Crazy

[Alison]

After working on my house for the last 3 months and hardly playing or singing a note, I made it back to my little home studio as a way of de-stressing.

This is a Willy Nelson song. I was hoping it was pre-60s but, he wrote it in '61. This is a tough song both to sing and play and it sure took my mind off of working on the house! I know there are some weak spots and I'm really not sure I have the drums quite right but this is my "back at it" attempt.

I've probably forgotten a lot of the suggestions from the past so, do remind me. Once we finally move, I'm hoping to have a better space to record in and do a LOT more!!

Crazy.mp3

New mix attempt

Crazy(2).mp3

[rayc]

Willy could've retired after writing this, well after Patsy Cline recorded it anyway.
I'm not listening on anything approaching decent so this is probably a radio mix impression...the drums are too bright/forward.
The voice is fine, the guitars too.
Cello sounds good in the upper register - probably because it reflects the sweetner strings of 60s country.
Hopefully I'll get a chance to listen with headphones or something other than a TV later today and I'll come back with a better perspective.
COOL return to form Alison and a good choice too.

[CeeBee]

Great vocals on this Alison. A nice retro vibe. I would bring up the guitar a little, it shouldn't get in the way of your voice as it's nicely up front.

[Alison]

Willy could've retired after writing this, well after Patsy Cline recorded it anyway.
I'm not listening on anything approaching decent so this is probably a radio mix impression...the drums are too bright/forward.
The voice is fine, the guitars too.
Cello sounds good in the upper register - probably because it reflects the sweetner strings of 60s country.
Hopefully I'll get a chance to listen with headphones or something other than a TV later today and I'll come back with a better perspective.
COOL return to form Alison and a good choice too.

Thanks for listening, @rayc
I had trouble with the drums being too "bassy" and muddy so I did work on getting a brighter sound. That's the problem I have with using cello, bass and drums, a LOT of low and mid-range frequencies. Not too sure how to move the drums back. Suggestions are appreciated!

[Alison]

Great vocals on this Alison. A nice retro vibe. I would bring up the guitar a little, it shouldn't get in the way of your voice as it's nicely up front.

Thanks, @CeeBee. This was a tough song to sing!
My guitar playing is not the greatest so I left it toward the back. I'll definitely consider turning it up.

Thanks for listening!

[vomitHatSteve]

the drums are too bright/forward.

Hard disagree on that. I think the drums are pretty well balanced. Tho I would move the ride just a little more center

Cello bass sounds really good in this mix.

I'd put the acoustic guitar a little in the center. On headphones, the hard panning really sticks out.

Crackle at 3:39. It's probably from the mp3 conversion, but it wouldn't hurt to double check.
There seems to be some kind of pumping on the "crazy for TRYING"s. Is that compression on the master or a mic technique thing?

Overall, very nice work. Lovely arrangement of the song.

[Alison]

the drums are too bright/forward.

Hard disagree on that. I think the drums are pretty well balanced. Tho I would move the ride just a little more center

Cello bass sounds really good in this mix.

I'd put the acoustic guitar a little in the center. On headphones, the hard panning really sticks out.

Crackle at 3:39. It's probably from the mp3 conversion, but it wouldn't hurt to double check.
There seems to be some kind of pumping on the "crazy for TRYING"s. Is that compression on the master or a mic technique thing?

Overall, very nice work. Lovely arrangement of the song.

Hi, Steve. Thanks for listening and I'm glad you like the arrangement!

I could hear the same "crackle" and pumping you did but wasn't sure where it was coming from. After messing with it for a while, I edited the limiter I have on both my voice and the master and I THINK that I had the threshold too low and the ceiling too high. Adjusted both and, hopefully, have fixed the issue. Adjusted the drums a bit too. Will post a new mix soon!

[Armistice]

Nice work Alison. I'm only listening on my laptop but the drums sit just fine as far as I can hear.

Only thing I'd suggest is that second note in "Crazy...." and wherever else it is in the song is right down in your lower register and lacking just a bit of volume, so I'd just get a volume envelope on that single note wherever you find it and bump it up 3 or 4 dB.

Good to see you back!

[rayc]

@vomitHatSteve ,
I was listening on a television so bottom end etc. were missing which pushed the drums forward in my perception. Mind you, that suggests a translation thing.

[Armistice]

@vomitHatSteve ,
I was listening on a television so bottom end etc. were missing which pushed the drums forward in my perception. Mind you, that suggests a translation thing.

