Okay to all of you that recommended the “Reaper” DAW, THANK YOU!
I spent a little time reading up about it on the suggestions of some of you.
I’m really kicking my self for not knowing about Reaper. It looks really impressive. I can’t wait to give it a try. I’m guessing maybe at one tome this was a PC only program and maybe just recently released on MAC. Maybe someone can let me know if that’s a good guess.
2 Likes
It’s been mac and PC for as long as I’ve been aware of it. I have pretty much every DAW, and reaper is the one I use for actual music making. The rest are just used for testing.
1 Like
I’m pointedly NOT listening to other mixes until I’m “done”. I may do some tweaks on the arrangement and maybe add a minor part or two. But I’m finally “into” it now and the song and ideas are bouncing around in my head. There are some impressively competent folks on here. I’m not sure I can win, but hopefully I can do the song justice. 
4 Likes
I’d actually imported the tracks into my DAW a few weeks ago and before I had a chance to start working on it, I got an unexpected booking to do an acoustic gig at a corporate luncheon so I put the contest on the back burner so that I could use my daily “mixing time” as rehearsal time.
Now that the gig has come and gone, I finally took the time yesterday afternoon to do a relatively quick mix.
I did the same thing. Now that I’m done, I’m ready to see how much better everyone else’s mixes are, and learn from them. 
I am finding it difficult to be “objective” listening to other mixes after hearing my mix so much and having spent so much time on my own version! Good luck judges!
I was resisting the temptation to listen to other mixes, so I could not report earlier lol (didnt want to be influenced). I finished my mix but I definitely learned a lot listening to other mixes and feedback. In full disclosure I am not a mixer by profession, I lean more on the musician side and I was drawn by the song. My mixing skills are pretty basic but I am a good listener - thanks again
1 Like
Had to deal with the gtr noise, decided not to remove it (because i don’t have the right tool for it, and because it is dangerous…). But had to take care of my
compression not to increase it. Like this track with huge dynamics.
One thing I did was to side-chain a compressor at the end of the vocal FX channel to the dry vocal signal. This way, when she is singing, the FX are compressed and out of the way and make more room for the dry vocal. This had the effect of cleaning up the “soup” from all the reverb, etc. and really allowed for a good clear vocal. I saw the technique on MixbuxTV. (Great tutorials on YouTube!)
1 Like
I didnt quite remove the noise, I sort of suppressed it and layered it with a slight flutter and wind noise. That way it still contributes to gluing the track together without being obvious in the quieter parts.
2 Likes
You put this song out there at the beginning of the holidays, so I’ve had a lot on my plate Master Holster. Timing is interesting, it makes it that way. This is now a Christmas song.