Miguel Carzola Posted June 22, 2021 Share Posted June 22, 2021 (edited) Hello again, fellow KWalkers ?. Quick question first. Does posting songs on Bandlab preserve their fidelity? I find that files lose quality in SoundCloud. It doesn't allow me to switch streaming from standard to high quality audio. Hoping to hear what your experience is with that. ? So...about this song: This was the song I moved onto after I learned enough about programming guitars with MusicLab's RealGuitar and RealStrat on "For All We Know", as I mentioned in my last post, so all instruments here are also VST. The song is an original in Spanish that talks about missing someone and if Spanish is not one of your languages I would love it if you could show it to a friend. Yes, it's mine BTW and it's definitely not mastered either but I hope they get the idea. I didn't wanna bore you all with the translation here but I can add it later if anyone cares. ? Meanwhile I hope you can listen to it and treat my voice in your minds just like another instrument. (I'd prefer to be a guitar in your minds if it's all the same to you LOL) At the time I wrote it I envisioned making it in the style of "Jesus To A Child" by George Michael, but that changed with the passage of time and under other influences. When I finally recorded the track as posted here, I had been listening a lot to John Mayer, so I ended up experimenting with some of his approaches to dynamics and arrangements. He doesn't have a powerful voice so they use a close mic-ing technique and they put kind of a flat EQ on his lead vocals (I hand held a Shure Beta 58 for this one) . They also put the lead vocals up front so the diction cuts through, and then they surround it with alternate vocal and instrumental melodies that become part of the chords in the arrangement. Maybe because of that they also don't mix the bass and drums as a typical rock mix. This is most often how they mix pop in other languages too, so to Spanish language listeners (me included) this approach feels natural. Though I can reach the higher notes in the backing vocals here, I used the available Melodyne and lowered the entire bounced track as needed to punch in some of the phrases and then moved those punches to the original song's key for mixing. The advantage I found to doing it this way is that the slight difference in texture (format) makes the harmonies more interesting. (Not feeling like the Castrati was another welcome benefit LOL) I hope you guys enjoy or at the very least can relate. Be well, KWalkers Edited April 18, 2022 by Miguel Carzola Spelling 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mark skinner Posted June 22, 2021 Share Posted June 22, 2021 Miguel , Good job on the guitars , they were pretty convincing. Great job on the vocals , plenty of power and fantastic harmony. Everything flowed nicely. I Really enjoyed the song .. mark Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
David Sprouse Posted June 22, 2021 Share Posted June 22, 2021 (edited) I like mark's comments about flow. It's just a very smoothe song from beginning to end. Enjoyed it. Edited June 22, 2021 by David Sprouse Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FJ Lamela Posted June 22, 2021 Share Posted June 22, 2021 Saludos desde España . Una canción muy bonita y muy bien interpretada y producida. El master siempre se podría mejorar ;). Con respecto a los servicios de streaming,pues todos hacen que tu master pierda calidad debido a la compresion con perdidas (mp3,aac,ogg,etc). No obstante muy bonita producción, felicidades. Greetings from Spain . A very beautiful song and very well performed and produced. The master could always be improved Regarding streaming services, they all make your master lose quality due to lossy compression (mp3, aac, ogg, etc). However very nice production, congratulations. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jack c. Posted June 22, 2021 Share Posted June 22, 2021 all sounds so beautiful!!!!!!!!!!!!!!jack c. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Miguel Carzola Posted June 23, 2021 Author Share Posted June 23, 2021 (edited) Thank you so much, guys. It means a lot to me that you enjoyed it, especially without the lyrics for some of you. Thank you for your time and for not bouncing off in the first few seconds. Also, thanks for the brief explanation on streaming FJ. I’ll look into the new BandLab mastering tool for future posts. Again, thank you guys. ??? Edited June 23, 2021 by Miguel Carzola Clarification on BandLab Mastering 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KSband Posted June 24, 2021 Share Posted June 24, 2021 Very nice, like your voice, good melody too. Only thing wasn't crazy about was the guitar solo. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Miguel Carzola Posted June 25, 2021 Author Share Posted June 25, 2021 Thanx for the feedback Kurt! What would you have done differently??? ? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KSband Posted June 25, 2021 Share Posted June 25, 2021 It sounds very thin and the distortion sounds kind of muddy. Maybe a different amp plugin (if that's what you used). I think it would sound better with less distortion. After listening again the bass could be fattened up too. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
