Greetings Dana and MP folks!

It’s been a while since I’ve had something to share mix-wise. BUT I have a fun bootstompin’ bopper in the works with a Nashville-style singer I met in Bali. The concept is Beyonce’s “Single Ladies” meets Dolly Parton “9 to 5”.

Typically I come to you for final mix notes and everyone gives me great production notes…

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Hey Joe!

Lovely track, across the board, especially that sweet guitar licks.

I think Jesse covered a lot of tweaks and experiments worth trying.

I didn’t mind the soft organ-y patches, but a new sound or at least some tape/saturation to dirty them up just a bit could help; and perhaps higher parts near the end of some climactic energy.

The…

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Hello Father Paul,

Congrats on you and yours son’s collabo. That’s my daddy-daughter dream.

The master sounds great, as does his drumming! Very tasty.

And I second Jesse that it’s nice to hear a live band sound. Kinda gentle-Weezer.

Best,

Jeremy

Thanks so much, Dana!

You’ve shared a few times with me now to think through the structural building so I’m definitely committing that to heart (adding new elements each chorus, etc.). Actually, I’m making a Vib3 Machine-esque cheat sheet with this note!

Giving everything else a go as well!

I finally bought the full Melodyne and it’s crazy that…

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Hey Paul! Could finally hear your mp3 intro. I love it honestly. I’m sold! Thank you very much, I like the fade in on the bells and slower fade in on the vocal.

Might use the pre-intro for the album. (Who makes pre-intros anymore?! haha).

Thanks again Paul! Glad to softer crooner vibe is working for you! I appreciate that. Definitely looking forward to hearing that intro swap.

Thanks Jesse for all the kinds words and deep listen for notes. Much appreciated. I’m glad it brings you to a happy place. That makes me very happy!

I will check those out and see what I can finesse. I felt the kick was perhaps a bit hot in the verse as well.

Intro – I think we used some weird phasy fx thing on the intro. Phasing isn’t something…

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Thank you, Dana! Bumping on the laptop is a good sign! Yeah, love me a 90’s shuffle. Looking forward to hear any other juicy bits you might have!

Hey Paul, I thought you might try the shorter intro and you did! haha. Ya know, I was thinking the same thing. When I made these songs I was very into intros but my newer pop brain wants to just get to it!

For some reason I can’t play your version. 🙁 And I get an error when I try to download it too. I’d love to hear it though! Could you send…

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Greetings everyone and happy New Years!

I could use your golden ears and keen advice on my next planned release.

It’s not yet mastered. Levels feeling good? Anything taking you out of the song flow?

Many thanks!!

Jeremy

Sorry I’m late to the party, Jesse. Coming out of my music cave and happy to hear some new sparkly sounds enter (or re-emerge) in your soundscape!

My initial thoughts are:

– Da Guitar sounds sick! Very Blade Runnery

– Da Sax sounds like a great recording, I wish it has more sauce on it like the guitar

– Da Beat (particularly the snare) sounds…

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Hi MP Squad!

This is my 6th single from my upcoming LP Make Waves and I would love to run this one by you guys and gals as usual!

It’s a bit different than the last (but aren’t they all?). Choral and co-production by maestro @nate.

I won’t be adding anything production-wise to this so it’s purely a mix poll (please don’t tempt me with additions!…

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Hey Jesse!

Bravo, man! Such a sweet tune, vibes and, as Dana said, time capsule for your music and family.

As a father (of a 12 year old girl), I am a big believer in the power of gifting music and sharing our love and legacy in this way, especially with a video with your wife’s art work!

Thanks for sharing! Do we get a boat version on da grams. 😉

Thank you so so much @dana and @-PT for repeated listens and feedback. I think I got it to a good place thanks to your help and hope to have it out in the coming days!

@Nate I appreciate it and glad you like the drop. Of course you deserve lots of credit with your gorgeous string and choral layers, as always!

@-PT @dana hah! Thx. Oh, shoot, I shared the wrong link! Haha. No animals in this one:

Here’s the Daylight master!

https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/pwa34og7b03wt0xa582xg/Daylight-M1.wav?rlkey=qfx5bz7zkrxv03j528n5z6fz1&st=ahdfmywg&dl=0

Thanks a million @dana and @JoeRobinson!

Per your advice, I pushed the drums up and vocals down a bit. I liked it and got it mastered by my usual guy; however I’m thinking of getting an alt.

I feel like the beat/snare in particular doesn’t crack or hit like my go to references (PBJ’s Young Folks, Odesza’s Line of Sight, Radiohead’s Lotus…

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Loving this thread of notes and curious to learn more about the chaos to clarity protocol!

