Down That Long Road (was "Raven") - Song in Progress

[Paulieworld]

Even several days later, I hear this in my head. I don’t remember the words, but the melody persists. It sounds like you changed the instrumentation. I think it prefer the original, but that’s just me. Someone mentioned having a real singer. The AI voice sounds nice, but it’s AI. Probably not something a true bluegrass band would do. I’ll check back in a few days. This is a really good song.

You have really generated a lively discussion!

 

[Reid Rosefelt]

I like your song, David. I think it's well constructed and tells a good story. You set up your story very well from the first words and then it takes you someplace. I like the melody and the lyrics.

Structurally it is five verses and two instrumentals, although the melody does change enough in the last two lines, that some might see them as a chorus, or at least a refrain or B-part. Have you considered making a different section? A bridge, with a new melody and stepping away from the story?

Secondly, I believe economy to be a virtue, particularly when most people listen to songs online and are impatient. Do you need both instrumentals? Could you tell your story with less than five verses? It is my belief that every second you cut, more people will listen to the end. I always get very defensive with my songs when I decide whether to cut them. I don't want to cut anything, particularly verses that took me weeks to complete. But every time I go back at my songs saying something has to go, they improve. When I have to tell my story compressed into less verses, more of the lyrics have my best lines, and it often improves in ways that surprise me.

But that's me. And I firmly believe that this song is an expression of what you want it to be. Well done!

 

[David Cuny]

I really like the flow and progression of the narrative now,...

Thanks!

If commenting on music in a forum made me feel uncomfortable, commenting on lyrics makes me squirm 100 times more .

Thanks again!

If this helps, I think of this less as "creativity" and more "communication".

Unlike a lot of songs that tell a personal story, this one carries a lot of detail that has to be communicated clearly in order for it to make sense. It's almost a mini book report.

So I appreciate your caution, but again: don't worry, you're good.

Some of my comments will no doubt seem ultra nitpicky...

And that's why they should be here!

The right solution to songwriting issues should seem obvious in retrospect. But the process of getting to that simple solution is often messy and has a lot of false starts.

Doing this over the internet is doubly so!

Okay, enough preamble. Let's dive in...

Verse 1

• I would swap "these" in the 1st line with "the" in the 3rd line. No compelling reason, I just think it would sound better and would somehow make slightly better sense. (Before you roll your eyes and report this post as abuse, please know this is my most nitpickiest and least significant comment. Things should get better from here...)

It's good to see I'm not the only person who changes little stuff like this "because it sounds better." I'll often swap things like this in and out to see what works best.

"they've long since gone away"

• This line creates a logical thorn ...

I agree - this is something that I've struggled with.

In this song, "everyone" should refer to the narrator's peers, instead of being understood as the entire town.

The town has been abandoned by the coal companies, and people are dealing with that impact. Since the better paying jobs relied on coal mining, there's not really anything left to replace it.

Those who can leave - typically younger people - have generally left. That leaves those who can't leave for whatever reason dealing with low paying jobs and deepening poverty.

The answer to "how has she survived" is "not well", which is why she knows she's got to leave.

All these questions you've raised have answers, just not within the song.

That raises the obvious question: should be answered in the narrative, or should the lyrics be changed so the questions aren't raised in the first place.

The answer is: I don't know yet.

"all these damned vultures stripped us to the bone"

Yes, this is a problem. To some extent, they are still around, in that they still own the mines they aren't using. I was thinking that "these" makes it more present, even though they've left.

"Corporate vultures" might be a better solution. An idiom would be nice, but this solution is better than using a pronoun.

"bought up the land and drank it dry"

• "drank" seems a little too polite. This verse is expressing bitterness and anger, so a stronger term, such as "bled," seems more fitting to me.

This is just sloppiness on my part. The rhyming word was "dry", and the verb I used didn't match with drinking, so I picked "drank" as the easy way out. I wanted to go with "sucked", but it was hard to make out. "Bled" is a good word, but might be heard as "let".

