Barry Seymour

Thanks for the feedback, everyone. Sorry for my delay in responding, I literally re-sang this on vacation (brought my laptop, mixer, mic and stand on the road!), posted this and then finished my vacation. I'll get to this soon.

Thanks for the kind words. I do struggle with playing to the drum part - it's so slow! Trying to find that groove. As for the pad, it's the basic string pad, the free strings that come with Cakewalk. Still not thinking they're as natural-sounding as I'd like. I'm trying to build them slowly to a crescendo at the end, but maybe I can start from a slightly louder place. Thanks!

Here's the new song. Comments and suggestions welcome.

Final Mix!

I have given some thought to harmony vox on the chorus. Food for thought, thanks...

A rather personal experience.... a lot of these lyrics came to me in the hospital. Took me eight weeks to sort it all out. Input welcome. EDIT: Final mix!

That was charming. Wouldn't change a thing. If you're worried about varying volume levels, use TDR Kotelnikov to master the individual tracks, but I'm not hearing a problem.

Oh, I thought you meant AT 5:45. I get it now. And yeah, that is my response too! When I get an actual record company breathing down my neck, then I'll tighten things up. ?

Here's the final mix. Thanks, everyone, for your invaluable input! https://soundcloud.com/barry-seymour/sneakin-up-on-the-blues

Uh, I'm puzzled. The song is OVER by 5:45. ? If you meant 4:45, that's when the harp ends and the guitar begins. It then solos and fades out. So I'm not quite sure what you're asking here. That said, I'm done. Gonna launch this one. Thanks though, for the feedback.

Thanks, T. I've been told I "essentially have a new heart," that it's been "re-vascularized." I find I have more wind for singing, which I'm doing after my cardiac rehab workouts. I'm back to work as well, and I'm telling my co-workers "I'm fine - now it's YOUR heart I'm worried about!" Thanks for the kind words and suggestions on the song; I still am open to some tweaks. I moved the snare over to one side earlier, then back in a bit; maybe move it back out and down a bit.

EDIT: Final mix is here! FINALLY. Got the harp. Lemme know where you think I am on this. Mixing suggestions / input welcome https://soundcloud.com/barry-seymour/sneakin-up-on-the-blues

I'm still waiting on the final piece, the harmonica solo. I'll have a new mix soon, guys, I promise.

Fun is what I'm shootin' for!

Thanks, Lynn, very kind. I am actually leaning towards increasing the volume on the bass and rhythm guitar, but just a scoche. It's all minor tweaks at this point. Plus I'm still waiting for my harmonica player! ?

Thanks, TD. I think I'm going to stick with the EQ on the guitars for now, although I may boost the volume of the rhythm guitar a bit. It's all minor tweaking at this point, at least until the harp solo gets here. How about the amount of distortion on the vocal? Too much?

Very kind, thanks Mark. I recorded the drums and rhythm guitar prior to the surgery; the vocals are the first thing I did after I came home from the hospital. The slide work I did on an acoustic guitar - it was the only thing light enough that I could pick up at first! (Doctor's orders.) It was only a few days ago I was allowed to pick up my Telecaster again, so I could play lead. I'm still waiting on a buddy to provide a harp solo near the end.

EDIT: This is now the final mix! Okay, here's a new mix for 28 May. I did some low pass filtering on the guitars, adjusted some volumes (bass!) and balances, and added a little more distortion to the lead vocals. What do you think? https://soundcloud.com/barry-seymour/sneakin-up-on-the-blues

It does, thanks. I'll give it a shot.

Your ears are true; I went into the drum mixer and panned stuff out from the center, including the snare. Toms were added manually to a separate track. "High pass" as in reduce the treble, or increase it? And to which guitar, the backing guitar or the solo?

Eh. Walk in the park. (NOT!)

I actually did that, but it's subtle. I may crank it a bit more.

EDIT: Final mix is in this post! Hey everyone! Sorry, I've been out of circulation for a while. A little matter of quadruple bypass heart surgery. ? But I'm doing great and am back with a new song. This is a rough mix; still missing a harmonica part. But I'm soliciting advice on how to mix this. So many of the parts are busy, or dirty - I even applied a little distortion to the voice. (Black Keys FTW.). But does the mix need more clarity? Or is it good to sound swampy? Let me know your thoughts, thanks. https://soundcloud.com/barry-seymour/sneakin-up-on-the-blues

Download it here: https://soundcloud.com/barry-seymour/the-silence-of-snow-drifts Click the '...' button to see a "Download" link.

Thanks for the kind words. My actual problem is that my voice is not as solid and effortless as it was when I was younger. It took several passes and multiple takes for me to get this, and even then I hear places where I'm not quite on the note the way I want to be. So I'm definitely not inclined to try and show off!! ?