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Hi Josie, Any chance you would elaborate on your process and setup? I've listened to some decent songs here in the showcase but this one seems really special. It truly sounds like it came right out of a pro studio ready for CD!! I'm kinda struggling with getting my vocals to "sit in the mix" along with my exported RealTracks accompaniment. I tried the demo of iZotope Nectar and while that tool did some interesting stuff on my vocal tracks it still seemed to not match up that well.  Plus, I sometimes manage to get a mix that sounds good on one player/system but then it sounds bad on another. I understand that the answer might be I just need to keep plodding along and gain some experience. I'm pretty sure there are no easy buttons! But man on man I'd sure welcome any tips from someone like yourself who just produced such a nice song!  John
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Great song and vocals Josie its all been said on here.
When I first listened to your song my initial reaction was this is as good if not better than a lot of the commercial recordings out there.
Keep up the good work.
Musiclover
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Your songs never disappoint me and this is no exception.
I believe this is your best to date! My only question is why hasn’t a record company signed you yet?
Two thumbs up on a perfect song.
Life is short so make sure you spend as much time as possible on the Internet arguing with strangers.
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I have been reading your contributions to the latest mixing and mastering series of threads and I have appreciated your comments. So it was a pleasure to see one of your new ones here. I think you are doing a top notch job on your recording and mixing, Everything is clear and well and positioned. What lead guitar part is that over there on the left side? I like that tone a lot.
The only thing that stood out a tad was that acoustic guitar continuously strumming away in the right speaker -- some variation is needed there, I think. Either add your own guitar back in or different styles maybe. The piano parts also get buried a little here and there (or maybe you turned it off?)
In any case, a very well done tune.
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Josie,
I'll echo Noel's comment... this is my favorite Josie Beck song to date! I liked everything about it, very pro sounding! I've got to run off so I don't have time to watch the video too, but I'll comment on that later
(Two enthusiastic thumbs up)
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Josie, Hey I'll 2nd Noel's comments. I think this is your best work to date! The song, vocals, mix... I thought everything was top notch! Really like Robert's video too. Just a fine job all around!  Greg
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Alyn,
Thanks. The video was produced with a combination of Apple's Final Cut and iMovie. It was a lot of fun putting this together - Josie really knocked it out of the park with this song...
Bob
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I, too think this is your best vocal to date.... just perfect. And the composition is advanced, better than ever. The flight, the vocal "taking off", is the way songs are supposed to be written... poetry.
The intro is marvelous. The outtro might be edited a little.
I like that your panning is a little wider than it used to be... mixing in general is getting just fine. Lead vocal in the chorus might be a little crisper, but that might be just my taste... or my old guy hearing.
As someone else mentioned, the lead guitar back might be a little busy... you think of maybe using a tasteful RealTrack fiddle in parts?
Looks like you are on your way to a pro career.
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Nice work - catchy tune, good mix, excellent vocals. I love the harmony.
A caveat to my mix comments: I'm listening to the mix through a pair of inexpensive headphones, so it might be coloring things.
I think the bass could be dialed back a bit. But I don't listen to contemporary country, so that that with a huge grain of salt. But I kept noticing it, which (to me) isn't a good thing if it's not doing something (like a riff or accent) that should be calling attention to it.
And while I love the rhythm guitar - nice EQ, punchy and bright - I agree with Kemmrich. The constant chugging quickly gets wearisome, especially since it's at (what sounds like) the same level throughout the song. If it was backed down (or the high end rolled off) except for key parts in the song, I think it would work. As it is, it's so prominent in the mix that it kept drawing my attention away from the vocal. For a rhythm support part, it seemed awfully forward in the mix.
But those are minor nits. This is really, really well done.
-- David Cuny My virtual singer development blogVocal control, you say. Never heard of it. Is that some kind of ProTools thing?BiaB 2025 | Windows 11 | Reaper | Way too many VSTis.
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Nice work Josie, I really enjoyed this one. A smashing song, your voice sounds brilliant and the arrangement and mix are spot on.