Verse 3

• Tonally, ...

A narrative problem is there are multiple entities:

• Coal miners
• Coal mining companies
• Electricity producers
• Electricity consumers

There aren't just separate entities from a technical view, but from a narrative view as well. That is, the coal miners make these distinctions.

The primary consumer of Appalachian coal was the electric companies. But with the advent of fracking, natural gas became an inexpensive replacement for coal.

As a result being able to frack natural gas cheaply, production of coal was abandoned as not being cost effective. That's what the "depreciate" line is about. Not only was coal production abandoned, but coal burning electrical plants were allowed to age out and be replaced by natural gas plants.

How this was viewed by people in the town varied. In one town, a solar company offered to come in, offering jobs at better pay than the coal mining companies. They were rebuffed and ended up going to a different state.

Some people blamed the mining companies, and others the electrical companies. Others blamed the electricity consumers themselves, who felt that referring to natural gas as "clean" was a slap in the face, since the country was happy to use coal when it was convenient.

The bottom line is that it sounds like these got muddied up in the lyrics.

• "cheap" is used in the 1st line and "cheaper" in the 3rd line. I'd change one of them.

Ooops.

"but fracking gas is cheaper and they don't care what they burn"

I think the original line was along the lines of:

"but fracking gas is cheaper than mining coal"

which somewhat clarified things. The line:

"they don't care what they burn"

is intended to refer to producers of electricity, but... pronouns.

That is, the electric companies burn natural gas to generate power instead of burning coal.

Either way, the lyric still needs work.

"depreciate and let it go"

Agreed. I'll go with "write it off" or just rewrite it entirely.

Verse 4
"cold september woke me from my sleep"

Yeah, this is where those "vestigial tails" come into play. The same problem with the raven. Is it worth the setup?

I justified keeping it because the prior verses were a bunch of information and pretty abstract. I wanted to bring in some level of detail so there was a segue from the data dump into "That brings us to right now..." with a feeling of place and time.

But it is a problem.

• "hot" is not my favoriate adjective here...

It was intended to provide a contrast with the "cold" in the prior verse.

Of course, if that line is changed, leave this in would make no sense at all.

Alright, like I said at the beginning, ...

Well, at least I'm listening.

Besides, a lot of value in doing this sort of thing in forums is when someone who wasn't part of the conversation runs across it later.

Thanks!

 

[David Cuny]

I like your song, David. I think it's well constructed and tells a good story. You set up your story very well from the first words and then it takes you someplace. I like the melody and the lyrics.

Thanks!

Structurally it is five verses and two instrumentals, although the melody does change enough in the last two lines, that some might see them as a chorus, or at least a refrain or B-part. Have you considered making a different section? A bridge, with a new melody and stepping away from the story?

You're right, that's a refrain and not a chorus.

I've considered a bridge, but it seems long as it is. However (as you mention below) it would make sense to drop an instrumental.

Secondly, I believe economy to be a virtue, particularly when most people listen to songs online and are impatient.

Heh. This is exactly why I often won't put in an instrumental, or add a fade at the end so people can tune out.

When this had less verses, two instrumentals made sense.

Well, honestly there were two because it was a bit too short in the original incarnation, and I tried to get away with less verses by padding it out.

Since then, it's added a verse and no longer needs to be padded out.

There also didn't seem to be anything to say in the bridge. However, if I moved some of the "Cold November..." section to the bridge, it might make sense there. I could use that to set up some sort of time transition from the retrospective first verses to the more personal end verses.

I always get very defensive with my songs when I decide whether to cut them. I don't want to cut anything, particularly verses that took me weeks to complete. But every time I go back at my songs saying something has to go, they improve. When I have to tell my story compressed into less verses, more of the lyrics have my best lines, and it often improves in ways that surprise me.

Yes, I'm with you there!

But that's me. And I firmly believe that this song is an expression of what you want it to be. Well done!

Thanks, but I feel I'm a long way from the finish line on this.

