New Country Ballad

jacksoonbrowne · 06-09-2024, 05:00 PM

Hi fellow Reaperites

We released this country ballad in early May 2024.

A great friend of mine, Jason Roos is the vocalist.
My self on bass.
My best Friend Dave Hubenig on Drums
Great friend Stephane Coulombe on guitars.
And the ever so awesome Dan Loyer on steel.

Tracked, mixed, and mastered in my humble basement man cave / studio, using Reaper with stock plugins.

I hope you enjoy it.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sgz4nEd9E9c

Cheers

eq1 · 06-10-2024, 02:58 PM

Nice song. Nice tonal quality on all the instruments, very clear and clean.

IF you were to want a slightly slicker, commercial-sounding mix, here's a couple ideas: You'd widen-out the sound stage, probably put a little more low-mids and low-end into the mix, probably slightly less reverb on lead vox and/or make the reverb a little less bright (may not be necessary if these other changes were made). The overall frequency spectrum sounds slightly high-mid heavy, too - in terms of that 'slick, commercial-sounding' mix... Narrow sound stage is probably the main issue.

2nd listen: I guess mids seem a little too forward/hot. But, I like this mix quite a bit, the actual music/performance/volume levels from instrument to instrument sound really good to me.

Thanks for sharing your work.

barrymk · 06-18-2024, 07:26 AM

Works for me. Some proper country.

41TWIN · 06-24-2024, 03:30 PM

That was real good. Solid man. Nice country song. Do you play pedal steel? I forget if I asked you this before. LOL. Sorry. Is this a full band or just you?

jacksoonbrowne · 06-24-2024, 06:41 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by 41TWIN

That was real good. Solid man. Nice country song. Do you play pedal steel? I forget if I asked you this before. LOL. Sorry. Is this a full band or just you?

Thanks for the compliment @41Twin

This is 5 musicians.

Myself on Bass, and 4 great friends.
Jason, the vocalist, wrote this tune back in 1993

Everything was tracked separately to a ghost track.

ggrey · 06-24-2024, 07:16 PM

Yeah...echo of all the comments above. Great song and production, as well as very nice musicianship all around. Keep up the great work! Hope to hear more. Thanks for sharing JB!

jacksoonbrowne · 06-24-2024, 10:53 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ggrey

Yeah...echo of all the comments above. Great song and production, as well as very nice musicianship all around. Keep up the great work! Hope to hear more. Thanks for sharing JB!

Thanks for your compliments @ggrey.

There will be more come

I listened to your "Sacred Ground 3" album.
I am very impressed with it !!!

enroe · 06-24-2024, 11:14 PM

The title "The old man on market street" already suggests a melancholic
song. And that's exactly what it is: a wonderfully melancholic,
yearning country song. It's a pleasure: great singing, gorgeous guitars,
awesome bass, exactly matching drums!

Greetings to everyone - it sounds fantastic!

jacksoonbrowne · 06-24-2024, 11:27 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by enroe

The title "The old man on market street" already suggests a melancholic
song. And that's exactly what it is: a wonderfully melancholic,
yearning country song. It's a pleasure: great singing, gorgeous guitars,
awesome bass, exactly matching drums!

Greetings to everyone - it sounds fantastic!

Thanks so much for your compliments @enroe

Originally we had a chorus but decided against it as this was to be a story put to music.

I am glad you like it.

We currently have about 6 more original tunes is the works.
And will post them once they are released

atomlux · 06-25-2024, 01:34 AM

Nice!
There's something about Country I can't put into words.
I love it.

Cosmic Pig · 06-25-2024, 03:06 PM

Sounds great man! Great song and great playing all around.

It's great as it is for sure, but seeing as how this is a pick at it type forum, I'll do just that.

My thinking is the kick is a hair hefty, or possibly just clicky.

Production is good, but I think it be cool to hear more extreme dynamics. Start it off really sparse, less finger picking and big holes... or even just a single strum on the acoustic for the chord changes to really let that steel sit and cry. When the vocal comes in it's great as is with the picked acoustic. Generally more ups and downs would be cool throughout maybe.

