Entourage Jesse Lewis
EntourageForum Replies Created
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Hey paul!
First of all, I love that picture you attached! Is that by chance from your current travels? Amazing!
Secondly, thanks for sharing this beautiful recording. If I’m not mistaken, this is the first long-form track I think I’ve heard you share, which is nice because there’s so much room from an arrangement standpoint.
I love this song, and I think the vocal sounds so soulful and beautiful. I’m sorry about the loss of your friend. What a beautiful tribute to see the track through.
I wanted to mention a few ideas and things I heard on my first listen through, some big picture and some small things as well. as always take it with a grain of salt because they’re just my opinions, but maybe helpful as I’m listening with fresh ears.
Some of my main comments are about the instrument (specifically samples/MIDI) choices, and how they fit with the larger vibe of the production. The vocal in the beginning brought me right in. Great vibe! As the organ enters I’m further pulled into your organic, soulful, and down home world . But when the piano comes in at :16 it hit me as too digital sounding and it kinda took me out of the moment a little bit. I wonder if there’s a different piano sound you could find that fits the mood and blends with the organ a little bit more? Additionally I felt the same way about the guitar when it made its entrance at :25. the sound felt too “DI” to my ears, I wonder if there’s a way for you to process it so it feels more acoustic? I mention these two things because they took me out of the moment that you had so perfectly set up from the beginning of the song. And I wanted to stay in that world you had invited me into! I felt the same way again about the midi bass sound that entered around 1:59. Would it be possible to find a different sample? or even possibly have somebody record the part live?
One production/arrangement idea I had was when the heavy guitar riff comes in at around 1:00 I wonder if you could add a big country/open sounding bass drum to support those downbeats? Possibly even adding some more drums or percussion as the song builds? just an idea to maybe experiment with…But I also kind of dig that you didn’t add more drums, if you know what I mean…
One small thing I noticed, at around 1:28 when the background vocals “oohs” Make their entrance there is a downbeat that is missing the same fullness that the other ones have. I wonder if the bass is missing from that beat? just give that a listen.
Finally, I could imagine some sounds having a touch of reverb or space added to them. I feel like I remember you mentioning in one of the forums that you don’t care too much for reverb, and I definitely am coming from a place where I dig using reverb at times, but I thought that some of the electric guitar could use a touch of space. maybe not reverb per se but maybe just the feeling that it was in a room. I felt that the vocals might benefit from that as well.
Again, really awesome music and hopefully a couple of these ideas make sense!
Keep them coming!
Best,
Jesse
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Gosh darn!!! So beautiful, man! I LOVE this song. You have a way with making me feel the music. Another hit!
ps – I agree with Dana about the kick drum. It feels out of place with the organic vibes of the rest of the song. If it’s too late to swap it out, maybe just a bit quieter and filtering some of the high end off might do the trick too?
Again – I LOVE THIS SONG!!! congrats!!!
Best Wishes,
Jesse
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Hey! Thanks so much, Jeremy!
That’s cool about the whistle track you’re mixing. I’d love to hear it if you wanted to share when you finish!
Best Wishes!
JLew
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Yo! Thanks so much, Jeremy! I’m glad to have your feedback on the EQ, and I will definitely check those frequencies out again. I also thought about drenching those birds in reverb as the song faded too, so cool that we’re on the same page with that as well. I’m gonna give that a try. It was definitely a very cool moment when those birds started going at it right as I finished the song. I definitely need to keep that in there hahaha!
Thanks again, man!
Best wishes,
Jesse
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Paul!
Thank you SO MUCH for all this info, this really clears everything up for me! How did I know you’d be just the person to ask about this haha!!??
That’s also very interesting about your -6 db tick. That’s so cool! And it makes perfect sense too, but I never would’ve thought of that.
As far as getting TWO monitors to run in stereo, I usually consider myself lucky if I can even get one for myself and I don’t have to carry it! 🤣 still not baller level yet!
Thanks again,
Jesse
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Thanks for this Dana! This is SUPER helpful!
❤
JLew
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Hi Patrick! Agreeing with @-PT about the joy and spirit in both your playing, composing, and the piano itself. Removing that “mud” with the EQ really helped the presentation to my ears. I also wonder if a little transparent compression might also benefit the sound. It’s SO dynamic, and I know that a lot of the vibe and spirit are coming from your dynamic performance, but I wonder if a touch of compression might smooth it out just a bit! I’ll let the pros weigh in on that though! Such great stuff man! Keep em coming!
Best,
Jesse
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Thanks so much for all the good vibes and encouragement, David!
Best,
Jesse
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Hey thanks so much man! It’s only my second time singing on a track so it gives me a lot of encouragement that you thought the vocals were cool. I appreciate it.
Best,
Jesse
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Hi Patrick!
Just wanted to say I enjoyed the piece, performance, and I dig how “real” the piano sounds. So organic and full of vibe – which is refreshing!
Looking forward to hearing more!
Best,
Jesse
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Dana!!!
Wow! Thanks so much for making this video and giving me your feedback. Very illuminating! I’m going to make those revisions and submit another version!
ps – I’m digging this “live” feedback model:) Very cool!
thanks again!
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This is a quick revision I made with a more chilled out intro, and could be refined more i think, but maybe strikes a better balance between easing into the song and still honoring the original feeling? Curious which approach people like better? Thanks again…
Best,
Jesse
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Thanks, Paul! That’s a very interesting observation, and one that I will definitely consider.
It’s funny – I was basing my song off of a reference track that inspired me, kind of following the format, which is how I ended up starting with the more “hitting” drums/synth intro.
As my production developed it got further away from the reference but I kept the format the same. This is a perfect illustration of why it’s cool to have a space like this to share music. You heard a very “big picture” concept in my song that I didn’t even consider because I was so in the weeds mixing, etc.
I’m not sure ultimately what I’m going to do yet but I’ve just gone in and taken out the drums in the beginning to experiment and I think it could work well.
Thanks for the feedback, I appreciate it!
Best,
JLew
ps – The reference track is called “Silver Pet Crank” by the artist, Clark. He’s one of my favorite electronic musicians, been on the scene since the 90’s. This is his latest album produced by Thom Yorke from Radiohead, although his second to latest release is better in my opinion. It’s called Sus Dog
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Thanks so much, brother!
I LOVE “Calling You!” That’s a really special song for me as well. I actually played it a bunch with Amy Cervini’s group back when we had our residency at the 55 Bar (RIP) What a heavy tune!
I sure could of used all this micing info before I recorded hahahaha, probably should have asked! Well – now I know, which as they say, is half the battle.
Working on an epic tune right now, trying to get it to a place where I can share it, because I’ll need some input from the MP crew!
Love,
JLew
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Thanks Pete! I appreciate you checking it out! I used pitch envelope automation in Ableton to create some crazy whistle dive bombs in there haha! having fun with it! Thanks again for listening!
Best,
JLew