And just wait until we get to the mixing stage again!

 

[Nekujak]

Unlike a lot of songs that tell a personal story, this one carries a lot of detail that has to be communicated clearly in order for it to make sense. It's almost a mini book report.

FWIW, I refer to these as "documentary songs" - songs that tell stories rooted in the physical world, describing people, places, and events. At the opposite end of the spectrum are what I call "poetic songs" - songs that use creative metaphors, fanciful imagery, and poetic language to convey intangibles like feelings, impressions, and emotions.

Of course, songs can contain both aspects, but I view Raven as primarily a documentary song, so yes, it's as you say, more like a book report. But still, it's your creative effort that built it, and I don't want to tread too heavily on that.

The answer to "how has she survived" is "not well", which is why she knows she's got to leave.

Maybe just one or two lines that allude to her struggles and hardships might be all that's needed. But given how the song is currently structured, it might be easier to simply compress the time between events. IMHO, the events are what's most important and what listeners will come away with. Whether a lot of time passed between them or not, is a more subtle detail.

"Bled" is a good word, but might be heard as "let".

Whether "bled" ends up being the right word or not, I personally wouldn't sacrifice any phrase that conveys the correct meaning for fear that the lyric might be misheard. A competent singer can make just about any lyric properly understood. Besides, the history of popular music is rife with dozens, probably hundreds, of songs that contain famously misheard lyrics. It never hurt the songs, and no one ever blamed the songwriter

A narrative problem is there are multiple entities:

• Coal miners
• Coal mining companies
• Electricity producers
• Electricity consumers

There aren't just seperate entities from a technical view, but from a narrative view as well. That is, the coal miners make these distinctions.

This is a lot of detail to unpack and make clear within one short verse. Your current attempt is actually pretty good, especially now that you've explained all the interrelationships. IMHO, this could really be the topic of its own dedicated song.

Personally, I would be mindful of not straying too far from the singer's experiences and feelings. This may require glossing over and/or simplifying a lot of the minutiae concerning all the external dynamics and reducing them to just the inflection points in her life. Not an easy task by any means, but if done right, the result should be more engaging for the listener.

Besides, a lot of value in doing this sort of thing in forums is when someone who wasn't part of the conversation runs across it later.

I'm really glad you mentioned this. Over on VI-C, folks occasionally DM me after reading my trailer-related posts, asking me to review their attempts at trailer music. I always steer them to post their music in the forums, where I and others will gladly offer feedback. This way, the entire VI-C community can benefit from the exchange of information.

The public sharing of knowledge is what makes forums so valuable. So good on you for leveraging this forum to it's fullest advantage

 

[David Cuny]

OK, I've finally had a chance to get back to this. I haven't updated the audio, but here's a pass at the updated lyrics. I've highlighted the changes. Note that I've swapped verses two and three, but I've got mixed feelings about that.

Some of the goals of the rewrite:

• Remove the confusion about whether the town was completely abandoned
• Remove the confusion about the timeline
• Modify some language to match the speaker
• Bring the raven back into the song

[verse 1]​

my papa spent his life​

in these appalachian mines​

just like his papa ​

did before​

​

but now the mines are empty​

an abandoned dinosaur​

seems no one's working anymore​

​

their jobs have gone away​

down that long road​

​

[verse 2]​

mining coal was king​

for cheap electric power​

making northern generators turn​

​

but fracking gas is even cheaper​

for those power plants to burn​

the bottom line​

is financial return​

​

so they wrote us off and left​

down that long road​

​

[verse 3]​

i never dreamed​

of ever leaving my old home​

but i can't stay​

watching this town die​

​

those corporate vultures​

stripped it to the bone​

bought up the land​

bleeding it dry​

​

till there was nothing left for them to take​

down that long road​

​

[instrumental]​

​

[verse 4]​

early morning​

woke me from my sleep​

chill in the air​

my lover's gone​

​

he heard the raven ​

calling out his name​

he slipped away first light of dawn​

​

following that damned crow​

down that long road​

​

[verse 5]​

i feel the soft tears​

falling down my cheek​

i know it's time for moving on​

​

i hear the raven​

calling from the tree​

he knows tomorrow i'll be gone​

​

time for me to go​

down that long road​

Any comments are welcome!