markno999 Posted June 25, 2021 Share Posted June 25, 2021 Miguel, Good song and overall production. Really like the vocals. Regarding the guitar solo, in many instances stringed instruments do not translate very well with MIDI. Your MIDI strumming parts are fine in the mix but the guitar solo is very MIDI'ish and would remain so even with the suggestions made about the sound. I would get a guitar player to learn your solo and play it for you in a more natural flow for this style of music. Many guitar players on the forum here that may be willing to do it for you. Great work though.. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Miguel Carzola Posted June 25, 2021 Author Share Posted June 25, 2021 (edited) Thanx guys. Has anyone tried BabdLab mastering yet? I know the one from SoundCloud only crunches up the mix and then adds volume. How’s BandLab? Edited June 25, 2021 by Miguel Carzola Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Miguel Carzola Posted June 28, 2021 Author Share Posted June 28, 2021 Found out on my own ? BandLab mastering does the same as SoundCloud. Guess it's back to the drawing board-or rather the mixing board ? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bajan Blue Posted June 29, 2021 Share Posted June 29, 2021 Miguel, Nice song and overall production. Really like your vocals. In my experience most if not all on line mastering offerings are not very good Cheers Nigel Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Miguel Carzola Posted June 30, 2021 Author Share Posted June 30, 2021 (edited) Thank you so much, Nigel! Especially about the vocals. I think they are the hardest thing to approach for a singer/songwriter since we have never heard the song sung by anyone else before we step up to the mic lol Bummer about the mastering in streaming services, huh? Thank you so much for listening ?? Edited June 30, 2021 by Miguel Carzola Grammar Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
noynekker Posted June 30, 2021 Share Posted June 30, 2021 Hi Miguel. . . . Excellent song. My opinion is that the instruments do the job, but the vocals are so well sung, that’s the main attraction ! You asked about mastering online . . . it’s a generic formula of artificial intelligence, and works like a roll of the dice. If you master in your DAW, you control things better . . . then when you put it on Soundcloud, the down sampling and mangling of your art is minimalized. Just try to keep as much dynamics as you can, so it won’t get squashed too much ? Really like what you’ve done with this song, it sounds great to me (just listened on headphones so far) What a voice you have ! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Miguel Carzola Posted July 1, 2021 Author Share Posted July 1, 2021 Thank you for your generosity, noynekker. I am really glad you enjoyed all of it. Thanks also for the hack about streaming services. I’ll definitely take that into account when choosing what mixes to upload. Thank you from the heart ?? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paul Bush Posted July 1, 2021 Share Posted July 1, 2021 I concure with all of the above great track and super vocals , not too keen on the strat tone though cheers Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Miguel Carzola Posted July 2, 2021 Author Share Posted July 2, 2021 (edited) Thank you, Paul. I really appreciate the feedback, and thank you for the kind comments on the track and vocals. it means a lot to me. I’m just a guy with a plastic keyboard and a computer who likes to write songs, and I’m not a guitar player, or a bass player, or a drummer, or even a singer for that matter, so I’m always looking to learn from real musicians. …do you have any suggestions on how to achieve a tone you would prefer on the solos? What amps, pedals, speakers, mics, rooms, etc would you use? Any tricks you could share to achieving your sound? Any help would be appreciated ??? Much thankful. M Edited July 2, 2021 by Miguel Carzola Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
treesha Posted July 2, 2021 Share Posted July 2, 2021 Hi Miguel, great job on this song, the feeling comes through your vocals without the words, very nice vocals and expression. I agree that the sound of the guitar is a bit harsh and not as pleasant as the rest of the song which has a sweetness to it. I play guitar and write midi guitar parts more than play them completely in a song because the vst sounds so much better than my old instruments. Its challenging to get midi guitar to sound "natural" and I don't have any tips about how to achieve that ! But the vocals are so good and make the song so work well even some tweaking to the guitar harshness would help it work better. Good work with the melodyne. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Miguel Carzola Posted July 2, 2021 Author Share Posted July 2, 2021 Thank you so much, Treesha. I’ll keep looking and as soon as I change it or get it re-recorded by a guitar player I will re-post, as well as share suggestions for plug-ins and settings. Thank you so much for the encouragement and kindness. ? 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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