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It's been about eighteen months since BiaB changed my musical life, and as I've mentioned, I've been revisiting my previous recordings and trying to tune my mixing ear. It is a tough thing for me to master (pun intended), and yet so many of you excel at it.

I've touched this first one up a few times, but even now I think more is needed.... It's amazing what you hear and/or don't hear, days, weeks, or months later:)

When I first mixed it, it was raw RTs, no editing. I didn't know 'how' to edit then, really, but I loved that steel guitar! A lot of help and encouragement was given by the kind folks here.

For anyone reading this who is new to BiaB or thinking about BiaB, go for it and stay with it, you'll be glad if you do. I could never give life to my songs without PG Music.

Well, you've heard this before, so I'm not expecting much feedback. The original links in those previous posts are kaput, but this one works, if you're so inclined....

https://soundcloud.com/scott-h-olson/one-of-those-days

Style: Slow Country Ballad SW

Real Drums

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370 Pedal Steel
527 Acoustic Guitar
532 Bass


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Hi Scott,

Yes, we know that feeling, Biab definitely changed our lives too.
Creating songs never was this easy, well the musical part....creating proper lyrics remains a challenge. But in this case they are definitely OK, so is the song!

By the way... thanks for your positive responses to our songs grin

Rob and Anne-Marie


We are Rob Meulman and Anne-Marie Bovenkamp from The Netherlands.

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC1gsdNLE7_Gy8qavoOplQow/videos
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This is one great song! Super lyrics and vocals matched with an excellent backing track.

I hear you about mixing. Every song is different. Mixing, at least for me, is a continuing education. The The Recording Revolution, http://therecordingrevolution.com/
Has been a real mixing eye opener for me. You might want to sign up for Graham's free emails. They are very educational.

I know what you mean about BiaB. I think this one piece of software has changed a number of musical lives. I know it has changed mine and without it I doubt that I would be playing as much as I am now.


Principal: Your child always causes trouble in school.
Me: My child causes trouble at home, do I ever call you?

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Hi Scott, don't remember if I heard this one before, but I think is a great song and the mixing sounds good to me. Vocals is superb.

Mike B.


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Hi Scott,

this sounds good to me. It's a pity we can't compare with the older two versions.
Enjoyable listen.

Guenter

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Love that chord change in the chorus on the line - the hours lasted so long.This sounds way better than your previous post of the song. We all keep progressing. Good job, Tom

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Scott,

This sounds really good. The vocal is really nice. The acoustic guitars and steel sound great.

But... again, the bottom seems "missing". It's there at the beginning and then seems to sink in the mix. The "bass thump" is gone. Everything else is great. Are you hearing the bass? it may be a function of what you are mixing on... don't want to take away from all the rest, but you need to bring that bass up a bit (or eq some low end in).

A wonderful listen...

fj

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Wow Scott.
Did you stop bye on your way back from Nashville?
Excellent.
Rob.

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Originally Posted By: floyd jane
Scott,

This sounds really good. The vocal is really nice. The acoustic guitars and steel sound great.

But... again, the bottom seems "missing". It's there at the beginning and then seems to sink in the mix. The "bass thump" is gone. Everything else is great. Are you hearing the bass? it may be a function of what you are mixing on... don't want to take away from all the rest, but you need to bring that bass up a bit (or eq some low end in).

A wonderful listen...

fj


Thank you for all of that, Floyd. I appreciate the critique. Sounds like I need to make some adjustments.

Yeah, it's probably a combo of a less than ideal setup in the room and the difficulty I have in general of getting the bass right. I use headphones a lot, mostly the semi-open type now, and also near field monitors, and I try to match a reference song's mix with both monitors and cans, but I think I'm too close to the wall for the monitors. I have monitor stands on the desk, but still get that rumbling, I could use a few sound treatment panels too...$$$. I've rearranged lately and probably will again. I was in the corner before. That was the worst.


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Originally Posted By: MarioD
This is one great song! Super lyrics and vocals matched with an excellent backing track.

I hear you about mixing. Every song is different. Mixing, at least for me, is a continuing education. The The Recording Revolution, http://therecordingrevolution.com/
Has been a real mixing eye opener for me. You might want to sign up for Graham's free emails. They are very educational.

I know what you mean about BiaB. I think this one piece of software has changed a number of musical lives. I know it has changed mine and without it I doubt that I would be playing as much as I am now.


Thanks, Mario. I subscribe to Grahm's channel:) Are you familiar with 'Mixing With Mike?' He, among others, has a number of excellent tutorials on YouTube.


My stuff:
https://soundcloud.com/scott-h-olson
https://www.youtube.com/@ScottHOlson

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Originally Posted By: tommyad
Love that chord change in the chorus on the line - the hours lasted so long.This sounds way better than your previous post of the song. We all keep progressing. Good job, Tom


Thanks, Tom. You're a mixing/mastering ninja.

I guess I was looking back over the past months...it can be a bit daunting getting in to this, learning the software and learning how to mix, but there is so much help here and on the web, it can be done and in a relatively short time really.

I don't know...maybe someone will be encouraged to go for it or keep at it:)


My stuff:
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Originally Posted By: cubanpete
Hi Scott, don't remember if I heard this one before, but I think is a great song and the mixing sounds good to me. Vocals is superb.