I dunno, just some stuff I might have tried if it was me at the helm.

jacksoonbrowne · 07-05-2024, 10:26 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Cosmic Pig

Sounds great man! Great song and great playing all around.

It's great as it is for sure, but seeing as how this is a pick at it type forum, I'll do just that.

My thinking is the kick is a hair hefty, or possibly just clicky.

Production is good, but I think it be cool to hear more extreme dynamics. Start it off really sparse, less finger picking and big holes... or even just a single strum on the acoustic for the chord changes to really let that steel sit and cry. When the vocal comes in it's great as is with the picked acoustic. Generally more ups and downs would be cool throughout maybe.

I dunno, just some stuff I might have tried if it was me at the helm.

Thanks for the comments @Cosmic

We are currently working on a full album of Jason's originals songs, and I will seriously consider your comments for Remixing/Mastering this song for the album

jacksoonbrowne · 08-09-2024, 10:01 PM

Some new tunes will be coming soon

fHumble fHingaz · 08-22-2024, 05:50 AM

Hi, Really nice work on this!

The song and performances are perfect for this genre.

I like the way you haven't followed the current country trend of hard-tuning low male vocals. Trendy or not, I just think it is totally counter-intuitive for a genre that is supposed to evoke home-spun tradition... but I digress!...

I just wanted to re-iterate the points made above by a couple of the commenters about the mix that need a little attention IMO:

- The lead vocal gets a little "pokey" in the midrange at some points. I think a multi-band compressor or a dynamic eq set to pull that 3k-ish thing that happens when he really leans into some notes on occasion would really help the vocal sit better. Also a little more warmth and low end in the vocal would help greatly too.

- There is plenty of space to pan out the instruments more and put the listener more "inside" the mix for a more intimate experience, and just more general stereo interest.

- The kick drum is a little clicky sounding and lacking in punch and low end weight. It's a slower tempo song, so there is room for the kick to "bloom" a little more.

Great job!

jacksoonbrowne · 08-22-2024, 08:29 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by fHumble fHingaz

Hi, Really nice work on this!

The song and performances are perfect for this genre.

I like the way you haven't followed the current country trend of hard-tuning low male vocals. Trendy or not, I just think it is totally counter-intuitive for a genre that is supposed to evoke home-spun tradition... but I digress!...

I just wanted to re-iterate the points made above by a couple of the commenters about the mix that need a little attention IMO:

- The lead vocal gets a little "pokey" in the midrange at some points. I think a multi-band compressor or a dynamic eq set to pull that 3k-ish thing that happens when he really leans into some notes on occasion would really help the vocal sit better. Also a little more warmth and low end in the vocal would help greatly too.

- There is plenty of space to pan out the instruments more and put the listener more "inside" the mix for a more intimate experience, and just more general stereo interest.

- The kick drum is a little clicky sounding and lacking in punch and low end weight. It's a slower tempo song, so there is room for the kick to "bloom" a little more.

Great job!

Thanks for the comments

Will definitely try out your great suggestions.

Cheers

High_Note · 08-23-2024, 06:47 AM

Super solid song man! I'm not a big country guy but can appreciate good music. Congrats to you and the rest of the musicians.

What I like is the actual mix. I've never gotten a mix that has this quality. The picking acoustic lays in perfect with the bass and steel. It's actually freakin awesome!

Any tricks on how you got your acoustic to sound so good?

jacksoonbrowne · 08-23-2024, 04:02 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by High_Note

Super solid song man! I'm not a big country guy but can appreciate good music. Congrats to you and the rest of the musicians.

What I like is the actual mix. I've never gotten a mix that has this quality. The picking acoustic lays in perfect with the bass and steel. It's actually freakin awesome!

Any tricks on how you got your acoustic to sound so good?

Thanks for the comments.

For the acoustic, brand new strings, and we used a Neuman TL102 at the sound hole, and an SM57 at the 12th fret.