[Groove Revival]

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

[WJ]

"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

[fiddler]

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

[fiddler]

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

[RK]

"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!

[Groove Revival]

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!

[WJ]

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