PhonoBrainer

I don't know, but the Klingon solitaire seems to be going well.

That chorus grooves hard!!! Great stuff. And, another mixing clinic. I'm not surprised it too you a while, so much clever mix idearrs. Clarity that gets my ears smiling from the first bar. Pure pop goodness and very listenable tunesmithery - well done! cheers, -Tom

I always listen! Even if I don't always post. On this one, you are really going for it in the vocals! You have some good range up there! Sounded good to me. I appreciate the lyrics - do you have them in mind when you start, or is it a hit record and free form kind of deal? If you get a chance for a bit more spucing up, I think there's a tuning issue with guitars around 1:05 area. This song seems to have a nice verse-chorus-verse-chorus and I dig structure so that's very cool, Jesse! It's still original as your fingerprints. nice job. cheers, -Tom

1:02, your pronunciation might be more "deh-zert" than "diz-ert". Your voice is great - love the singing. I know you are non-native to English and I think you do an incredible job singing in a different language. Mix works for me. Nice voice / acoustic guitar combination. Overall the file might be just a bit hot (loud?) - I had to turn down my volume knobs a little to enjoy it. Great fade out!!! cheers, -Tom

If you Pea Crisps you should probably get that Iooked at.

Does this work as a pick up line with the chicks? ?

$50 Waves to Even Lower? More coffee please.

Oooooh! Great idea, like a purple one! Anyway, didn't mean to hijack bapu's desk thread, so back to how nifty his stuff is. Godliness is next to his desk, methinks. Maybe one century I'll clean up my act and start my own thread.

Did you see any ebola quarantine stuff while you were there? I liked that scary hornbill at the end. Overall, those bird pics were simply amazing!!! cheers, -Tom

lyrics are top notch. mix is all there, maybe a bit more bass when you aren't singing. You might also back the main vocals down just a bit, not much. The horns (great parts!!!!!) just have a different reverb than the drums, and therefore sound a little out of place. Great horn lines, though. There are a lot of characters here! If you are going to have a character named Jimmy, then maybe don't borrow a jimi hendrix guitar line? Or was that on purpose, paying homage to voodoo chile? If you are going to do that, I would leave out the voodoo chile lick in the intro. When I first heard it, my thought was "this guy is stealing that lick" and of course not knowing the story yet, it gives a negative impression. For me at least. I thought it was a great song, the mix is very well done I think except for maybe the horn reverb. cheers, -Tom

Big fun here! It doesn't sound all that bad, really. Here's some idearrrrs: 1) volume automate the guitar down 1db when the vocal comes in. Bring it back up when it there is no vocal. Or are you doing that already? 2) Think about half a db lower for the bass guitar 3. Give Henry Fonda on the drums a little caffeine so he can play some fills? I dunno, it might kill him, so nevermind. Truly a watchable effort, I liked the video presentation, and kudos for that perfectly stanky rhythm guitar swagger. Spot on in the groove department. cheers, -Tom

I have sooo many problems with this! First off, great picture. Looks like a great place to work. 1. Too damn clean. I'm jealous. See my pic. 2. You have no room treatment. WTF? Is that beige pull-down shade thing behind your monitor actually doing any absorbing? 3. one monitor? does your mouse heat up while you are mixing? But seriously, look how tall that monitor is! Do you show drive-in movies on it during the weekends? 4. The midi keyboard is way high up, do you move it down when playing, or do you stand up while you play? 6. where are the stacks of useless Computer Music free dvd's, each with over 2GB of discount sonic maximizers and fresh beats? 5. where are the milk crates, the cinderblocks, and the plywood strapped across two of your dead mother's nightstands? Again, see my pic. 6 Lastly, get rid of your MAcke HR-824 mk II's. They hype the bass too inexpensively. You need to pay a lot more $$$ for proper monitors that hype the bass at a much greater cost. Overall, yours is a worthy effort, just deficient in inefficiency. How do you ever achieve auto-erotic asphixiation with a headphone cord? I thought that was mandatory. All seriousness aside, your studio rawks, dude. -Tom

I appreciate these Nonsense Quitters.

