recorded for a demo compilation cd
ive been recording a compilation for a group of artists from liverpool, based around acoustic nights that i run. the idea is we can sell the cds at our nights, to give exposure and a bit of cash to the talented regulars that we have.
here’s one of the artists, if people like it i’ll upload some more. we’re doing 10 artists in total and we’re about halfway thru.
this lady is called helen, and any comments on how to improve the production would be great…any thoughts at all would be lovely.
http://www.soundclick.com/mixo
ta,
collen
I get page not found and directs me to the soundclick home page…
| Quote (RichLum @ Dec. 16 2005,01:04) |
| I get page not found and directs me to the soundclick home page.... |
YUP!!! same here.
Linky no worky.
oh soundclick have deleted my acct for copywrite infringement for some reason! anyone know anywhere else i can host it??
ok, the artist herself has put it up on her myspace page…please have a look if you can. the song is called 'secret love’
http://www.myspace.com/helenpanayiotou1
this link SHOULD work now! apologies folks, and once again all comments appreciated, both to the artist and to myself as producer.
many thanks
collen
Site is “down for maintenance”. Nice Pac Man game though.
myspace does that sometimes. should be up again now
please, will anyone give us any feedback at all??? 
Eyup!
Page opens, but nothing happens when I try to play the song.
Steve
Well when I first went to the site I tried clicking on the “Secret Love” song…but nothing. It just kept saying page loading in my lower bar.
Then I pressed stop, and refreshed the page.
As soon as the page reloaded to my delight, “secret love” started playing… It seems the page automaticly starts playing “Secret Love”, then the ususpecting user goes to click that song, and well…too much for one system I guess.
Ok so far…
Guitar work is nice. Clear, in tune, crisp.
Everything seems well balanced, even volume levels but a little low. I think they could be brought up just a bit, but if this is a pre-mastering mix, it’s just about where I’ve been told it should be.
That’s about it on the sound quality end. This is a recording forum, so I will save any other related comments for a more fitting venue.
Falling to Peices
A little more production…
The guitar isn’t as crisp, and clear or verby as the last. Not that it’s muggy, but could use a little more tinsel. Personaly I would take the keys down just a tad, and guitar up or at least more crisp in the mix. The violin is a nice touch makes it more earthy and natural sounding.
That about it again on the mix. There’s alot more that could be said in the overall structure, but again would not post comments in this forum unrelated to the mix.
Can’t
This mix is more to my liking. The guitar is higher in the mix, and more crisp as in the first. It blends well with the keys at that level and tone. Mabey add a slight verb to the violin as it doesn’t quiet blend with the other instruments. It seems to be over top of them due to it’s rawness.
If any of my comments have offended I appolgize in advance. I realize music(for a musician) is a very personal part of ones being. And my comments are only ment for the improvement of your product.
If you would be interested in other thoughts I may have on the general arrangement and overall listenability of these tunes, and what could be done to improve them, I would be happy to send you my thoughts in a PM.
BTW, are you really freind with PJ Harvey? Your just too cool!
Keep pluggin’
jerm
Better than anything I do…so I can’t comment.
Good stuff…
cliff
thanks for the comments, those of you who managed to get the track to play. as a producer im only really interested in the track ‘secret love’ as thats the only onei recorded, although helen is a friend and an artist i respect anyway. i dont like the way the violin is recorded on her other tracks, but they are not going on the cd i am producing so nevermind!
jeremysdemo: id be glad to hear your thoughts on her songs from a musical rather than recording point of view if you would like to share: drop me a line at horridreviewAThotmail.com
im gonna upload a few more songs by different artists from the project soon if people would be interested…liverpool always offers up talented musicians, im sure you’ll all agree 
if anyone could give me any more detailed info on the production of ‘secret love’ or any others when i do upload them, please let me know, cos, apart from using my ears and teaching myself how to use n-track, i really dont know what im doing…i just try and get a nice hot signal when recording and then mix it till it sounds good, im sure it should be more technical than this…!!
many thanks for your time people
<!–QuoteBegin>
| Quote |
| im sure it should be more technical than this…!! |
An artist this good can make a project seem simple. Unless you mess it up, it will probably turn out pretty good. There isn’t much you can do to improve and, I think, if you try too much doctoring it will not be as good. Sometimes the trick is to know when NOT to do anything more.
The hard stuff is starting with “not much” and trying to make something out of it – kind of what I do with my own stuff.
If you’ve more musicians like this I think you will be selling quite a few CD’s.
Good luck
cliff
g8torcliff: thanks for the input. i know what you mean, less can be more. i was thinking of some auto-pan on the back vocals to make them move a bit more, but i like the way this sounds, its quite beautiful without being saccharine.
lets hope we do sell lots of cds, maybe i cold sell some on here 
that would be nice. they’ll be going through our (in development) website for about £6 or £7 sterling. for 10 tracks. bargain!
will post some more tracks soon…
Eyup!
Ah, I finally got it to work by following Jerm’s method and not clicking on anything after the page had loaded.
It’s not really my kind of music, a bit too introspective.
However, I do recognise quality when I hear it.
Helen is a talented person.
From a technical point of view, I found the guitars too boomy, they lacked clarity. You may consider cutting the lower frequencies, especially around 100Hz.
A bit too much finger squeak as well. I like a certain amount, it gives life to a performance, but it needs to be almost invisible to be most effective.
Helen has a good voice and I don’t think this mix showed it off at it’s best, maybe adjusting the eq on the guitars will give the vocals some extra room. She deserves it.
As for production, I thought the song lasted longer than it actually did, which means I probably got bored somewhere along the way. The additional vocals towards the end were excellent and brought some fresh interest.
All in all, good stuff, I can see why Helen is a popular girl!
Steve
ok, bass freqs on the guitar noted, i can see your point. ive only used n-tracks built in eq to do a little trimming so far, will have to get a more detailed eq going on maybe and analyse it a little closer…there is only one guitar there though (i took a line and mic level and combined the two).
how do i stop finger noise? agreed a little noise makes it seem ‘real’ but ive recorded another artist where this is more of a problem than it is on this track…is that down to mic placement, or the artist, or can i do anything about it in the mix?
thanks for your help guys, im on a step learning curve
Reverb accentuates string noise. For my taste it has a little too much reverb, both vocals and guitar. String noise is a guitar playing technique that takes some practice to reduce. It does detract at times here.
Great song, great voice
This is a really nice song. I like the guitar and a beautiful voice.
Agree that the finger squeeks are a bit too prominent.
Apart from re-recording the guitar you might be able to make them less in your face by eq’ing them.
Get a narrow notch and sweep it around and see if you can find a sweet spot. Just depends on whether it takes too much away from the guitar sounds you want to keep…
Where did you place the mic? If it was close to the fretboard and above the neck you may get less string noise if it’s below the neck (as it’s the low strings that produce the string noise).
I place my mic there as it also means I get less of the bass and more higher frequencies
How did you do the reverb? I find 2 short reverbs are better than 1 long reverb to make everything sound fuller without sounding like you are in an empty room…
Pleasure listening to that song (3 times) though.
Rich