Typical Country Radio diddy mixed ITB.

[phil debol]

How does this ITB mix stack up?

[JKL]

Sounds like a record to me. It gets to live in my iTunes playlist.
What's the skinny on the artist/tune? It sounds familiar, like maybe I've heard it on the radio already, no?

Jon

[phil debol]

JKL,

This was one of four songs cut in a three hour demo session at a Nashville studio. The artist sang it that afternoon. BGV's were put on that evening. About two weeks later, I spent a day mixing it in protools in my makeshift control room at my house.

I cant' remember who wrote the song. The singer is Michael Scott. He is currently shopping for a deal.

[JKL]

It's a terrific job all around, from the playing to the tracking to the mixing. It's got that Nashville sound that leaves me scratching my head everytime I'm called upon to do something similar. I dunno, it's a deceivingly hard sound to get. Sounds simple until one tries to emulate it.
I just stacked it up with tunes by Alan Jackson, Tracy Byrd, Brooks & Dunn, and Kenny Chesney. It fit right in, and actually, your mix had some panning things going on that some of the others lacked. Point is, I think if someone picks up this artist, they wouldn't need to retrack/mix this tune before it went on an album.
Maybe you could help me out here. What specific things, if any, do you do to achieve the following:

1. The bass sits rather low in the mix (as in all the above tunes), yet it's clearly audible, and has a deep growly quality to it. There's no mud. (there's another thread going on right now addressing this same issue) I suspect much of it has to do with the tracking, but maybe you could elaborate if you did any specific things with it.
2. Everthing sounds relatively dry. Like maybe little to no reverb being used, but instead, short delays are the ticket. Gives the track a real up-front sound.
3. Vocals sit head and shoulders above everything else. Helps I guess to have a vocal track without a bunch of boogers and warts on it, but are you doing a lot of automation or anything specific to keep it out front in the mix like that without it sounding obnoxious?

There. Now aren't you glad you posted this little ditty?

Jon

[Ruphus]

Great on all aspects, very well balanced, couldn´t be more distinct and the performances are perfect.
Only wished that female background vocal to occure a bit more. She sounds sweet!


Ruphus

[Jules]

The first long note "Mondaaaaaaaaay" sounds almost too prefect in pitch

Is that Autotuned?

I would imagine that was PART of the contemporary country radio sound.

I'm not bitching about it at all, just wondering



With a refrain of "we think small is big enough round here' this is mans music for men isn't it? Ladies might have an altogether different opinion!

Lots of fun,

I REALLY like the hovering shimer of the odd gtr chordal overhang around the "fishing round here" line -

One reservation productionwise - I find the last 2 exposed Bvox lines "round here" to vere the song into comedy - sounds like an old smelly hermit with a long grey beard and a jug of moonshine broke into the studio area to sing it dancing around in his nightshirt.

Sounds damned perfect to me - good job!

Get a stronger lock on that live area!

[Higgs]

Would you mine saying what tools you used to track this song?

Thanks

[phil debol]

Thanks everyone for your responses. I thought it was a half descent mix for doing it at home with a mouse. Everything was tracked through a Neve VR. A-list players are doing all the pickin'.

Jon, the bass was mostly the player and his rig. I probably only hit it a couple db's with compression, no Eq. As with every instrument, the players touch, dynamics, and equipment, is where it all begins.

Jules, thanks for the very kind compliments coming from someone who seems to have a very strong opinion (That's a good thing). The background thing at the end was the artist's doing. They sang it once and it was okay, I could let it sit back in the mix. But when the artist thought it would be cool to fly it a second time, it had to become a prominent part of the mix. Yep, you hear that Auto tune workin pretty good on "Monday".

[Midlandmorgan]

Very nice work...great tones (IMO) and very much in the marketplace of pop-country...

The singer - if he has any stage/video presence whatsoever, should be a pretty big name soon...as good (if not a whole lot better) than anyone else I've heard lately.

Ken

[Jules]

What about that cool chord block the guitars make around the "fishing round here" line - did you boost it / exagerate it?(do you like it yourself?)

[phil debol]

Jules,

There's an organ chording with those guitars the 2 bars before the 2nd chorus. Not sure what I did. I probably pushed them if the track seemed like it was just laying there.

[OKden]

Sounds great Phil

[Jules]

"Jules,

There's an organ chording with those guitars the 2 bars before the 2nd chorus. Not sure what I did. I probably pushed them if the track seemed like it was just laying there."

I think I am especially digging one or two of the ten fingers in those organ chords! Probably suspensions...