Some new songs- Indie folk?

J

Jason Chinchen

Made of rubber...
Hows it going folks? Been a while since I have posted anything.

Here are a few solo tracks. All recorded on my Macbook pro with Garageband with my Presonus 16.0.2 and a few mics. I played all the instruments on every song but Give Me A Way....I do have a bunch of other DAWS, have recorded with Sonar, Logic, Studio One, Reaper.... but I just get the best quick recordings with GB so I use it. I mix with a pair of Tannoy Reveal 8's and a sub. These songs were recorded last week. About 2 hours of me playing all the instruments and tracking. An hour of mixing each...kinda rushed but Im happy with them as demos. Not to mention good practice with my upright and electric and keyboard..

Jason Chinchen Music, Lyrics, Songs, and Videos

Tear the recordings to pieces please. Nicely...

I've been busy in Bend, Oregon playing in a few bands and recording demos and an album for my band Juniper and Gin
Juniper and Gin Music, Lyrics, Songs, and Videos

There is a cool song vid there somewhere with some great bluegrass pickin'. We recorded that at a local cave, the acoustics were neat.

If you have a ReverbNation page please connect with me.
Thanks!
 

Attachments

  • My Horizon Final 2.mp3
    3.1 MB · Views: 28
Listening to 'My Horizon' - the vocal is too loud in the mix, it overwhelms the guitar sound most of the time, and sounds too 'close', putting some reverb on it so it sounds more in the 'same space' as the guitar might help. When the lead guitar part comes in the rhythm guitar gets buried, they seem to be panned into the same space, just slightly to the left. The piano, when it comes in sounds panned 100% right like it was recorded in a different room (with its reverb) and piped in. Nice song and good playing.
 
Very very very nice Jason!
This is just personal preference, but I would like to have the guitar just a bit higher in volume.
Impressive musicality! Well done!!!

cheers
 
With such a great voice and technical singing you have, it can pulled away from the music to lend itself to a more intimate feel like you have done. I like the volumes where they are personally. However I do agree about panning. I would bring the lead to the right and piano to center or slightly off center. Beautiful song man...be proud!
 
Great feedback gents. Thanks also for the compliments. I really appreciate it. IT's funny, Garageband tends output mp3s that sound quite a bit more compressed than they sound when mixing. It always bites me in the ass when it comes to vocal presence.

Jason
 
The vocal could come down on "My Horizon". I kept on understanding "My Verizon". Re-name and sell it to them.

Performances all sounded good.

These all sound pretty nice. I couldn't complain about any big problems and I'm not going to tell you that something is shit just to feel like I "helped" you.
 
Give Me A Way has some great guitar work. Liked pretty much all your music. Dead in the Eye has that over distorted everything sound that I'm not fond of, but still a decent song.
Anyway, I went ahead and fanned your page, can't believe you have less than 30 fans.

BTW, I'm originally from Lewiston, and really miss that area. I know it's not all that close, but it's closer than NC. Anyway, only been in Bend once on my way to Crater Lake and Klamath Falls and then on to Coos Bay/North Bend area on vacation in about 2006.
 
I listened to My Horizon.

I thought it was very well played and sung. I like vocal tone. It's really nice for this style.

Very nice reverb. I almost never say that. But I liked it.

While everything is clear, everything also has a bit of brittleness. Everything sounds really hyped in the 3K-4K range and there isn't enough low midrange.
 
Thanks for the specific feedback on frequencies, TripleM. Just what I need. Im not happy with the briteness either. too much sibilance in the vocal for sure. I picked the wrong mastering comp...
 
Im way happier with the second mix. Take a listen if you heard the first. Or compare and let me know how I can make it better. Thanks!
 
You could bring up the ends of vocal lines that sort of disappear off into nothing. For instance: "As if they're trying to tell me something I don't know." It happens again and again. It's necessary for the ends of all those lines to trail off, cuz that's part of the message and delivery, but it's also important to j-u-s-t be able to make out what's being sung. A combination of automation and parallel compression would probably do it.

That guitar that comes in on the left is pretty startling - I'd be tempted to bring it down a bit.

Lovely tune. Good stuff.
 
well written song, good Vocal tone. Nice acoustic playing. The eq is too much. It's good to remove lows on acoustic and vocals to carve room but the filtering here is too much causing a great song to sound brittle and fatiguing. I get that the vocal is intended to be intimate and have up front head space, but it's to loud and separated from the guitar. Vocals need to come down like 2-3 db. Vocal also needs some slight delay to make it feel like it's in the same story as the acoustic. Easy quick fixes.
 
I listened to My Horizon the Reverbnation page, and as I type I'm onto "So Broken Down". Those two are well crafted songs, and performed with great feel.

There's an awful lot to like about these tracks. But there are also areas where changes could be considered.

The overall feel reminded me a bit of Alison Krauss and Union Station, particularly with the economy and skill in playing, and I think you could do worse than incorporate some of their mixing techniques into your mixes.

For example in "My Horizon" , the lead guitar comes in rather abruptly, and is in quite a different acoustic space to the core guitar and bass. The plinky plonky piano is ok, but doesn't, in my view, add a whole lot, and I'd be inclined to ditch it. Someone thought the vocals might have been too loud. That didn't worry me, and I enjoyed the clarity of the vocals. Someone mentioned a bit of harshness, and I agree with this. There was a kind of biteyness about the sound that's worth looking at.

Bass was good in So Broken Down, better in Give me Away, but a bit woolly and uneven in My Horizon. Getting more definition out of it would be helpful overall. How did you record it? Try an SDC pointing at it from a couple of feet away.

The electric lead in So Broken Down kind of noodled away, and maybe by running through it a few times you might emerge with something with a more convincing melodic shape.

Give me Away struck me as being the most well-rounded mix overall. Great acoustic guitar lead, and the mando was fine, but it could shift a little a bit away from the centre, i.e. so that each instrument has a place on an imaginary stage. The harmonies, perversely, could be brought nearer to the centre so that the various voices can integrate more.

Dead in the Eye was interesting. Perhaps not my favourite of the four, but innovative in its own way.
 
Just listened to the 2nd version of My Horizon, the vocal is better, volume wise. I'm not crazy about the room sound on the rhythm acoustic guitar - noticeable when its playing by itself - how did you mic this? Is the room treated? The lead guitar has too much reverb/room for my taste, and is panned a little too far left. The piano is better now panned more toward the center.
 
My Horizon is nicely performed and recorded. One nit...the vocal is bright(ish). I'm guessing a shelving cut at 3000hz of 3-5db would deal nicely with that. I also want that bass up a bit.
 
Thank you all for listening and taking the time to comment. I will put some of these to use, especially Gecko and Stu. Thanks Y'all.
 
I really enjoyed this a lot. Just very pleasant all around. I dig the sound of the guitar a lot and the "room" on it. Your voice is great too, although I agree it may be just a tad up front. Great song, thanks for sharing!
 
Nice work. Best song I've heard in this section, but this is all preference, and I prefer indie/folk. I wish it had a little more lo-fi grit, like M. Ward or Elliot Smith type. This borders more toward country to me due to the chimey guitar, strum style, and vocal delivery. But hey, that's all subtle preferences.
 
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