Well John, I've heard your voice and I'd recommend a ribbon or a dynamic. What microphone have you used in the past? Here's my take fwiw. Rode nt1a - has a higher noise floor than some mics, prolly great for rock n roll but maybe a problem for the jazz stuff you like to do. And it's a condenser, which accentuates the higher frequencies - not necessarily good for your voice. Condensers such as the AT-4040 will sound good up front but will be harder to mix later on with compression and eq inside the box. Some of the "radio" mics will thicken and beef up your voice - think dynamic mics like re-20 or the shure sm7b you know how a radio voice has some deeper depth in it? These mics do that. They are not the first call for sinatra vocals but some use 'em. You will need a good preamp, or at least some cloudlifters to add gain to the preamp on your interface, if that's what you are using. Best call for your voice would be a ribbon. I wouldn't cheap out 'cause the cheaper ribbons aren't worth it. AEA-R84 is what I have gone to but it requires an outboard preamp and they arent cheap. But their true advantage is, after recording, you can make lots of compression and eq moves during mixing, without adding harshness as you would to a condensor mic. re-20 (dynamic mic) and Cloudlifter (kind of an in-line preamp) going into your interface = $650ish aea-R84 (expensive ribbon) and preamp that's clean with at least 70 -80db of gain = $1700 at least. More like $2000, depending on the pre-amp. Ribbons need more gain than any other mic type. bewareof recent year's Blues, some of them are made in China now and there is a difference. hope that helps. Clear as mud! But having heard your voice, I'd go dynamic, or quality ribbon. cheers, -Tom

Headphones would be a recommendation! Sounds very nice on the ol' monitors as well. The very beginning few minutes, until the piano comes in, might be brought up in volume. I understand that you want to start small and get bigger with they dynamics, but I found myself wanting to crank the volume just to hear the first half of your piece - knowing that I'd have to lower them again later. If you look at your Soundcloud waveform, maybe match the two parts up just a bit closer? Not a lot, just a little? It's a great piece, filled with dynamics and chill - although I will confess it does not summon up images of J.C. carrying his cross. Oh, well. Still cool. For me, just a volume tweak, and you will have, as they say, nailed it. cheers, -Tom

Nice! I listened to it pretty loud - those are some great synths! One idea - when it's loud, the synths are very bright in the mix, and the lower drums like kick and snare seem very pale. I don't know what you are using for monitors, but I think the shine is tilted towards the upper range. Do you have a filter? In your intro you could filter in the kick drum. Just another thought. The outtro groove is really extra catchy!!! cheers! -Tom

I haven't seen this site before - looks like a collab site, kinda Bandlabian? at around :13 the male vocal's "MAtters" and :17 "My" have like a compressor grabbing the vowel pretty hard? Or is that some editing fun? I dunno. I agree, it's a "big" sounding song and mix, and I like it! The girls vocal sounds like it lacks low mids, which if recorded on a cellphone would make sense. Have you boosted stuff down there? You'd need a very decent eq, the best you got, or else you'll just add artifacts. You might remove just a bit more of her highs with a gentle eq rolloff to get some of the raspiness taken care of. But it's really not too horrible as is - those are little tweaks, But the main thing is, cool song! The guy's voice is great! The drums sound a bit far away, particularly the hi hats / cymbals. Whatever you have for the bgv's works very well! How many people chipped in on this? cheers, -Tom

I'd say this is praiseworthy Well mix wise, I think the vocal (s) might be just a bit out front, maybe back them down just a hair, and bring the kick drum and the drums generally up a bit? Just a thought. Here's another: I'm not sure your bass pattern and your drum patterns mesh or match as well as they could in the verses. In the choruses, seems like they mesh well. In the verse, maybe find a drum pattern that matches the rhythm of the bass line? Or give the bass more to do? The outtro I think works very nicely, mixed well here! There are better mixers than I am on this forum, so I will definitely defer to a higher power. nice one! -Tom

Nice one. Lyrics are nifty, and pleasantly oblique. The unusual chord changes and patterns keep the interest. I'd vote for shortening the intro. I appreciated reading your explanation - wow, this song has a lot of Eddies in it! I would have had no idea. Thanks for that! cheers, -Tom

Bob, great riff in that song! The mix sounds nice and clear, well done! You might check 1:41, is that intentional or a beat skip? I dunno. Cool vid as well. Cheers, -Tom

nice job, they would be proud of you. -Tom

Great riffs, swagger in the rhythm, stellar vocals + bgv's, bass in the perfect pocket. Impeccable guitar tones all over the place. And the drums don't disappoint, either. Great job! -Tom

Kakku - thanks much, nice to see you back on the forum! DKirby - yes, I agree about the piano, and since then I have switched out four different pianos (Yamaha, Bosendorfer, Bechstein) and finally landed on a Steinway D. Plus as many reverbs. I'm still not satisfied but it's better than it was. I think. Pianos are very particular with reverbs and not all of them play well together. Thanks for the critique, it was appreciated. Daryl! As it turns out, I am fluent in Swahili, as well as any other language made available through the Kontakt platform. Thanks for the listen! Bjorn - maybe that's an idea. A piece that is ten hours long that wanders through every country on earth. Love it. Please make the video for it! Thanks for the listen. The thing is now updated, slightly rearranged, and remixed a little. cheers, -Tom

Quick, shut your store down before they demand a return and a refund! Take the money and run! Ha ha. No, your stuff is good, I'm a fan. congrats on your successful time-machine-to-1998 experience . . . cheers, -Tom