And the Winners Are!

[TrevsAudio]

Never a truer word spoken in jest

I've definitely mellowed over the years. I appreciate the intricacies and phrasing, light and shade, space - just not possible with loud shouty music.

[lord_galathon]

Never a truer word spoken in jest

I've definitely mellowed over the years. I appreciate the intricacies and phrasing, light and shade, space - just not possible with loud shouty music.

Actually, after visiting aj's reverbnation page I've realized he's probably older than I am, which makes my earlier assessment about being too old for that type of music a complete cock up.

[SoundSquire]

I compiled all my comments into this one post with a few reviews pending. My apologies for the ones I missed but I will come back and fill in the blanks with some comments. Awesome tunes everyone!

aj113 - http://www.reverbnation.com/salemuk

Man...my apologies for missing your tunes early in the original thread. Awesome English metal sound you have going with your band! Big fan of Judas Priest and you guys remind me of them. I really liked the riff/groove in Ask the Lonely.

Arkad - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SIZPAqXAI8Q

Arkad - I really like Old Scores! Great lyrics and the vocals are quite good. A little bit of extra production time on this tune could go a long way!

Checking out your other tunes. Digging the black and white in the vids!

dg00sandbox - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QXQVeNaiXeg

DG - That's pretty cool. Did you tap all that out on your Maschine Mikro?

What genre would that fall into? Glitch? Chip Tunes?

Comments - A bit repetitive at the beginning. Some neat beats mixed in there. Was the clipping intentional?

SoundSquire - https://soundcloud.com/soundsquire/dragon-burial-ground

This guy is great! Awesome tune!

kr236rk - https://soundcloud.com/phaeton_g/wonder-where-you-are

Ric - Cool style you have going there. I listened to some of your other tunes on Soundclound and I like the melodic psychedelic vibe. The very raw production adds to the sonic effect. Reminds me of King Crimson.

Tell us more about how you are doing this. I know there are more "one man bands" that could benefit.

teljax - https://soundcloud.com/supertokes

Diggin' it teljax! Very laid back groove goes perfect with the laid back party mood.

Tell us more about your production process. Well done on the production btw. The Supertokes - is that your band?

dimitreze - https://soundcloud.com/dimitreze/disque ... te-of-love

Charming tune and great cover. Did you track everything yourself? I have been curious about microphones lately. What mic/pre-amp/interface did you use on your vocals?

outteh - http://mixcraftlive.com/T-Guitar/ and http://mixcraftlive.com/T-Guitar/audio.php?p=2

outteh - Nice cover of a great Clapton song. A bit heavy on the left in the intro but dang...that wide vocal sound you got toward the end made up for it. The vocal needs a touch of sparkle or air up around 8K. Push those vocals in the beginning up a wee bit. Put some of that nice guitar track in the right pan as well. Make the instruments swell with emotion and perhaps use some volume automation in the parts of the arrangement that call for it. Good cover overall. :

lord_galathon - http://childofglass.ca/wp-content/uploa ... waves9.mp3 and http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QR61IAsf3oo

Willingly Mine is an almost haunting tune reminiscent of the Beatles. I listened to some of your other tunes and browsed around your blog a bit. I like your style and sound! It seems to carry a consistency that would work well in an album setting.

Thank you for sharing and a prompt to others to go check out Child of Glass!

gypsy101 - https://soundcloud.com/rlc-ltd and https://soundcloud.com/rlc-ltd/its-over-now-mix-2 and http://www.soundclick.com/player/single ... 90395&q=hi

gypsy - Good stuff man! I really like Just Met Love. I hear a couple of timing issues in some of the tracks (beginning of Down Home V2).

So you tracked all this yourself? Drums, bass, guitar and vocals? Awesome talent! Very nice guitar tones. I am kicking myself for selling my Epiphone!

Edit to add: Following you on Soundcloud.

Rambler 40 - https://soundcloud.com/rambler40/make-me-blue

Rambler40 - Freezing Tonight is awesome! Great atmospheric intro. The tune kinda reminds me of Alan Parsons Project and has that sort of groove to it. Nice mix too. Sounds very well balanced on my monitors. Very tight overall.

If I haven't already said it...I am loving this thread. Thanks again to Trevlyns for getting this ball rolling.

benhal9 - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t47zCaJr ... e=youtu.be

One of my favorites from the 80's! Great job on the cover. The absolute coolest thing is that you did this tune with your family! Awesome! Your daughter did a good job on the vocals and I like the vamping she did toward the end. Kudos to her for the nice vocals!

PS: Guitar a wee bit out of tune?

Pim909 - https://soundcloud.com/pim909/breakeven

Wow! Incredible vocal. Superb arrangement. Great performance. Very good production overall with the mix placing the instruments in almost perfect compliment with each other with vocal riding nicely on top of the sonic ear candy.

Tell us more about how you did this? Who is the vocalist? Instruments? Techniques?

Peter G - https://soundcloud.com/beatspcs/i-am

I think I reviewed this one before but I could not find my post. Your style reminded me of some 80's groups like Planet P. I Am has that feel to it. Good lyrics and good vocal. Looking forward to more. PS: Following you on SoundCloud.

Trevlyns - https://soundcloud.com/trevlyns-1

Trevor - I am sitting in a plush lounge with a fine cigar and some warm Cognac enjoying the heck out of Night and Day.

Great job on the vocals and nice arrangement. Good lyrics. Clever atmospheric touch at the end with the rain. I would fade out the music and let the rain go for bit and then fade the rain. Some ambiance with more reverb on the guitar intro would perhaps help set the mood. Bravo Trevor!

