AndyB01

Right chaps - technical question: I'm trying to improve my rudimentary mixing skills by following Mike Enjo's excellent videos. I have created sends for my FX and buses for the instrument tracks, done the gain staging and have ended up with a half decent mix (well to my ears). However, I think the lead guitar is just a tad too hot, but when I try and trim the level in the relevant bus fader it has zero effect. The guitar track in question has two sends to a delay and amp SIM and outputs to the bus. I'm clearly missing something really obvious and/ or doing something really dumb, but I just can't land where I'm going wrong here. Anyone care to have a crack at solving this one? I'd be extremely grateful. Thanks in advance Andy

Mike's videos are superb, he deserves all the accolades. I've learned more from him in six months than I've learned from fiddling around with DAWs for the last ten years. Andy

Ah that's it then - I got all mine in one hit 🙂 I rely on your timely updates to ensure I haven't missed something - please keep up the great work. 👍

Cheers Larry - I had eight EzKeys midi packs to update and one update for EzMix2, although to be honest, I have never been able to detect what these MIDI pack updates do or change - I don't think they add any new midi tracks so far as I can tell. I am sure the Toontrack Meister @Bapu would be able to enlighten me 🙂 Andy P.s. my curiosity got the better of me, so I checked one midi pack as a before and after and it has added one new MIDI track - so now you know. EzMix seems to have a new UI, with an added FX rack and an updated tiny non-scalable main window and text so small I'm now struggling to read it - even in my very best specs - nice big step backwards there Toontrack - cheers guys 👍

😳 I've warned you about that...

Wow - what gorgeous vocals, you nailed the piano sound and even the guitar solo with the modulation in the chorus at the end. Fabulous ❤️ Andy

Says to me there's a lot of hype out there and a lot of people spending hard earned $ on strings they don't need. On acoustics, I think the decay is a genuine thing (as demonstrated) but on electrics - nah - I'm less convinced. A quick rub with some metal polish every few weeks and my strings are good to go. 😂😂

Very good and really captured the mood you were after I think. Feels to me like this should be the start of a much longer piece - you could really develop this in a lot of different directions. You should definitely give that some serious consideration. Andy

I'm a huge James Taylor fan - Mud Slide Slim is such an iconic album - this is an exceptional cover. Well done! Andy

Killer track and groove - brilliantly executed as always. Would have loved one of those fast licks followed by a hard stop at the end but that's just a fave trick of mine (like Anita Baker's Fairy Tales where the jam session at the end is the stand out part of the track). Loved it Andy

This is a WiP??? Rex, take a break mate and give the rest of us time to catch up... 😉 On a more a serious note - another absolute belter - such a big Eagles vibe for me (and I mean that as a BIG compliment) I LOVED it - keep up the great work! Andy P.S. I have the same questions as @David Sprouse - what are you doing with these songs as they really deserve to be performed and heard?

Good old Bert I think he limited a lot of musical ambition - mine included - although my lack of practice and failure to apply the required technique might have also been contributing factors 😂 A

I've just been up in the loft checking out some plumbing repairs and loaded mouse traps (don't ask) and stumbled on an old folder of lots of old lyrics and sheet music from what must be over forty years ago. Some old songs I penned back then, the lyrical naivety is both charming and slightly cringe inducing at the same time - all that teenage angst I guess. 😂 As I recall, one of them even won second place in a local song competition. I might dust a few of these down and see what I can do with them (if I can remember how they go). Not sure I can do much with Bert Weedon's Rock and Blues Album for Guitar course though - they were the days... Andy

Nice trem effect on the chorus harmonics (superb attention to detail) and that driven guitar riff is spot on. Bass could come down a notch for me as well but that's a really minor crit - this is brilliant work. Well done! Andy

Tom Visuals are stunning! Are the horns a smidge too hot? Yes - imo - but please don't change them because they work really well. Can I have a crit? I'm with @Wookiee on the vinyl scratch thing - didn't need it and at first I thought it was my cranky old MD7506s. 😂 Overall great work all round. Andy

I sometimes write lyrics in complete isolation to the music track - so you're essentially writing a poem. Themes that I use to help me form and tell stories: Real life experiences - the more painful the better. People and places I have met/ been but change/ invent what happened. Things I read in the media that catch my eye - build a story around it. Things you'd really like to say to someone but you can't articulate it directly to their face. The music can follow the words, I also use songwriting tools like Toontrack EzKeys and Scaler2 to help me create new musical ideas. Might not work for you, but you were after ideas... Hope some of that helps. Andy

I think the Dimpro sounds are still remarkably good - some of the ePianos are better than anything else I have IMHO. There's also some nice stuff in the Digital Sound Factory free add on packs. Andy

Nice percussion Rex - liked that a lot - another cracking song and vocal. How do you keep knocking this stuff out - keep going man... Andy

Well you're already a legend on here - what a voice - I absolutely loved it! Andy

What a great site. My first ever digital piano was a Roland HP137, it was (comparatively) cheap with more than a few shortcomings, but I loved it. I later traded it for my current Roland A88 (Mk I) MIDI controller which, as a MIDI controller, leaves an awful lot to be desired but has a gorgeous weighted piano feel. Now superseded by the significantly improved Mk II. Loved the trip down memory lane. Andy

Prog is full of furry aliens from faraway galaxies: Squonk and A Trick Of The Tail to quote just a couple of examples - it's a perfect coupling. 😂😂

25/8 😳 you'll be writing Prog tracks next! 😉 Really enjoyed this, the chops to produce and perform it are impressive indeed. Nice work Andy

Yep another 👎 for fast start, turn it off. CCleaner is a piece of junk IMO (both professional and personal - I work in CyberSec) and a great way to cop a dose of uninvited malware; especially if you use the freeware version. If you're on Win10 or later it serves zero value. 16 seconds sounds short but it's an age in IT terms, if it's not the VST scan then something else is going on. The only variable that affects my startup time is whether or not my MIDI controller is connected. Mines' a right old lump of a thing so I only plug it in when I need to. When I start CbB without it, it takes a little longer to start up - as though CbB is searching for it - but it's barely long enough to register. They only other thing I can think of is power settings - especially around USB ports. There's a thread somewhere that sets out all the things you should consider to optimise a DAW PC and the stuff on power settings is well worth a read and can make a difference. It's a process of elimination, these oddities are rarely easy to nail down. Hope some of that helps Andy

Now that does sound good on the audio demos, it has to be said. I'm waiting for the Steve Hackett pack - now if anyone can sell me an amp sim that models his solo sound - I'm definitely in! 🙂 I fear I could be waiting a very long time... Andy

Yamaha Pacifica range - may be a touch over your price point - but well worth checking out. Back in the day I had a Yamaha AES620 (what a crime that they no longer make it) which was a cracking solid body guitar. Check out some reviews on YouTube - this is my fave UK guitar store and they review loads of guitars. Admittedly, some are the price of your average kidney or other major organ 😉 but they do cover a fair range. Good luck with your search and don't dismiss pre-loved guitars - often some real bargains to be had. Andy