Goin Back Dec 5 updated

[John Vere]

https://soundclick.com/share.cfm?id=14683218

Edit Dec 5- 

Thanks for every ones feedback. I followed a lot of it and have made a lot of small changes. Worked on just about every instrument and the vocals. I found even a few more bad guitar notes as well as the Hi Hat hadn't been edited at all. It wasn't even quantized. 

 

Edit Nov 20  

I think I made my wife happy by just re doing the Bass, drums and rhythm guitars so they are more sustaining. Then I decided to add harmonies. 
This is still in the proofing stages. 

Edited December 5, 2023 by John Vere

[KSband]

Nice tune, sounds good to me.

[jack c.]

drums are fine now.jack c

[John Vere]

Just a bump as I totally redid a lot of parts. 

[Bapu]

Great track John. I think I hear just a little mud in the vocals, but not  a deal breaker. Everything just fits like a glove.

[John Vere]

Interesting as this is my first song with the Zoom L8. I always hi pass at about 160hz  on vocals. And let’s face it, I can’t sing like I used to! I never am  happy with vocals these days, Melodyne can’t fix everything!! 

[Larry T.]

Nice work John. We all hear things a bit differently, my ears hear that the drums could be up a dB or two and the vocal, which works very nicely, could be up around 1dB in certain parts????

[Bajan Blue]

Hi John - like this and enjoyed it - agree with Larry for me the drums could be up a little bit

otherwise all good

Nigel

 

[John Vere]

Thanks everyone this is what I love about this song forum,, the more ears the better. I'm actually tempted to just redo the vocals and use my Beta 58 like I used to. I just started using the SM7B and I think Ed was right it's sort of muddy.  I've had a sort of a cough / cold too and I'm over it.  And I ran out of Scotch! 

The drums are a new attempt at re introducing more audio and less midi. Its a  Ludwig  Vistolite snare, I'll try some compression and EQ. 

[PhonoBrainer]

I like it, it's very smooth, and I like your vocal delivery a lot! Just enough twang!

My ideas for your mix? For the vocal mud, no need to re-record it, just try pulling a notch eq down around 250hz, narrowish Q, abot a 3 db cut. That's a mud removal starting point. This region conflicts with the bass guitar, so you might get the bass below 500hz all "mono" in the middle, while the vocals below 500hz might be pushed just a bit towards the sides. There are tools that do this sort of thing.

Drums are a bit pushed back, I'd recommend more hi-hat programming, and in the chorus, I'd go doubletime on the snare at least, so there's a bit more "drive" going on. That's a totally personal choice.

The acoustics and banjo? are out wide, very nice! They might be a bit dry or too loud out there.

Very listenable, cool lyrics, you have a good one here!

cheers,

-Tom

[John Vere]

@PhonoBrainer Thanks for your very detailed evaluation and recommendations. I agree.  
This why it takes me 2 days to finish a song but 3 months to proof and fine tune!

[Bridget Murphy]

On 11/14/2023 at 11:06 PM, John Vere said:

https://soundclick.com/share.cfm?id=14683218

Edit Nov 20  

I think I made my wife happy by just re doing the Bass, drums and rhythm guitars so they are more sustaining. Then I decided to add harmonies. 
This is still in the proofing stages. 

The acoustic and all banjo placement is nice, though you might want to explore adjusting their dryness or volume. Overall, it's a very listenable track with cool lyrics — you've got something good going on here! Cheers!

Edited November 23, 2023 by Bridget Murphy

[mark skinner]

Good one John !  I think this would be a perfect one for a pedal steele. Wish I had one and could play it ..  I agree that the lead vocals need some EQ work. They need to cut thru the mix a little bit more. Kinda getting lost against the fantastic backing vox trax. I wouldn't be too shy with the highs after getting a little mud out. From the next song that plays after it on Soundclick , it seems you've got a little bit of the "shy" syndrome , not wanting to boost your vocals to the level they should be .  I also think the Tele sounding fill guitar could be fattened up a little with a little more reverb or delay .    Anyway ..  I Really enjoyed it as it is ..       mark

[John Vere]

I put this aside for a while as I’m so stupidly caught up in Next. I haven’t turned on Cakewalk for a week. 
I really appreciate all the replies and advice more than you might realize. Next week I’ll definitely put aside a day to get this on done.  
 

[InstrEd]

I liked it John.

[John Vere]

Dec 5 2023   Posting to bump to top for new edited version. Enjoy.  

[DeeringAmps]

All good here, although I would push the BG vox up a notch. 
Much enjoyed ?

t

[John Vere]

Here's what I did. Just for those who think this is easy ?

Drums- Hi Hat was not edited so quantize to 1/16, then adjusted the velocities. I also manipulated the overheads in AD. I added just a touch of hi EQ as well. Done.

The snare, I converted the real snare to Midi,   I still couldn't get want I wanted so I soloed and exported as a stem and brought back as audio track. That worked as I could now use a proper compressor,  EQ. and reverb. Done. 

The rhythm guitars I hi Passed a little more and bumped them in the upper mid. Pushed level a touch. Done.  

The lead guitar I didn't think the solo was coming through, It is a 1964 Guild arch top one PU at Neck. Flatwounds. So I did a little editing, (found 2 bad notes.) I then ran it through the Focusrite Red compressor and that evened it out perfectly.  Done. 

My voice track needed evening out, It was only meant to be a rough copy  so I had not given it too much TLC.  I think it works for the style of song so I fixed a few pitch issues and then used Gain to bring up and down the levels as needed. There was at least a 6db difference in some parts.  This got rid of needing too much compression.  I also swapped the CA 2A for the Red. I find this step is critical to get voice out front. Manual editing is better than Compression. Done. 

The real banjo I started hearing conflicts with the lead guitar. Being too lazy to dig it back out and redo it I converted it to Midi and used the Yojo banjo. This in the end was a better idea and it allowed me to match up the fills with the lead guitar better. Long live Midi! Done. 

I'll live with this version for a few days and see what you folks have to say as well as it still hasn't been run by the boss. 

Thanks once again to all your help, I really do appreciate it. 

Edited December 6, 2023 by John Vere

[Wookiee]

Don't know what iteration this is but it sound sOk here.