More importantly, Joe! Phew, smoking performance and song.

Really nice stuff. Felt like I was back in Texas in some middle of nowhere saloon about to test my grit on a few too many shots of bourbon.

The only thing that caught my ears lines right up with…

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Thanks so much @-PT @JoeRobinson @CMN @dana ! Really appreciate the encouraging words, production tips and tricks, and real talk.

I took your notes to heart as I agreed with most every time I hear the playback.

So I implemented them in…

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Thanks, Dana! All good! Hope those sessions are going swimmingly.

Man, great track and performance! Feels good on the laptop speakers balance wise. Other than Dana’s notes, add some warmth/lows in particular, for me, I’d say it’s ready! Hope to hear this in a film.

Greetings everyone!

I posted this the moment MP came back online but it looks like others hadn’t joined. So hoping to get your thoughts!

—

So grateful to back back on MP back. @dana thanks so much for your hard work and creating this space for us!

I seriously couldn’t bring myself to release this new track without getting expert feedback from the…

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Greetings everyone!

So grateful to back back on MP back. 🙏@dana thanks so much for your hard work and creating this space for us!

I seriously couldn’t bring myself to release this new track without getting expert feedback from the group.

Would love everyone’s thoughts on my next track “Daylight”.

Song…

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Ah, ok. So it sounds like you might typically get dry and wet stems. I’m trying to get better at printing the wet fx for main stems like vocals but it can be a pain in Ableton to do quickly.

As for BBQ, you are correct! Us Texans do think the meat should be succulent without the sauce, but we still love us some sauce options. At least…

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Loving this thread and process!

It’s like bbq (vegan or otherwise), make it slap with the dry rub and then add the sauce to taste!

Do you ever get vocal stems with already great fx that you then have to approximate if tasty? Or are they typically dry and you sauce to taste?

Thanks for the airpod walk-n-listen, Dana! That’s kinda the ultimate test, right?

And I love that tip. I mean, I do my best to make sure the vocal is loud enough broadly, but after hearing something a million times one can lose site of the trees for the forest.

I’ve never thought to qc the entrances. And it needed it! So I went back and added…

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Paul, haha, yes. I of course appreciate the notes, encouragement, and pop-centric muses. But, man, in addition to making music, you might consider getting into reviewing music or writing publicly (if you don’t already), love the surreal turns with a touch of Vonnegut humor. Thanks as always for the listen and suggestions. I have been listening…

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Thanks everyone for the kind words, deep listens, and such. I took it all to heart and went a bit ham on the song. Added more poppy bits like harmonies, worked on the levels, learned the Studio version of Melodine to really sync and polish the millions of vocals, and, perhaps most expertly, didn’t leave the mix bus in mono this time like the…

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Yo Roy,

Another bangerrrrrr!

Doesn’t need much to my airpods, the track is banging. A few potential tweaks…

Thoughts for depth: put some verb or delay or slapback on the intro synth bass. This is a great underlick, could use a lil’ more vibe.

Lead Vocal feels a hair quiet (hard to understand), especially in the chorus. (Verse 2 is fine). The…

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Hey y’all! Sorry for the delay on reply. @dana @JLEW

Thank you SO MUCH for the notes and encouragement. You have no idea how much it means.

Especially because I agreed with them all.

Soooo, I’ve been woodshedding on the track (and finally bought and learned Melodyne as Wave Tune was too frustrating). I took all your notes into account and…

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Ah, yeah! Love this short Tiktok-friendly cover, Paul.

It’s pretty over the top with the tuba in a fun way. haha.

Not sure if you’re looking for feedback or just sharing for fun, but if so… my main note might be to add a little verb, or slap and tape on the vocals. Sounds too pristine to my ears, especially as I’ve listened to the…

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Hey Crew!

Hope everyone is enjoying their 4th holiday week.

I wanted to run another upbeat bopper by y’all to check if the mix sounds master-ready to y’all (I have a gentle faux master on it). I had it mixed but have gone back to the stems to try and make it more banging and boppy, as I tend to do.

Especially curious how the bass and vocal…

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Woohoo, so glad to see this and your montage on the socials! Looks and sounds great, Jesse!

Hey Paul,

Real nice song. Sorry you lost your singer. This is a must-release.

Love all the instrumental building, especially when that nasty loud and surprising guitar blasts in. I’m here for it!

My main thought might be to add just a touch (or more!) of verb or slap back on the vocal so it sits a bit more in the mix. It feels especially stark…

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Hey Jesse!

