The Orphan Train

[guitar zero]

A song about social responsibility inspired by the efforts of a Michigan minister back around the turn of the century, who saw the flooding of New York with orphan immigrants living in the streets, whose parents had died coming to the U.S. He took these kids and loaded them on a train and took them back to the midwest to find decent homes for them. It became known as "The Orphan Train". Thoughts on the mix are appreciated.

GZ

 

[Chili]

Love the Michigan/ Wish Again rhyme.

Good song, I like the premise, the arrangement and performance.

On the mix, something sounds a little weird with the lead vocal. Sounds like constrained, boxy or something. I don't know enough to tell you what it is. Sorry. Backing vocals sound good except for a little sibilance. The drums could come up in level a little. The trainbeat snare could be above the guitar. pure opinion, though.

Cool song.

 

[guitar zero]

Love the Michigan/ Wish Again rhyme.

Good song, I like the premise, the arrangement and performance.

On the mix, something sounds a little weird with the lead vocal. Sounds like constrained, boxy or something. I don't know enough to tell you what it is. Sorry. Backing vocals sound good except for a little sibilance. The drums could come up in level a little. The trainbeat snare could be above the guitar. pure opinion, though.

Cool song.

Thanks for the feedback, and you are correct. I've struggled mixing these vocals more than any ever. I'll keep working at it. I'm going to try raising the drumbeat snare too, see what it sounds like.

 

[steppingonmars]

sounds like you've got phase issues on that vox mic. Either you've got crazy comb filtering in the room with an omni mic or you've got some phazer on the vox, or one of your effects is out of sync enough that it's causing phase cancellation. Or..... you've got the mic pointed backwards? Other than compression I wouldn't use much for effects on the lead vox on this tune. It's hard to get past the odd lead vox to comment on the rest of the mix

 

[guitar zero]

sounds like you've got phase issues on that vox mic. Either you've got crazy comb filtering in the room with an omni mic or you've got some phazer on the vox, or one of your effects is out of sync enough that it's causing phase cancellation. Or..... you've got the mic pointed backwards? Other than compression I wouldn't use much for effects on the lead vox on this tune. It's hard to get past the odd lead vox to comment on the rest of the mix

Treated room, no omni mic, no phazer effects added, and no, the mic wasn't backwards. I guess I'll go back to the original vocal recording and start over. I wasn't thinking it sounded that bad, but I've never been happy with it. Maybe re-tracking is the answer.

 

[rayc]

I like the chugging 'cello - it isn't as effective when it's just a bar though.
I can hear the affected vocal BUT I quite like it the way it is. It does sound like it's sung through 20cm of tubing.
The rest of the song is great - the Bvox work well & sound good - might be a little loud in comparison with the main vox.
I can follow the lyrics and story easily but it'd be nice to read along too!
Really good recording & mixing.
Hope you can sort the vox issue to your satisfaction - but I like the main as is.

 

[jeffmaher]

If you could get the girl-singers quality on the lead vox, it'd be wonderful..

Sounds like the lead is spread across 50% of the field. The girl is locatable, sweet, and cuts nicely.

Yeah...when I pictured the vid for this tune, it's a camera looking up at your face singing into a cerial box!

Do whatever you did recording the girl! That was sweetness.

Like the tune...lyric smokes.....and your voice...just not this recording of it.

 

[guitar zero]

OK, i finally figured out why the vocals were sounding kind of wierd. I had put a little reverb on it with the 2496 V-Verb unit I just got. As it turns out, the left channel on the verb unit has already gone bad. It sounds like the music is coming through a tunnel about 2 miles away, and it's very faint. I didn't notice it at first. Behringer comes through again, gotta love it. Less than two months in the rack and it's already gone wonkers.

This all points out why it's so important to have other people listen to your mixes. Sometimes fresh ears are just what's needed. Any way, here's the new version without the wacky vocals.

 

[steppingonmars]

giddie up

That works!

Good job, all sounds in place to me now great mix!

 

[jeffmaher]

Most excellent!

Except for two things:

You have some real harsh 'essing' on the lead vocal....cuts through my head....and if I can hear it, it's bad, cuz I have HF hearing loss.

The bass frequencies are under-represented. IMO.

Great tune, imaginative mix and twiddling. Love the girl's voice, too.

A real nod to Jesse Collin Young, I think. Particularly your voice. Reminds me of the stuff he recorded back in the "Darkness, Darkness" days.

BTW "Behringer" is German for "Rube": Ich bib ein Behringer! [I'm a rube...for ...buying this gear.] :^) We all have had to learn the hard way...I think.

 

[guitar zero]

That works!

Good job, all sounds in place to me now great mix!

Thanks again

Most excellent!

Except for two things:

You have some real harsh 'essing' on the lead vocal....cuts through my head....and if I can hear it, it's bad, cuz I have HF hearing loss.

The bass frequencies are under-represented. IMO.

Great tune, imaginative mix and twiddling. Love the girl's voice, too.

A real nod to Jesse Collin Young, I think. Particularly your voice. Reminds me of the stuff he recorded back in the "Darkness, Darkness" days.

BTW "Behringer" is German for "Rube": Ich bib ein Behringer! [I'm a rube...for ...buying this gear.] :^) We all have had to learn the hard way...I think.

I'll work on the sibilance issues. Also, I don't deny being a rube, but at least I had the foresight to buy the extended warranty!

 

[Xeries]

Overall the new mix is a lot better. No phasing in the lead vox, now. The female voice is killer in places. It's the distance that her attack initiates and then the presence when she gets into the line that works for me.

That is lost a bit in the lead vox. They are almost too dry and in your face, but sung very well. It's hard to say how to fix this.

One trick you might consider is to clone the track and "shift" "move" or "nudge" the cloned track 1 or 2 frames. (26 frames per second, I think) Then pan them slightly and the sound will become thicker without getting a lot of slap back delay or verb.

I like the song. Again, the female voice is killer in spots.

Just a thought, Wig