Results of Online Project

Hi Everyone,

4 members of this forum including myself, worked on this song. The title is "Home to You"
The song is dedicated to everyone who has ever served our country in the military, and made it out alive. The song is reflecting a soldier's incredible feeling of knowing he is alive and going home. The members who worked on this song are:

jamesg1213 - James (Lead Guitar)
rbowser - Randy (Strings and Piano, and BGV's)
fep - Frank (Lead Guitar)
studio1000b - Jeff (Acoustic, Bass, Vocals, Drum Programming)

Hope you enjoy our work.

Here is the link:

Home to You

Hey Jeff,
excellent tune and a huge, full sound which you got to sit very well without any feeling of cluttering.
The performances, all around were fantastic and the backing vox sound amazing.
Cool stuff.

Mark. Do not trust those speakers for they lie.

Hey Guys - congratulations on this collab effort! I really enjoyed listening to this very nice tune. It sort of reminds me to an 'Eagles' classic ... with a touch of 'America' in it. Super.
I agree - the drums are too distant in the mix. The leads may come forward too. Bass is barely noticeable. The piano (though well performed) is too dominant. Vocals are superb. The arrangement between the different tracks of BGVs and the BGVs and Lead Vox, are outstanding. Very well done.
The song's structure is beautiful. Well done on the fade out. Who actually wrote the song? You Jeff?
Thanks for sharing this great song; it sounds like it was worth all the effort and that you guys had fun.
Heinz.

Disregard my earlier post. I just listened to this on better speakers at home, and what a difference. Jeff's vocals are immediate, right up front, like he's in my living room. The piano sits very comfortably in the mix. The guitars are clear and vibrant. Strings add a subtle texture and depth. Backing vox are right where they should be. The drums could still use just a little punch, but other than that it's a great mix. Instrumentation is dead on. A smashing success.
Mark

Well, cheers all around for a truly fantastic collaboration. Great production, playing, and mixing. Beautiful sentiment - everything about this piece just exudes professionalism and heart. So well done, you should all be proud. A wonderful accomplishment and a fine example of how successful a collaboration can be. Listening in headphones the piano does seem to jump up in in volume from time to time ... none the less, the instrumentation and arrangement is just gorgeous and so well done. Congratulations.

Bill

This was such a fun, successful collaboration. Thank you all for listening and appreciating Jeff Allen's fine song.

These guys were just great to work with--Jeff, James and Frank. When the dust cleared after Jeff's original post suggesting an online collaboration, we were the guys still left standing, and we dug right into the work.

Keeping those emails flying, and using "Box" for putting up our works-in-progress made for really smooth team work.

We decided Jeff should do the mix since he wrote the song, and there were many versions of the mix before we all thought it was time to play it for an audience. It was the most complicated mix Jeff has worked on and I know it was tough making some decisions. A big decision was how loud the strings should be. It's a very full arrangement which could have dominated and thrown the mix off, so they were moved way back for the warm background wash as they were intended.

I think we all agree that, like with all mixes, other choices could be made, but that what stands now is working pretty good. Maybe the drums could be more present, maybe the bass could be too--there's no definitive answer, I don't think.

I think RLD could be right that somehow one portion of the BG vocals slipped out of synch about a minute in. Not sure if Jeff agrees, but I'd been noticing that too.

Thanks for the thumbs up on the BG vocals! Maybe I've found a better niche for myself as a singer, since I know I'm not lead vocalist material.

I hope this project provides inspiration for other folks here who haven't tried the online collab thing before. Even with a minimum of technical know-how, it is So do-able, and so rewarding.

Publicly thanking "The Band"--we're awesome, dudes!

Randy
rbowser

Really nice track, well done by all.

I noticed most things are mixed wide-stereo which gives it a big wall of sound; alternatively, some of the instruments, particularly the piano and the acoustic could be narrowed up a bit and placed on either side of center. This may give a more open and intimate sound, if that is of interest.

This is a remix of the previously posted song. The Drums and Bass have been brought forward a bit.

Home to You