Musicians Collaboration Studio
Virtual Music Studio => Finished Works => Topic started by: mickbrit55 on July 26, 2012, 08:48:21 PM
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Epic prog-rockery! Many thanks to all the collaborators for sticking out with me on this great tune. The ride was long but the result was definitely worth it. Two very different mixes on this track.
Paul : Lyrics and re-writes
Andy : Bass Guitar, Keys and Synths
George : Vocals, Harmonies and Backing Vocals
Marcel : Drums
Steffen : Mixing and Mastering
Mick : Music, Guitars, Keys and Mixing
Lost In Izmir
Lost and alone in Izmir
My back to the biting wind
Waiting to slip away
To beloved England again
Lost and alone in Izmir
Smoke filled coffee houses
Filled with a familiar scent
Late night conversations
Never saying what we meant
Lost and alone in Izmir
There's no changing who we are
You belong to the
Grand bazaars
I'm a stranger here
And the cold salty air
Tastes like my tears
I'm lost and alone in Izmir
For a brief moment
We were the same
It couldn't last, Oh it's a shame
I'm lost and alone in Izmir
The bitter sea approaches
And then slowly recedes
In time with my aching heart
As it beats and then it bleeds
Lost and alone in Izmir
Lost and alone in Izmir
My back to the biting wind
Waiting to slip away
To beloved England again
Lost and alone in Izmir
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Great job all!! Love the guitar tones and the riff Mick!
Mix is great Steffen! :o
Drums are tight Marcel!!
Way to hang with the groove Andy!
George, vox are great as usual!
Not too many 8 minute songs I'll listen to all the way! But this one I did! :)
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Everyone:
Great journey. Mick it turn out great and GG's vocals work so well for this one. Thanks for the ride.
Paul
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Hi Mick,
Thanks for letting me on another of your great tunes. You have been penning some great music, this one is right up with Autumn Light.
Thanks
Andy
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Hey Bill,
The kind words re the song and the bass playing much appreciated :)
Andy
Way to hang with the groove Andy!
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Mick, I'm still not tired of the song! :)
I thought I'd post a couple of reviews from offsite. I've asked a couple of people at the German site (via PM) to listen to the final version and tell me what they think. This is the first reply I got (translated):
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Seriously - I think I've listened to the third version by now, and I really could not find a lot to complain. I thought the first version was pretty good already, mixing-wise.
From my point of view it's actually just individual, subjective criteria of each listener that make the difference.
You could point out the slightly fizzeling crashes in the new version, but that has a lot to do with the fact that I don't like crashes that much anyway. For others who come more from the hard rock/heavy genre, that should be absolutely ok.
Well, I think the mix, as it is, is totally radio compatible. You can really leave it like that.
But I'm really not the final authority for such questions and with my monitoring system. Maybe let Karumba listen to it (note: Karumba is a
professional mastering engineer and a member at that site too) .
But here is my quick "criticism":
- There may be some room for optimization on the low end. On my monitoring system it sounds like it has slightly too much mid range/heighs. But nothing dramatic.
- Partially defuse the crashes on the high mids.
But don't forget that I'm listening on Behringer speakers!
Other than that: Neither the song nor the mix have any serious issues. Good job!
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Regards,
Steffen
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The second reply to my request for comments was much shorter (and posted on the thread):
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Hi Stoman,
Take a good advice from me: In future do listen to you inner voice! :)
The final mix is by far the best one. You should have delivered that right from the beginning. :)
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No word on the song itself, but I think he must like it - or he would have been one of the first original reviewers on the thread. :)
Regards,
Steffen
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8 minutes...?...really...?...
I thought i would get bored...but no...when it was over i had to listen again.
Love it.
\m/
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Another review from the German site:
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You are right, Steffen! This is a great song, and the mix sounds very transparent and lively. I think the crashes in the middle part are still a bit crisp, but that's not really an issue, just a matter of taste.
Other than that especially the drums sound great (btw - does the drummer only have crashes on the left hand side?), and that's always a big challenge. The low end is just right for me now and the song as a whole mixed brilliantly. Respect!
