Monroe. An original song by Chris and Laurette Watson

Nice. The mix is pretty good. I think I would prefer a bit more volume on the drum kit, especially the snare and cymbals. It is always tricky commenting on vocal performances as often its a matter of taste, but falsetto in contemporary music, like vibrato, is generally (though not always) something to be avoided. There are a few areas that need pitch correction, but not too much.

Hey Stuart, ok so it has moments of Pink Floyd and I even heard some Giles, Giles, and Fripp in there (I hope you know of Giles, Giles and Fripps, one and only album).

Ok a couple of things, the bass is nice, I don't mind the laid back drums on this sort of genre but Laurette's voice just sounds to brittle still.  Are you using the same microphone??? and are you using it as the acoustic guitar mic???.  If the answer to both questions is yes, as am acoustic guitar microphone it's fine but it's just not doing Laurette's voice any favours.  And using that microphone as an acoustic and voice microphone is making the whole track feel a bit too bright.  Maybe dial down the top end slighty, or don't go so far with the hi-shelf filter in mastering, try 12khz instead of 8 as I suggested for alone.

Peace Ben

Thanks for your comments so far

Ben
Yes, the same mic was used on vox, an sE 2200. Not the same mic on acoustic, but the same make, an sE4. I have had a look at the frequency chart and the 2200 shelves up about 1dB at about 500Hz and has a further 4dB lift at about 11k. The sE4 used on the acoustic has a similar lift but not the shelf. However, checking out the specs on similar (Rode) mics this 10k lift seems to be a common feature and not just on the sE mics.

Based on the above, i have added an EQ cut on the vocals and acoustic guitar to match the lifts shown in the mic specs and, to my ears, it seems to have reduced the brittleness.

Maybe the bright mics dont suit Laurette's voice or maybe the quality of the mic is showing through at these frequencies

Updated track here:

http://soundcloud.com/stuartbroughton/monroe

Nice song and I love the vocalist.  So many nice elements that I didn't hear anything that needed my criricism.  Beautiful tune, did you write it?

evadianepug


Nice song and I love the vocalist.  So many nice elements that I didn't hear anything that needed my criricism.  Beautiful tune, did you write it?

The words and music were written by Chris and Laurette. I can take some credit for a slight creative input on the lyrics and some (but even less) input into the arrangement, but the musical talent is really all theirs.

Here is an update with pitch correction.

http://soundcloud.com/stuartbroughton/monroe-4-pitch