Kent,

Thanks very much! (But I'll bet your wife gets flowers a lot more often than mine does, though!)

I am at my office now. When I get home this evening, I will try to send you a pm with more details of my vocal channel settings.

Have a great day!

Steve

Martin,

Thank you very much!

Hope you have a great day!

(Have you had any luck getting your DAW working?)

Steve

Hi Steve,

You're very welcome. Can't stop playing it - it's my current fav.

Absolutely no luck with Reaper. But I think I may have rushed things a little. It seems I have a program that will do everything I want - Realband!!!

I'll let you know how that works out lol!!

All the best

Martin

Steve,

If you don't mind post the settings here so everyone can see. I don't think anyone will get bored with the details. Good music is in the details!

Steve

Wow, excellent lyrics, excellent production. Thanks for sharing!



My Music

Martin,

Thanks again! Yes, RealBand should work very well for you. It's a pretty solid DAW in its own right, especially since you can open and further manipulate your Band In A Box files in it. Good luck with it, and I can't wait to hear your next one!

Steve

Robert,

Thank you very much, as always! Have a blessed day!

Steve

Steve (Retake) & Kent,

Okay, you guys asked for boring details, so here they are. First of all, here's my disclaimer: I am not, nor do I consider myself a professional recording engineer. A real pro, like Harvey Gerst, may (and is welcome to) come along and correct any ill advised settings that I use. These settings are just what I have come up with, with a lot of trial and error, and the help of a few friends who have offered little tips along the way.

So here we go...

1. I use an Audio Technica AT3525, with a Focusrite Saffire 6 USB Interface. A MacBook running Lion, with LogicPro 9. All the plugins I currently use (and this can change from time to time) are standard plugins that come with Logic.

Here is the Vocal Channel setup, in order...

1. Channel EQ.
For my voice, I use Highpass Filter at 108Hz, 48dB, and a Q Factor of 0.51.
I have a strong, narrow cut in the lows at about 138Hz, -17dB, with a Q Factor of 13.0.
Then I usually cut mids at around 740Hz, -14dB, with a Q Factor of 0.39.
Finally, a Lowpass Filter at 8500Hz, 24dB, Q Factor of 0.10.
I play around with the other Parametric Bell filters, in a very subtle way. ALL of these settings are subject to change to suit my ears, and voice, depending on the genre. (I have a very midrangy voice, so this is what works for me.)

2. Compressor
Strictly set to suit the sound. I play around with this a lot, until I am happy. Don't want it sounding too "overcompressed", but helps even out the sound, and brings out some subtleties in there.

3. Pitch Correction
Only use as needed. Don't overuse.

4. Multipressor (Multi-level Compressor)
This is a 4 band multi compressor. Again, I use my ears to judge. With my voice, I have a lot of midrange that needs to be controlled down, and lower frequencies can muddy up the mix. So I cut the lowest freq (90Hz and down) by -6.0db, and on all the bands, set the threshold to just top off the level, and Ratio 3.0.
Band 2, usually 90Hz - 160Hz. Cut by -11.5dB...
Band 3, usually 160Hz - 4700Hz. Cut by -9.0dB...
Band 4, usually 4700Hz and up. Cut by -6.5dB
All of these settings are subject to change, from song to song, depending on the texture of the instrumentation I am singing to.

5. Delay Designer
Totally subject to the song.

6. Space Designer (Reverb)
Again, totally subject to the song.

My rule of thumb: I will set the delay/reverb plugins to where I can just hear them clearly in the mix, then back them off until they are subtle, and natural sounding (unless the song calls for more effects).

7. DeEsser
I use sparingly, trying to keep it natural sounding. This one changes from song to song, to taste.

There you have it! Boring details. And these are just "starting points". I sometimes use more or less plugins, just depending on my need in the song. Again, if any of the pros out there want to chime in and correct any of this, please do! (I always want to learn more, too!)

Hope you have a great day!

Steve

It's not that it is boring, Steve.

I'm worried because I really don't have the slightest clue how to even start with all these effects you mentioned. I use BIAB and Reaper and I guess there are a bunch of standard effects built in, but if I start messing around with all that, my songwriting will suffer immediately/immensely.

Is this going to be a big problem. I wish I could just focus on the songs.

In "It's Been an Honor", there aren't any effects at all. I just made the basic song and recorded a vocal on top of it.

I feel that if I could just focus on the songs, and find a techie to fine tune them, and some talented/appealing vocalists and musicians to perform the songs, then I could just 'do my thing'.

Does that severely limit me?

Do I need to break out the old audio processing books?

Kent

Kent,

Don't despair! If your primary focus is songwriting, keep it there. I'm a little nerdy, and like to tinker with the "sound" side of things also, when I write a song.

Reaper does have everything you need to do what you want to do, including somewhat comparable plugins to Logic, or most any other DAW. But if your pleasure comes from songwriting, and you are daunted by the production process, don't sweat it. With all the tools that Band in a Box gives you, you are able to accomplish what a lot of good musicians can only dream about. Take everything a step at a time.

Keep doing what brings you joy!

Steve

I've been in "lurker" mode for a while, but the recent postings of songs have brought me back in. I'm not sure how I missed your song, but once again, excellent work. This is another one of those arrangements reminding me that "less is more".

Lovely string builds, and I loved the shift to the minor chord. I like the way you've stuck little acoustic guitar runs into places. Everything comes together on this one - nothing really flashy, just solidly built all the way through.

And thanks for posting the technical details of your vocal mix. Of course, the real magic of your mix is great vocals, but it's given me some interesting things to look at. I hadn't even considered playing around with a multi-level compressor before, and now you've got me curious.

Great job!

Steve, thanks for posting the details. I noticed a while ago that you had great sounding vocals. After we talked on PM's a while ago you gave me some ideas of what I could do and I did find a better way to process vocals than what I was doing.

Steve

Great song, kudos! Love the production, if this was self-produced in a home studio then double kudos!

"Lurker" David,

So nice to hear from you! Thanks very much for taking the time to listen and post your very kind comments. I always appreciate your input!

Have a great day!

Steve

Noel,

Once again, thanks! If my "details" help you, then I am a genius. If they don't help you, someone hacked into my account and posted bogus details!

Have a great day!

Steve

Steve (Retake),

You are welcome! And thanks for your kind words!

Have a great day!

Steve

Anieyo,

Thank you very much for your very kind words! I have been enjoying listening to some of your music as well!

Have a blessed day!

Steve

I asked my friend Tommy Cole (Tommyc) to do a guitar track on this song for me. I have changed the link to direct it to the new version, if you care to listen to it. I think Tommy did an outstanding job. I hope you enjoy it!

Thanks,

Steve

That was fun Cuz ,wish I could write em like you ! Maybe you should make this post titled a new remix of Stay Right Here with You .

The collaborations on here are getting good.
That was a good song without Tommyc and now it is even better.

Alyn

Thank You Gibson ! It was fun playing on my adopted cousins song ,he's the most fun of any Preacher I know ! I feel blessed to have him as a friend !

Tommy,

This is great. You really contributed to the mood and sound of this already excellent song. Your tone and feel remind me of Robbie Robertson - very, very nice...

Bob

Excellent production, great vocals and a very nice groove. This song is screaming for a bridge though.
It's so dreamy that a nice change maybe before the 2nd verse would make it almost perfect. It's still a beautiful song regardless