Set Me Free_Patrick Talbot_mix by Tommy Marcinek

[tjmtruth]

Pat, here's my mix. I already know what you're going to say.....hee heee. I like the snare bright and a bit digital sounding, but it's the sample you provided and I saw no reason to sound-replace it.....loved the sample. In fact, I did NOT sound-replace anything in this song. I did do some arranging though. And I added only one small thing: I added only one note in your background vocal part, a high harmony to one of the parts (just pitch shifted one of your notes that you sang), but I mixed it in very low.....just for effect. You did some very excellent solos in there...keys and guitar. I wanted to emphasize them so they are kind full and effected, but hopefully you won't think overly so. I think the mix is nice and loud but well balanced.

This is one of my favorite songs of yours....keep'em coming!!

All the best,

Tom

[ptalbot]

That's a great mix Tom!
I really like the creativity you've displayed and there are some excellent things in there.
And no, I don't hate the snare, just think it's a tad too loud in some places, like the intro for example.
But I think it's well balanced overall. Nice treatment of the vocals (and cool extra harmony as well!)

I like what you did to the keys solo, did you enhance the stereo, or did you mult it to treat lows and highs differently?
You've brought up the lows more than I remember they were.

I also like the guitar solo, really cool effect on that? What did you do, it sounds a lot 'rounder', is that some phaser/chorus/transient design or something? I really like that tone, almost like a synth at times.

One thing that I'm not convinced about is the horns, they sound too far away and lack some punch.
I know it's not obvious to use as this is a stereo track, but I did this with NI Session Horns Pro, I didn't have the luxury of a horns section in my living room!

The bass also is lacking a little bit of punch, I would try to make it growl a little more, get back some of the transient and definition, add some saturation to it, something to bring it back up, not in level but in perception.

But it's a great listen already, so thanks for the new perspective on that song, good job.
BTW, if you like this one, you're going to like the new one that I'm just finishing up, will post on Soundcloud soon, stay tuned!

[tjmtruth]

Hey Pat...you have a great ear, man! Your "guesses" as to how and what I used to effect the keys solo and guitar solo were just about right on target. For the keys solo I did mult the track and left in more of its low end for warmth and did use a stereo enhancer on it. For the guitar solo, I used a nice ping-pong delay (mixed in very low) and used a transient plug...reducing the transients (gave it a silky smooth sound)...also left in some low end too. So, you were right on target.

It I were to go back in and work on it some more, I would add some crashes as the "one's" come up when the drums kick in, etc. I appreciate your other observations and suggestions as well. Glad you liked the vocal too....worked pretty hard on that. I did use some tube enhancement and a harmonics plugin on the bass to add crunch, but maybe it wasn't enough, or maybe I should have taken a different approach. The bass track you provided was nice and clean and done really well, though.

Can't wait to hear your new song.....see ya in these here cyber communications soon.

Tom

[ptalbot]

Ah, I wish I had a great ear!
It's just that I know these tracks quite well, so I can pick up what you did more easily, and also why I don't dare too much commenting on mixes of other's songs.

I really like the guitar treatment, looks like you've pushed the transient design quite far. I use SPL transient designer or Alloy 2 sometimes but have never pushed it that far. I'm definitely going to try that one day, thanks for the tip!

Yeah, the vocals are really nice. I like what you did.
The bass is perhaps compressed too much (too short attack, maybe?) because I think the source track has more attack than that.

cya around!

[ptalbot]

I've just put that new song on soundcloud, it's here: https://soundcloud.com/patrick-talbot/upper-hand

[takka360]

Be nice to get these files Pat.Love it and have on soundcloud

[ptalbot]

Ah! I'm afraid it's not part of the files that I've sent to Mike for the library.
There's another coming song coming ("Fool" - perhaps next month), but I suppose Mike would not want more from me, otherwise it would turn the Multitrack library into my own repository of mixes
That being said, I could probably export the raw sources and put them on a DropBox for those who are interested...

[takka360]

Please mate.I don't think Mike would mind at all

[HbGuitar]

Agree with takka.... Mike wouldn't mind at all. There are quite a few artists with whole albums up.

[ptalbot]

You mean whole albums here in the library? I see most have 2 to 4 songs.
Anyway, I'll prepare the exports, and contact Mike to see if he's interested, it would be best to have it hosted here for sure because I cannot guarantee to have that too long in my DropBox, I only have a free account and it's limited to 2Gb, so I often need the space...
I'll keep you posted on that.