Into Mix Session… Needs Ears…
Hi Don and All:
Well, it’s been a long time, but I see there are no more tracks comming in… There has been no updates to the project… So, the mix session will go with the tracks that are on the drives…
http://artistcollaboration.com/users…x01.wma
The first Two-Track mix is posted… I was hopeing that the Mastering book would have arrived this week… Mabey, next week…
There is nothing “Grouped” in this mix. It’s done on my P-111 intel 1.2 mhz. that has a Blaster 5.1 audio card in it… With n-Track. There is 28 stereo tracks… With no effects…
Bill…
Hi Bill
The mix sounds spacious and even. The only thing I would like to hear more of is the vocal. It seems a little buried to me. Maybe try a little less room ambience on the voc and some presence and air. A slight boost around 5-10k. I am a big fan of vocals that sound like they are right beside you singing. Other than that the mix is clean. Sounds great.
Jeromee
http://www.slingblademusic.com
Hi jeromee:
Thanks for your reply… Somewhere along this part of the project I hope to begin to “Group” the tracks and then hopefully the vocal will begin to Shine… So-to-speak… The vocal track is the only track in the project that WYHIWYG… I’m gonna suggest to the project group and see what comes back… I’d like to post for some vocal harmony to support the vocal track in a few places on the verse and chorus lines… Just a mental taste to allow the mind to depart from the “Wetness” of that track… I’m gonna try some guide tracks to see if in fact that might help… Just enough for taste… A word here-and-there…
Bill…
Hey Bill
For my ears some vocal dryness would sound good. I’m into the sound of Ray Kennedy & Steve Earle. They have a little partnership called “Twangtrust”, unfortunatley it is all 24 trk 2" tape but I am trying my hardest to get that sound. Check out Billy Joe Shaver (Love is so sweet) or somthing off of the album “The earth rolls on”. The vocals sound like he is singing 6" from your ear. It gives me cold chills 
Keep up the great work!
Jeremy
Bill,
It’s sounding good to me. I like the new Rhodes right-hand keys. Did you do them? Nice!
Yes, I would like to pull the vox out front more but I know what you are working with there and it will be a challenge to do without pulling up the mixed rhythm guitar. Sorry.
I’m hearing a lot of great work on everyone’s part. Thank you so much, Bill.
Don
Hi Don:
I was hopeing that Bob would come in and re-track his lines… But I guess he’s moved on to other things… He’s a great keys guy… I’d like him to redo his line as opposed to riding the fader… for the tracks … But Most of the “overs” are not stepping on one-another’s toes… now… They seem to play well off of eachother…
I feel bad about removing Paul’s fiddle line from that part of the Time-line… But the keys and steel are a working alturnitive for that part of the song…
I though I’d get that Mastering book this week… But, no luck… Not that it would help me in the mix process… But there might be links and ties to other books, on the mixing subject…
You see, the “OLD” ears can only work for about 4 hours… Then I find I’m unable to be productive… So, I take a breather… then go lay down, and think about what I’ve done with the tracks… If I upload the .sng file, would you be able to open the song?
I don’t think it will “Open”… Ya gotta have the tracks, I think…
There’s a couple of Loose-Ends in the tracks to clean-up… Then I’ll gather up all the tracks and get them written to a CD… in raw data form… Well, there’s more than that… But…
I thought Jeff was gonna post a Bass track for it… But, anyway I have to edit some flubbed bass notes out of the bass track that’s there… John covers them very well, with his Beautiful Kick Track…
Bill…
Hi Bill
Its sounding great. I have to admit, that as this song was progressing, and you were posting rough mixes with all the new instrument parts, I was concerned that there was getting too much in it, and some of the roughs were sounding very ‘cluttered’. But now you’ve blended them all together its fine - well done.
I have to agree about the vox though - it does need bringing forward.
Don’t worry about losing my fiddle part - as I said before, it was out of tune and made me cringe every time I heard it
There is one other thing - and I know I’ve got a vested interest in the box part ( 
) - but with it being very noticably over to the left, and the way it fades at the end, it does give the impression of not being part of the song. Just mho, but otherwise great - I’m proud to have been a small part of this collab.
Pa
OK, now I know sort of thing I should be aiming for.
Very enjoyable 
Ali
Hi Pasher and Ali:
These past few days have been very tough. We are mourning the loss of another one of our Music Brothers, over here.
