JPF Home Page Forums Lyric and MP3 Feedback MP3 Feedback Forum Taking On Forever (CD Title Track)

Nite

Don't pay too much mind to John he is very biased and protective of me And I love him like a brother.

Actually almost ALL the songs I hear here or anywhere are blasting in volume over the ones I do .. The compression on this song was minus - 10 Threshold - 1.295 Ratio Limiter - 3.0 threshold.. The one I have on Soundclound may not be the final mastered one.. That is peanuts as I see people go -18 and 4.1 ratio's
But I know for a FACT that I don't over compress my material in it's final stages.. As a matter of fact I was just explaining to one of the kids who I produce... They asked WHY does there songs sound so low compared to all the other songs they have on the the IPOD? I said give me your Taylor Swift CD or whatever it was..

I put it at a certain volume in the studio, it was BLASTING the levels on m y machine were pinned.. But the control knob was half way up.. Naturally it sounded very impressive,, but like many other things I hear today in a short while my ears were hurting and things sounded harsh and brash.. Then I put the work we were doing on... I was able to crank the control room without any harshness whatsoever.. would do the same on any stereo. But I know they need it hotter for today's media... So!

I have heard countless country songs as well HARSH big label releases... Checkout the wonderful song My Town by Montgomery Gentry.. I have to shut it off or keep it really low it's so harsh..
But I don't even over compress when tracking it KILLS dynamics...
My acoustic guitars dynamics come from my hands..

I do agree there are faults in this last song and album,I am rushing a bit to finish the three year CD project...And I have little to no help with it.. Lots of people disappear when money and opportunities do..
But NOT clear in it's audio quality? Is an opinion that I'll have to disagree with. A perfect track/mix? No way..State of The Art? No way!
Unclear? that's nonsense. I haven't done an unclear recording since I owned a 4 track cassette porta studio twenty five years ago my friend.

Anyway I'll try explain why your whole original feedback doesn't work for me.. Why I don't know, lolbut we're friends so I will.
Maybe it will aid you in life in some way or some how some time.
Being able to step outside my own various jobs and work I can totally get what your saying. I know! I know! However where does it end?
See if I ask one question or have one thought I have a hundred more ....How about I do the whole recording outside of substudio, this way I get some different sounds and rooms and gear.. And HELP!
Oh And why not have some other people play instead of me playing twenty tracks or so myself. Also an engineer just sitting there thinking about levels and compression while I'm trying to figure out a bass solo or guitar solo's harmony parts...

I have actually had people come in and I paid them to play things I can play just for a different perspective. Some people who were better than me in many ways, but still I had to scratch there track in many cases as it wasn't what the song needed. Or for some reason or another...
I have even done it with bass, I had players/people say WHY in the world would you have someones else play bass on one of your songs? I get it!

However there is a list of circumstances and reasons for doing things one way or another at any given time. The list and reasons are way to long to explain here so I wont dare explain them all. This will be too long as it is...
But just a quick example of reasoning as too why your suggestions makes sense but also doesn't is..
1- Money!! Who's paying.you? how much? If someones gonna do things so much better than me they will probably need to be paid..

2- Besides who's paying, there's the TIME it takes, Then there's this factor... What kid around here or where ever, that I'm gonna trust with my tracks and my song?
Do you REALLY think the top guy in the top room sits and works on YOUR songs? They put his picture up and he takes the BIG jobs the A Room jobs and the rest are given to interns young people in a room with a computer just like yours the B Room.. I have seen it time and again before.
In my situation I'm forced into things and limited so I'll have to trust my years of recording songs myself plan
Since I was kid I went to various studios and then I went home and bested ever single one of them here... Accept for the MASSIVE ones in NYC and those were all dance tracks, it's real easy to get perfect sound out of machines and midi..

I sent songs from a label job inb 2004 I got. We used a SIX MILLION dollar studio for mixing. Aside from the great vocal sound they RUINED the songs...Actually the label and executive producer had me send them.. Know why? Some kid with pro-tools compressing the life out of every single track... he also thought to use all his toys... effects all over the place.


3- Why spend money outside to mix on ONE song, what about the other 14 songs? How are they gonna blend? See how it works? see how the never getting done starts?

Being a producer the number one thing you need to be is PRODUCTIVE!!!
I can or could not waste anymore time looking for a young studio kid who's gonna take my retro song in which I want to stay totally retro and make it into a modern marvel lol and do not have the juice/energy or patience or resources to partake in such things now. People caring is a BIG key. Sending your song to someone who cares makes all this difference in the world... even if they have [naughty word removed] to work with...
I did albums at Sony when I was signed to Columbia Records and many aspects of it does not sound as good as the CD I'm doing now.. or ones I did five years ago for that matter, trust me on that.

So in theory I agree with your suggestion/thought 100%.. in reality it's a complete 100% no no. I guess I can live with how my recordings turn out.

There's always room for improvement, I know this better than anyone. But when it gets in the way of doing anything, it's no longer an improvement! We must deal with the balance of things we have in front of us and the way things are now and move forward...

An outside mastering house would be a lot more logical and practical and needed, rather than sending houses my songs to mix. Just not a practical idea... thanks for suggesting it though

Hey where's "I Write The Songs"??? No reply is required I'm exhausted..
Thanks again, thought this thread was over but... well almost.

Mike