Fem Rocker with Real Viola, (solo)

[studioviols]

This tune, available here http://www.nowhereradio.com/artists/album.php?aid=3196&alid=-1 , is a recording of a LIVE performance by Patrice Pike, http://www.patricepike.com , at the Saxon Pub in Austin, Texas with elements of her band 'Black Box Rebellion'. Patrice Pike is the former lead singer of 'Sister Seven' a longtime Austin local favorite.
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Originally this was a 128kbps file of very good quality.

I have used SONAR, and a big huge viola, to record and then mix a viola track to the tune. The viola is miced with the same technique as would be used for a live performance. There is some delay and chorus and reverb on the viola, my own special digital viola potion, not a lot, it's still a viola. There is a shared viola-guitar solo at the Instrumental-Solo break, so maybe it's worth a listen, nothing fancy but it's pretty.

This file is being produced to submit as DEMO to Patrice.

So this track mix is to demonstrate to Patrice, in the hopes she will hire me for thier next tour to play violin, viola and cello with them on tour, with the 'Black Box Rebellion'.

Also, I am auditioning for her studio work in this 'direct marketing fashion'. This is my business plan as I 'direct market' and demo to bands and artists in the hopes I will snag a nice recording session or live gig in the near future and begin building a modern portfolio of what I do with my instruments.

I am ONLY concerned with the mix of the viola part here. Other comments are certainly welcome, but please listen for the viola and what it is doing, both the obvious parts and the subtle parts.

I intend on re-recording and re-mixing the entire thing before submitting it so it is perfect. Lend me your ears.

The only limitation is that the part must be re-producable live, thus no multitracking, harmony, counterpoint, violin or cello.
Just viola, as if I were performing live with them.

Thanks McBunches

Pat Jack

http://www.nowhereradio.com/artists/album.php?aid=3196&alid=-1

 

[SLuiCe]

I don't know if it's because I'm listening on headphones, but this doesn't sound bad for mono. It's noticably mono, but the levels are good.

More to your concerns, I would say unless she's got a brother in law or someone like that already to do the gig, it should be yours. You've given it some nice textures and didn't cross the line into being too upfront often, except maybe during that guitar solo. In that section, it kinda sounds to me like you're playing as though you don't think the guitar should be there at all. Which may in fact be true, but her guitar player may disagree.

I may ask you for some tracks some time. I like the sound! Nice and warm.

Tom

 

[dobro]

It's a really nice song. I like the band, and I like her voice and delivery. Okay, where's that so-called viola? Okay, I can hear a viola. I can some person banging on a small piece of metal too.

Okay, here's what's good about the viola - it's played in tune, in time, and more importantly in this clinic, it sounds like it's part of the original recording. But you know what? The lower viola parts sound more a part of the mix than the high parts. The high parts sound like the fiddler's way behind the singer and banking off the high wooden walls of the room. That's okay. But if it was me, I'd have that fiddler closer in to the singer.

I will say this though - that room sound you put on that fiddle is oh so sweet.

It's a keeper as is. If you want something a bit more intimate, then take some reverb off the viola. Don't matter much. It's your call.

I really like this song.

 

[dobro]

Okay, hang on - I just posted my post and then read your introductory post (my usual method of reviewing) in which you talk about this demo being some sort of job application.

Okay, here's what I have to say now. I think it's magic the way you put your viola back in the distance like that - it's a humble gesture. It's a good thing to be humble when you're applying for a job. I'll tell you something else. See if you can find out what she thinks of this mix, cuz if she spots your 'background' placement of the viola, she's a dab hand at mixes. I mean, can she read a mix well enough to know you were being humble?

 

[studioviols]

Building Portfolio

Thanks for listening, thanks for the confidence builder !

I will definitely mix the viola in back of the guitar at the solo. I thought I might make a 'statement' to the guitarist that we could 'play together', and demonstrate a more exposed sound to Patrice ... but it's a huge risk, I'll step back on that one for sure, thanks for the heads up on that issue.

I hope that Patrice does in fact decide to incorporate these instruments into her live show, and she has expressed very real interest in doing so.

She has already has a cellist come in for a track on a studio session and a band or 'ensemble' called 'Strings Attatched', http://www.stringsattached.org , an ensemble led by a super violist-violinist do a session with her.

Strings attached and Patrice got together at one of the more liberal Episcopal churches in Austin and did a really neat show which they recorded there. I'm sure it sounded wonderful live, with the vautled church acoustics and all, but the engineering of the recording is suspect, very difficult to catch the 'magic' we hear in those situations on tape, and I commend all of those musicians for making that kind of thing 'happen' in Austin.

As far as doing tracks for board member, that's one of the three primary reasons I'm here, to build my portfolio and offer to the other musicians the use of my skills and talents to assist them in both building portfolio and enjoying music.

These are my motivations here :

01. To have my string playing and arrangements and especially their mixing critiqued here.

02. To have my mixes in general critiqued here especially MP3, and to increase my knowledge of mixing for MP3, (the techniques involved in making a better MP3 conversion.)

The first two kind of go together.

03. To build portfolio by recording on other board member's musical productions.

Oh yeah !, I'm listening to that killer BLUR guitar sound again, I can't get over how much that sound makes me wanna toss my head ! Listening to 'Fold'.

It would be a pleasure to add my tracks to mixes and writing of that fine quality.

 

[SLuiCe]

Hmm... if you have a moment, take a listen to Taken, A Brother with Wings, and/or Rhythms and let me know if you hear anything. Those are a little less "rock" than Fold is, perhaps a bit more adventurous, and where a viola might be more useful. There are a few tracks in those songs that need a little work before I call them finished, but they should certainly be close enough now to either speak viola, or not speak viola. I've never had real strings in my music (except of course guitar and bass) so PM (private msg) me if any of those three stand out for ya...not trying to hijack your thread here. I'd just like to hear what dimensions it might add.

 

[dobro]

Yeah, I'd love to hear Sluice's stuff with real strings. Great minds think alike. LOL

 

[studioviols]

Thread Intentions

DOBRO :
Yeah, I hear what you are saying about the use of the effects in combination with the mixing level to make it seem as if the instrument is in back of her or more intimate with her ... and believe me, to be intimate with this woman ... would be good , good point about if she is able to detect the viola in places where it is mixed very closely to the grain of the ambient noise. Maybe I should submit it to her in stereo, but my mix skills are not there yet.

The viola is acoustically a very wierd instrument to begin with, most songs that have viola in them, you are not going to notice ... and most songs without viola, yer not gonna notice it's not there. It is really to add some warmth, in combination with the cello it can add real body to a song, give it weight.


SLUICE:
Soliciting viola for one of your recordings is one of the intentions of this thread, so that's good. I'll download all three, and whichever the 'viola personality' is obvious in, whichever one or two a viola part really jumps out at me ... we'll chat about, maybe do some prototyping in MIDI just for the sake of getting the notes and structure of the part.