mark skinner

Outstanding ! I really like the way you trail off the low ending phrases in your vocals. Great guitar work and thought I heard a banjo in there mixed low. I think you got a little Springsteen vibe in there as well. Great song. mark

Nice one , I've Loved the violin productions you've posted in the past. The work you put into them really comes thru as a real instrument performance. Again .. Highly impressive . mark

Yeah Kent , welcome . If you've ever been active on another forum , You'll soon find this one is like a breath of fresh air. Most of us are old timers and not really into music production as a business being the main goal. Later .. mark

Turn everything else down and raise the volume with your interface until you get the right balance. The effects aren't recorded in the track , that way you can adjust them or delete them at will. If you ever do a "bounce to tracks" it will then bake them in unless you change some settings. The easy way to solve your problem is to have the output of the vocal track you are recording sent to your interface instead of "master". You can then just turn down your master and use your interface volume and the master fader to get the balance you need. When you're done , change your vocal tracks output back to the master bus and raise it back up. ms

Rex , totally agree with johnbee , Great harmony work as well. The bendy guitar worked Very nicely . I believe the bass can sound even better with a little EQ work (highs) , and eventually a little de essing on the main vox , if you don't lose the "air" when doing it. This was very nice and relaxing , I knew I would like it when the very first vocal phrase came in. Lovely .. mark

Very nice. It reminds me of a classic that would be done with a harpsichord. Loved the swelling strings .. mark

Kurt , that was a Massive improvement from the first mix. The reverb choice was Very nice , but the big one for me was smoothing out the guitar attacks. You really picked up more of a jazz guitar feel. Fantastic job .. mark

"Really" nice melody . I hope to hear a remix on this one. mark

Jack , -14 lufs is a typical target for streaming. -6 lufs is Way too loud. Ceiling should be at least -1 db instead of 0. The compressor/limiter should be set to whatever it takes to give you -14 lufs for the entire song. Before you ever hit the mastering stage , your song should be somewhere around -6 db. If you don't have the headroom , boosting the levels will ruin the dynamics and cause distortion. If you have Ozone it will set the loudness for you. Just basic targets .. Cool song . mark

Kurt , That was Very nice ! I really liked the passage coming in around 0:42 Great playing . I Love a fretless with that style of music. Very much Enjoyed it .. mark

Thanks , David and Miguel , I'm glad you approved. @DeeringAmps the reverb was basic Sonitus. I found an EQ preset and with a little tweeking really helped the DI. I didn't try to do anything to the squeaks , and have never even thought to try a deesser . Thanks for mentioning that. Later .. mark

Here's a Very minimal project using only my Godin la patrie classical/ jazz crossover. I wanted to use an additional mic , but I went DI because of the pounding rain from the hurricane ( in my not so soundproof music room). Anything sticking out that needs attention feel free to let me know. I know I've got a few string squeaks but opted to leave them in. It was nice not fooling with a lot of tracks . Thank You .. mark

PJH , another Top Notch production and performance! You sure surround yourself with some talented mates. I believe my favorite part was the blue Tele. I don't think I've ever heard such a silky tone come out of one . I really liked the way you adjusted your playing style in the Tele section using the longer slides bringing that tone out. The acoustic was icing on the cake. Awesome job .. mark

Larry , Nice guitar and bass work. I hope you get an interface and monitors soon. You are going to be amazed with the sound you can get using a daw and its tools. I went a Lot of years without a midi keyboard. There's a lot you can do in piano roll view with just a mouse. Check out the videos by "creative sauce" . I've used Sonar/Cakewalk forever and he's still a big help. Looking forward to your progress. mark

Bjorn , Simply Beautiful .. I Really liked the piano , I do hear some spots where nylon guitar backing would be real nice , but not replacing the piano. The mix was perfect , I'm also a fan of Raum reverb . Loved it .. mark

Larry , No band , I'm the only one left .. With the exception of Ozone for basic mastering , Addictive drums 2 (free) , valhalla massive reverb (free), Everything else is basic Cakewalk. I used my midi controller for SI bass , and SI electric piano. The remaining tracks are real instruments. As far as audio clarity , just watch the low freq. in everything , as far as production quality , a "Lot" of editing and listening to suggestions from forum members. Good luck and welcome to the forum .. mark

Jesse , Very well written and performed. You got the point across nicely . Enjoyed it .. mark

Ewoof , I Liked it , and I liked the vocal treatment in the first half of the song. I think as the song progresses you could use more of an up front vocal processing and heavier on the kick and bass transitioning it to a "heavy hitting" dance club type sound. It's got a Really cool vibe . Building it up it to Big in my opinion would make this one shine even brighter. Once you get there , bringing the last phrase of the vocals completely up to root would make it Killer. This one is worth the effort .. Fantastic job .. mark

Jack , Real Nice and clean. I really liked the bass as well. I was wanting to hear some quiet harmony in the improv vocal parts , maybe next time. Very good song and performance. Well done .. mark

Treesha , You've hit the spot. I think the vocals were "great" and by far my favorite of all of your songs. The high backing vocals were fantastic. I also liked the way one of the lead vocals was a little dry , It seemed to make it more personal like you were in my ear. With vocals like this I think you could also add a whispering track. Great job ! Loved it .. mark

Yeah , I used to keep one high strung but never tried tried it with an alternate tuning . New ball game. ms

I just pulled the silk and steel strings off of an old Aria Pro II acoustic that can no longer handle the tension of regular strings. I restrung it with a Nashville set (high strung) put a capo on the 2nd fret and a partial capo on the 4th fret (shub covers a,d,g strings) creating a raised dadgad tuning without having to lower these slinky strings. The sound and voicings are "FANTASTIC". Hope to record with it soon.. mark

Supported or not , I updated CbB on my win7 pc last week . No Problem .

Nice one. I think you're getting pretty close. My only real crits are the short intro , and the backing vocals coming in at 0:48. I think the intro could be 4 bars longer and built up more. It was just too quiet and rushed leading in to the full vocals. The backing at 48 seemed to be pushed too far back in the mix. Maybe blend in more of the held out backing vocals you used in most of the song in that section. The main vocals and harmony were Very nice. They could be smoothed out and glued to the mix a little better with some further compression. Great song with a fantastic chorus. I Very much enjoyed it .. mark

Colin , I am Totally Amazed at your talent and this production. That was the best 45 minutes I've spent listening to music in years. There was a nice CSN feel to a lot of this that really grabbed me. That was a beautiful tone on the classical guitar as well. Awesome .. mark