Thanks Mesh!
 
I still have some 14 year old Oban that was given to me as a gift. I think it's time to finish that bad boy...

My wife has been house sitting for her Aunt and Uncle in Michigan (we live in NYC) from Mid December through Mid February for the last 3 years as they travel to see the family. Needless to say, there are mic and instrument cables throughout the apartment during this time!

It's been a few years since my kids lived with us, but I remember the time my wife and kids went out of state for a week. I had all these plans of going out and hanging with old band mates and going to a couple of clubs to see and hear bands and just generally tearing it up.
 
The first night, I went to a club and was so bored and uncomfortable by myself that I left after about an hour and just went home. The next night, I went to an old bandmates house to hang out. His wife and kids were there and it just made me miss my own family so bad, I left after less than an hour.
 
The rest of the week, I pretty much just laid around the house watching TV, eating like a teenage slob and wandering through the house looking at my kids stuff and missing them terribly. 
 
The only upside of the week, is that ever since then, whenever I pull into the KFC drive thru they always ask how long the wife is out of town this time and is everything going okay?
 
 

Randy P
It's been a few years since my kids lived with us, but I remember the time my wife and kids went out of state for a week. I had all these plans of going out and hanging with old band mates and going to a couple of clubs to see and hear bands and just generally tearing it up.
 
The first night, I went to a club and was so bored and uncomfortable by myself that I left after about an hour and just went home. The next night, I went to an old bandmates house to hang out. His wife and kids were there and it just made me miss my own family so bad, I left after less than an hour.
 
The rest of the week, I pretty much just laid around the house watching TV, eating like a teenage slob and wandering through the house looking at my kids stuff and missing them terribly. 
 
The only upside of the week, is that ever since then, whenever I pull into the KFC drive thru they always ask how long the wife is out of town this time and is everything going okay?
 
 

Raff Out Roud

Thanks for sharing Randy! :)
 
No KFC for me - my wife cooked up a few dishes to last me through the weekend. 
 
yeah, she's pretty freaking awesome...
 

woo hoo!
 
Friday turned out to be a busy day off but today was a GREAT music day! A really good friend of mine is a professional sound engineer and is in town between gigs and was jonesing to do some recording. He came and spent the day with me. Six hours in the studio with a good friend is a GREAT way to spend the day. :) Not only did my mix move forward in a big way, I learned so much from him. He also brought some outboard gear and we routed the vocals through a Pultec and Distressor and back in and that was an eye opener as well.
 
Bapu - bass is about next! ;)
 
ah, twas a good day.

Massive progress!
 
It's about time to revisit the bass and get this puppy wrapped up. Sorry about the crappy vocoder towards the end - still working on that. :)
 
https://soundcloud.com/jamesfoxall/believe-rev-09-mix-11/s-2DmO4
 
 
 EDIT: I welcome any constructive comments on the mix! :)

Listening now, sounds great!  Interestingly, during the first part of the intro, I kept waiting for a Madonna-like sample (a laugh, a "yeah!" or similar) in the background.  Loved the echoed arpeggios into the bold guitar chord! Then your female vocalist starts.  So, maybe adding something from her is a suggestion?
 
When you have the Stephen Hawking sample (hey, doesn't Pink Floyd own all of those?  ), I'm wondering if you might want a drone note in the background (or even a phased whoosh pulled way back - something like that) so it isn't quite as drastic of a change.  But that's just my opinion!
 
Not sure what effect you were aiming at with the vocoder, but the current setting definitely isn't cutting it (as you noted)! 
 
Ok, first impression out of the way.  On to listen again...
 
Missed the "oooo's" in the middle by your vocalist on the first listening.  Maybe a taste of those in the beginning?  Ok, even more about her voice.  I like it a lot and think you need more of it.  At the end of both verses, maybe extend her last syllable into the next section a little.  Then, towards the end (and before the vocoder), perhaps have her adding some "Do you believe?'s" in the background?  I still think that some of the quietest sections could use a little background sonic texturing.
 
------------------------------
 
On a separate note, if I had your vocalist available, I'd want to create another song with a catchy chorus 'cause it would be hard to not want to listen over and over. 

Yes, I'm still listening again!  Something was bugging me, but it amounts to the same thing as above really - the feeling that something is missing.  This time it's with the vocals.  Have you tried having a bit of a background "answer-back" or single-echo after the main words?  For example, "can't see," (see),  "make believe" (believe), "naive" (naive), "greener" (greener) and so on where the part in the parentheses is the echo.  More of an ethereal echo.
 
Regardless, good job!
 
You've really got me missing my gear... 
 
 

Craig,
 
Thank you so much for listening so thoroughly and providing all of this great feedback!
 
I do believe you are on to some good ideas. Vocals are a new thing to me and I have been wanting to "fill in" a lot of spaces with vocal flourishes but still a little stumped. I've got a few other clips from Grace that I'll play with and move around. Lots of opportunities with toys such as Eventide.
 
Oh, the singer is Grace Geibler (https://gracemusiclive.com/music). Hard to believe but Grace just turned 15. :) She is the singer in my son's band, and they were so good they just back from playing a blues festival in Memphis. It's sort of an "all star" music program and now that my son aged out of the program he's not in the band. But Grace is pursuing him to play drums for her original stuff and I really hope he does it; she is amazing. She is also super nice and humble and just a great kid. For now at least, I think I can get her to come over and record just about anything, so plan on hearing her again! Someday I will probably lose that privilege. I was croaking out my horrible vocals and I then was like "wait a minute, I know the most talented female singer in town..." It was a good moment. :)
 
So glad you caught the Pink Floyd reference (my favorite band)! I went for the stark contrast of breaking it down to just his voice, but here get what you're saying and I'll experiment with some background/ambient noise. If it works, awesome, if not, I'm sure it'll spark some other idea so thanks!
 
The vocoder is a place holder - as you can tell! I can't believe how challenging it is to do a good vocoder. I'd like to do something like Daft Punk but I'm far far far away. I may have to go into a different direction. That little vocal line but be good elsewhere.
 
Not sure what you mean by "extend her last syllable into the next section" and would love to get clarity on that.
 
It's ironic that your feeling is something missing. I feel it too, but the irony is I've spent the last week removing bits and pieces to make it less cluttered. I think your right it needs more of Grace, and I may have her back to do some flourishes...
 
Thanks again Craig - you made my night when I saw this last night but didn't have time to properly respond.