Love this approach to capturing your song and vibe! Inspiring. The naturescape sounds amazing.

Too me the guitar might have a little too much high-mid freq’s somewhere: the fret slides and some of the notes hurt my ears a bit.

Outro – For my tastes, I might consider less hawk/crow squawks at the end, maybe fade those out as the…

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Thanks, Dana! If it’s working on the laptop that’s a great sign. I think the BGV’s are too loud.

And, totally Hey Mickey + PBJ… + Radiohead spit + Beachboys harmonies for me.

I love your equal-and-opposite direction take on the BGV and Strokes vs Beatles comparison. Part of me feels more Beatles-y this round as it’s a darker lyric song. But…

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Man, I know what a Roy sheeeesh means so I’m feeling good. Thanks, boss! 🤑

Man, your posts are epic. Many thank yous! You might consider blogging about music if you don’t already!

Welcome to the revolution! haha.

All great notes. I’m been feeling that double whistle might be one too many in the intro especially if there’s other intro-stuff. Will experiment with the intro and peep the sibilance.

And I love I love Lucy. Sign me up!

Ya had me at the title, ha!

Mix sounds phat and crazy wide. You gotta teach me how you got that width.

I hear all the instruments clearly.

Maybe the kick could knock a bit more or clip a bit just too get a little nastier in the club.

Maybe mastering could bring out some of the high end (you might reference Skrillex. I’ve realized in…

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Hello once more, MP fam!

I have another track I’m looking to get out asap for this season of upheaval and wanted to run the mix through your incredible mastermind filter.

My main q’s:

1. Should the whistle be louder (like PBJ’s Young Folks)?

2. And @-PT ‘s previous notes has got me thinking that mayyybe the intro may not be necessary. Yet it’s…

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Noted! And will use this a much need resource moving foward! Appreciate cha, DANA!

Danaaaaa!

Amazing. That kick has much-BOOTY!

And this tutorial was so cool for seeing your work flow and tools. I don’t often kick-stack cuz I didn’t have a solution for phasing in my belt. Now I do!

I’m seconds away from buying the Infected Mushroom because whatever money I haven’t given to Bezos belongs to Waves plugins it seems. ha.

Also, I…

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Thanks Roy! Appreciate that. Yeah, a stomp is the vibe, but an electric Berlin-meets-Htown stomp! Ha. To your point, I recognize that a true foot-on-the-wooden-floor stomp would be iconic and work more effortlessly.

But for real would love to hear a Roy Matz re-mix with a guest vocal too. Just saying. 🤩

Hi Paul,

Love the depth you put into this feedback and your poetic way of interpreting and verbally arranging, as you said.

Generally I think cutting some of the intro and outro could be helpful and impactful (and certainly more modern and pop-forward). As a study in comparison, I listened back last night to my favorite all-time inspirations…

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Wow, Dana. Means a lot to hear I’m progessing. Especially after spending at least a full day on it since the last version and I’m learning a lot. Exciter helped a lot too with the vox.

But Roy can tell you from our years of masterminds that kicks have been a challenge for me! I also tried auditioning other kicks and while many sounded more…

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Hi Dana and MP fam!

Many thanks for those fairy dust ideas (this would be a sweet app!, just saying). I incorporated many of them and even got the exciter. Fun!

Curious if this mix improved the kick and the vocals / over all vibe?

I like an electronic kick for this song though hopefully I tamed the high end / volume and now have it actually in…

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Sounds nice and lively to me!

Would be hard to say without hearing the less squeezed version to say which is best. But feels nice to me as is!

Hi Dana!

Been marinating and remixing based these notes and really finding it so darn meaningful to hear those kind words to this song which means so much to me. Thank you! (ps: those bgv’s were arranged once again by the great @Nate.)

The kick is too clicky! I agree. I never noticed but I felt it. And now I can’t unhear it. (ps: I finally…

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Thanks, so much, Jesse! I really appreciate the kind words. As for the kick… I hear it now thanks to you and Dana, it’s a bit over-smacked. It’s also out of tune I noticed so I might replace or tune and round off the high end like you suggested. I’m working on it and will report back with a new mix soon! Thanks again!

Respect, thank you Paul! Well said.

Hi, y’all!

Could you lend me your ear on a mix?

I’ve gotten a master of this song but I thought it sounded muddy-ish. Because I’m very mix anxious, I’ve gone back into to see if I can clear up space for the vocals, especially at the end with the big choir, piano, and kitchen sink stuff.

My usual concerns: Does the vocal sit on top? Does…

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