Two new drafts -One for the Kids and Come and Be With Me

Charles, I agree that most songs are too long and that repetition is a mostly unnecessary convention. After listening to the two new tracks my mixing thought would be that there's too much compression on the high end of the frequency spectrum - if you're using a multiband compressor I'd soften the highest bands compression to give your voice and the guitar a bit of a softer feel.

Yeah, I would have to agree with Jon. I would also suggest a high-pass and you really need to get a pop filter on your mics (and stand a little further back).

What kind of filter are you using? A "screen type" on an adjustable gooseneck works best and then adjust it so that when your lips are almost touching it, it is the correct distance away.

I am on the fence about using a mic's highpass. I might want some lower end in the source that it might cut out. I can always highpass the source later. Yeah, move back a few inches. It might be uncomfortable at first but within a short time it will become natural.

Actually not over and out --- I thought of another issue I wanted to poll some readers about ---- using a volume envelope, versus a gain envelope on tracks deal with the peaks and lows. Ok so if you are taking the time to get desired levels on any given track by carefully sculpting an envelope across the whole track - do you use the volume or gain envelope? I am finding that sometimes in certain sections I have to use both on a clip to get the desired level. I know that some ride - and then I guess it also depends on different send-level envelopes if there are any on there as well...it gets complex