What I've been up to...

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Stratomaster

Stratomaster

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This friend of mine named Ben Marcum asked me if I would "produce" and play on some tunes, he wanted me to record and mix as well but due to the limbo state of my bands equipment-we used his dads studio and his dad is doing most of the engineering and mixing so far.

We usually learn the songs right there in the studio-discuss arrangement ideas and bam record while the song is fresh. I think its been working well and the songs have a nice live fresh feel to them. The acoustic is direct-4 mics on the drums and the bass is also direct. The vocals actually have drum bleed in them so eventually they will be re-recorded. We used a mackie and ezbus boards recording to Sonar. This is the first song I got to layer some guitars on (3). I would have mixed it differently but it was just a quick mix to take home.

I'll probably get a shot at mixing this eventually-so any ideas or comments are welcome-mostly I just wanted to throw something up since its been a while...:)

Song is called "Low Down Place"-if you're a Southern rocker you should like it....

www.nowhereradio.com/ultraman/singles

Enjoy
 
Glad I caught you passing through...

Man, this sounds more like The Marshall Tucker Band than the Marshall Tucker Band does. The singer, I mean...it's uncanny.

Okay, personally, I think the vocal gets a little lost when the drums kick in...I'd switch the volume between those...otherwise, I'm a complete hack and my opinions are 99% horseshit.

I enjoyed the crap out of this, honestly...gave it several spins...like finding a lost B-side.

Cool on you,
-me

[edit] That's a great sounding direct acoustic. What is it? Amazing, really... I'd have lost money on a bet.

[edit upon edit] - That harp, at the beginning... I know what you're going for with the discordant train whistle thing, but it's really bugging me now; I'd love to hear the same effect in the same key as the tune...

And ignore whatever I said about the vocal/drum volume - it's really just in a couple of places that the vocal washes out...overall, the levels sound okay.

I swear, I'm done.
 
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i'm not southern in any way and i don't know who marshall tucker is but yeah, you sound just like him :). cause i've heard that voice before.

drums sound pretty good.

bass is a little muddy.

nice singing. i like the harmonies.

guitar sounds pretty good for being direct.
 
It's too late to check out songs....but I'm just popping in to say hi to my main man Jimbo. I've missed you, man! :)

Will listen to it tomorow, ok?

Are you ok?
 
Wow, nice. My one nitpick would be the DI acoustic. Anyway to redo that and mic it instead? It does have that "lost Allman Brothers song" feel to it. And I'm a huge closet Allmans fan.

Nice stuff,
Chris
 
We've been missing you!

Good stuff. After the long wait you didn't disappoint. Very different than your usual stuff but still good quality songwriting and tasteful playing.

I'd like to hear some more electric rhythm guitar. They sound really good, but too soft.

The kick drum could use some subtractive eq. I wish I was the type who could tell you which frequency to pull out and how much, but I'm not. But I do hear it taking up a lot of space - sounds kind of thuddy and gets in the way of the bass.

I wouldn't have known the acoustic was direct if you hadn't said anything. Good job with that.

Sounds like it's gonna be a cool project.
 
What up Strat?

The vocal could have a little more volume..........it's very warm sounding, a little more volume would get it to cut through I think.......sounds great though.

Very nice stuff........the only other thing I'd do is get rid of the string noise right before it cuts in......that was annoying me just a touch......

Great stuff......love the drums
 
hey strato, cool song.. drums could be tamed a bit in both playing and sound.. electrics are a bit low but sound good.. those time changes at the end were very cool, but the first one sounds weird to me while he's still singing.. cool outro.. second listen, the beginning harp sounds good but the notes sound a little flat or something.. very good song.. I like the vocals too.. all the guitars could come up, but the sounds and song are there.. I don't know why I'm being so picky.. maybe because the tune is good..
 
Suthun RAWK, huh? Downloading it now. I'll give a listen tomorrow... :cool:

CR ><>
 
very good stuff. I'd lower the drums a bit and bring the vocals up more .
 
Very cool Suthun RAWK Toon. Polish up those drums and Bring up the VOX. I think the electrics could come up just a db or 2 also.

CR ><>
 
Well yee-haw I sure do 'preciate it.

ChrisH- Yep you're right about the drums come down , vocal up thing-that was the first thing I thought when I listened to it. The acoustic is a Takamine-I was thinking "blasphemy" when I heard them say direct guitar-but it sounds pretty good-I'll try to talk them into miccing it up when we start overdubbing. The train thing hmm and harp---yup...train whistle might have been copied and pasted there-I check with and without...Thanks for listening.

ErciH-Thanks-Yeah the bass is a little muddy-I'm literally plugged directly into the snake so we didint have too much control over the bass-I may redo it if we can get it sounding much better. Thank you for listenng.

Ped-Howdy-I don't think you'll like this one Tjark-nice of you to stop in anyways--I'm doing good, things are looking up :). Hope all is swell with you.

Groucho-Greetings and thanks-I'm not really a southern Rock fan myself, but this guy is such a good singer...I'm trying to mix up his songs-with diff beats and instruments otherwise they would all kinda sound like this hehe. Ill put up another one..

Fprod--yo-wasup-Yeah more electrics I think too--Good idea with the kick-the bass is reeealy big sounding too so it could use some fine tuning. These arent my songs at all-though he's giving me a pretty free reign with arranging-Listened to your latest song and loved it-I had a bunch of production ideas for it too-but havent got around to posting and it seems you've taken off in a different direction anyways...but really cool tune.

Powderf-Yep more vocals for sure-this guy has a hell of a voice....I think the drums sound good too-not even really mixed yet--he added comprssion and a bit of eq while recording-but mostly I saw the effect of a decent room to record in-as soon as the drummer setup and hit his kick I knew it was gonna sound good-compared to the basement we used to be in where the drums sounded hollow and weak. Glad you liked it thanks--Been listening for you on 88.5 wras-you in rotation still/yet ?

BSABB-wassup homey-Thanks for checking this out, I know it must have been difficult heh-After your comment about the first half time thing I been listening and I agree with you-theres something not smooth about the transition--I may whip out a production idea to help that--a slide going up or something. The harp yeah it does sound out of tune doesnt it--hmm that of scares me-cause you figure the harp would be always in tune--Thanks for your great ear-good listen.

AXE4Yah-Thanks man glad you liked it-yep vocals need to come up, and I think the drums are kinda busy to be so up in the mix-I agree with you all around :)

Toki-Thanks for listening Toki-yep lower drums-especially the snare and turn the vocals up-I got a sound idea for this-with the parts we have I think we can get a pretty good sounding mix.

______________

Whew....I been very busy with changing work place/schedules-this project-my other band and usual mundane life tasks. Hope to get more time to hang wit you fellas soon.
 
Nice song. Well played. Not a big southern rock guy, but this one was nice. I liked the guitars, good sound on them. The singer has a good voice.

The vocals could probably come up just a bit. Perhaps compress them a little heavier?

I'm wondering if a clean, electric guitar part playing some high notes (like something Crawdad might play) might add a little to the mix. It seems to lack a little something in that space. Oh wait, there is a guit like that. But it's not cutting through. Needs more "bite."

That slide guitar sounds a little muffled. Lacking some mids.

A little pitchiness in the high harmony at about 2:03.

I liked the drums. They sounded great I thought and they complimented the song very well.

Later... Trip.
 
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