General Music Chat

The last round of remixing/listening seemed to put everything in satisfactory place. Listening now on the cheap 'Gateway 2000' speakers I got somewhere - not flat panel, but 4" deep plastic box with 3" "woofer" and 1" tweeter. Next listens will be on my old Fisher stereo with huge 3-way floor speakers. then the 5.1 system, but I'm pretty confident of the way the sound will translate now.

Here's a couple of songs with different style that I don't think I've shared here before - I won't be leaving these on SC for too long, don't want them stolen before the album release.
Ashes & Trees:
https://soundcloud.com/mikebirch/ashes-and-trees
The Winds of Change (this one's over 6 minutes long, so it's the album closer)
https://soundcloud.com/mikebirch/the-winds-of-change

Both songs have a wonderful vibe about them and leave no doubt its your signature on them.
Whispering always freaks me out in a song so I am digging deep into the notes trying to find a hidden message.
Winds of change is perfect time wise for some great head music and your voice has come a long way in that song.
It makes me very happy you are tweaking the mix to a very pleasant sound.

Hey Mike
I like both tunes...
Wouldn't mind hearing what a real drummer could do on Winds of Change.
Nice groove but someone like RG could probably add some nice touches to it!
Still good song... was digging the solo spot around the 3 min. mark. Did you try a bigger reverb on it Gilmore-like!
Ashes And Trees intro needs some clarity on a few notes... the rest of it sounded fine.
But imo WoC is the winner!

Mike, good job, and I still enjoy the cd I bought off you some time ago.. "40 Years of Life,Love,and Happiness and all of those things"- copyright 2011... longest title to a CD I have ever seen I think? (:P

Thanks for the listens and comments

Cello - it's MIDI, nice program that allows you to adjust the glissando (or whatever its called when you slide from one note to the next - it was 'portamento' on an old analog synth I had).

The 'whispering' - my wife doesn't like tha teither, but its waht "came out" when I did the song. - I just channel them as they come to me.

Mastering - unfortunately, I can't afford to send my stuff out to be mastered, and quite frankly the ones I did send out the work they did was mostly EQ clearing up (and volume), both of which I'm taking care of myself. The guy who did my first cd did a sample 'master' on one of the tunes from my last album and it sounded horrible (to me, and that's what counts) - he had added all this top end EQ (or subtracted all the mids). What exactly does 'punched up a bit' mean? EQ? Hopefully not more compression. Some of the harder-rock tunes already exhibit a 'sausage casing' look to the wave file - I use a master limiter followed by a tiny bit more compression (and EQ before both if needed), but try to get each mix as good as possible so that those final steps really just bring up the volume.

New family picture:


New studio picture (cleaned things up a bit first):

is that guitar on top shelf 2nd one from far right a Sadowsky NYC Electric Nylon? it looks a little dark of wood for one but the shape is similar?

Top, L - R: antique banjolin, Washburn mandolin, Luna concert uke, Seagull Merlin, Kala baritone uke
Bottom, L - R: Epiphone LP Jr, Epi Dot Studio, Squire J bass, Fender 72 Tele, no-name Chinese Strat, Taylor 310ce, Fender CD140sce, Ibanez 12 string a/e (don't know model #), Epi campfire guitar (circa 1972, I forget model)

I've got a Seagull 12-string I bought back in the 80's. Solid cedar. Is the Merlin an electric?

No, it's an acoustic 4-string (top 2 strings are the same) with a diatonic fretboard, like a mountain dulcimer. I used it miked up one time, live:
https://youtu.be/GzaD5e7tC1w?list=PLJEH ... o0nJpP-pgx

I'll get a surface-mount pickup for it when I want to use it live regularly.

Mike,

I heard your song The Road and thought it has a nice groove. If you upload it to indiemusicpeople.com I will add it to my station!

Mike,

I heard your song The Road and thought it has a nice groove. If you upload it to indiemusicpeople.com I will add it to my station!

Since you asked so nicely, here you go: http://indiemusicpeople.com/artist.aspx?id=161459

Funny you picked that song. First song I ever wrote, literally. Recorded on my old Boss multitracker. Guess its been downhill ever since!

I just added you to my station, thanks!