Barry Seymour

Bloody genius! Very idiosyncratic., yet catchy. Lots of great textures, sounds, melodies. Nothing in the mix jumped out at me - it all melds beautifully.

I NEED SPECIFICS, MAN. ? It does feel a bit crowded.. there are a LOT of tracks here. I feel I've made good progress in trimming and thinning so all the tracks can coexist. I also did a new thing -- after I mixed and mastered using headphones, I reviewed it again using my phone earbuds. Made some tweaks so it sounded better there.

The original, for comparison.... https://soundcloud.com/barry-seymour/a-little-bit-first-recording-march-2020

This was the first song I recorded in Cakewalk four months ago. Perhaps I was overly ambitious. Anyway, I just listened to it again two weeks ago and it was like finding a moldy loaf of bread in the cupboard. I've learned SO MUCH since then. So I decided to record it again! And here it is. New Stuff: Strings on the middle eight! Better integration of harmony vocals MUCH better drum track Better sound and compression on the bass Feedback welcome.

Thanks for all the information. The pieces are slowly coming together in my fevered brain.

Okay, I read this again and I think I have an even better take on things. Will research more.

Sorry, I'm Mr. Analog Instrument, never knew much about MIDI. I am unsure of what you mean by 'check all the instrument and MIDI Track Input Assignments.' But I created a new empty project with an eye toward learning; Just Drums and Strings. Here's what I understand so far... I have to set input to each track to Mini OMNI for the virtual controller to work If I select a track, then the virtual controller records that track. If I shift+Click the track NUMBERS, both are selected and VC input is routed to both. Gotta make sure I avoid that. If I start recording, manually entering notes, the first few beats / notes are not captured / recorded. Any suggestions on that? I tried setting the MIDI input to separate channels for each of the instruments, but then the VC didn't work. I suspect that's by design. I don't think the VC has a 'MIDI channel,' per se. Am I barking up the right tree so far? Thanks for your help so far.... Barry

Okay, I found the Virtual Controller (thanks anyway, scook) but now when I hit keys it plays both the strings and the drum kit! I was able to freeze the audio from the drum kit to prevent that, but might there not be a better way?

I seem to be unable to set up SI String to accept input from my computer keyboard. I did it last month for a song I recorded, but now I'm trying to do it again and bless me but I can't get it to work! I even went back to my previous project and it's not working there either. Here are the steps I take: Right-Click and select "Insert Instrument" Select "SI String Section" and click "Create" VST appears. I can hear sounds when I click the keys with my mouse I click the keyboard button at top right ("Give all keystrokes to plug-in") I press computer keys. No sound. What am I missing? Thanks in advance for any help you can give. Barry

You got a good ear! Yes, when I first laid down that track, I thought "does that sound too much like T. Rex?" But when I went to add the acoustic rhythm guitar, I came up with this contrapuntal pulsing thing that gave it a whole new feel. Most importantly, I had a friend who lived in Houston for ten years who said "this is TOTALLY the kind of song I used to line dance to." Mission accomplished! I really feel this is the best I've done. I'm really getting the hang of this. Thanks for the kind words.

The actual line is "I missed that part" but your version is funnier. ? I'll consider your other suggestion as well. Could be!!! Thanks for the kind words.

Anyone? ?

Someone said I was starting to sound country. I went all in. This was a potload of fun! Constructive criticism welcome.

Ironically, it was played on an acoustic guitar, but I added the TH3 guitar effects VST and distorted it. I wanted it to be searing. Thanks for the input, and the kind words.

So when I listened to it in what was essentially a mono headset, the voice completely disappeared. Some users (iPhone 8 and iPad) said it 'sounded weird, I can't hear the voice too well.' They, like me, lacked the technical knowledge to describe the exact issue, but it was something I wanted to fix. I think I'll stay away from this effect; it seems to have unpredictable results. Thanks for the information.

I just ended up removing the effect; it sounded fine to me without it and some said it sounded better. I'm just curious what the reason for this puzzling filter was.

I've got a real puzzler. I have a recording where i used Sonitus Surround Sound on several instruments. It sounded fine in my headphones, both during mixing / mixdown and when I played back both the WAV and MP3 files. But when I put it up on SoundCloud, some users claimed they had trouble hearing the vocals. I played it again and it sounded fine. But when I used a Plantronics mono headset, the vocals and lead guitar were COMPLETELY GONE, like they were never there! Plug in my nice headphones, and it's back. I removed Sonitus Surround Sound from the vocals and exported the song again. At that point I could hear vocals. I repeated the process, removing Surround Sound from the lead guitar. This time I STILL can't hear it. What the heck is going ON!?? I'm sure it 's something obscure and highly technical. https://soundcloud.com/barry-seymour/the-kind-of-man-who-does-whats-right

The tone quality makes me think of Brian May's Red Special, actually! Just me trying to come up with something novel. Using 80s shredder effects on an acoustic guitar...but it WORKED.

https://soundcloud.com/barry-seymour/the-kind-of-man-who-does-whats-right Here's a remix. I removed the surround sound from the vocals; some devices seemed to have problems with it, like the voice was canceled out or something. It was strange. Let me know if you think this mix works better.

Thanks for the kind words. Again, not my story, thankfully.

I kept going back and forth on that. In the end, I wanted it to blend more with the strings, kind of like a co-equal voice. Interesting side note on that, that is a Takamine acoustic guitar with built-in pickups. I used one of the included VSTs and it sounds like frickin' Brian May! (The tone quality, at least.) This is a do-over; I re-sang the vocals.

It kind of is. I want the vocal to sit right inside the listener's head, like this is a personal story. I have an update, will post momentarily...

This? https://mixcoach.com/creating-depth-the-haas-effect-2/ Intriguing. I'll have to research this. Interestingly, when I listen to this on my work computer with a single-ear mono headset, I hear no vocals at all! Something weird going on in this mix for sure...

While I thank you for the thought, this is not my story, thankfully.

I used reverb and surround sound on the acoustic guitar and the vocals. I'll review the settings.