 

[David Cuny]

Sorry for the delay. I've done a rough mix, although it's missing the harmonies and there are overlapping fiddle parts.

I made some minor changes to the lyrics. In some cases I reverted back to what there had been before. I removed the "dinosaur" line, because it doesn't sound like something someone would say. I modified the second verse to reference her father for continuity, although that raises the possible problem of never saying what happened to him after that point. Some words I just changed because I thought they sounded better.

Raven (updated lyrics)

[verse 1]
my daddy worked in these appalachian mines
same as his daddy did before
but now the mines are empty
and so are all the stores
nobody's working anymore
their jobs have gone away
down that long road

[verse 2]
daddy dug up coal
for cheap electric power
made those northern generators turn
but then natural gas was cheaper
for those power plants to burn
the bottom line
is financial return
so they wrote us off to go
down that long road

[verse 3]
i never dreamed
of ever leaving my old home
but i can't stand
to watch this old town die
corporate vultures
stripped us to the bone
bought up the land
bleeding it dry
till there was nothing to go
down that long road

[instrumental]

[verse 4]
early morning
woke me from my sleep
looking around
my lover's gone
he heard the raven
calling from the tree
he slipped away first light of dawn
following that damned crow
down that long road

[verse 5]
i feel the soft tears
falling down my cheek
i know it's time for me to leave
i hear the raven
calling out to me
he knows there's nothing left for me
it's time for me to go
down that long road


As usual, feel free to comment!

 

[Louie]

Some words I just changed because I thought they sounded better.

Thumbs up to the changes, those words do sound better. I could be wrong but I believe people will first like or not like the way the words sound before they seek deeper meaning in the words (just something I picked up in a creative writing class ages ago that writers of poetry pay attention to. How true that holds in general, I wouldn't know, but has held true with my own listening habits).

Something that jumped out was the proportion of the fiddle soloing over the whole form (24 bar minor blues) versus the short vocal burst (last phrase) before the very end. It felt anti-climatic musically, even though I see why it would be structured that way lyrically. I think the song still needs a solid ending.

 

[David Cuny]

Thumbs up to the changes, those words do sound better. I could be wrong but I believe people will first like or not like the way the words sound before they seek deeper meaning in the words (just something I picked up in a creative writing class ages ago that writers of poetry pay attention to. How true that holds in general, I wouldn't know, but has held true with my own listening habits).

I believe you're right - most people don't listen to lyrics. As long as they "feel right", they're fine. Obviously, I'd like to have lyrics that sound right and make sense.

Something that jumped out was the proportion of the fiddle soloing over the whole form (24 bar minor blues) versus the short vocal burst (last phrase) before the very end. It felt anti-climatic musically, even though I see why it would be structured that way lyrically. I think the song still needs a solid ending.

You aren't the first one to suggest this! I want to end on an ambivalent note, to show the narrator doesn't know where she'll end up. I'm thinking of making that last line the final cadence, and then ending with the fiddle doing a short phrase that ends on a long, mournful note.

A harmonica would also work, since it's sort of associated with a train whistle. But that introduced an instrument that hasn't been heard yet, so it might be a bit jarring.

Or I could just place the cadence after the final verse, and see how that sounds.

I've also tried having Suno redo the vocal. I don't have a subscription to Suno (and I doubt I'll get one), so I'm limited to 1 minute "covers", so I'd need to slice up the song into multiple parts and assemble the result from those versions.