Time for a TV upgrade...

[rayc]

@vomitHatSteve ,
I was listening on a television so bottom end etc. were missing which pushed the drums forward in my perception. Mind you, that suggests a translation thing.

Time for a TV upgrade...

It's an old one I've used as a back up monitor and since I'm stuck downstairs I have a laptop plugged in for some entertainment.
Mind you I've spent good money on soundbars, speakers etc but Kim won't use them, she a) can't be arsed & b) says she doesn't hear the difference. BOTH are true. The solar inverter is mounted on an external brick wall and was gently buzzing outside but that buzz was resonating through the brick that make up all of the walls downstairs. It was driving me insane but she couldn't hear it.

[Alison]

Nice work Alison. I'm only listening on my laptop but the drums sit just fine as far as I can hear.

Only thing I'd suggest is that second note in "Crazy...." and wherever else it is in the song is right down in your lower register and lacking just a bit of volume, so I'd just get a volume envelope on that single note wherever you find it and bump it up 3 or 4 dB.

Good to see you back!

Thank you, Armi! Yeah that low note is a tough one to push. Thanks for the tip, I'll work on that.

[JD01]

I was also getting the pumping effect on the vocal and I found the hard panned guitar a bit jarring.

Hope the house move is going OK.

[TripleM]

Nice singing on this one. I think there is a little harshness to the vocal in the mid-2Ks. A thin notched EQ would clear it up.

The bass is very boomy and muddy. I think that and the heavy kick is giving a mix like this too much weight. The acoustic guitar on the left is a bit cloudy/muddy in the 300hz range, which also contributes to the heaviness. I'd like a mix like this to be much lighter.

It took me a while to "get" the drum programming. It seemed off to me for the first verse or so, but then I kind of figured it out and it settled in for me. I'm still not sure that it's the best pattern for the drums though.

[Alison]

Well, I am uploading a new mix in the original post. I think the pumping effect was the settings in the limiter on both the main and my vocals. I tried to lighten up the eq on both the bass and the drums but not too much. I'm afraid I don't really hear the muddiness that @TripleM hears. . .could be my hearing is suffering on the bottom end.

Re-eq'd my vocals a bit and brought up the low notes as much as possible. Let me know what you think of this one. This is my therapy to deal with all the house stuff that is literally driving me CRAZY,

Thanks for listening, and thanks for the tips!

[musicturtle]

@Alison
Your voice really suits this song. Great job. Love the drippy reverb on your voice.

My only nits....

-the acoustic guitar is out in left field all by itself and there really is nothing balancing it on the right side

-the reverb(which I love) is so heavy on the vocals but everything else is relatively dry. I know you don't want the instruments as wet as the vocal but I would make inch the vocals and instruments a bit closer together reverb wise.

Great take on a classic. Well done.

[Alison]

@Alison
Your voice really suits this song. Great job. Love the drippy reverb on your voice.

My only nits....

-the acoustic guitar is out in left field all by itself and there really is nothing balancing it on the right side

-the reverb(which I love) is so heavy on the vocals but everything else is relatively dry. I know you don't want the instruments as wet as the vocal but I would make inch the vocals and instruments a bit closer together reverb wise.

Great take on a classic. Well done.

Thanks, yes, it's been a favorite of mine to sing for a long time, now to write one. . . .
It's tough to balance instruments when you only have bass, drums, and guitar. Never thought of using reverb to help. When I mix, I try and picture a stage setting of "the band" (me, myself, and I)and mix with that in mind. I never thought I could use reverb to balance things out. I will delve into that, thank you!

[vomitHatSteve]

The pumping on "trying" is definitely improved, but I can still hear a bit of it.

I don't hear the crackle at 3:39 on either mix now, so I suspect it was an mp3 glitch in how my computer decided to decode it monday vs. today.

[WhiskeyJack]

Coming in on the 2nd mix.

Great performance all around. no nits on any of that. Wonderful cover as well. I am still getting a slight pumping feeling to the track as well. It's subtle but it's there.

Not hearing any crackles on either of the mixes either. @vomitHatSteve is smoking that Nashville crack again.

[vomitHatSteve]

@vomitHatSteve is smoking that Nashville crack again.

Hey! We're doing fentanyl these days!

Fresh smuggled by the hoard of Mexicans on the border if our governor and senators are to be believed.