Dylan Anyone?

[dachay2tnr]

In honor of our new Nobel Laureate.

Thoughts, comments, suggestions, rotten tomatoes?

My own thought is that this could use some lead guitar noodling around the vocals throughout the song, and a bit of a lead in the interlude between the second and third verse. So if anyone wants to collaborate on this, I'm open to it.

 

[RFR]

That was a real nice listen. Thanks

 

[dachay2tnr]

Thanks for the listen and comments, RFR.

 

[TripleM]

I thought this was nice. The harmonies sounded great.

The acoustic guitars were a little bright to my ear. It's most noticeable in the intro. The rest of the pad instruments are a bit wooly by comparison. I'd like a little more high end from the piano.

I think a double tracked lead vocal would be nice.

I thought the overheads were loud in comparison to the snare. The kick is a little slappy.

 

[dachay2tnr]

Thanks for the feedback, 3M. I'll take a look at the stuff you pointed out.

My hearing is not what it used to be, which could explain the bright guitars and dominant overheads. Inability to hear the highs well could be causing me to overcompensate.

Appreciate your input and taking the time to listen.

 

[chrisharris]

I think the thing with the acoustics may just be a compression issue. They ring a little bit too much in the top end, but they were clearly recorded beautifully.

Super nice performance.

 

[JDOD]

I can hear that the guitars are a bit bright in the intro - not so noticeable once everything else comes in though.

One weird thing - the ride cymbal seems to be centred or near centre - in fact the drums all seem quite central.

 

[dachay2tnr]

Hi Chris. Been awhile. Thanks for the input. Same goes to you, JDOD.

I checked out the mix based on everyone's comments. First, there is no compression on the acoustics. They are, however, EQd, and there is a boost in the high end - starting around 4.8 kHz. I can try backing that down a bit. I tend to like a shimmery high end on acoustics, but seems like it may have shimmered too much.

Drums are panned - except kick and snare, of course. However, I typically tend to stay tight with the panning. Otherwise it always seems to me to sound like a drummer with really long arms. The ride is at 15% left, and the high hat is 10% right. I can probably go another 5% each on those, but I don't think I'd go any more than that.

As for double tracking vocals, I've tried it before and have never had much luck with it. It always sounds obvious and phony to me. Although most double tracking on professional recordings is pretty obvious as well, I guess. God knows my voice can use all the help it can get. Lol. For info., I sang the lead and high harmony part, and someone else sang the middle harmony part.

Anyway, thanks to all for the listen and comments. It is always helpful (even when I don't agree). Ha!

 

[chrisharris]

First, there is no compression on the acoustics.

Interesting...what mic do you use to track acoustic? Preamp? Anything else in the chain? I think they sound great, it just sounds like compression to me, but some gear makes a similar sound to my ears, so I'm now curious.

 

[dachay2tnr]

Interesting...what mic do you use to track acoustic? Preamp? Anything else in the chain? I think they sound great, it just sounds like compression to me, but some gear makes a similar sound to my ears, so I'm now curious.

Studio Projects C1 condenser into a Mackie board. The preamp is in the Mackie.

 

[Nola]

To me the acoustic guitars are much too up front. I'd move them back quite a bit. That should clear up the vocal more, too. Dylan guitars are fairly dark; these are bright and sound more like modern, polished country rather than folk because of that.

Vocal and harmonies sound like Neil Young! I like the vocal delivery a lot -- good emotion and not over singing.

Really nice.

 

[dachay2tnr]

Thanks for the input, Nola. Seems the acoustics are the weak part of this - at least they've gotten the most comments.

To me the lead vocal is the weak part, but eq, compression, reverb, or whatever is not gonna help that. Your comments on the vocals are appreciated. Hey, if Neil Young, Dylan, Tom Petty, et al, can sing, maybe I've got a shot.

I'll play around with acoustics in the next day or two.

 

[Nola]

Seems the acoustics are the weak part of this.

They're not weak, just loud and maybe a hair bright. They sound well-recorded so it should be an easy fix. Then again, they sound fine as is, but it sounds more like a modern country (Garth Brooks) mix than folk as it stands. In modern country every instrument is the loudest, and that's a bit of what's going on here.