Two mixes is fine, or one mix. Do as much or little as you want.

Thanks for the kind words, everyone. This forum is full of talented individuals so coming from you guys it really means something. Jeremy's just messing around with us. I especially like how he "tuned the vocals" and the "far away feel" he achieved.

Justin - The overall level is low because I didn't do any "mastering" or compression on the final mix. I think I actually had the final mix peak at 0.1 dB from clipping but average levels probably nowhere near that. The reason the MP3 is at 174 kbps is because I converted it into a Variable Bit Rate MP3 instead of a Constant Bit Rate. I was trying to get the quality of a higher bit rate CBR with a little smaller file size.

sscannon - I hear you about the panning of the guitars. I was just trying to create some space in the middle for the vocal. I probably went a bit too far with the spread, but it accomplished the goal - maybe a little too well.

I don't know if anyone is interested but in case anyone wants to know:

Total cumulative time spent was about 2.5 to 3 hours. No outboard processing was used. Everything was done in Sonar 6 using plug-ins that come with it. The processing used was as follows:

Lead Vocal: EQ, Compression, Reverb
Bass: EQ, Compression
Drums: EQ, Compression, Reverb
Cymbals: EQ
Piano: Reverb
Electric Gtr: Reverb, "Stereo Widener" (not sure if this really helped, but after I stuck it in there I just decided to leave it)
Acoustic Gtr: EQ, Reverb

No "mastering", compression or processing on the final mix itself. I guess I could have used some multi-band compression at the end to squeeze out a few more decibels but I decided to leave it alone.

I'm looking forward to hearing what everyone else comes up with. This could turn out to be a very interesting learning experience. Thanks, Justin.

Ok, I re did the mix. Let me know what you think.

http://www.puresoundstudio.com/farfromhome.mp3

Ok
Justin,
can you send me a word doc. w/ lyrics and guitar chords over the top?
Two mixes-
one is just what Justin sent... (I am going to send it through a summing mixer though)
and second will be my own version with the wife singing it even though she said... 'not really my style' I talked her into it. :-) I may have to play a round of geetar on it as well.
I'm about to go ape-ship on you all!!!
tomorrow its ON!
oh email...
earwitnessrecords@yahoo.com

Jeremy -

With respect, it still sounds really bad and out of balance. Here are my comments:

- bass and piano way too loud
- crash too loud
- drums panned left and way too low, can't hear the kick
- whatever tuning you did on the vocals sounds very out of tune and very odd, definately not complimentary, also vocal level is way too low
- lead guitar panned right doesn't do anything for me
- you only mixed 1 verse and 1 chorus why not the whole song?
- reverb isn't complimentary - piano has too much why not try a reverb and delay combination on differnent parts?

Frankly, it almost sounds like you were trying to do a bad mix on purpose - are you testing us or something? Listen to EWF's mix and compare it to yours.

As for mastering. Let's forget the formal mastering process for a minute. Let's say I'm your client and I just want a good sounding demo and I want you to do it soup to nuts. The contest is to do the best sounding mp3 you can.

Maybe he's just mixing from the wrong hard drive.

Ohhhhh, stop it!!!! stop it!!!!! I'm tearin' up here!!!!!

Ok my $0.02 I wasn't going to post my opinion but f'it I aways ask everyone theirs on my mixes.
EWF very nice mix, nice clearity lacking a little bite in drums & Bass (IMHO) but that could be a taste thing. Vocals are nice and front guitars are good. Mix has plenty of space.

Jeremy The vocals sound very low, panned too far right and out of tune. The drums are non existent. The crash is not too loud it's where it and the drums should be. The piano is too low. the acoustic is fine but can't differentiate? between the bass and guitars.

Justin I still can't download your mix.

This is all just my inexperienced opinion.

TLiX -

Here're the lyrics, chords, tablature...

Download Adobe PDF: FarFrmHome_Tab_and_Lyric.pdf

Open Chords
Verse: G(5), Csus9, D, Dsus9
Chorus: Bm(#5/11), C(add9), Em(add9), D(add4)
Outro: Am, C, G(5), F#(#5/b9/b13)


FAR FROM HOME - music by Justin Arey, Lyrics Steven Stern copyright 2005

Here is far from home,
A place not quite familiar but not unknown.
She was drawn along by hope
Lit like the light on an unanswered phone.

She is following
A sound unheard, a word
That she's named her heartstring.
And every day seems one day closer
To the end of her secret wandering

CHORUS: When she finally finds her feet
Upon the street
That she's moved forward on.
Though every step seemed like
The right leap at the time,
She's far from home.

It was never a home,
An empty place encased by wood and stone and,
He blew in just like a breeze,
To leave, but not before a careless seed was sown,

She is following
And that's enough for now
The motion's everything.
And every day seems one day closer
To the end of her secret wandering

CHORUS: When she finally finds her feet
Upon the street
That she's moved forward on.
Though every step seemed like
The right leap at the time,
She's far from home.

She's run far from home
From her messed up life
In the middle of nowhere and
She's not real sure just why she left

She didn't take to big towns
Nobody noticed her,
Nobody thought of her, and
She couldn't make a home with that

Far from Destiny, is a
Mystery she never read
Hurt by words she overheard, in the
Tavern down the street, now she's
Far from anything, she's
Far from anyone, she's so
Far away it seems, she's so
Far from home, and now it's like...

Dark Star - not sure why you can't download, seems to work fine. Here's the link again...

FarFromHome.zip

Hmmm.... hmmmm...... ...Ya think ?