I need few more posts, then I can ask for mix feedback.

[b1j]

I’ve been an active poster over at Acoustic Guitar Forum (AGF) since late 2021. Besides the wealth of guitar knowledge I’ve found there, I have also picked up some useful insights in its Record sub forum.

I have used Studio One since v.2 in 2010. Over the years, I’ve assembled the following gear:

• Eight 3.5” x 2’ x 4’ DIY (proud of that!) Rockwool absorption panels lining the walls in my 12 x 13 spare bedroom. These have made a revolutionary difference for audio tracking, not to mention mixing, so I list them first here, even though they’re my most recent upgrade.
• Fender Studio Pro 8 DAW
• Motu M6 interface
• Melodyne studio (my vocals can’t live without it)
• Guitar Rig 7 Pro
• Superior Drummer 3: I’m starting to catch on with it recently
• Presonus Grand Piano and Symphonic Orchestra VIs
• Two sE8 SDC mics. I’m currently quite fond of XY at about 12” for acoustic guitar.
• Two Rode NT-1A LDC mics. For vocals. My latest song has up to five background vocal parts, with three tracks per part, for 15 total tracks. It’s all me, one line at a time. I’d love to streamline my workflow with that.
• Ancient (2005?) Casio keyboard for rudimentary MIDI input
• Gibson J-45; Martin HD-28, D-18, and 0-18; Gurian S3R3H acoustics. I’ve been playing acoustic since 1966.
• Ovation Magnum III bass, Höfner Ignition Beatle bass
• My neighbor lets me borrow his Les Paul Standard whenever I want.

Did I mention I’m a rank amateur? Without multitracking and excessive use of comping, I could not produce anything. But I think of comping as a deaf person would use sign language, Comping is just my language,

If I do say so myself, though, my mixes have been improving lately. But I rarely post them in AGF’s Show and Tell sub forum because they sink like a stone and maybe draw 2 or 3 responses. That might be because they’re not really in the idiom of pure acoustic guitar; I tend to arrange a few acoustics, bass, maybe an electric guitar part or two, a keyboard of some kind, drums, and BGVs. My genre hovers around Americana and pop. Mostly covers.

So I thought I’d try here. However, I just read that I need five posts before I can upload a mix here, and this is only my second one since I “joined” in 2023. So let me browse around and post a little, and then I’ll be back here.

In the meantime, let me know if this is the place to receive mixing tips and criticism.

 

[rob aylestone]

Absolutely - one tip is to always say what you expect us to hear. Some folk will steam in and just click and listen, others want to know what they are listening to first. The comments tend to vary from honest to blunt, but no malice is ever meant - not that I ever see. I don't think I have moderated any comments, although sometimes the poster has blasted the same thing to other forums where people have been a bit nice. One of mine had a bum note in it, that somehow I had tuned out. "great but that guitar stank in the chorus" - they were right, it did. It is, however, a great forum to get honest feedback - and we are such a wide bunch - from crazy metal addicts, picking out shredding weirdnesses, to people interested in orchestras, who spot string parts that need 6 fingers to play. In between our mob are great, and I think a good mix of all music listeners.

You have a great collection of kit, so that should mean great things. A few things have me waiting for the listen. "Melodyne - my vocals can't live without it" - there are some things that should be invisible - like tuning and comping. If you do it properly, we should not notice - then, if somebody says - hey, what's with the autotuning, you know you overcooked it and people spotted it.

Who cares if you are a pro (who just get paid for sometimes producing rubbish) or an amateur (who spends so much time on it, they couldn;t possibly get paid)?

We do judge - we judge on what we hear. weirdly, we always have somebody who is 'expert' at whatever genre you give us.

 

[b1j]

Thank you for weighing in, Rob. Honest and raw are what I’m looking for, so that’s spot on. Any ideas to make the end result better.

Most of my comps tend to be seamless enough that I don’t hear them even when soloed, but maybe not 100% of them. My current project is especially demanding. It’s four individual guitar melodies that combine to form a Bach variation. It’s good practice, because the comps need to match timbres, loudness, phrasing, tuning (of course!), and L/R position in the stereo field (no moving around while tracking) from the end of one phrase to the beginning of the next. It’s a labor of love and a worthy learning exercise.

Now, Melodyne… it would be easier to keep it sounding natural if I could hit and hold the pitch, but that goes without saying.

Outside of that, the eye opener from my recent multiple-BGV song is that I probably took out too much of the modulation (vibrato) on whole notes. Some notes sound a little too perfect, like three trumpets. I have half a mind to go back in and lighten up on the modulation reduction. It might be a good thing to hear three human voices, each with its own natural vibrato, hitting the same notes. It will take literally hundreds of tiny adjustments if I go through all the parts. I think I’ll try it with the three tracks of one part and solo the group of three. If that makes it sound more natural, then I’ll bite the bullet with all of the parts.

 

[rob aylestone]

I've never heard autotune manage singers with natural vibration properly. Another guy just posted his musical. In a few tracks a singer with quite a low voice has such vibrato that the average pitch is out of tune, but I doubt fixable by autotuning. If you get it right, we won't notice, if you get it wrong, or don't use it at all, we will. You cannot really win if the singer can't hold pitch. Not sure if it would just be simpler to get a singer in, pay them a bit and not have all that work to do?

 

[b1j]

Right! My brother, who sang the lead on this song, has a rich baritone and more vibrato than you might believe. I needed pitch drift, basic pitch, and modulation on his entire track. No getting around it: there’s some gargly transitions. But hey, we work with what we have. He ain’t heavy, …