Mike B.


Much appreciated, Mike.

Originally Posted By: boehm
Hi Scott,

this sounds good to me. It's a pity we can't compare with the older two versions.
Enjoyable listen.

Guenter


Well, Guenter. I think I have those old mp3's. Maybe I'll upload one to SoundCloud.... I had a few versions there at one time, but removed them.

Originally Posted By: Rob4580
Wow Scott.
Did you stop bye on your way back from Nashville?
Excellent.
Rob.


Thank you, Rob. I always heard that song as an older country tune and boy, did BiaB deliver.


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Scott, I agree with all the others, this is a really well written song. Your voice is excellent and clear. To me, the song has great classic country appeal.

I probably heard some of your earlier versions but I don't recall this particular song.

As constructive criticism, and I can only speak of my thoughts for this song, I felt at times the vocal phrasing did not follow the beat of the music closely. Some areas seemed to rush against the music where times, it was just the opposite and the vocal trailed the beat. That may be intentional and if so, I noticed it. However, again for me, as a classic country example, the vocals did not flow as I tend to think it would.

The only other thing I noticed was several places the drum roll seemed out of place, for example, around 1:03 after "blooming at the sun".

Highlights for me are first, your voice fits superbly in the classic country genre and I also particularly enjoyed the bass/steel intro and overall chord progression. The vibe of the song reminded me of something Marty Robbins would have recorded.

I think your song with your vocals have a lot of potential. I enjoyed it a lot and don't think for a moment that my reflections lessen my enjoyment of your production a bit. I plan to listen to this a lot more.

Enjoyed it and thanks for posting. You and Rob4580 should consider a co-write and duet at some point. You and he have both done excellent classic country arrangements. You guys could certainly turn out something first rate.

Charlie





Last edited by c_fogle; 05/18/15 02:51 PM.

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We've followed about the same BiaB journey having discovered it in 2012. Ozone entered the scene in 2013 and the learning curve steepened. I guess it's all about the journey 'cause I don't think there is a destination. We just keep learning. And with me a mix is never really finished...it's just abandoned at some point.

The steel works very well with your vocal in the classic style of the "weeping steel". It's a fine write and your vocal fits the feel perfectly. Re the bass I use small KRK monitors and based on them FWIW I would slightly lower the 60-200 eq range and boost the gain a few db's.

We like this very much!

J&B



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Originally Posted By: Janice & Bud
We've followed about the same BiaB journey having discovered it in 2012. Ozone entered the scene in 2013 and the learning curve steepened. I guess it's all about the journey 'cause I don't think there is a destination. We just keep learning. And with me a mix is never really finished...it's just abandoned at some point.

The steel works very well with your vocal in the classic style of the "weeping steel". It's a fine write and your vocal fits the feel perfectly. Re the bass I use small KRK monitors and based on them FWIW I would slightly lower the 60-200 eq range and boost the gain a few db's.

We like this very much!

J&B



All your mixes are so good! I grabbed Ozone 5 after talking with Tommy and Herb. It made an immediate improvement, but I have trouble controlling the Maximizer, mostly the low end. I think multi-band compression is the secret and Ozone has that, along with the two EQ's, but I also have two MB's in my DAW. One I don't care for, but the other one is sweet. Then I picked up a MultiMaximizer on sale, so right now I've moved away from Ozone. I may go back to it eventually.

Thanks for the listen, for those kind words and the mixing tip. Early on, Tommy gave me some good advice on setting the bass level, which I try to follow, but obviously I need more practice.

I have a pair of KRK Rokit 5's:)


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Originally Posted By: olemon
Originally Posted By: Janice & Bud
We've followed about the same BiaB journey having discovered it in 2012. Ozone entered the scene in 2013 and the learning curve steepened. I guess it's all about the journey 'cause I don't think there is a destination. We just keep learning. And with me a mix is never really finished...it's just abandoned at some point.

The steel works very well with your vocal in the classic style of the "weeping steel". It's a fine write and your vocal fits the feel perfectly. Re the bass I use small KRK monitors and based on them FWIW I would slightly lower the 60-200 eq range and boost the gain a few db's.

We like this very much!

J&B



All your mixes are so good! I grabbed Ozone 5 after talking with Tommy and Herb. It made an immediate improvement, but I have trouble controlling the Maximizer, mostly the low end. I think multi-band compression is the secret and Ozone has that, along with the two EQ's, but I also have two MB's in my DAW. One I don't care for, but the other one is sweet. Then I picked up a MultiMaximizer on sale, so right now I've moved away from Ozone. I may go back to it eventually.

Thanks for the listen, for those kind words and the mixing tip. Early on, Tommy gave me some good advice on setting the bass level, which I try to follow, but obviously I need more practice.

I have a pair of KRK Rokit 5's:)


One thing I'm still learning and I got some feedback on it today is I tend sometimes to try and fix an issue during mastering when I need to go back and work on the RT(s) that are causing the problem. With me it's typically midrange mud or a bottom end (kick or bass) that is not tight enough. Of course it can be tweaked in the mastering but not really repaired....at least in my limited experience. Ever since we mostly left bluegrass and moved into the realm of electric instruments and drums I've been struggling...but improving. Ain't it fun, tedious and frustrating...all at once sometimes!


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