I like it Mike!
Whatever you did to my banjo pickin’ makes it sound a little smoother on the last mix. It also seemed to tone down that one “snappy” string on my banjo. Is that just a key change, or is it also faster?
Are you going to leave the singing (which is great!) almost as a separate part, or try to mix them together there at the end? I like that live sound you’ve got going there too.
— Begin quote from ____
kind of a bluegrass Christmas song meets Pink Floyd concept album
— End quote
Can I say, “how can you have Christmas pudding if you don’t eat your meat” on my vocal track? 
— Begin quote from "ldpayton"
— Begin quote from ____
kind of a bluegrass Christmas song meets Pink Floyd concept album
— End quote
Can I say, “how can you have Christmas pudding if you don’t eat your meat” on my vocal track?
— End quote
— Begin quote from "ldpayton"
— Begin quote from ____
kind of a bluegrass Christmas song meets Pink Floyd concept album
— End quote
Can I say, “how can you have Christmas pudding if you don’t eat your meat” on my vocal track?
— End quote
PLEASE DO!!! That would be hilarious as it’s trailing out.
— Begin quote from "TNTaylor414"
Whatever you did to my banjo pickin’ makes it sound a little smoother on the last mix. It also seemed to tone down that one “snappy” string on my banjo. Is that just a key change, or is it also faster?
— End quote
The tempo is the same. The pitch just shifted. Whereas on the instrumental version I wanted to leave everything pure, since this one was going to be ginzu-ed, I felt free to wield any and all post production methods. I pushed and prodded everything around for the “live” verse and came up with a really cool sounding instrumental track. It pretty much will get lost in the mix, but it sounds pretty much like the five of us playing acoustically together in a room (with our best takes all at once!)
— Begin quote from "TNTaylor414"
Are you going to leave the singing (which is great!) almost as a separate part, or try to mix them together there at the end? I like that live sound you’ve got going there too.
— End quote
I am going to leave it as a separate section, and part of a single track. It’s kind of an “out there” concept as far as traditional music goes. If I made a video to it (which I am not doing) I would have someone approaching a small hall wearing earbuds listening to the “studio” track. As he/she approached the door, the earbuds come out (suspended ending of the studio track), the door opens and the five of us are starting “Joy to the world” with some people (number yet to be determined) singing along with us.
— Begin quote from "ldpayton"
but the mandolin sounds a little chipmunky (did I just invent that word?).
— End quote
I’m glad you said that Larry. I thought it was my crappy built in computer speakers so I didn’t say anything. And I was being nice but I thought something sounded wierd in the mandolin too. It’s most likely my inexperience in recording.
One option might be to move the mandolin in front of the banjo keeping the mandolin in A and make the banjo break last and start the key change there. It’s just a thought, I don’t know if you can even do that or not. The banjo sounds great with key change and I really love the singing with the banjo behind it.
I appreciate all your work in this Mike and I’m just glad I got to be a part of it, so I hope you don’t thing I’m being critical. Let me know if you need me to record another take with different mic placement or gain settings, I’ll be glad to do so.
J.W.
— Begin quote from "ldpayton"
[ul]On my first listen, the switch to Bb seemed kind of abrupt, but on subsequent plays, when I knew it was coming, it didn’t seem so disruptive. I wonder if a few bass notes to lead us up to Bb would smooth the transition?[/ul][ul]The alteration to the banjo’s key seems pretty natural to me, but the mandolin sounds a little chipmunky (did I just invent that word?).[/ul][ul]The singing from the ladies is very nice. I’ll see if I can get a vocal track recorded this evening[/ul]
— End quote
Agreed on point one. I was going to play with it to see what I could do. By the way, I said Bb a long time ago and it persisted. It seems that when one goes up a whole step from A, it becomes a B. Sorry for planting the wrong key in everyone’s head.
I hear what you are saying on the mando. I am not quite satisfied with the levels yet. I’ll play around with it and see if I can get some steroids in the chipmunk mando track.
Point three: Sure… compliment the ladies. My raspy voice is in there too… what about me?!? 
Just kidding of course! Looking forward to adding your voice!
I think I might extend the break between “studio” and “live” and include some outdoor noises that go away when the door shuts. I can already tell that rebalancing as we add voices will be a chore, but it should be fun. The more the better (and merrier). I might ping Ben and see if he and/or his sisters want to throw a vocal track on there.