I'm wondering about modifying the third verse for a bit of continuity, something like:

i never dreamed​

i'd be leaving daddy all alone​

but i can't stand​

to watch this old town die​

I think this would be a stronger lyric, since it's more personal, but vague:

i never dreamed​

i'd be leaving daddy all alone​

but i can't wait around​

until he dies​

This reframes that a bit:

i never dreamed​

i'd leave my daddy all alone​

but he only sits around​

waiting to die​

On the other hand, this version says he's dying, not just waiting to die, which I think is stronger even if it frames the narrator in a less positive light for abandoning him:

i never dreamed​

i'd leave my daddy all alone​

but i can't sit around​

watching him die​

I've also been giving some thought to the arrangement. The first verse be sparse with only the guitar accompanying the vocal, dropping out on "down that long road", and then bring in the full instrumentation.

 

[Nekujak]

Sorry I haven't weighed in earlier @David Cuny. For the last couple of weeks I've been setting up my new studio PC, and the process has been the equivalent of a full time job I truly underestimated the time and effort required to essentially reinstate two decades worth of buying, installing, authorizing, and organizing plugins,VIs and other software. So I've been a little distracted, and unfortunately, still have a long way to go.)

But anyway... when I first read your initial rewrite, the only thing that immediately jumped out at me as odd was the word "dinosaur". So I'm happy to hear you seem to be of a similar mind

Other than that, I thought the rewrite was quite good and served the goals of the song, and your latest refinement has imparted further improvements

Now I must dive back into the deep dark world of installers and authorizers... I can't wait to be able to make music once again.

Congrats on your continued progress with the song!

 

[David Cuny]

Same link, a few more changes. The arrangement is feeling more finished:

• The accompaniment on first verse is simpler
• There are instrumental holds around the lyric "down that long road"
• The second instrumental was dropped
• The song ends on a cadence instead of fading out

I still might trim the introduction a bit. Done.

There are some minor changes to the lyrics, mostly with the first half of verse three:

[verse 3]
i never dreamed
of leaving daddy on his own
but i can't wait around
watching him die
corporate vultures
stripped us to the bone
bought up the land
and bled it dry

I'll be working adding back the harmonies next. I've overdone the reverb in some spots.

As always, any sort of feedback is appreciated!

 

[David Cuny]

I've added harmonies back in. They're a bit more "Andrew Sisters" than authentic bluegrass.

 

[Louie]

I just listened again and I like the introduction, the breaks, the overall length, overall form, and the ending. And there are certain musical things coming out now that give it a nice touch of dark humor. IMHO, you have a solid song to work with now.

I heard a few technical things that could be improved with the mix, and some vocal harmony notes that you might want to tweak. But other than that, it gets even more subjective from this point onwards, because you could do a few different mixes and/or arrangements that would each have their own individual pluses and minuses while still supporting the song.

 

[David Cuny]

I just listened again and I like the introduction, the breaks, the overall length, overall form, and the ending. And there are certain musical things coming out now that give it a nice touch of dark humor. IMHO, you have a solid song to work with now.

Thanks!

I'm not sure how one goes about discussing a mix is a useful way, because it's pretty subjective. Maybe I'll just mention what I was trying to do at various points to gauge the success.

I heard a few technical things that could be improved with the mix, and some vocal harmony notes that you might want to tweak. But other than that, it gets even more subjective from this point onwards, because you could do a few different mixes and/or arrangements that would each have their own individual pluses and minuses while still supporting the song.

I've been dragging my feet on the harmony parts, using the excuse that my ears like them (and it's easier not to change them).

But if you don't mind, let's talk about it. After all, this is sort of a beta test of how we can have these sorts of discussions.

Most of the harmonies I did "by ear", by choosing chordals and some passing dissonances. But I was told earlier that they really don't fit the style. Plus, they likely truly offend people with with well developed ears.

So rather than ask you to tell me where the harmonies are bad, I'll first go back and have a closer look at them. Since I'm working with SynthesizerV, I can just export the notes out as MIDI into MuseScore and look at them against the chords.

That should help identify the true clinkers.

