Little Billy Blue - too many fx? (everett/mesa/nt1/603/art/rnc)

  • Thread starter Thread starter Paco
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Paco

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I hardly ever use reverb, chorus or echo, so I'm curious of your thoughts on this mix. Is it too much? Too dark?



For guitars, I borrowed my bro's super expensive Everett acoustic, but had to cut the mids a little b/c it was just too muddy and punchy - not as sweet for rhythm strumming as my Taylor 410 with my NT1/art/rnc combo. So I added his Electra (ES135) x410 electric through my Mesa Boogie DC5 mic'd with a 603s and a sennheiser 835. Bass is a Ibanez GSR200 thru SansAmp bassDI. All through Art tube MP's. The vocals were through the NT1 - about a foot away, with the art gain pegged for max tubishness. This is also a new technique for me as I usually close-mic vocals with mid-gain on the art. All goes into an Echo Mia.
(I'm considering a Great River MP1NV and a LD condenser upgrade - maybe a dragonfly).

Thanks for any tips! I'm also curious if you like the song - I wrote a while back but never play it live.



- Brendan
 
Your signal chain is enviable and you are using the equipment to its highest degree.
What struck me more was the quality of the songwriting.
You have a potent combination going there.
I'll be looking for more...................
 
I thought it was good. I didn't try a search yet but, you must have more songs right! How long you been playing and recording?
 
Thanks, guys! The feedback is very helpful, especially since I'm in one of those doubting yourself ruts. I gave my EP CD to Erin McKeown and Jason Mraz personally in the past month and had some kind of fantasy that I'd get an email or something. Stinkin dreams, who needs em! hehe.

HevyD - thanks for the compliment on the songwriting! I don't feel like I know what I'm doing in that realm since some of my least favorites are the ones people like best. Hmmm.
About the signal chain - I think you told me just what my wallet didn't want to hear, but exactly what I sort of hoped to hear - that I'm using the equipment to the highest degree. I think I'm gonna sell a few of the guitars and spring for the Great River preamp.

Flash - thanks! I started playing guitar and performing in 4th grade. I played in tons of bands in high school. It's funny that some people think my best song is one I wrote in 8th grade. I'm 26 now and just starting to get back into performing and recording after 4 dry college years at Penn, where there wasn't much of a music scene. I started home recording in 2001. I have about 60 more original tunes I've written, and I have 20 or so recorded. I'm only happy with half of those, recording-wise. This place is definitely helping the recording and mixes get better! I haven't posted too many of my songs on here yet, as I try to give as many or more reviews as I receive...
 
Great job Paco, excellent vocal capture. Good nuances coming through in your voice, a lot of inflection and emotion captured there.

The guitar playing is well done and the writing is excellent too.

From your first post it seems like you have a pretty good idea of what you're doing production wise. I'm always glad when i'm surprised and discover somebody new who is doing good work.

Don't forget to pay it forward and review some of these threads with almost no replies on the board.
 
Thanks, Evan - I checked out a few of your tunes on your website. I liked "regret" a lot - sad songs w/ hope always fall into my favor. I also listened to "parley" - pretty trippy! I dig. Moira was cool - sounds like a fun collaboration. I also like Borrow - I'd love to hear it with a real drummer instead of a drum machine. All of it sounds very professional.

You have a great variety of sounds in your songs - I definitely admire that, as I feel a lot of my songs start to sound too similar sonically.
 
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Wow - this is fabulous, really enjoyed the smooth vocal performance here love the feed into the chorus. The electric guitar compliments the acoustic quite well. The cooliest part is - What are those chords in the verse??
 
confident sound.

Everything sounds tight. I was just wishing for more catchiness ie Wildcard
 
Paco said:
Thanks, Evan - I checked out a few of your tunes on your website. I liked "regret" a lot - sad songs w/ hope always fall into my favor. I also listened to "parley" - pretty trippy! I dig. Moira was cool - sounds like a fun collaboration. I also like Borrow - I'd love to hear it with a real drummer instead of a drum machine. All of it sounds very professional.

You have a great variety of sounds in your songs - I definitely admire that, as I feel a lot of my songs start to sound too similar sonically.
Click to expand...

Hey thanks very much Paco.. that is very cool of you to check them out and you picked my favorites too!

I hear you about the drum stuff, that's a big wish for me too.

Don't worry about sounding too similar, often i wish for more similar sounding stuff so i can develop my own 'signature sound' you know? :p You have a excellent jump on vocal clarity and expressiveness in the vox which reminds me somewhat of Erland (not sure if you've heard his stuff or not but he used to post here quite a bit). You'll have plenty of time for experimenting with new sounds in the future.
 
lynx - thanks for the compliment! i don't know what the chords are (i never really had a formal music/guitar training- I play by ear). I play this tune w/ a capo on the first fret. First chord I think: 818181, second is: x65171? (starting with the lo E string... not sure if that's tab standard? hmm.) Something like that.

cyanjaguar - thanks! I'll post a few of my other tunes that are more catchy so I can shoot for the coveted wildcard! :) I'd agree that this one isn't really catchy - it's one of my "hanger"/unpredictable tunes for the next album (to sort of throw you off and leave you hanging - that's why it doesn't really have a bridge and ends abruptly).

Evan - to have Erland mentioned is a huge compliment. I"m a huge fan. Thanks!
 
Paco....very nice piece sir. I would pull back a bit on the strength, albeit WONDERFUL strength of the gee-tar, and push the vocal up a bit, especially in the parts that are halfway "behind the curtain". Not too many of those, though. :) Like the verb on the vocals...just right IMHO. I am also hearing a bit too much in the low/mid-mid range that needs to be EQ'd down. Just a slight, subtle honkiness that ain't that terrible, but it really does affect the potential crispness of the vocal track and muddies the guitar's "vocals" in the same above described range. Best of luck. --Lee

P.S. Check your P.M'S please. :cool:
 
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