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#1
Posted to rec.audio.pro,alt.music.home-studio
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New songs - please comment
Hi all,
I've been lurking around these two groups for awhile now, not saying much but getting a lot of valuable advice. My friend and I are trying to put together a solo album for me in his home studio (a small apartment in Longtan, Taiwan) and it's going pretty well, but I am too close to these songs and the recording process to really hear them objectively. I hope you guys can have a listen to these rough mixes and let me know your thoughts... Any advice would be much appreciated. For an idea of what I'm aiming at, I love the sound of Greg Brown's records & I would like to get my voice and guitar sitting nicely right up front like on his discs. Here are links to the tunes: My Grandma: http://www.hopingforhoping.com/mp3/mygrandma.mp3 Wayside: http://www.hopingforhoping.com/mp3/wayside.mp3 Thanks in advance for the help. Cheers, Scott |
#2
Posted to rec.audio.pro,alt.music.home-studio
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New songs - please comment
"Groove Revival" wrote in message oups.com... Hi all, I've been lurking around these two groups for awhile now, not saying much but getting a lot of valuable advice. My friend and I are trying to put together a solo album for me in his home studio (a small apartment in Longtan, Taiwan) and it's going pretty well, but I am too close to these songs and the recording process to really hear them objectively. I hope you guys can have a listen to these rough mixes and let me know your thoughts... Any advice would be much appreciated. For an idea of what I'm aiming at, I love the sound of Greg Brown's records & I would like to get my voice and guitar sitting nicely right up front like on his discs. Here are links to the tunes: My Grandma: http://www.hopingforhoping.com/mp3/mygrandma.mp3 Wayside: http://www.hopingforhoping.com/mp3/wayside.mp3 Thanks in advance for the help. Cheers, Scott Hi Scott, I usually just lurk too, but your tunes are worth a comment. Nice stuff, and nicely done. There's only two things that jumped out at me--and they did so becasue when they happened they drew me out of the story you were weaving, and caused me to focus on the technicals of the song... In "My Grandma", you do this little trick with the shaker, panning it hard right and left on alternate beats. I was really enjoying the tune and it's simple country observances on life (better than most of the songs I hear of that type, IMO). It was painting some nice pictures in my mind. Then when the shaker came in, I was distracted: 'oh, a fancy mixing trick'. I would put the shaker in one place, maybe panned 3/4 to the left or right, so it really sounds like there's a guy playing the shaker for you while you sing, kicked back on a ramshackle porch at grandma's place in Alabama. Man, there's lines in that song that can make a guy grin outright. In "Wayside", there's a spot early on where the vocal goes high for the first time: "...I'll come wandering..." Neither song is really vocally challenging until that point. That's where you want folks to sit up and think 'wow, they guy's got great songs...and a real voice, too." You kind of went all Bobby Dylan at that point, scooping up to the notes, and the result, rather than sounding hip and laid back, just comes across like lazy singing. Other places in both songs suggest to me that you are capable of singing more precisely. That would be a good place to showcase your best. Just one man's opinions, of course. All in all, two neat tunes, and well worth the effort you're putting into them. Cheers, Walt |
#3
Posted to rec.audio.pro,alt.music.home-studio
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New songs - please comment
Hi Scott
I'm downloading wayside as I type this so I'm just commenting on My Grandma I really like your style, this song has got depth whilst being simple, your voice is great and the quality of the playing is good too. I agree about the shaker ...keep it in one place, the backing vox needs to be tightened slightly, Maybe set back with some reverb to give more of a choral feel.and I would have liked the Dobro? (2 mins 20) to be a little more set back in the mix it sort of gets a little repetitive because its so prominentin the mix. Overall a great sound and a good song, I like it On Mar 17, 2:23 pm, "Groove Revival" wrote: Hi all, I've been lurking around these two groups for awhile now, not saying much but getting a lot of valuable advice. My friend and I are trying to put together a solo album for me in his home studio (a small apartment in Longtan, Taiwan) and it's going pretty well, but I am too close to these songs and the recording process to really hear them objectively. I hope you guys can have a listen to these rough mixes and let me know your thoughts... Any advice would be much appreciated. For an idea of what I'm aiming at, I love the sound of Greg Brown's records & I would like to get my voice and guitar sitting nicely right up front like on his discs. Here are links to the tunes: My Grandma:http://www.hopingforhoping.com/mp3/mygrandma.mp3 Wayside:http://www.hopingforhoping.com/mp3/wayside.mp3 Thanks in advance for the help. Cheers, Scott |
#4
Posted to rec.audio.pro,alt.music.home-studio
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New songs - please comment
Wayside I didnt like much.