I'd echo one point from earlier posts, re. the lead guitar panned left. It sounds excellent when it drops occasional licks in. And when it plays in unison with your vocal on the first line of each chorus that makes for a great hook, but then it should drop out and not step on your vocal, only heard in gaps in your vocal and again at the end of the chorus.
Thanks for making my sunny Sunday morning sunnier!
John
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Quote:
Alyn,
Thanks. The video was produced with a combination of Apple's Final Cut and iMovie. It was a lot of fun putting this together - Josie really knocked it out of the park with this song...
Bob
Hi Bob,
the video was was very professional in appearance. Exactly how does that work? Did you create the characters and animate them? Or are there library elements that can be combined according to the needs of a project? Either way, it looks like a powerful set of tools for vizualizing ideas.
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Hi Pat,
I did not build any of the animation. I have a rather large collection of animated objects and subscriptions to royalty free video. The most difficult part of making the video is selecting the right animation and then editing to fit/create the story. That's where the tools Final Cut and iMovie come in.
Bob
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Hi,
I'm a brand newbie to the forum. I just posted my first song, Out of the Blue, and started listening to a some good songs.
I really like the sound of your voice and your style.
Girl It's Gone is a very nice song. It has a great musical flow and lyrics. Really nice vocals although it would be nice to hear a version with harmony vocals on the chorus. Very professional, excellent job.
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hi josie well done awesome vocal and mix very nice production plus +1 thanks for sharing eric
AMD (TM) 5950 4.9 GHz 16Core Processor 64 bit 32 bits of ram windows 10 pro 64 bit os. sound card Antelope ZenQ guitars Ibanez 2202a 1968 les Paul Custom and Cavin ae 185 Guitar boss Gt-100,GT1000 pedal Yamaha HS8 studio monitors
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John, Thank you. I'm so glad you liked it. Learning mixing is an ongoing process for me. What I do is watch, read and try most every tip I can to see how it works for my project. Never used Nectar. I have Ozone on this song. Sometimes I use Final Mix and a T-Racks compressor I like. The vocals here are double tracked. One track has a compressor, delay, and reverb. The other is dry. Both have a hpf and one has a little more eq. Check out tips and tricks forum and read Steve Young and Floyd Jane's threads. There have also been some interesting discussions in OT and RB forums on mixing/mastering. Good videos out there from the recording revolution. And I always enjoy listening to Rob Chiarelli and Michael Laskow talk mixing on Taxi Music tv (on ustream) - you can find the shows in the archives. A quick way to get direct specific help is to post your song and ask for mixing help. You'll get lots of advice. Then see what works for you. The guys here have helped me a lot over the years. Thanks again.
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Josie,
I know it's all been said but I say it again . . . this is good stuff! I liked everything about it from lyric to production and performance. You are truly a song writing machine.
Great job neighbor!
Later,
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Musiclover,
Thank you very much. I appreciate that.
Mario,
What a nice thing to say. Thank you.
Kevin,
Thank you for listening. I appreciate your input. Guitar is either 1530 or 1526.
Pat,
Thank you. I'm so glad you like it.
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Brad, Thank you. Really appreciate that. I wanted to keep a rock edge and tension build between the two guitars. David, Thank you. Glad you liked it. I'm going to keep that high rolloff in mind to try if an arrangement similiar comes up again. Hadn't thought of that. On my bassy headphones bass pushes it but I didn't think too far. Other playback here bass okay. Skyline John, Thank you so much. Yeah, I did try that but liked it this way better. What can I say.
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Austin,
Thanks for listening. I'm glad you enjoyed it. The harmonies are pushed back a little and weaved in and out.
Eric,
Thank you so much. I appreciate it.
Danny,
Thanks for dropping by neighbor. Appreciate that a lot. Glad you like it.
Alyn and Pat,
I'm thrilled with the job Bob did on the video. He's got the knack.
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Josie,
I can't find the words to say how much I liked this song. Truly outstanding! Thanks for sharing.
SD
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