That leaves the questions of genre-appropriate harmony. The harmonies are already diatonic, but I'll assume that harmonies should only be chordal. That means getting rid of passing notes and opposing motion sort of counterpoint, and sticking with one note as long as possible.

So that's my next set of tasks:

• Simplify the harmonies to be only chordals, and minimize motion
• Write up a description of what's happening in the mix with timestamps, to see if the intent is matched by the result.

That is, unless there's a better way of moving forward with this. Feel free to chime in!

 

[David Cuny]

Here's the breakdown of the song, in terms of tracks and what's going on with the mix.

The tracks are:

• Lead vocal
• High harmony vocal
• Low harmony vocal
• Mandolin playing chops
• Fiddle playing mostly chops
• Upright bass
• Strummed acoustic guitar
• Solo acoustic guitar
• Solo fiddle 1
• Solo fiddle 2
• Banjo

Intro (0:00)

Goal: Get right into the song​

Two measures, with a acoustic guitar riff, then strum​

Verse 1 (0:05)

Goal: Get the listener to listen to the lyrics by starting with an intimate sound​

Solo vocal with an acoustic guitar​

Vocal is fairly dry​

Very short harmony part, but perhaps it's too early to introduce the harmony​

Fiddle part is at the end of the verse, bridging to the second verse. Could be ducked a bit better.​

Note hold on "have gone away". A hold is repeated on each verse, but not exactly the same.​

Verse 2: (0:32)

Goal: Build energy​

Add more rhythm: fiddle and mandolin both on chops; also bass​

There's a banjo buried in there as well. Maybe it should be removed.​

More reverb is being added to the lead vocal with each verse​

There's more harmony.​

The hold on "financial return" is the longest and most dramatic of all the verses.​

Harmony on "and let go" is unbalanced and needs to be fixed​

Fiddle leads into next verse​

Verse 3 (1:00)

Goal: Add a bit of variety​

Lead guitar gets a few places where it's made more prominent​

Lead guitar is also playing throughout, but I'm not sure it's effective​

Harmonies on "Nothing left to go..." are big, building into the instrumental.​

Acoustic guitar is used to lead into instrumental​

Instrumental (1:27)

Goal: Break from the verses, which have the same chords and melody​

This is an entirely different chord progression​

Fiddle gets an extended solo here​

Strummed guitar is faded back in halfway through​

Is the fiddle part effective? There's not much variety here.​

I don't think I can get trading instruments to work here.​

Verse 4: (1:55)

Goal: Transition to a lower energy to focus on the vocal​

Rhythmic chops are the main drivers​

Rhythm guitar builds into the next verse​

Verse 5: (2:22)

Goal: Raise energy, strong final cadence​

Almost all of this is doubled with harmony​

Harmony echos on "To leave" because I thought it sounded cool​

Fiddle plays dissonant line under "I hear the raven..."​

Fiddle plays rising line under "For me to go..." because I think it leads nicely to the cadence.​

Most instruments hold at the end​

A second fiddle is added at the very end, which is perhaps is overly fussy and should be removed​

Comment as little or as much as you want to. I think the song is "feature complete", in the sense that all the parts that I intended are there and mostly (to my ear) done.

But it's not done in the sense of any part being set in stone. I've already decided the harmonies need to be re-worked.

If you want to know any details of how I'm abusing the FX, I'll be happy to take feedback on that.

If you've got any doubt about whether some comment is appropriate, don't sweat it. This is as much an opportunity to learn how this sort of conversation might work as anything else. I'm not a pro, and hearing feedback - even if I don't use it - is helpful because it gives me another set of ears to listen with.

Thanks for all your feedback!

 

[Louie]

So rather than ask you to tell me where the harmonies are bad, I'll first go back and have a closer look at them. Since I'm working with SynthesizerV, I can just export the notes out as MIDI into MuseScore and look at them against the chords.

