique to help me remix and master...

now, one think I am going to try to do is dial back on the reverb that I use on most instruments... I think that is the cause of a lot of the muddyness for starters...

I've never used delay... I have it but don't know how to use it... does it just litterally delay the signal?? how does that help the sound??

And for compression... obviousely pg, you are not a fan of it... but I look at my mix and the singals are all over the place... should I just dial the ratio back??

And for the singing lessons... GOD!! If I only had the time I would love it... its hard enough for me to sneak up to the 3rd floor to lay down a track!! Actually, I wake up at 4:30 before the wife and kids and head up with my coffee... its the only way!!!

Thanks again dudes!!! Its a real help!! and I really appritiate it!!

Ben www.mp3.com/benwalter
 
A delay is an ECHO..Echo..echo..
I use it on voice instead of reverb, since reverbs have a tendency to muddy things up as you say.
 
Actually, I love compression in some situations. I just hate to have the life squeezed out of organic acoustic pieces with too much compression at the "mastering" stage. If you're just after the volume boost, a limiter is a much better choice, IMO. You might try raising the attack a bit to let some more of the transients through. That might help some. I'd certainly try to keep the gain reduction to 6-9dB max on the master mix. Try to "reign-in" the individual instuments (just the ones that need it) a little with compression at the mixing stage, and if you still want to compress at the master stage, keep the ratio low. I started learning that the less I did to organic stuff, the better it started sounding. Go figure :confused:

It's okay to let the levels jump around a little in this style, I think. As for singing lessons... you could probably squeeze in an hour every other week? Do ya watch any TV? I'm just flat-out lazy... that's my excuse :D.
 
Hey guys... thanks for the great comments and pg, thanks for the lesson on compression and limmiting... I will go back and try those techniques... the funny thing about all this is that the more I learn, ya the better it sounds but shit, I had hoped to have a CD ready by the end of summer!! Now I just want to go back and remix and master everything!!! I'm sure it will be worth it in the long run hu???

Ben www.mp3.com/benwalter
 
I'm still learing a lot about dynamics processors, myself. Take my opinions with a grain of salt and experiment, of course. If you like it, ta hell with what I think ;).

I've pretty much reached the conclusion that I could redo just about everything thats older than 6 months old and improve it. This is a perpetual thing, it never seems to end. I love the quote: "mixes are never finished, only abandoned".
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top