-Tight Wire- New Mix/Master

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mark skinner

mark skinner

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Hello , here's a new work in progress , an instrumental (for now). I used a high strung acoustic and G&L electric guitar. Both in a raised DADGAD tuning. Ibanez bass and cello. MT Power drums and a kettle drum sample. I've got a total of 5 tracks !
All nits , crits and suggestions are welcomed. Thanks .. mark
soundclick.com

Tight Wire by mark alan skinner

self taught multi instrumentalist obsessed with creating music. #indie #jazz #blues #experimental #singerSongwriter #cello #instrumentalist #instrumental #cello #alternateTuning #HighStrungGuitar
soundclick.com soundclick.com
 
It moves right. Reminds me a bit of Martin Simpson on Cool and Unusual, if he'd gone all multitrack. That excursion that starts at 2.14 - here's an experiment: simplify it and make it less busy/fewer notes by muting something. What does it sound like when it's simpler and less busy? Not a suggestion, just me wondering.
 
Really good recording. Nice instrumental. No mixing opinion. I get where Dobro is coming from, but I like the busyness. Great departure from the rest of the song. Maybe to Dobro's point, there are two parts to that, stripped part, elaborate (if that was done, I would do the stripped first as an intro to the more elaborate part.

Now, in case you are rolling your eyes, just giving feedback, other POV. Good stuff, if I didn't have the BS, I would have nothing to say about it other than, good recording and mix.
 
It sounded really nice. Nice rich tone on the acoustic guitar. Low end sounds good.

There is a lot going on in the center. If there is going to be a vocal, you may need to move things out of the way.
 
@dobro , @DM60 , @TripleM , Thanks guys for the listen and comment. I've made a few minor changes , but I really don't know where this one is going yet. I'm not happy at all with it at this point. I've been tied up all week but , I now have some time to get back on it. I'll update it pretty soon .. Thanks .. ms
 
mark skinner said:
I've made a few minor changes , but I really don't know where this one is going yet. I'm not happy at all with it at this point.
Click to expand...

When stuff doesn't fall into place at first, you can either go looking for it or put it on the shelf and wait for it and come back to it and ask it if it's ready yet. I take the first approach if I like playing and singing it lol.
 
Thanks @dobro , I've been building up the first melody section and brought it back in later in the song.
I whacked the end of my index finger on my fretting hand a couple of days ago with a filet knife. I'm having a hell of a time finishing it up , but making progress. Won't be too long .. ms
 
Really nice! I really like the "airy" mix you've got. What microphone do you use for the guitar?
 
mark skinner said:
Hello , here's a new work in progress , an instrumental (for now).
All nits , crits and suggestions are welcomed.
Click to expand...
The Recording is quite good - the stereo spread is impressive but collapses when you move to mono - don’t know if you used a lot MS micing - but it’s half the volume - and mostly reflection type tones - You could push the instruments and carve sonic space out - the guitars and and cello are walking on each a bit - occupy the sonic space -

On another note you Fast Cars track - whatever you did with your vocals is cool - the instruments are fantastic - they weave perfectly.

And on another note - You and Me and Me and You - is that yours? I really like it - is that SubVibe from the Forum collaborating? Very nice blending of the snyth beds - I’m not sure about the Bright guitar at the begining.
 
@Meter , Thanks for the listen and reply. I'm using a single AT3035 on the acoustics. It's been a good one ,
but I think they are discontinued now.
Just wondering .. are you from Sweden ?
@Papanate , appreciate the listen and reply. I've been doing a Lot of mid/side research but there is none done here. I will for sure check closer in mono and try and grasp what's going on.
Yes , the You and Me song was a version of a collab with @subvibe that we never posted. I actually forgot I put it online.. I'll probably revisit it at some point and look at the bright guitar track. Thanks for that .. ms
 
mark skinner said:
@Meter , Thanks for the listen and reply. I'm using a single AT3035 on the acoustics. It's been a good one ,
but I think they are discontinued now.
Just wondering .. are you from Sweden ?
Click to expand...
Yes, I am. The cold and dark place this time of year. :)
 
