Feedback appreciated (aka The Long and Winding Road?)

[NattyB]

Greetings, Homewreckers!

I am sorry that it has been so long since I have been here. I hope to post elsewhere about my absence in detail (not that I was ever a vital contributing member by any strectch of the imagination).

The long and the short of it is that I had two brain surgeries almost a year ago and it is taking just about everything I've got to get caught up on life. I am getting there and I had my recheck CTscan just yesterday. Unfortunately, I will not hear from the doctor for several days. I was able to view the scan myself and did not see anything, but I probably don't know how to accurately interpret those things. As a reference point, the movie Memento is the closest depiction of what I have gone through with my memory loss this year. No one died in my case, but it just about killed me trying to figure out what was going on in my own life.

Anyway...I would appreciate any and all feedback you have on the following MP3's.

http://artists.mp3s.com/artists/337/rich_cook.html

I will tell you right off the bat that these are Christian rock/pop tunes. If that bothers you, you may not wish to check them out. These songs are from an album called Underground Railroad, which my buddy Rich Cook recorded on our new label, Pair-O-Cleats Records. So far, I only have three of the eleven tunes up.

Our studio is located in Reliance, South Dakota (population 169). We used a Roland 1680 for the entire recording, mixing and mastering process. Inexpensive mics up front (Crown CM700, AKG D3700's, Roland DR20, etc.), passed through a Ramsa WR-T820 console (20X8 board), directly into the 1680.

It seems like we used Rich's small Mackie mixer for a couple of tunes to fatten things up when transferring sequences over from his cutting-edge Ensoniq ES-Q1 keyboard (13 years old ) and the Nanosynth he had connected to it. Both of these sold for less than $150 combined after the project was over. Both were semi-defective and, rumor has it, the ES-Q1 is now in a Fort Wayne, Indiana dump.

For guitarwork, Rich used his inexpensive Takamine with a mid-priced pickup inserted and ran into the 1680. Effects were added in mixing. I sure wish we had been able to get live musicians to help with this album. I really think it could have been something much better. We look to insure that for the next project.

That should cover things. This will be the first album we release on this label so, please be honest but kind. These are also rough drafts. If you have something that will really make these tunes shine, please let me know ASAP. I hope to finish this project during December.

Thanks again for the listen!

NattyB

 

[theron]

Hey NattyB.

I checked out all three tunes. Granted, my ears are an ignorant shade of green, but I heard some trends in all three song.

1) seems to lack a fully panned mix. Everything sounds like it is right up the middle and competing for room

2) Perhaps due to the above, the songs sounded hot and clipping.

3)the drum tracks sounded very "canned" and in need of some attention.

4) all the songs were well sung and I thought the lyrics were solid.

5)Nice diversity in approace while maintaining a defining sound.

Hope that helps,
Good luck with the CD

Theron.

 

[NattyB]

Thanks for the honesty!

theron,

Man, I totally appreciate your honesty and the time taken to both listen to these songs and write some feedback. This will help me improve my craft. I truly wish to do a quality job when I record and mix.

I think the mixes were more narrow than usual because of only having the sequence instead of individually recorded instruments. Everything but the guitars and any keys (and vocals, obviously) were part of one sequence Rich gave me. Any suggestions on how to make the stereo image wider under these conditions?

Thus I understand the too hot/clipping/competing comment. I think I got too close to the mix and that is why I came here for some honest feedback.

Drum track canned? Surely you jest? Yeah, nothing much going on there. Really wish that we had had a live drummer, etc. when this was done. Rich does a pretty decent job of sequencing, but he is a vocalist/songwriter at heart. Very good point.

I guess the only question I would have (and I understand that you are making these comments based upon MP3's instead of a CD) is whether the above deficiencies made it totally undesirable or entirely too unpleasant to listen to the tunes?

Looking for more honest feedback,
NattyB