Jaymzzb - https://soundcloud.com/james-brook-1/kn ... avens-door and https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1yewMXM ... eg&index=1

Nice guitar work! Very tight track overall. Plan on doing any vocals?

mbliss - https://soundcloud.com/mbliss01/nuthin-fancy2

Ok...I'm a fan. Nice soul to that tune. I actually like your first mix a wee bit better with it being a tad darker in the tones. Great use of the Mixcraft library!
PS: Love Messy Vessel!

shinythang - https://soundcloud.com/geoffjamesevans/dawn-march

I am so glad to see that someone in this challenge did some orchestral stuff. Good arrangement with some fair dynamics in your middle section. Would have liked the mix to be a wee bit louder. I know this style is not easy so I would love to hear more about how you did this.

Rod VM - https://soundcloud.com/rod-vm/linea-3

The lead guitar sounds a bit off to me. Can't quite put my finger/ear on it. Maybe a bit too loud in the mix. Otherwise a neat tune. What VSTi's did you use?

Doodad - http://mixcraftlive.com/Barry/player.php

Wow! Another standout in this challenge! Great blues with some groovin' guitar and nice piano tracks. Comments: Snare down a bit and bring that great vocal up. Lotsa soul in that vocal! I would also consider doubling up the piano and bringing up the bass notes on one track. No bass guitar? Tell us more!

[Rod VM]

Thanks Sam, I'll take note of your comments.
It's a Mixcraft instruments, a distorted guitar played with an Oxygen 61...
Rod VM

[Studio 919]

Hey SoundSquire,

First, thanks for listening. Your comments and suggestions are appreciated.

Details include EZKeys for piano track, EZDrummer for drum track, I did the vocals and guitar, everything recorded and mixed in Mixcraft 6 Pro Studio.

I was still working on this song as we approached the deadline for the March Challenge. When I posted the song I stated that it needed some tweaking. One of the things I wanted to add was a bass track. I also wanted to spend more time making final adjustments to the "balance" between all the tracks. (In my current living arrangement I was not able to mix through monitors, I had to do everything through earphones). With the deadline quickly approaching I posted what I had and figured I can make the other adjustments later.

Thanks again.

Barry

[gypsy101]

thanks for the words & critiques.
to Lord_Galathon re: It's Over Now,
yeah it's a sad song from a personal experience but the upside is he ends up living on the beach.
not in a Castaway sense,but in a screw this I'm outta here & moves to Hawaii kind of sense.

the p90's thing- that was just demonstrating that P90 pickups aren't just for raunchy blues.I'm still not sure where that one's going.

SoundSquire- thanx a million on 'Just Met Love". now lets finish it.lol

[aj113]

Never a truer word spoken in jest

I've definitely mellowed over the years. I appreciate the intricacies and phrasing, light and shade, space - just not possible with loud shouty music.

Actually, after visiting aj's reverbnation page I've realized he's probably older than I am, which makes my earlier assessment about being too old for that type of music a complete cock up.

Heh, no worries. I'm 50 for the record. If you think about it, most people who are/were seriously into rock and metal since its inception are my generation. We play festivals all over Europe and I reckon the typical demographic is 40 - 60.

Also, since I first posted the link to our page we have removed the facility for 'friends' to download the tracks because we are in negotiations with a record company. They are going to use my Mixcraft masters so they can't be all that bad!

[aj113]

...aj113 - http://www.reverbnation.com/salemuk
..Man...my apologies for missing your tunes early in the original thread. Awesome English metal sound you have going with your band! Big fan of Judas Priest and you guys remind me of them. I really liked the riff/groove in Ask the Lonely...

Thanks very much you're too kind.

[outteh]

I'd like to thank everyone who particiapted, created, and critiqued. It takes courage to present to strangers anything creative. We all have our likes and dislikes and also our abilities. I'm amazed at the quality and hard work put in by all. I'll definately be listening to all future works from all of you and enjoying every moment. I have learned a lot and one of these days I'll try for my own original effort. Special thanks to those who helped me re-master my first effort. Keep posting those songs to Mixcraft live web site.

To quote one of the legends of music:

"There's nothing you can know that isn't known" John Lennon

[shinythang]

Thanks to those who took the trouble to listen and critique. This was a great idea; One project in one month really got me concentrating (My real job is away from home though so, it helped me to keep out of mischief in the evenings ).

I think I took the whole thing a bit literally perhaps? 100% Mixcraft but I really didn't feel the need to use any add-ons at all. Very high standard from everyone and a great introduction to MIxcraft which I only bought about a week before starting.

BTW lord_galathon, the rolling cymbals were simply a standard cymbal sound from the 'Percussion - Cymbals' section of Mixcraft which I played by hand then refined the velocities to give a nice crescendo.

[Mark Bliss]

PIM! What happened to the link?

I was playing my favorite selections for my wife, and she had the following input:

Trevor my friend, she says clean up the songs groove a touch and leave the vocals alone.

Doodad, her input was the same as mine. Bring up the vocal a touch.

She wants both on a CD to listen to in her truck.
That gentlemen, is a compliment.

[Studio 919]

Hey MBliss,

Regarding your post, I hope to "tweak" my song sometime today, thus bringing the vocals up plus toning down the snare. I'll repost it when done.

By the way, I am very appreciative that your wife (or anyone else) would want one of my songs to play whenever they like. To me that is a high compliment. Please express my thanks to her as well.

Barry

[TrevsAudio]

Mark, what a pleasant surprise! Please thank the lovely lady Linda.

Not sure what is meant by "clean up the songs groove" but am happy to oblige if you can be a little more specific.

[dimitreze]

Thanks for the compliments you guys!
It's nice and strange to see how people understand your music!

[dimitreze]

I have another song that I recorded in the past couple of weeks. There will be a april challenge?