Recording - April 2021 - 62

Readers'

TRACKS
BY MARTY PETERS

Readers' Tracks is where respected engineer
and producer Marty Peters listens to your
recordings and critiques them, pointing out
where and how you can make them better.
Listen to the songs, read the reviews, and
submit your own materials online.
" Morning Glory Road " / Bob Richardson
Equipment: PC running Windows 7, Cubase Pro 10.5,
XLN Addictive Drums 2, Arturia B-3 V Organ, M-Audio Keystation 49 controller, Fender and Gibson guitars, Line 6 Bass Pod,
ToneSpot Bass Pro, Shure SM-57, Avantone CR-14, Ozone Elements 9, Audified MixChecker Pro, IK Multimedia ARC 2 Room
Correction, M-Audio Profire 2626 interface, Mackie Big Knob,
Yamaha HS8 studio monitors.
Music: " Morning Glory Road " is a blues instrumental single-person production.
Recording: This high-octane blues-rock track is firing on all
cylinders straight out of the gate. Starting from the bottom up,
Bob has done a bang-up job on his drum programming via
the Addictive Drums software-it sounds like an actual player
behind the kit, from the 60s skip snare straight through to the
excellent tom fills. Well done! Sadly, the bass guitar fares less
well. The off-centered bass comes across as disassociated from
the kick drum, and the tone is often mushy. This is due in part
to the fact that it shares nearly the exact same placement as an
electric rhythm guitar would in the mix. Speaking of the electric
guitars, the opposite-panned rhythm instruments are featured
rather prominently, and unfortunately, they overwhelm Bob's
fine lead guitar playing (except in the breakdown sections).
We also must mention-the elimination of the bass guitar from
1:49 to 2:24 is puzzling. The bass is replaced in the stereo
field by a faux Hammond organ, and when it finally reappears, it does so awkwardly in the middle of a measure, as if
Bob realized too late that the mute button was engaged.
Suggestions: " Morning Glory Road " has a lot of upsides.
The exemplary drum track and the powerful Keith Richards-style
electric rhythm guitars create a great platform for success. That
said, we urge Bob to address the issues with the bass track
62 RECORDING April 2021

straight away. We can think of no advantage to panning the
bass and strongly suggest placing it in the center of the stereo
field along with the kick and snare. For the guitar balance,
swapping the volumes of the lead and rhythm guitars would
certainly be warranted. Finally, we feel that the decision to
drop the bass out of the mix for more than half a minute in
a song with this much drive is simply unwise. We encourage
Bob to rethink that part of his arrangement and rejoin the bass
with the drums.
Summary: Good bones, easy repairs.

" Alter Ego Trip " / Tony James
Equipment: Tascam 488 Portastudio, Ableton Live 9 Standard, Push 2 controller, Roland JD-990 synth module, Roland
R-8 drum machine, BOSS Dr. Sample SP-202, Beats Headphones.
Music: " Alter Ego Trip " is an alt-jazz instrumental, composed, performed, recorded, produced and mastered by Tony.
Recording: Tracked on a Tascam 488 Portastudio 4-track
cassette recorder and mixed in Ableton Live 9, Tony has submitted what amounts to a basic sketch demo here ('demo' is not a
pejorative, by the way). Tony has fashioned a sparse arrangement featuring drums, bass, sax and keyboards, and there's
room for improvement. Starting with the drums, both the snare
and hi-hat have a metallic tone, and the reverb placed on the
entire kit (kick included) seems excessive. The bass has a nice
groove to it but it's too distorted and too dominant in the mix.
The faux sax serves its function as a melodic guide, though the
tone is, again, on the harsh side. The keyboards strike us as
awkward, particularly at the 2:00 mark when the track seems
to stumble slightly. Finally, the balance, particularly between
the bass and keyboard, could use some attention.
Suggestions: A significant role of a demo has long been
to develop and present an outline or starting point for a song,
and in that regard, Tony's effort here is reasonably successful.
We can certainly hear a ton of potential for the composition,
and in the hands of additional skilled players, a fleshed-out version is certainly within the realm of possibility. In the interim, we
would urge Tony to do as follows: first up, dial back the reverb
on the drums a bit and then begin to tackle the strident tones on
the snare, cymbals and sax. If your headphones are the primary
listening system when mixing, we suggest diversifying and
checking things out on other speakers as well. Next, we would
lower the bass volume and rebalance the rhythm section. Finally,
we are on the fence as to whether the keys are right for the
track; while they serve as a guide track, the timing issues may
be doing more harm than good to the overall recording.
Summary: A good starting point.

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Recording - April 2021

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