Johnbee58

This sounds like Santana meets Van Halen (bands)! Very cool combinations of sounds and styles. Nice mix and use of effects. ?John B

This is beautiful! Well written, arranged and performed. My only suggestion might be to pan the vocals a bit or widen them out using an imaging plug in. Very pretty. ?John B

Thanks Doug, but I need to clarify. The pro didn't mix it. I mixed it myself. The pro reviewed my mix. ?JB

Thanks Daryl & James G ?JB

Wrote this about a year ago. Some of you might be familiar with the magazine called "Recording". They have a feature called "Reader's Tracks" where you can send in your original tunes and have a pro producer named Marty Peters review it and make suggestions. I pondered whether I wanted to submit this or not but finally bit the bullet and sent it in fully preparing myself for a merciless flame job, but Marty was kind (but still only gave me 3 stars, but I was anticipating less than 1) and gave me suggestions on how to make my vocal sound better. I'll link the reviewed version in the June 2018 issue but since then I added an acoustic guitar track (via Native Instruments Strummed Acoustic Guitar). I submitted the song to Marty before I bought the guitar plugin, but the link here has the complete version. https://johnbowen.bandcamp.com/track/the-twilight-side-of-morning magazine link; https://recordingmag.com/readers-tracks/#1511214487596-8aad1025-bad2 Enjoy ?John B.

No problem at all with the "cassette sound". It's great no matter where it came from. You did a great job. Nice tune. ?John B.

I enjoyed this very much. I'm not much into Metal but I like the way you're singing this. Sounds a bit like you're heavy on the compression because I can hear clipping at spots. But it might be more because I'm listening on earbuds. I do very much like the tune and the style. Later, I'll try listening on better playback gear. ?John B.

Nice, soft rocker. The mix is good but in a few small spots a bit off balance where I have to strain my ears a bit to hear what Daryl is singing. But it's a great tune and a nice listen overall. ?John B.

This is a bit of a departure for you, ES. Your material is usually more deep and cerebral. But it's a great piece of work, just the same. In fact it shows your sense of diversity. I especially love your synth sounds. The trumpet is very pretty also. I'm not big on pure electronica, but you have a way of making it much more interesting than usual. ?John B.

A far as your arrangement, it's excellent and that's the most important part. So that's what I'm starting with. I use string & horn libraries too and it makes me so angry when somebody will comment on the sound and not even mention the arrangement, so kudos on the arrangement. I love it! Now, as far as the sounds, I've never been a big fan of Garritan libraries. I use their horns in the Jazz & Big Band library which sounds a bit better than their strings (Personal Orchestra). I think your excellent arrangement would sound much better in something like Native Instruments Session Strings or Session Strings Pro. Their sounds are a bit more realistic, but you've done the best with what you have. ?John B.

I remember I had this issue when I first started using Sonar X3 Studio in 2014. It resolved when I went to a new computer the following year. Til then I just had to close using the task manager. I know this isn't an answer. Just a observation that may lead to one. ?JB

Yeah, IIRC that's what they told me too. To be honest, there's something that Miroslav loses in Sampletank. It sounds better in the Miroslav interface. ?JB

This same thing happened to me back last April when I installed CbB. What you need to do is go to the IK Multimedia site and ask their tech support about it. I don't remember exactly what they did, but the helped me with Miroslav. I think they linked me to an update. Good luck, Bro ?John B.

Never mind. I found it.

I'd like to use the saturation knob and ReMatrix Convolution Reverb but cannot see them on my Pro Channel. I used to know but forgot. How do I make them (and other Prochan features) appear? Thanks ?John B.

I stand corrected then. I didn't know exactly how but I knew they degraded somehow. I only realized it recently after watching a guy named Techmoan on YouTube. He buys up vintage audio gear and tries to restore the machines back to working order. Interesting. I also might be thinking about an old stereo system I bought back in '87 or so. It was a Kenwood rack system and the speakers had duo woofers. In 2005 I gave it to a friend and as I was taking the speakers out to his car I heard a thud inside one of them. It was actually one of the woofers that had fallen through into the box because the rubber-ish material that surrounds the outer diameter had actually degraded and dried up after the 18 years I had it. It literally became an ashen, dried up mess on the bottom of the cabinet. ?JB

GSWITZ-Were you actually able to make the transport work on this unit? That would be very surprising given that the belt probably dried up in all these years. Even if you would've kept using it up until now I'm sure you would've had to replace the belt by now. Curious. ?

I still have my Fostex X-15 and 160 multitracker in my basement plus my Yamaha RX 17 drum machine. I noticed a small uptick in fidelity going to the faster 260 but don't expect anything near what CbB (or probably any other DAW , for that matter) would give you, It's still only 3.34 ips and still only 1/8 inch tape. I was going to buy an MT2X back in 1988 but went with the Fostex instead. Maybe I would've made out better with the Yammy, but I'll never know now. EDIT-Suggestion for Forum-Vintage gear area. Seems to be a pretty popular topic from this thread. ?

I will not update until you guys say you're happy with it. ?JB

This kind of music is just my cup of tea! Reminds me so much of Chick Corea and Return to Forever. And don't feel bad about the modulation. IMHO, thats what helps make it a great sound. ?John B.

You make it work well for you. Sounds great, both guitar & vocal. ? BTW-Thanks so much also for the Johnny Carson footage. I long so much for the days when late night talk shows were just that-Talk, without the damned political BS and unfunny monologues by unfunny people. ?John B.

I'm sure she would've loved it. She was probably my biggest fan. Thanks, Lynn! ?

I just wanted to say that I love this section and the themes that you guys are coming up with. For the longest time when I was working with X3 Studio I got bored to tears with the same ol' damned look! Thanks to you creative dudes I have a variety that I can change every now and then. Please keep 'um coming! ?John B.

aether.roots, studioguy 1 and bjorn- Thank you all so much! ?JB

If it's an audio track, as per what scook said. But if it's a MIDI or instrument channel it won't be there. ?JB