PhonoBrainer

Hi Freddie! Sweet harmonica as always, and the guitars are of course well played. At any given moment, however, the guitars are jamming on top of the harmonica, all during the vocals. I think your mix works best when one or two things are featured at a time, instead of a pile-up. I get that that can be a blues style, sort of a jam, and if that's what you want here, then mission accomplished! Maybe consider some selective pruning here and there? I love your blues style - maybe I like my blues arrangements a little less densely packed with goodness! ` cheers, -Tom

That's a fun mix. Everything sounds pretty up front, but nothing really clashes. Whatever chorus you have on the ep is lovely, and the vocal one works too. Any room for more bass guitar? Or are you playing that on the ep? The chorus on the guitar lead, wow, so clear. Your song wins the Finest Chorus award. It's great, whatever it is, and it doesn't mud things up at all. Your drum instrument is probably the improvable spot here, what did you use? Even the illuminati likes a good chorus effect. You are safe. cheers, -Tom

Condolences on your loss, and the emotion of that is very present in your piece. I like how the bass is actually doing jazz moves - it sounds great in the mix, maybe you could add just a bit more low end bass back in on the bass guitar? The piano's bass is nicely controlled - overall your mix I think has a slight favoritism for the upper frequencies. Of course, flute leads do that! When you listen to it without the flute (mute the flute!) does the mix seem balanced between high and low? I suspect you might get away with popping in half a db on the bass guitar, around 150 or so hz, I wonder if that would help fill out the bottom a bit more? Or could you bring up the kick drum a tad, which I think usually has a fundamental slightly lower than the bass? Or that's just me. As for the flute, for me it's mixed just a bit loud, and just a bit dry. But this is 100% personal preference, it just depends how much of a feature or spotlight you want on it. It sounds totally valid as is, and I agree, for a freebie, that flute patch sounds pretty good, sort of in a pan flute direction. I'd probably add too much reverb and ruin everything - as you have it, it certainly has clarity. Piano? Well then. With sampled pianos, every single different person on earth will give you a different opinion as to tone, velocities, eq, patch quality . . . my point is, get the piano to where it sounds good to you, put a little reverb on it, and call it good. You can massage piano samples for days and days only to chase your tail. What you have (is it ez keys or some such?) does the job, pretty well actually, but you might look around for some of the kontakt pianos that might have a bit more 3D depth in the sound field. And if you get a better piano patch, it will still be tricky to mix. Fun, huh? Just my .02 cheers, -Tom

Great fun to listen to, very nice collab guys. Jesse your vocal clarity on this one is great, the vocal is nice and up front in the mix. Whatever your vocal mixing chain was, it's a keeper. well done both of y'all. -Tom

I am #777 with the Rick 12. My cliche' lava lamp needs a new friend.

He brings a lot of jam to the jam.

This is how you do it. Great company, and it doesn't hurt that their product offerings are top tier.

Welcome back David! Looking forward to your new tunes! and if he was in Portland traffic, he would have rejoined us months ago. If he was in Seattle traffic, he'd be a skeleton in his car.

Hopefully she is spiritually prepared for that Great Gig in the Sky.

this post reminds me of something the Talking Heads would post, if they had a love child baby with Porcupine Tree. Joad, I think most people can handle being compared. I do that occasionally when I comment on other's songs . . . isn't that part of the fun of listening / interpreting / commenting? Maybe the people who have that particular sensitivity could post their songs with a disclaimer, warding off any unwanted comparisons. But that might be weird.

He sure had a thing for black strat copies with white pickguards. Maybe she wanted more shades of grey.

Anyone who busts out of a self-imposed genre prison has my respect. Cool tune, Daddy-O . . . good to hear your stuff again. And I liked the ambient stuff as well! I honestly dont know enough about early Supertramp jams, but if so it's fun. I got a Yaz feel myself. Love it. cheers, -Tom

I love the mundane subject matter presented with quirky urgency. Mix is super clear. Everything is very distinct and enjoyable. You did a really great job from conception to execution. Some ideas for improvement? I dunno. It's great. but I would almost bet a Thanos snap that it was mixed by a guitar player. That's clearly the focus. And the guitars totally shine - but I'd bring up the drums a fair bit in the non-vocal sections, and there is no discernable bass guitar. Is there a bass? If not, there certainly could be . . . in a piece like this, Primus-like, more bass please? Anyway, it matters little. It's still very listenable as is and the clarity is outstanding. Plus it's fun. I nominate your song to be the Official Song of the official amphibian of the great state of Pennsylvania. cheers, -Tom p.s. where's that confounded chorus? ?

Excellent! I'd back the lead vocal down maybe just a half a db. But it's a quality vocal, great feeling throughout. What a standout, that pedal steel - did you play that? Whichever, it's great! And the fiddle is decent as well. Great chops all over this one. cheers, -Tom

Did you get a power surge? Are any other appliances fritzy?

yep. killer song. Hey where are the drums hiding, and the bass? @AndyB01 check the mp3 output or whatever. This render is all vocals and piano, with drums kind of in "bleed" mode.

I like the songwriting - the melody over the dark-feeling guitars, and your voice is exceptional. Sometimes you can judge a song by its mood or tone alone, and this is top shelf songwriting and production. If you have the ability to go back in and lower those cymbals, and make them ring out instead of choke off, that might be worth a try. I think the mix in the hands of a pro would get this into the actual charts. Killer voice, killer songwriting. Did you ever shop your demos around? It's a mind-blowingly deceitful and narcissistic industry, but your material is very strong and I wonder how far you could take it. cheers, -Tom

Bapu wishes he had that hair.

I'm glad you are finding ways to enjoy Vegas. I've been several times but the last was 15 years ago. BMG and suchlike aside, it has always struck me as one of the most spiritually depressing places in the U.S. I like my depravity, but just not that sordid.

Hopefully the hordes of locusts and the raining frogs will be done by then.

Certainly hides the humor!

Jeepers. Nice run of luck you've had of late . . . best wishes.

It's only that faster phrase where she is singing a cadence in a faster bpm that kinds challenges the ear. That middle, more droney, slower part, you have it lined up really well. The washiness of the deep reverbs never becomes boring. You might even add a smidge of rvb or pitch shifting to the bass, which as is works but could maybe gel more with a little sauce on it. I think this is pretty killer, when she is slower, it gets into cool manthric territory very quickly. cheers, -Tom

I dig the groove, and that second bass tone that comes in, very cool. The perc is all over the place, in a very good way. Hope you are thinking about some lyrics? That was a very engaging listen. cheers, -Tom