I can offer some alternatives for note choice over the chords and smooth voice leading just using the old, "hold over the common tone, and lead the others by step” approach for voice leading. I’m a big proponent of trusting one’s initial by ear and instinctive choices, but tempered within that frame work as a guide if that makes sense (I’m pretty sure you are already familiar with that approach so I hope that doesn’t sound presumptuous). But a second set of ears/eyes can still be helpful. Also, I can give a closer listen through the Genelec speakers of the mix and take notes of things that poke out if you like--stuff like that.

I'm cramming for something at the moment for Saturday, but will be freed up by Sunday. if you would like to attach a MuseScore file to your post with a lead sheet style chord chart and your initial harmonies, that would make it easier for sure.

 

[David Cuny]

I can offer some alternatives for note choice over the chords and smooth voice leading just using the old, "hold over the common tone, and lead the others by step” approach for voice leading.

Thanks, but I went through the harmonies again, and made lots of fixes. Embarrassingly stupid stuff, like C# in the instrumental harmony vs. Bb in the vocal harmony.

The harmony is now all close position. I've added a few more suspensions because they're fun.

I've also corrected some problems where the harmony lyrics didn't match the lead vocal. I should have listened to all the vocals soloed, which would have caught the problem right away.

So you might want to just have a listen and hear if there's anything obvious left, because hopefully it's mostly taken care of.

 

[Nekujak]

I was able to steal away from my PC configuration hell to listen for a few minutes. I really like how this song and the music has come together

FWIW, here are some initial impressions regarding the mix:

Overall, the mix works well. If you're interested in some possible refinements, see my comments below. Bear in mind, mixing is an art and there's no one right way to approach a mix - a lot depends on personal preference and our goals with the mix. So don't take my comments as absolute gospel. These are just some things I might do if it were my track:

The mix is very mono. I'd make use of the entire soundstage and aggressively pan some of the instruments - definitely the background vocals.​

​

I'd make a small boost around 72hz for a little bit more bass depth.​

​

The vocal has some spikey harshness that can be tamed with a plugin like Soothe, but you can also simply use an EQ to make some gentle surgical cuts. I'd consider a couple of small cuts around 2.3kHz and 4kHz.​

​

This track has a lot of high-frequency content above 6kHz. To impart an overall smoother sound, I might apply a gentle -3db shelf starting at around 6kHz.​

​

The instruments don't all sound like they're in the same space, especially the soloists. I'd play around with some subtle reverb and volume balancing to help the instruments and vocal sound more like they were recorded together.​

As I've mentioned before, I'm a big propnent of reference tracks. Here's an example of a similar track I might find useful as a mixng reference. Note the placement of instruments across the stereo field, the cohesive blend of all the elements, and no spikey harshness (the singer is male, so ignore that aspect).

​

Great job!

 

[David Cuny]

The mix is very mono.

Oooops. I put a mono EQ on the mix buss and failed to notice.

On the plus side, I know the mix works in mono.

I've uploaded a stereo mix. Now I've got to fix all those plosives that pop out. I'm also going to through the main vocal and normalize it. I've been depending on Vocal Rider to do that, but I generally get better results by slicing up the vocals into chunks and normalizing them manually, and then re-adjusting them. I've held off doing that since the vocals were in flux.

I've got some room FX on the instruments - perhaps they'll sound more cohesive on stereo. I've added Panagement to the fiddles.

I'll look into EQing the vocal and adjusting the general EQ mix.

Thanks again!

 

[David Cuny]

I've gone through the main vocal and manually edited it so the volume of all the lyrics are normalized. I do this by slicing up the syllables and then normalizing each chunk.

In some cases, even I'll split a syllables.

Reaper conveniently places crossfades at the splits.

Obviously, I'll not want to maximize plosives and such, so I'll use this to minimize pops, de-ess, and so on.

It's a bit tedious, but it's more consistent and reliable than using a compressor, de-esser, and so on.

Here's a representative bit of the vocal:



I've also tweaked the vocal EQ a bit and added in a bit more room ambience.

I still have to look at putting all the instruments in specific places in the sound stage, and rolling a bit of the high end of the final mix.