Gosh...I wasn't sure it sounded as good as you guys think it sounds. My secret I've stumbled on to, I guess: DON'T SCREW WITH THE TRACKS! And I finally got all the boxes and pillows and drapes in a good acoustic situation in the little room I records in, I guess
The acoustic bass, flute, bodrun [sp?], tamborine and strings are MIDI...recorded flat from a Roland XV 50/80. The guitars are also recorded flat. The only thing I did was cut the main acoustic 3db between 150 and 500Hz. [it's a midrangy, little thing] cuz it was steppin on the bass. Verb was Lex 'large hall'...one smidge. The master was light compression: 1.8/-10, and loudness max with a hard limiter that triggered only in the chorus a few times. It's one of the simplest, cleanest things I've done. I'm turning the discipline corner, I think, where I don't have to try every digital widget to make a single track sound 'good'...to trust the microphones; and trust that it'll work together allright if I just hold back from doing things I can, but shouldn't. Advice I got early, here: it's a hard thing to obey.
I really look forward to the day when I can get a good sample set...or get all these instruments for real. Nothing like the real thing.
Thanks for the listens...and all the help y'all have given me for three years.