Okay, here you go. Tell him I said is timing was impeccable! It was spot-on-perfect!
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I changed the EQ as well as the compression on the M2 version, but itās really a dB here and there in amongst all the tiniest bits of compression/ saturation several times over.
Just doing multiple REALLY small things to bring it out and feel āwider openā.
Im really trying hard NOT to change it an awful lot
I didnt really pay attention to the final level, just set it not to clip or sound too loudā¦
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Haha! No worries! That IS a compliment for sure! 
ā¦and?? So what were your EQ moves? What did you use for saturation? Multiple instances of the Waves M2? You DID say to ask. 
I love the singing and the lyrics - got a Tom Petty feel, hasnāt it?
However, thereās more ālifeā required in the vox deliveryā¦
At the moment, it sounds as if youāre reading from a ālyrics sheetā to see if it all fits, which is fair dinkum.
We do that during the design phaseā¦
For the recording, you need to sing as if your life depended on it. Or as if āherā life depended on it.
Imagine youāre singing to a blow-up sex doll, and if you do it lively enough she will ācome aliveā and whisk you away. This can be a really good tune if sung with conviction.
Everybody who hears this tune know itās a true storyā¦
Sven
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I did?
What I meant was that I would process your wave file for you too if you wanted. 
I basically just do stuff with odd little free plugins that sound cool or vibey, usually modelled after vintage gear, but you could probably do this on an āomni channelā or something like that if you wanted.
I would have bought it myself, but it was $27, lol.
I like old pulteqs and the like where you can boost and cut the same frequency, but it turns out better. Sometimes I just plug it in without it doing much of anything at all. When you āmuteā each process, you should barely hear a difference, Iām sure I can barely hear 50Hz to15kHz, never mind 40Hz or 20kHz.
The Eq is mainly a tilt @ 350Hz ish, a 1dB boost at 40 Hz and 1.5dB boost @ 60Hz, a 1dB boost @ 2.5kHz (twice) and a cut at 1kHz and a 4dB boost @ 20kHz. Hi and lo passed @ 40Hz and 20kHz, plus a touch of ambience for size. I also had a cut lined up for 250Hz that I may have used originally, but the gain is back at zero on the second mix (M2).
I have been re-inventing my mix technique towards a more open and wide CLA style of mixing, so this is just an extension of that mindset. Im sure his plugins, for example, would give you a similar thing as they are modeled on vintage analog/tube gear.
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Love that Tom P song!
I agree with this. I think this is one of the short-comings of virtual collaboration. You 're not able to give immediate feedback during takes etc. Thanks for the input!
OK, I guess you didnāt. But thanks anyway! Youāre definitely on to something there. It sounds great.
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This new version is definitely an improvement on the entirety of the song. @StylesBitchleyās guitar is a seamless addition, and I think the mix is getting pretty big, too. Almost everything sounds way above required. It is true your vocals lean toward Ian Curtis away from Flock of Seagulls, a little less pitch perfect, but you deliver with sufficient emotion most of the time and acceptable. It is a mellow song!
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Steve, many thanks for the compliments - however, I am not the singer. 
I sincerely do appreciate your input and will pass it along.
Not really a lot of process for me, other than trying to feel where the song was going and playing as if the guitar and the vocalist were having a conversation.
I played a 71 Les Paul Custom through a Marshall DSL-40 C, with a Sony condenser mic about 3" off the cone, and some reverb on the amp. Other than that, I left the processing up to miked, and concentrated on playing with the feeling the song gave me. Hope that helps.
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Thanks Bob!
So, I actually did two āmasteringā mixes of the MP3 (yeah, I know)ā¦ in case that info got lost somewhere.
Original mix
M1 mastered version
and the M2 mastered version
So did anybody have a preference? M2 had less compression, slightly more low mid EQ, maybe, and some ambience added (like you can even hear thatā¦).
MikeD, SB, Tesgin, Steve, CRS?
Anyone, feel free to comment. Iām half arsing mastering here, need feedback
Well Vaughan, first off, since this forum only accepts MP3 I only exported an MP3 of this mix. But I am planning on revisiting and will sure send you a .WAV file - if you still want to try out some processing on it. Secondly, also in your favor, I pushed the level to just barely any sort of limiting on the mix bus and added about 4-5 dB of gain to the āfinalā mix. So without that final limiter, in there, you can have another 4-5 dB of headroom to play with. And Iāll be SUPER interested to hear that one!
As for preference, I definitely prefer the M1 version. Itās got a really sweet clarity to it and is nicely glued. I donāt care for M2 - I think I am hearing some high end distortion/artifacts and a general crispiness that I donāt care for. Definitely M1 for me! And, BTW, M1 is really really nice! 
Cool, thanks Mike, so based on that comment Iām gonna do you a 'super smoky in a dark live club mix" kinda vibe, just to see how that works outā¦ Im essentially a live concert recording engineer at heart anyway, so Im gonna see if i still can recreate that thing
Be right backā¦
Thatās right down my alley!
ok , its a bit subtle, but let me know if Im getting there.
we will call this Mikeās M3 version
So for me, a quick comparison (Iāll listen again tomorrow when Iām not tired and my ears arenāt shot) but I definitely prefer the M1 version. Iāll hold my comments though until I can listen tomorrow with fresh ears and do some blind tests with MCompare. Right now though, all I can hear is how I want to pull the vocal back. Thanks for doing this!
BTWā¦
Anybody in the community can chime in or contribute to this adlib ārough masteringā of a ābash thisā mp3 mix, as it hopefully gives a more positive direction to where the mix might go or finally end up, so you can focus on what may still need to be done in a particular mixā¦ or not.
Hopefully its not derailing the conversation, but rather helping the mixer see out his/her vision, just in a slightly more creative way.
I dunno, but it certainly helps me to work on various peoples material over a very short space of time and get their feedback right awayā¦ so Im not stuck in my own little box, either.
@holster - feel free to comment or PM me on what Iām doing here. Iām literally making it up as I go along.
best to all,
Vaughan
that double post thing was irritating me, so I did another master of the original mix, with less compressionā¦ but not bright.
ā¦behold mix M4
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Hey, Iām late on this so thereās not much to say, I guess. Anyway I loved the mix right from the start, sounded clear and pleasant, it serves the song well. Only details I noticed were some very minor timing discrepancies on the drums and a few vocal notes that were unclear in the lows. Not off, but it was just difficult to make out which note was sung.
Great song!
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Thanks for the listen and the input! I really appreciate it.