PhonoBrainer

Never heard of this song, or of Hawkwind, so that's my disclaimer. But I liked this song, super interesting arrangement! I obviously can't comment on the faithfulness of your cover, if that even matters. Great chops, and I liked the guitars playing off the synths. Or vice versa Mixwise, I heard a few things you might look at. 1) the intro's increase in volume at the beginning of the song takes too long, I had to reset my volume three times to get the right listening level. 2) two thirds in, it's guitar solo time, quite nice but the lead guitar while soloing is actually lower in volume than the rhythm guitar that's supposed to be supporting it. and 3) if you ask yourself "can I always hear the vocals? can I always make out the lyrics?" I think the answer would be "no", in spots, the instrumentation is a bit loud, some other element like snare is masking the vocal intelligibility, or the reverby wash is a bit uncontrolled, maybe more predelay might help? Some of my ratty little observations might be inherent in the original production of the song! So kudos if you have been faithfully authentic, warts and all! I do wish the vocals were consistently more prominent in the mix, as that's a fine vocal performance and a very listenable voice! And the guitareth doth shred! cool tune! cheers, -Tom

No Glory Days.

Queen sang: "Weeds will, weeds will, rawk you"

Space piano. Musk hauls it up there. Parks it past Mars. Recorded with highest resolutions, hundreds of velocity layers, with pristine preamps. Total library size is 5TB. On sale at introductory $29, and we all complain. Especially as there is no sound to be heard.

Is now a good time to mention John Fogerty being sued for allegedly stealing from himself? As you may know, he won, but had to go all the way to the Supreme Court to recoup legal fees. https://www.mentalfloss.com/article/27501/time-john-fogerty-was-sued-ripping-john-fogerty

Heck no, the more hijackers on this plane the merrier! I'll check tha NI one out. Right now I'm using the bv-535 or whatever it is in Reason, and I'd love to drop my Reason subscription completely.

Please forgive me for making observational notes here. I'm hoping some other people are investigating this demo, and might share their observations . . This thing sounds like the clearest vocoder for intelligibility that I've yet heard. It will be used on lots and lots of popular tracks in the future, would be my guess. All the presets use the super excellent Zynaptiq reverb and chorus that's onboard. I still haven't been able to get it to recognize my midi keyboard in real time. ABSOLUTELY KILLS CPU if you ask it to apply the vocode/autotune across multiple notes. For single note vocoding, not a big hit. Put a four, five, or six-note chord together, and your cpu headroom disappears. The "drone" presets might be worth the price of admission all by themselves. They are a great add. That said, it's $149 on sale, soon will be $249? For me that's heavy coin atm. I have a specific task I'm trying to get Orange to do - to robotically vocode without being confined to a single note, without being a robot monotone. I want the robotic vocal treatment to follow the pitch and melody of my sung vocal line . . . essentially, a polyphonic or polytonic robot. No luck yet with Zynaptiq. cheers, -Tom

And if it includes a slider to dial in creaky wooden floorboards and seats, that would be nice as well! Love that place. I've had Spaces I for ten years? and never upgraded for the reasons that are obvious to anyone who can do basic math about upgrade paths. However, with this new offer, does anyone with Spaces II want to rave about it?

Testing the demo, eats cpu for breakfast, and I haven't got Midi Learn to work yet. It's not going to win many awards in the ease of use category. But it does come with some interesting presets. That said, it's tonally very very deep and versatile in the types of sounds it can generate. It comes with a quick start manual that's maybe 20 pgs long? But it doesn't outline how you can get it to "learn" the midi keyboard signal. I'm definitely going to investigate further. This is a delayed gratification type of plugin.

Thanks for the opinions! I actually have the OTS Nylon which has a nice workflow. But the strum engine sounds a bit artificial to me, and I would rate the others a bit more authentic or nicely stylized. OTS Nylon sounds a bit cleaner and I guess generic. The others mentioned have a bit more Spanish or classical or western flavor in their tones. Just my opinion.

