Keith Wilby

Thank you John, I'll take a look.

Hi all, After watching some excellent tutorials by John Vere (sorry I don't know how to embed a tag) I decided to have a play with LoudMax. I think I'm right in saying that John refers to LoudMax as a "pre-mastering tool". My question is, would you use LoudMax on your master bus and then master the exported file in Bandlab Unlimited? I've tried that with one recording that I'd previously mastered without LoudMax and it sounds awful by comparison. Should one use either/or? Thanks.

Mine has quite a few battle scars. I've had it since about 1979 and I've used it a lot, but then I made a recording using my son's Epiphone electro-acoustic and it sounds so much better, so I've retired the EKO from recording, I just busk in the kitchen with it ? As for the room, it used to double as my office when I was working from home owing to COVID, but now I've retired it's a dedicated (very small) studio. I test my mixes with my cheapo Samson studio monitors, my rather expensive Beyerdynamic cans, and my even more expensive home theatre in the living room. That's as good as it gets for me and I'm fairly happy with that since this is my hobby and not a profession ?

Awesome sound, I wish I could get my stuff sounding that good. Is that an EKO acoustic in the pic?

I might just give that a whirl ?

So-called because I've always imagined this being performed in an illegal drinking establishment in a smoky 1920s basement by a jazz quartet (that just happens to have a full string section with them) ? https://www.bandlab.com/post/e77d9ed4-4704-ed11-b47a-281878315d59

Thanks Steve. I've never heard of that technique before so I'll give it a go. Always willing to learn new stuff ?

Thanks Andy. I'm going to have to look up what these mean now ?

Here's the remix. I've taken some bottom end off the organ to give the bass a chance, also I've swapped the order of the 2nd and 3rd verses. I'd be interested to hear what you all think of that and whether or not the story still flows. The idea is that I now have "pregnant silences" followed by the stop - I considered moving the stop instead, but I think that might be too early in the song to have one. Any thoughts? https://www.bandlab.com/post/17b3b057-9102-ed11-b47a-281878315d59

Thanks Jeff. I agree and I've added some EQ to the organ now that should take care of it for a remix ?

I took early retirement (I'm 62) in January and my songs have become my new "job". I'm lucky enough to have a decent sized spare room that I can use as a studio. It's much more interesting and satisfying that being an electronics engineer and dealing with all of the corporate BS that goes with working for a defence company. ?

Thank you so much Mark, you have much more confidence in my vocals than I do ?

Nice playing indeed and a great song, and your voice reminded me of a cross between Glen Campbell and Ian Anderson (Jethro Tull). Have you considered putting some subtle drums on?

I don't often stray from 4/4 time but I've had a go with this one: https://www.bandlab.com/post/4b5776c9-b901-ed11-b47a-281878315d59 Some lyrics adapted from the 1972 film "Sleuth" (well it was good enough for Morrisey) and also from "A Few Good Men". Comments welcome as always. EDIT: link corrected - this is the version that I meant to post and has a lead guitar solo. EDIT 2: Here's the remix. I've taken some bottom end off the organ to give the bass a chance, also I've swapped the order of the 2nd and 3rd verses. I'd be interested to hear what you all think of that and whether or not the story still flows. The idea is that I now have "pregnant silences" followed by the stop - I considered moving the stop instead, but I think that might be too early in the song to have one. Any thoughts? https://www.bandlab.com/post/17b3b057-9102-ed11-b47a-281878315d59 EDIT 3: @jwnicholson78 I've added a leslie organ to the middle 8 and coda as suggested. https://www.bandlab.com/post/e8fc39df-d205-ed11-b47a-281878315d59

Sounds a lot better for it to me, nice one ?

Yes indeed, this is my hobby now that I've retired. I'll have a go at some backing vox and see how it sounds. Thanks ?

Very odd, and I love odd ?

Absolutely love this, well done ?

My latest dalliance. Comments invited ? https://www.bandlab.com/post/230a7f65-46fc-ec11-b47a-281878315d59

Not sure if I should have started a new thread for this but here's a recently revamped version. It sill uses the same sounds but it's mixed and mastered using Bandlab. Gone are the static clicks and the tape hiss. https://www.bandlab.com/post/0afa6f2b-77f8-ec11-b47a-281878315d59

I think this is probably my final fix. https://www.bandlab.com/post/d50b03c9-40f8-ec11-b47a-281878315d59

Agreed, thanks John.

I'm keeping my fingers crossed ? https://www.bandlab.com/post/b5d18c8c-d6f6-ec11-b47a-281878315d59

I agree completely so I'll fix that. Thank you.

My take on those cheesy "soft" horror films where the protagonist is in bed and they think they can hear something downstairs ? https://www.bandlab.com/post/db1a3d9e-87f4-ec11-b47a-281878315d59 (turns out it was my rubbish mix that caused the mastering to fail at first)