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The crashes indeed seem to be on the left hand side only. I noticed that myself when I listened with head phones. That's a technical issue that I'll look after, and I think I will lower the volume of the overheads during the middle section just a tad. In a couple of days maybe. :)
Regards,
Steffen
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Some nice changes in tempo and feel through the song which makes its length more bearable, would have loved to have heard some harmony guitar on the solo passage Mick. Good stuff gentlemen, well done
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One more German review (PM'ed to me):
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I've listened to it - IMO the mix is a lot better now. The panning of the drums is unusual, but I think that must be an issue with the recording. But the right hand side overweight of the snare isn't as obvious any more. That's not really a bad thing in the progressive genre anyway.
Just the kick sound isn't perfect yet IMO - I'd like it better if it was a little more snappy - but that's just a matter of taste.
I think overall I'd leave it as is.
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Regards,
Steffen
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Thanks for all the positive comments! Glad this is going down well, considering the running time :)
Mick.
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Dang,
How awesome is this? Izmir fantastic. :)
Cyclone
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Great song guys. Love the production & vocal calisthenics, George.
toad
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Sounds great guys, in some spots, George sings like the Gipsys, lol... Really cool song.
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Hey, Cool :) :)
Very inventive...love the intro...Great vocals by GG ...didn't get bored even though it was long, kept me hooked until the end.
Well played all around with a great vibe 8)
Very solid mix Steffen.. it could use a little low end 'oomph' and the kick takes quite a dip on small speakers, and in mono the vocal is MUCH louder compared to the rest of the track in stereo. Maybe you did something to widen the instuments in the mix that isn't mono compatable ?
CD
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Thanks again for listening guys. Surprised so many people took the time to listen through this 8 minitue epic, but I'm glad you did. Much appreciated :)
Mick.
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Very solid mix Steffen.. it could use a little low end 'oomph' and the kick takes quite a dip on small speakers, and in mono the vocal is MUCH louder compared to the rest of the track in stereo. Maybe you did something to widen the instuments in the mix that isn't mono compatable ?
Yes I did bring up the vocals on the master - it was the way I wanted it when I did it. But listening again now I don't like that decision any more. I think I'd do the mix quite differently if I had to do it again.
The mix could have been a bit cleaner too; maybe I do another version some day.
The mix itself isn't as mono-compatible as it should be. I noticed and mentioned that before. There are a couple of instruments playing at the same time that can not be separated well enough because they have exactly the same base frequencies. That caused a lot of phase issues, but I did not find a solution that really satisfied me (other than muting some instruments completely), so I decided to leave it as is.
Regards,
Steffen
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Very solid mix Steffen.. it could use a little low end 'oomph' and the kick takes quite a dip on small speakers, and in mono the vocal is MUCH louder compared to the rest of the track in stereo. Maybe you did something to widen the instuments in the mix that isn't mono compatable ?
I did not find a solution that really satisfied me (other than muting some instruments completely),
Yep the mute button is the most powerful of all mixing tools for sure :)
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I love that!!!
Inventive and George and Mick: The use of those arabic notes is great!!!!!!!!!
Led Zep-esque!!!
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Thanks everyone for the feedback.
This was hard work for me, I listened to a lot of asian singing to get the style right. I kept drifting back to bluesy vocal melodies and had to keep pulling myself back to asia.
I think the mixes were great, the track was a challenge. Mick's mix just had the edge for me.
George
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Very striking song. Nice weight to it. Love the Eastern tones in the beginning (and during certain passages with the Sitar).
Great vocal performance from George who sounds like he really got stuck into this.
Mick, you noisy bastard.....turn it down will ya! >:D Guitars are great as are the drums and bass. Nice one gentlemen.
Billy.
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Mick, you noisy bastard.....turn it down will ya! >:D Guitars are great as are the drums and bass. Nice one gentlemen.
Billy.
Can't help it, Billy. My amp starts at 11.
Mick.
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Mick, you noisy bastard.....turn it down will ya! >:D Guitars are great as are the drums and bass. Nice one gentlemen.
Billy.
Can't help it, Billy. My amp starts at 11.
Mick.
Starts at 11 :o
;D
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I post most of my stuff on a vocalists site to get some feedback to help me improve.
This one was compared to all a manner of things:
"Gates Of Babylon" by Rainbow
"Nomad" by Iron Maiden