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Miguel Carzola

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Everything posted by Miguel Carzola

  1. Thanx Leadfoot. I appreciate the feedback. Music making can be so fun. Did you see where the Beatles used an actual anvil and a hammer for a percussion part on a song? Where can we hear your song with the macaroni shaker?
  2. Hi friends. Glad to see lots of familiar names continuing to put out some great material. I've been tinkering too. In my last posts I've been working on American Song Book material but done only with acoustic guitars and percussion to evoke the kind of sonoric qualities of the songs we used to cover when a group of my friends and I would gather after gigs in Miami. Some acoustic guitars, some percussion, and a few well placed vocal harmonies, and songs would take on a life beyond what was in the original recordings we knew and loved. Usually when it was my turn to sing I was sitting among them and I felt as if my voice was enveloped with inverted chords and counterpoint both in voices and guitars, and whoever else was present would make percussion of whatever there was around (even guitar cases and plastic salt shakers, I kid you not) so this is a more polished version of what it felt like to me. Lead vocals were recorded with a Shure Beta 58a at arm's length in a walk-in closet. Backing vocals used Shure sm63 (omni interview mic) to minimize masking with the lead, and SM57's were used for anything else that required mic'ing. I know the mix EQ is a little harsh still but what I'm checking for with you guys is the overall balance of the mix. Is there enough of every element to keep the movement going despite there being only 4 components to the arrangement. I hope most of all that it makes you all smile a little. Thanx.
  3. Beautifully done. Best of luck with the new batch.
  4. Great job Barry. Kick-***** arrangement. I think not everything needs to be formatted to be under three minutes to fit more commercials in a half hour of FM radio that most of us don't listen anymore to.
  5. Very beautiful, Mark. While I understand what others are commenting on, I find it perfect as is. Congrats
  6. Love it. I love your music. Idea...Have you ever tried replacing those synth strings with organs? I think they would fulfill the function of gluing the arrangement while sounding more natural. It's just a thought though. I think the arrangement is ready so you can tame the harsh spots you notice in the mastering. Great job
  7. Thank you for introducing him to us Pavlov's. Very beautiful.
  8. Hey Jack. Thank you for sharing this wholehearted production, both musically and lyrically, with us. It held my attention throughout. I hope music continues to be as cathartic as this song felt. I loved its message. Keep them coming brother.
  9. Tom. Thank you so much for the comment, the observation, and the suggestion. This helps a lot. Your suggestion really helps for when I redo it. I'll use all the feedback as things to pay attention to. So far I'm pleased and relieved that for the most part you guys like the arrangement considering the mix was done mainly for balance without much processing and in a bluethooth speaker that I listen to a music in. I really appreciate your suggestions. Cheers
  10. Thank you, Nigel. I really appreciate the listen and the comment. I hope everything is going beyond expectations with Indelible. Cheers, brother.
  11. Hey Bill. So glad for you, brother. What a fun track. So accomplished. Gotta love our country and all it's amazing opportunities. Really enjoyed your performance on every instrument.
  12. Mark! I wish I could help but there's nothing to help with. This is perfect as is. Loved it.
  13. Hi guys. Thank you all sooo much for having listened and taken the time to comment. This really helps. I kept the mix kind of raw so I could take into account your comments before going in a final direction with it. That’s why the only effects on the tracks are a send on the mix busses to a room reverb with varying degrees of wetness, a little chorus on the backing vocals bus (to defuse them since it’s also my voice) and pro channel tape saturation on all busses. The lead vocal is a scratch track and I was experimenting with a mic that is supposed to be flat, the SM63, so I used automation, saturation, and EQ to tame the dynamics on that track (no compression) but that’s probably what’s making it sound squashed. I think I overdid it. Thanks for the help on this, Mark and LarryT. I used different EQs and hard panning for the guitar and voice tracks mostly to help avoid psychoacoustic masking but also cus I remember the feeling of “being in the room” when I would listen to Beatles recordings as a kid due in part the hard panning on some tracks. I think also it felt natural now because that’s how I would hear the instruments around me when I was singing with a band- Something an audience member does not usually experience. I gotta watch it with that though cus I may be losing the audience with that move. Thank you for the observation, AndyB01. About the performance; I wanted it to have tension since the song has such a sweet melody. I find that sometimes singers leave hidden land mines-so to speak- in their recorded performances. There may be something there that when you sing the song by yourself for the first time you realize “whoa. That’s not as easy as it sounds in the record.” Bishop had a few of those in this one, mainly the runs and the breathing. I’m glad I chose to put different land mines in there other than what he used and I am humbled you guys liked my choices in that regard, Larry, Mark, Andy, and Jim. Man…all those words just to say thank you. Dictation on iPhones is dangerous 😂 But really…thank you 🙏🏼
  14. Miguel Carzola

    Forever

    Beautiful all around, Rex.
  15. Miguel Carzola

    Sad Day

    Wishing comfort and peace for you both, Wookie. 🙏🏼
  16. Simply brilliant. Visually evocative. Downright cinematic. Thank you for reposting this 🙏🏼
  17. Great job on this one, Gary. Some of these iconic tunes are not easy to pull off convincingly because they are… well… Iconic, so one tends to feel defensive of the original going in, but you disarmed that from the first phrase you sang here and it just got better from there. Kudos also for the skilled use of VST guitar tracks (and all the other great choices) Thank you for sharing it with us 👍🏼
  18. Garyyyy!!! 👋🏼😃 Thank you so much for helping me with the objective listen and the comments. I really appreciate it. What are you working on? When do we get to hear your next piece?
  19. Nigel! Great tune all around. Loved the long reverbs and the use of the long notes on the bass synth (I wasn’t expecting that) Loved the way you panned out some elements and placed them way in the background. Some can barely be heard but they’re definitely felt. They create tension without clutter. That’s hard to do in Rock. Good stuff. Thanx for sharing it with us
  20. Miguel Carzola

    /

    Wow Hidden! Out of the park again. This is really smart music. Really well written, arranged, produced, performed, and mixed. Congrats!
  21. Really good! Congrats!!! Thank you for sharing it with us
  22. Hey John! Thank you so much for the listen and the feedback. That’s awesome that you got to record Latin music with Mexican and Cuban musicians. That eight string guitar on that group you’re talking about is kind of the same idea as the 12 string guitar we normally see, but with eight strings on four courses instead of 12 on six. It’s called a “Cuatro“ (which means four in Spanish) because of the four courses with string pairs tuned to the same key. There is a six string version with three courses cleverly named “Tres“ lol. Both those guitars are used to play parts that would be done on a piano in traditional Cuban music, except they are way cheaper and easier to carry around the Cuban country side than a piano if you are a touring band 😂. And Maná! Wow man, those dudes are real pioneers of Rock En Español. By pure chance I had the opportunity to meet them at an after party for the Latin Grammys a few years back. They were super cool. Their drummer ironically is also from a Cuban American family, just like the drummer of another amazing rock band you may have heard of- Bon Jovi lol Thanks again for the good vibes and the comments I appreciate you Be well
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