I've been comparing this one recently to Efimov's older Nylon at $99, or $149 with a strummer. https://www.ilyaefimov.com/products/acoustic-guitars/nylon-complete.html Or a newer one by Sketch, which is $49. https://sketchsamples.com/product/sketch-nylon/ Any opinions?

Ask ChatGPT?? I have it but I don't remember it featuring the "playback through different speakers" thing. Maybe that's in a newer version than the one I have? However it's a super useful tool to have.

Hold on their a second, I speak to my colleagues about they're concerns and there not too bothered by it. There saying their is no they're they're.

Loafers

Before you can update, you have to update the update button. Thx for the heads up on this, Bit.

They forgot to make the "right" an "alright" Bonus points would have been "porpoises"

The Reign continueth.

It's got the basic ideas and bones of something powerful, and I agree with the above comments re: dynamics building, and the addition of a rhythm guitar. It could even be a reggae groove element, guitar or organ or ep? You might consider employing the limited-eq "telephone" effect on the vocals? Even intermittently? It might help tame the amount of space your vocals are currently occupying in the mix? Just a thought. For me, the vocals are just a bit dominant in the mix. Things are in pretty good shape, I think all you have from here on are refinements! Nice one! cheers, -Tom

That must have been fun as hell to put together, Mark! Completely awesome guitars, clean and crisp when the funk is popping in the wonderful stereo field your panning choices have created. Craig Chaquico didn't need lyrics. Keller Williams usually adds lyrics. These are the two excellent artists I immediately thought of when hearing . . . so I think it's fine with or without, 'cause it's got snap and sparkle. It might be just me but I could hear the bass maybe 1db louder in the mix? Might be worth a go . . . You are so good at creating this type of guitar weave - when things are layered like this, they can get mushy. Just not when you mix them! cheers, -Tom

You have made your own lane, and it's great. Major points for coolness of musical ideas. So because the mix elements are so (wonderfully) diverse and so eclectic perhaps traditional mix comments may not always land successfully? But for me, the elements in the right speaker (guitar lead, and the synthy stuff) occasionally overpowered the vocals. And, again just me, but the kick drum as a super dry "click" drum, I found myself wanting something more traditional with an attack and sustain. Great lyrics, loved how you delivered them, and I really respect your musicality and the choices you make! cheers, -Tom

Got 20 voucher in email, applied to Percussion Thingie, 79 out the door, not too shabby.

Like if Joe Walsh was in the Beatles for the White Album??? I liked those quirky chord changes, and your lead vocals, and the little extra lead vocal that piggyback. Very Inventive! Cheers, -Tom

I liked the sparse creepiness that wasn't too creepy. For me, the vocals could have come in sooner. In the intro buildup, there's a bit of crackle in the left side with the acoustic guitar, and for me the bass guitar could have a bit more presence, maybe the bass notes sustaining longer when they are short? Very cool lyrics, excellent vocals, and the mix (apart from the bass being too low?) has excellent separation. Your drums punch and the cymbals sould clear and fresh! very original and inventive! cheers, -Tom

So it's not sliding anywhere. I guess I'm hearing the latest mix. The word that pops into my head is "soundstage" as in "incredible soundstage" . . . such a pleasure to listen to this mix and it's well-conceived and executed separations. I can't offer any mix ideas where none are needed! But I did find a perhaps checkable moment where a vocal edit or something may be leading to a clip or a pop. 1:13 going into 1:14. That's it. That's all I could find, and it might even be just this particular render, or how it streamed to me. The song itself is poetic, heart rending, and beautiful in the extreme. Vocally you give it a treatment reminiscent of Gordon Lightfoot or Ron Hynes. so thanks for that listen! cheers, -Tom

Love this song, and what a great respectful mix you have here. The pitch of your vocal is splendid!!! But for me the timbre is just a bit thin. You must have considered doubling the lead vocal with another take, and adding a splash of microshift? It could be your mic of choice did the thinning, hard to tell. But the performance is super solid. Love your cover and I'll definitely check back to catch where it ends up. Nice one! cheers, -Tom