The guitar sounds great and the depth to the overall sound is really good, your vocal is a little pitchy at the start but recovers early on and gets better as the song progresses. Again ...the talent is obvious I prefer My Grandma as a song but the quality of the performances is really good and both songs are well worth working on. Well done mate On Mar 17, 2:23 pm, "Groove Revival" wrote: Hi all, I've been lurking around these two groups for awhile now, not saying much but getting a lot of valuable advice. My friend and I are trying to put together a solo album for me in his home studio (a small apartment in Longtan, Taiwan) and it's going pretty well, but I am too close to these songs and the recording process to really hear them objectively. I hope you guys can have a listen to these rough mixes and let me know your thoughts... Any advice would be much appreciated. For an idea of what I'm aiming at, I love the sound of Greg Brown's records & I would like to get my voice and guitar sitting nicely right up front like on his discs. Here are links to the tunes: My Grandma:http://www.hopingforhoping.com/mp3/mygrandma.mp3 Wayside:http://www.hopingforhoping.com/mp3/wayside.mp3 Thanks in advance for the help. Cheers, Scott |
#5
Posted to rec.audio.pro,alt.music.home-studio
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New songs - please comment
"Groove Revival" skrev i en meddelelse oups.com... Hi all, I've been lurking around these two groups for awhile now, not saying much but getting a lot of valuable advice. My friend and I are trying to put together a solo album for me in his home studio (a small apartment in Longtan, Taiwan) and it's going pretty well, but I am too close to these songs and the recording process to really hear them objectively. I hope you guys can have a listen to these rough mixes and let me know your thoughts... Any advice would be much appreciated. For an idea of what I'm aiming at, I love the sound of Greg Brown's records & I would like to get my voice and guitar sitting nicely right up front like on his discs. Here are links to the tunes: Grandma has hitpotential. You have a nice voice which is getting delightfully intimate in the"going hoarse" parts. The guitar is also nice, it will need to be more accurate in the timing (especially when there are no drums). The song shouldn't have more instruments, it builds up nicely towards the end. It's really good material! |
#6
Posted to rec.audio.pro,alt.music.home-studio
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New songs - please comment
Hi all,
thanks very much for the kind words and the helpful suggestions so far, it's really appreciated. I'm glad the laid-back, intimate feeling we were going for has come across somewhat. I will take your advice about the shaker; a hard pan may sound cool but in this case it's just distracting, as the song is about the story, not audio trickery... I also think WJ is right about my vocal performance & fiddler is right about the banjo (not dobro) being a touch too loud at the end of 'my grandma'. Oh yeah, & to the poster who suggested I park my songs elsewhere, you're right, & I do... I'm on Myspace as grooverevival and I'm also on www.scottcook.net Sorry I neglected to mention that. If anyone has any more suggestions I'd love to hear them. In particular, I wonder what people think of the recording of the guitar and voice... I think it sounds good but it could be more present somehow, I just don't know how... Is it the reverb we're using? Should things be miked even closer? For guitar we were using a Rode NT-2000 pointed at the sweet spot, and an AKG small-diaphragm condenser pointed at the sounding board behind the bridge. Both mics were about 4 inches away. For vocal, same Rode, with a pop filter, about 6-12" away from my mouth. We haven't fooled around a lot with reverbs yet & I find the subtle differences quite hard to discern. But the overall feeling of the recording seems to hang on these near- indiscernables... Any advice on mic placement, technique, reverbs, stereo positions, etc. would be much appreciated. Thanks for the great feedback so far, cheers, Scott On Mar 18, 6:01 pm, "RK" RK@dk wrote: "Groove Revival" skrev i en meddelelsenews:1174105404.749514.230600@e65g2000hs c.googlegroups.com... Hi all, I've been lurking around these two groups for awhile now, not saying much but getting a lot of valuable advice. My friend and I are trying to put together a solo album for me in his home studio (a small apartment in Longtan, Taiwan) and it's going pretty well, but I am too close to these songs and the recording process to really hear them objectively. I hope you guys can have a listen to these rough mixes and let me know your thoughts... Any advice would be much appreciated. For an idea of what I'm aiming at, I love the sound of Greg Brown's records & I would like to get my voice and guitar sitting nicely right up front like on his discs. Here are links to the tunes: Grandma has hitpotential. You have a nice voice which is getting delightfully intimate in the"going hoarse" parts. The guitar is also nice, it will need to be more accurate in the timing (especially when there are no drums). The song shouldn't have more instruments, it builds up nicely towards the end. It's really good material! |
#7
Posted to rec.audio.pro,alt.music.home-studio
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New songs - please comment
We haven't fooled around a lot with
reverbs yet & I find the subtle differences quite hard to discern. But the overall feeling of the recording seems to hang on these near- indiscernables... Any advice on mic placement, technique, reverbs, stereo positions, etc. would be much appreciated. Thanks for the great feedback so far, cheers, Scott Subtle is the right word for dealing with reverb. From what I can tell, too much reverb is about the most common mistake that's made by budding young engineers like you and me. I've been consciously trying to ear-train myself for quite a while now, and I'm getting to where I can tell the differences better. I've found that listening to nice clean professional tracks through headphones is a good way to pick out the reverb, and try to figure out what the pros are doing. Listening to "Wayside", I think you've got a workable reverb setting on the guitar. Any more would just decrease the perceived presence and volume of the instrument. To get a bit more presence, you might try boosting the highs a little to give it a bit more sparkle. For the vocal, I'd add a touch more reverb if it was me, to give the vocal track a bit more depth. Another possible approach...I'm sitting here with my eyes closed, trying to imagine that I'm there and you're playing and singing in person. What kind of room are you in, and where am I sitting? From what I'm hearing, I'm sitting pretty close to you, and the room is fairly dead. We might be in a drape-lined living room. Overall, there's plenty of presence, but not much feeling of space. Try taking what you have now, and subbing it to a single stereo track. Then put a hall reverb (turned down) on that track, and play it back with your eyes closed, placing yourself in the listener's position. Add more 'verb until you can "see" the room in your mind. If the room that you imagine doesn't please you, play with the settings or try a different type of reverb. You can put yourself in anything from a bathroom to a cavern, right up close, or halfway across the room. And that's the goal of reverb, after all. Cheers, Walt |
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