They appear to be leaving us in increasing numbers, so much so, that I am unable to understand why.
http://www.chebucto.ns.ca/~ax056…ary.jpg
Paul… I like your “Box Break” in this song so much… As well as the “Fiddle Chopp” that surrounds it… I’ll be makeing sure that I wouldn’t be overlooking your thoughts on where they sit in the mix… Recentlly, I’ve been working on John’s Tub Tracks… “Top and Floor Toms”… I hope to have them grouped and back on the time-line…
The track count at one point-in-time was as high as 38 stereo tracks… But, I’m getting that down, now… At some point it should be down to around 8 stereo tracks… I hope… Mabey 9-10 at the most…
I will, and I promise… Be writing the unedited and edited tracks to a CD and getting them out to the guys on the project… Right now I seem to have reems of folders and files all over my hard drives with this project … At least, this way, I wouldn’t loose any important and irreplaceable tracks… I’ve gotten into that, before… 
Anyway, today, is another day… I seem to be getting up earlier and earlier… and going to bed later and later…
Bill…
Bill,
I signed the condolences book for Len McDonald at the site posted in his obit column. Please give our best regards to Mary.
Thanks,
Don:(
Hi Don:
Thanks for your thoughts regarding Leonard. The Chappel was standing room only for our departed Steel/Dobro Player… Eastern Canada has lost one of it’s most respected enterainers… He will be missed by his Peers… I’ll pass on to the family that you signed the Condolence Book… He knew who you were… I always mailed out links to him regarding your project… he stayed current as to how the project was progressing…
Bill…
Bill, I’ve just got to put in my 2 cents worth, because of my love for “music”.
You did a great job and to my ears there’s not much to improve on.
Let’s hear some more of the great music from the past.
Don
Hi Don:
I have dozens of Tascam-38 I/2" 8-Track tape, full of stuff that we recorded over the years… I have to get it A-D’d and edited and mixed… I just need to come up with a consistant method to “Capture” the tracks… What a loss it’ll be, if I don’t get busy at it, and do it…
I’d like to rip the Steel Tracks off it and record Beds and All to Leonard’s tracks… That would be the project of all time, for me to do…
Bill…
wox -
I would also like to hear a bit more of the vocal. You could certainly do this by loosing some of the reverb and slapback on the vocal, but I think they give the vocal a kind of vintage feel. It really sounds “Johnny Cash”-ish to me.
It seems like the parts are a little bit over compressed to me. You might do a lot better to let each of the parts breathe a bit more and then fix the compression in the master channel or in groups (once you implement them).
The only other thing I noticed was that there was a drastic change in tone at about 1:14 (where the chorus starts again). If that’s not from riding the faders, then I suspect that it has something to do with an auto-volume control on a compressor or something, since the parts change right on the first snare hit.
Anyway, that’s a pretty decent mix!
- Ben
Hi Ben Birdsey:
Thanks for your reply Ben. This has gone on forever. It is a “Work-in-Progress” so to speak. I get at it Big Time, then set it aside… Well… Recently, I’ve been working on the drum tracks… I need to address the Box track, again And your right, I need to address some of the way the tracks sit, dynamically, in the mix.
Recently, I’ve ordered a Bob Katz “Mastering Audio” Book… I have my eyes wrapped around it just about every minute I can get… I’d like to try some of the Mastering principals that are in this book to this project… and process the tracks according to the protocals that are found there… What a fastenating book it is…
Bill…
Bill,
You will hate yourself one day if you don’t burn your old music to CD. I know that I do. That stuff can never be redone. I lost a ton of my old music that I had said I would one day redub. You know the rest of the story. So don’t put it off until it is too late, Bill. Please.
Don
Hi Don:
I’ve transfered the Ashamed folder into the studio. I plan to use some of the Bob Katz’s Mastering principals from his book and create a mix on the P-4… We’ll see how it goes.
You’re right… As the nights get longer, I hope to spend some time there and A-to-D some of that Tascam 38 8-Track stuff…
I was over to visit Leonard’s wife on saturday… I’ll tell you, it was a pretty somber visit. I don’t know quite what I expected, but I sure missed seeing Leonard there…
This comming Sunday, a bennifet concert will go, to help Mary see her through these times…
Bill…