I'd like to follow along with some posted lyrics. The song has potential but the mix isn't right yet. The train intro is fine. The opening guitar intro seems a little overdriven. The lead voice is not as present as it should be. Sounds a bit decayed and set back, especially as it competes with "white noise" in the soundscape. Both guitar and voice are out of tune in a few passages. The female chorus is very nice -- excellent spread. The ending should be more decisive...just sort of drips away.

Having said that, I do like the timbre and sincerity of the singer's voice. And I like the story line. "Sell her soul for nothing until she's satisfied."

What would happen if you brought the song down a full step?

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We are working on the second album and while we are tuning the guitar, or tuning out the guitar... haha.. his voice is really high. I tried to get him to bring it down but there was a time problem. We had to rush this first album. Maybe on the second we can fine tune more. Noise is a problem. Thanks very much. Crits are so valuable and open your eyes! Like gold.

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Perfection is just down the road. Way down the road...

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Firstly, take care to properly tune the guitar, especially when it plays such a prominent role in the mix.

Second, the mix needs more space... the vocal and the guitar are competing for the same airspace... doubling the guitar with a slight delay on one track and panning one left and one right would give the vocal the space it needs.

Third, the EQ is really messed up on this track... the vocal and guitar are too *tinny* (too much treble) and the background voices and organ are too muddy. It's best to record everything *flat* and only do very slight tweaks with EQ to separate sounds in the same frequency.

Likewise, it sounds like you tweaked the prerecorded train sound FX... sounds like you boosted the highs --- and lost the lows... very unnatural for trains, which have a lot of low-end power. Best to leave professionally-recorded FX alone, unless you really know what you're doing. ;)

You need to remix some of the levels on this track, too. I could hardly make out the organ part until the very end.

I hope this response proves helpful. ;)

--- Joe

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Great comments. Will certain take all you have to the board again when we go!
Gold.

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Perfection is just down the road. Way down the road...

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I'm a christian. I think this is quite good. Produced quite well. Except there's a TON of reverb for an acoustic song. It doesn't make the song any less good, or any better, I just would assumed there'd be less reverb.

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Michael placed his album on a station in St. Louis and the ratings went through the roof. He was very pleased. We pumped out the album in just a few weeks. We really had to leave a lot of unfinished business and cut a lot of corners. I am an independant Christian and I find the songs move me; even after serious editing, and I guess everyone here knows what it is like to edit and edit; songs get really old sometimes. Michael writes with his heart. With all the problems I still love his work.

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Perfection is just down the road. Way down the road...

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