PhonoBrainer

1. Make yourself happy, artistically 2.

Hmmm. If you are in a real blues band, you need to respect the blues. Blues don't take kindly to synth noodlin'. Sounds like what you really need is a side project. Or get it together and be the online one-man progfest! You start getting all portamento in a blues band and you'll have to duck the whiskey glasses they whip at your head. Seriously, go light a fire under this guy with your intricate, well-conceived, architectural, self-indulgent, polyrhythmic epicness . . .

Hey Tom! People have been imputing meaning into "fire" since man was but a wee tadpole. And so it continues! Yes the WTF ending is my favorite as well, many thanks for sticking around until the end! cheers, -Tom

Mix tips from you are gold. You should have heard the acoustic guitar before I turned it down I'll get on that. Too much snare is a definite recurrent pattern in my mixing, thanks for the observation. In a song with a vocal I'd be more careful but here I'm ok if the snare kind of drives it. Worth a look, tho. cheers and thanks! -Tom

Funny you should mention laptop because in the first mix of this, the bass completely disappeared in earbuds and even on decent headphones. there are two bass elements (8dio Adagio Bass, and the AGY YinYang) and I really had to eq them with boosts up north in the 500-600 range to get them present enough into the earbuds. If you got the video, thanks and again so sorry for the waste of your time cheers, -Tom

Thanks Douglas, it is Enyalike, I hear that. Many thanks for the listen!

I assure you the WTF was intentional and you are just as confused as I am. The fire, did it mean anything? It's an "anti music video" of a kind so all I can tell you is the fire is up for interpretation. You could, for example, interpret it as hilarious. Or, something else! many thanks for the listen and condolences on the waste of your time, my musical friend. cheers, -Tom

Hope you all are safe! This was begun in 2017. The video is . . . well, I'll let you figure that one out if you want. I'd dearly love mix or other comments, this one was suprisingly tricky for how simple it was. I dunno. the Soundcloud link is below as well. thanks! -Tom

It's a pretty darn cool delay that washes along after that lead vocal. It gets panned around so nicely. I think the mix is decent but maybe just a bit light in the kick/bass dept. The song itself is performed with passion and is totally solid. Nice one!

I dig the mix of elements and didn't mind being taken into guitarland at all. Very cool! cheers, -Tom

I got a strong Hootie or maybe 90's jam country vibe. The guy has an excellent vocal. Drums are plenty interesting, the rhythm guitars are placed really well in the mix . . . the organ could maybe use a tone upgrade, I dunno. What the hell was that aaaaah! Great way to get a breakdown going. Loved the syncopation in the breakdown . . . +1 all the way. cheers, -Tom

The drummer kind of loses it on the fills. Everything else is locked down sweet!!! I like the lyrics and your vocals/bgv are sweetly spot on. Really great vocal tone for this! cheers, -Tom

It's a killer tune and I think I've heard it before, did you post it earlier? Love your work but to be honest I'd call this one out for a bit of flat tuning somewhere in the rhythm guitar. Very specifically, :26. I know I've harped a bit on that before and jeeze I'd love to be wrong, 'cause I really really dig your stuff. I hope I'm not a broken record, and no one else complains, so I think I've probably just lost it. Oh well, had to go sometime!!! I think it's a totally great jam tune. It makes me want to walk through mud to go buy a concert t-shirt and an overpriced beer. cheers, -Tom

It's rockin' quirky new wave reggae. Of course it is! Great job guys. Mix was a total treat and the vocals have a great alternately psychadelic quality that really, really fits. The very clear bass is 100% in that pocket. well done y'all!!! cheers, -Tom

Wow. the whole thing. How about the bgv's? killer. for me the violin was my least favorite part. di'd? with a piezo? a little shrill. But to each their own. Was it mic'd? I think going to all this trouble to make every other instrument so friggin great, with a great mix, you for sure would have real mic'd the violin. The violin to me sounds a bit shrill and too dry. Oh well. Who cares what I think. Great chops on the violin, without question. Such a great mix played with a lot of passion. Perfect! cheers, -Tom

If it's not too late, maybe add a little more low to the bass? I love the ear candy for days and days. cheers, -Tom

nice voice, that's for sure. That will carry you through a lot of mix issues. chorus is catchy as well. you will find your way into a better mix but the originality of parts seems to be no problem. Great idea if you can swing SD3 or some better drum deal. cool tune, catchy indeed! 80's lives. cheers, -Tom

love it, love it. great mix. the snare she pops. killer quick little unison line 1:11 piano far left, funky guitar far right, amazing in the middle. you might check the plectrum attack transient on the far right guitar, it's a little crispy maybe, during the guitar solo. 2:03. It doesn't matter at all. Great guitar solo. You play so friggin outside, it's great. My only crit is that this is not latin, it's smooth jazz funk pop. Albiet with a shaker. "Down to the Bone" worthy! AWESOME!!! cheers, -Tom

Not bored at all! I loved the changing time signatures, and I also hear the slight mp3ish quality to those cymbals but I was very impressed with what the drummer played, or how you programed it. Very very cool drum part! video tip? I liked the vid, too. Can your video editing program export at higher than 1920x1080? If you can, export out at 2560x1440p and your YouTube render will get the preferred vp09 codec. As is, right click on your vid, select "stats for nerds" and you'll see your vid got rendered with the AVC codec, which pixelates like crazy. I just learned this the other day, it's crazy. Check it out. cheers, -Tom

Larry, get out of Michigan, no ventilators for Michigan. BAD Michigan, BAD!!!!!

When did Ernie assume control of the Enterprise?

@kakku - many thanks, glad you liked it. @Johnbee58 - yep, a little troubled of late for sure. No, t'was not LBJ but sounds a little like him. @David Sprouse- yikes, lemon creme pie is a pretty serious undertaking! Kudos. I prefer a chocolate creme if anyone asks, but lemon is up there. Key Lime, of course, in small doses. And thanks for the listen! @bjornpdx- yes I do like your videos as well!!! I feel like I'm travelling somewhere in a bjorn vid. Thank you for mentioning "watching until the end" . . . there is a certain reward for that . . . thanks for the comments! @Makke - many thanks for the listen, glad you likked it! @Hidden Symmetry - thanks, and kudos on your smooth jazz sound of late, really tasty stuff.

The brush on the hihat or cymbal got a bit repetitive in the first minute, maybe switch up that straight rhythm it is playing just a little bit? Love the sax and those '90's key pads. I'd vote for the bass up just a teeny bit. Really excellent soft jazz number, pretty fantastic writing. cheers, -Tom

Well it took me a while to figure out the drums, I think the snare sidestick works but I'd vote for a louder more conventional kit. If there was a kick drum I couldn't discern it. I did hear the congas far left, and the shaker, both of which are great to have, both of which could add to a conventional drum kit quite nicely. You might be going for a more sparse rhythm section. The vocal treatment works for me and brought me into some sort of pleasant 1966 timewarp, which was very cool indeed!!! Had kind of a Brian Wilson thing going on . . . cheers, -Tom

How are you recording that b3 or organ? It sounded really live!!! Your piano reverb sounds like it's in a bigger hall than the other instruments, I dunno, no one will probably care. For me I'd bring the piano back onstage with everybody else. cool one! cheers, -Tom