— Begin quote from "jwpropane"
One option might be to move the mandolin in front of the banjo keeping the mandolin in A and make the banjo break last and start the key change there. It’s just a thought, I don’t know if you can even do that or not. The banjo sounds great with key change and I really love the singing with the banjo behind it.
I appreciate all your work in this Mike and I’m just glad I got to be a part of it, so I hope you don’t thing I’m being critical. Let me know if you need me to record another take with different mic placement or gain settings, I’ll be glad to do so.
J.W.
— End quote
That’s a great idea. I can certainly swap them around. I do need (better word… prefer) to use the banjer for the key swap as it’s the only one that starts on 1. The “studio” ending will need some grooming, but I suspect it can be made to work well. Your recording is fine. There are so many options on how to treat it, I am still tweaking away… it sat out front a bit too much in the last instrumental mix, so I have been tweaking it a bit working on the sing a long. It sometimes takes some time for my ears to quit hearing what I want to hear if that makes any sense. You have to leave a section for a while before you can objectively listen to it. One thing I would play around with for future recordings (I am not requesting it for this project at all… again your recording is primo!) is using the SM58 and one condenser. The SM58 loses a lot of detail, but it has a sweetness to it. Used together it might give some nice results.
Another thing I was going to do is take snippets from the Dobro and the Mandolin and throw them into the “live” verse as noodles. It will probably get partially lost in the big mix, but I figured it would be fun.
btw, sorry for responding in reverse. That’s how I read 
BTW, there were several who kind of apologized for giving constructive criticism… no need to apologize, I really appreciate all the suggestions and comments.
I made the suggested changes and cleaned up a few other items. I think I have the timing laid out as final. I still need to clean up a little more at the key change… maybe the timing is a bit off on something right after? Close enough for today’s purposes. I need to add a fireplace going in the place where we are playing (it won’t cost extra). I like the mando tone on this one. Of course the key change came back down, and I changed the levels and EQ a bit. I think I need a little more volume on it but it’s getting closer.
Here’s a link:
kompoz.com/compose-collabora … ctId=42952
Unless anyone objects, I’ll make a Kompoz project and put it out for the world to contribute. I hope we can get our Czech singer with the Irish accent to send in a track!
Thanks again for the suggestions and keep them coming. It’s getting better.
I did end up getting a point for the “like” of the project. It just took a while to show up. Maybe they changed the way it computes points. J.W. is already up to 153. I’m jealous.
I made a new project for the song-a-long. Let’s see if we get any takers:
kompoz.com/compose-collabora … ctId=43504
Hey what’s happening? I’ve had a few emails saying Larry has loaded a track and commented but I can’t find it on kompOZ. Is he hiding his light under a bushel?
I’ve lent my mike and gear to a friend for a carols night - will do a track when I get them back.
And I guess when I take the mike out I’d better take the mickey out at the same time, right mike? 
Man, I can’t get anything past you guys, can I?
What I did was upload a track then decide I could do better, so I deleted it and uploaded a second track, but yesterday morning when I played it for my wife she thought I could do better still (she’s a tough critic), so I deleted it, too. Then I went out and jammed until the wee hours of this morning and didn’t have time for a third attempt.
Sounds like you are a lucky bloke Larry … you get CONSTRUCTIVE criticism? :mrgreen:
— Begin quote from "ozicaveman"
Is he hiding his light under a bushel?
— End quote
Nah, I think he’s gonna let it shine.
— Begin quote from "ldpayton"
Man, I can’t get anything past you guys, can I?
— End quote
Based on when the tracks go up (then disappear) and when you post, I am not sure if you ever sleep. You do get that past me.
— Begin quote from "ozicaveman"
Sounds like you are a lucky bloke Larry … you get CONSTRUCTIVE criticism? :mrgreen:
— End quote
Well, she doesn’t sugar-coat it, but that’s what I like about it.
— Begin quote from ____
I am not sure if you ever sleep.
— End quote
I just woke up from a two day nap. Now, I’m good to go for a couple of days. 
I got Larry’s vocals mixed in. Thanks Larry! It sounds great. I think I made the voices a bit too much up-front on this mix. It’s a tough line between trying to sound like you are standing next to the people singing and having them sound like they aren’t in the same room with the instruments. I should get some time to tweak tomorrow.
I have a few others that might do a vocal track. I am going to try to get a few kids in there as well.