Barry Seymour

"Tasty slide?" Are you DRUNK? ha ha. My friend Mike gave me the harp track via emailed MP3. (It's remote, it's COVID.) While it was nice, I felt it didn't have enough bite. So I added TH3 guitar effects to the track and it came to life. For my solo, I started off saying "I want to play bottleneck slide!" But I couldn't find my slide. So I tried using a can of Finger-Ease. Couldn't manage it until I laid the guitar on my lap, Jeff Healey style. One take, and I said to myself "this is really bad. So bad that it's GREAT" and kept it. I laugh uncontrollably every time I hear it. I added the SFX (The glass breaking, the bar sounds, Mike's commentary and especially the BURPs) after and it just got funnier and funnier. I had fun! Thanks for the kind (albeit misguided) words. :-D

Not too old school for me! I'd lose the snare drum count-in intro. It's a little heavy - handed compared to the smoothness of the rest of it. Nice smooth voice; plaintive, comforting, solid, on pitch. Love how smoothly the fiddle and steel / slide blends, very nice I found myself a little confused by the beat.... like there was a different emphasis in the drum beat vs the rest of the instruments. I only noticed it a few times. Beautiful fiddle at 2:30. Soulful and sad. Recommend fading a little slower and longer - such a nice ride I didn't want it to end. Really good!

Nice groove, everything mixes together in a very satisfying way. Nice chord progressions, it moves hither and yon. Also not in my wheelhouse either, but this is good stuff!

Thoughts as I listen on my Sony headphones... Super rich bass! "Could I have been a better man" - it sounded like you were trying for a vocal counterpoint to the drum beat, but it was a bit off in my ear Just my personal preference, would like more support, more depth in the vocal. Again, just my preference. This works for this song. Nice solo at 2:57 - rich sound. I'd maybe back it off a bit in the mix Nice vocal doubling on the chorus Good stuff.

Thoughts as I listen - just my opinions... Beautiful song, full of heart and feeling Wonderful rich quality to the lead vocal. My pref would be to sink the vocal down just a tiny bit in the mix - it really jumped out in front to me on my Sony headphones Like the bass harmony on the chorus. Rich, soulful, I like how it steps up and down, complementing the melody "Lying in my bed one DAY?" That jumped out at me. You're in bed in the middle of the day? "Worship - by the door" - a pause after 'worship' would have made that line balance better with the one before Recommend fading a little slower after the last 'Thank you' - it seemed a bit abrupt. Really well done! Beautiful stuff!

Stream of Consciousness as I listen... Just my opinions. Simple, clean, nice intro. Feels like it should move on to something else a little sooner, but that's just me My pref would be a little more volume on the bass, a little richer Nice sound coming in on left and right around 1:14. Is that the Mellotron? Nice separation, adds a change of color and place Nice texture change around 1:51. Still hoping for a chord change, but that's just me. Very cool percussion here. 2:34, it gets deeper, mood change. Nice! Not hearing any tuning issues as mentioned above 3:40 - Slips back into the original groove. Nice structure, although to be honest I was getting a little anxious for more to happen. Very nicely produced!

Stream of consciousness impressions.... all MHO Nice strings in the intro - can I hire you? 😉 "Verse" could use some bass guitar or something bassy that adds some rhythm and bounce. Bells were weird, but I can see why use used 'em. Like the sound of the drums; rich, realistic Nice stereo separation on the strings around 3:00

Stream of consciousness here... all just my humble opinions... Nice shuffle, I love the sound of the lead guitar. Cymbal hits seem a bit much between lines of the verse. Chorus feels a little crowded. Maybe separate things a bit sonically, leave a bit more space to breathe? (EQ them differently, pan them?) Again, a little more cymbal than I'd like. I like the languid vibe of the singing. Maybe mix it down just a tiny tad. Lead guitar solo sounds good, but a touch loud. Blend it a bit more? Ooooh. NICE FLUTE. Nice fade out... maybe linger a bit longer?? Love the song! Great work.

Not just great playing, but stellar sound quality on the piano. Nice stuff!

Another one where I had entirely too much fun. Some of my best guitar work. 😉 Features my friend Mike Matthews on harp, bg vocals and commentary. Gear: Electro-Voice ND 457 microphone (80s Vintage!) Behringer Xenyx USB mixer Fender Strats on rhythm, Tele on slide lead Peavey bass VSTs include Toletnikov for mastering, TH3 for guitar effects Constructive criticism welcome. Let me know what you think, thanks!

Here's the final mix. I know the guitar sound is inconsistent with the vocal sound, but darnit, I like that sound! Vocal clipping throughout, along with a few tiny lyric tweaks.

Thanks for that feedback, I really appreciate it. Yes, the lead guitar is swampy (I fell in love with the sound as soon as I stumbled upon it), but I left the lead vocal dry ala Dave Edmunds / Rockpile. But hmmm... I guess that could be seen as a bit of cognitive dissonance ... what setup would let a band sound like that? I'll have to ponder a bit on that. I'll check out the section from 1:21 - 1:23. Again, thanks for the feedback; very in-depth and intelligent. I appreciate it!

Here's Mix #2: EDIT: This is the final mix.

I discovered the clipping as well, will fix. Thanks!

This is a drive-by mugging. But I mean that in a good way. Let me know what you think. It's rough, and raw, but I like it that way.

Thanks for all the kind words, everyone!

I manually doubled the guitar on the melody lines. Tele in one channel, Strat in the other. No stereo or expander effects. All the solos were the Strat.

Drums are just the built in drum machine, plus some latin percussion instruments. I used TDR Koletnikov on those tracks, I think. Why do you ask?

I wrote and recorded this little ditty a long time ago with my drummer buddy Tony Lehotsky. The recording was awful, but his drumming was inspired and the tune was good. This crossed my mind a week ago and I thought I'd try to recreate it. Sounds MUCH better! Feedback welcome.

Here's the second mix...

Skynrd?!? What the heck? LOL. I actually thought the lead guitar started to sound like early 70s Moody Blues there, but I think I see what you're saying. I do like LS's crunchy guitar sound. Thanks for the kind words. Where in Michigan are you from? (Plus your profile picture gives me a chuckle.)

The intro is an in-joke. This is actually autobiographical; my first band in the early 70s was a seven piece rock band with horns, we were big fans of Chicago. Note also the lick from 'Smoke on the Water' in there. More bass, less kick. I think you're right.

Good points, I'll look into it. Question: I mixed the voice with more treble than usual; on some of my systems, it sounds like the voice is too out front, sounds separate from the rest of the mix. Any thoughts on that?

I just dropped BOTH shoes on this one. (EDIT: This is the final mix.)

Okay, one more time.