@Meter , welcome to the forum. I recently heard the master you did for Michael Schulin. Nice work.
I've been working with him as well . I recently sent him a revised extended mix with you in mind.
Need to get him to join up here as well. mark
 
mark skinner said:
@Meter , welcome to the forum. I recently heard the master you did for Michael Schulin. Nice work.
I've been working with him as well . I recently sent him a revised extended mix with you in mind.
Need to get him to join up here as well. mark
Click to expand...
Thanks! Its a small world! :) Yes, I'll bring him over asap.
 
oh man, love it, get a little Tull/Ian Anderson vibe on that acoustic guitar (especially the intro). What exactly is a raised DAGAD tuning? I do use DADGAD at times on my acoustic, but not sure what raised means? It sounds awesome here, also love that Bass and cello....so good!
 
@stratmonkee , Thanx , I've got a new version that should be done soon. I'm actually tuned to EBEABE. I acomplished this on the high strung guitar with a partial capo on the 2nd fret covering the ADG strings. Regular guitar I just used a full capo with DADGAD tuning on second fret. The little "shubbs" partial capoes are pretty cool , just snap it on the low side and you've got instant DADGAD. Flip it to the other side of the neck and cover the DGB strings for different tunings. ms
 
OK , I surrender and am calling this one done. The link now reflects a new mix/master . One additional acoustic guitar track and quite a few minor mix changes. It's also back to it's original recorded bpm. Re Mastered by Gary Brun (Krakstad Norway). Thanks to Everyone for the listen and comments .. mark
 
mark skinner said:
OK , I surrender and am calling this one done. The link now reflects a new mix/master . One additional acoustic guitar track and quite a few minor mix changes. It's also back to it's original recorded bpm. Re Mastered by Gary Brun (Krakstad Norway). Thanks to Everyone for the listen and comments .. mark
Click to expand...

Before I listen to the tune, I have a somewhat burning question for you. How do you know when a mix is done?

One reason I ask that question is this: I recently finished a mix, and then, just before I published it, noticed a little click/pop right at the end I hadn't noticed before. So I got rid of it from the offending track. But while I was listening to that track soloed, I decided to pull back the amount of reverb I had on it. Better! So that gave me the idea to listen to the amount of verb I had on the guitar solo - it was okay - but it suddenly occurred to me to change the EQ curve I had on it, and guess what? - it sounded better! Okay, I could continue this goofy little narrative, but to make a long story short, in the end, I changed something in each of the song's eight main mixing groups, and sometimes the changes were bigger than just small tweaks! So, as I sit here now, I'm thinking I'm well and truly done with this mix and it's time to sign off on it finally. BUT AM I SURE ABOUT THAT?

How do you personally know when it's time to say 'enough'?
 
@dobro , That is a Great question ! To be honest , I'll call one done after fixing Everything that has been "bothering" me about it. That is normally after I've started another project and Really tired of listening to the one in question. At that point it's done as far as commenting about it on the forum(s) and try not to bump it back up. After getting away from it for a while (sometimes months) I'll make further changes and replace the file on SoundCloud and SoundClick but won't inform anyone. I got back on one this morning that I finished over a year ago. I Really Quit messing with one after it's released to Spotify etc..
 
It's possible to just swap audio files in and out of a Soundcloud page without taking down the page or the comments and pictures? You can't do that with Youtube - you have to put up a whole new page for the new version (which means taking down the old one if you want to steer listeners to the best version).
 
dobro said:
It's possible to just swap audio files in and out of a Soundcloud page without taking down the page or the comments and pictures?
Click to expand...
Not with the "free" account. You can on Sound Click though. After All of my changes are done , I'll post to SoundCloud .
 
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