Special K,
My appologies on skipping by you here, I started the download when I started to list to Joro's tracks, it's about 2% completed at the time I completed listening to Joros tracks. The routing from Canada to Australia can be awful at times... I will write the critique as soon as the song is downloaded.
Joro,
Three Thosand Miles - First off, Normalize the whole thing. You can well wait until mastering for this, but it's better to work with a full volume range mix, easier to critique as well
It's a bit murky, but a little extra panning here and there would help that.
Lead vocals, bring them up front and center. I picture the singer sitting down on a chair at the back corner of the room... Turn the volume on the vocals up a bit.
Lead guitar needs a tad more volume, as well as the bass. Drums sound properly mic'd, however the crash is too loud on strike, you may crompress it slightly, or lower the volume of it and eq. it low. Hi-hat and snare are just fine. Kick could use a little lower eq. and be brought more to the center.
Try leaving the background vocals right where they are, with the above effects, you may need a slight increase in volume. Don't match the vocals to the background, rather the background vocals a little lower. It sounds as though there is more than 2 background tracks, try spreading them across the stereo spectrum. Left-center-right if there is three tracks, etc.
I like the air of the song, but if I was the engineer, I'd be asking the lead singer to smile while singing
It is amazing how much a simple smile changes the mood of the vocals!
GIVE ME LOVE - BIG difference in vocals, much more up front on this one. No normalization needed here.
The spoken part around 1:40 needs to be turned up. The part is intentionally 'whispered' I know, but needs a little boost or the song gets a bit of a 'satanic' air
For a latin song, the latin drums are sure quiet... Maybe a boost on them, or a different mic placement. It sounds almost as if the mic is too far away, or beneath the bongo... An SM56 about 1 inch from the rim of it angled diagnally towards the center, but just out of the way of the players hands when he strikes the edge, is most appropriate.
Nice mellow tune, already got me in the mood to hop into bed with some sexy latino woman...
ANGLE BLUE - First thing I noticed... Angel, not angle.... Unless you are talking about corners, in which case, seek help
Bass needs to sit in the center and get a tiny bit more volume. Acoustic needs to be matched up a little closer to the vocals, as in volume and placement. A couple notches up.. Country is notorious for three piece, one out front, one on the right, and drummer on the left type placements, but recorded is drums center, bass wide half right, vocals and acoustic dead center, vocals wide. Or at least, in my experience
You 'could' call this 'country blues', but really, all country is blues, unless it's 'new' country. Decent tune, not much to do there.
Mercer Country - Vocals are perfect for country, harmonica placement is excellent. The 'banjo' needs to come a little more up front, can barely make it out. Sounds like a mandolin in there somewhere, once again, it needs to come out a bit more, little tiny bit more volume. Acoustic I think should be up center with the vocals, but a tiny bit less volume than the mandolin and banjo.
Bass is fine for country, leave it there, maybe tweak it up a tiny bit.
Tunnel of Light - Once again, guitars need more volume. I might turn the lead vocals down a tiny bit, and eq them a tiny bit lower. Harmony vocals are fine.
Other than that, nice acoustic balad. Had me doing the head bobbing back and forth
Come Christmas Morning - Turn the bass down about 3 notches, and normalize the mix. Lead acoustic up about 1 notch. The hi-hat sounds like... Wait, sleigh-bells? Bring the sleigh bells center, mic them individually and keep them center away from all other sounds, they are too blended with the drums.
I think that should be all you need on that one, but after the normalization I'd probably have to have another listen.
Overall, excellent song-writing skill, and not bad overall production! It's especially difficult to balance out all these different genres, and you a doing pretty good!
W.
