Recording March 2022 - 62

Readers'
TRACKS
BY MARTY PETERS
Readers' Tracks is where respected engineer
and producer Marty Peters listens to your
recordings and critiques them, pointing out
where and how you can make them better.
Listen to the songs, read the reviews, and
submit your own materials online.
" It Takes Two " / The Ty Faherty Band
Equipment: Universal Audio Apollo x8p, Apple Logic,
Electronaut Stereo Tube Mic Preamp, Rupert Neve Designs
Portico II Channel, Barefoot MM45 Monitors, plugins from
UAD, FabFilter and Black Rooster, Collings, Taylor, and
Bourgeois acoustic guitars, A&F Drums, Bosphorus Cymbals,
Oahu vintage lap steel, Gibson, Fender, and Bollendorf electric
guitars, vintage Fender Amps, Neuman TLM 49; Shure SM52,
Beta 98, SM59, SM81 on drums.
Music: " It Takes Two " is an Americana song written collectively
by Ty Faherty (lead vocals and acoustic guitar), Kyle Bollendorf
(electric guitar), Isaac Strader (bass) and Ron Brashear
on drums and engineering. Tom Volpicelli mastered the track.
Recording: This is a solid effort that falls just short of our Spotlight
feature, primarily due to a few volume, tone, and balance
concerns. The track starts with a full-bodied strummed acoustic
guitar, quickly joined by a prominent electric guitar panned at
approximately ten o'clock along with a kick and snare playing
a rolling beat. Ty's impassioned lead vocal comes in next, with
a tone quite a bit sharper than the other sound sources. A pillowy
bass guitar joins in at the one-minute mark, rounding out
the instrumentation. While all the performances are strong, the
balances, particularly on the left-panned electric guitar, fight
for position with the vocal, and we find ourselves being pulled
to that position constantly. The lead guitar at 3:14 appears to
be louder than the lead vocal it replaces in the mix.
Suggestions: The band owns some very sweet gear [yeah! -Ed.]
including the Barefoot Sound MM 45 monitors! Typically, when
confronted by the types of balance issues we are hearing here,
we head straight to the monitors for clues. In this case, however,
given the quality of their listening system, we would have to
62 RECORDING March 2022
assume that the choices were intentional. That being the case,
we would suggest a remix, starting with the rhythm section,
the acoustic guitar and vocals only. Get these primary sound
sources well balanced before bringing in the electric guitar. In
our view, the electric should provide interest and color to the
mix but still support the foundation. Regarding the lead guitar,
there is no need to have the solo louder than the lead vocal.
When the vocal drops out, replacing it with a sound at a corresponding
level keeps the mix even and prevents unnecessary
energy fluctuations.
Summary: Easy solutions!
" Man Outta Time " / Tony Stevens
Equipment: Dell Desktop, Steinberg Cubase Pro 10, Tascam
US-2000 Interface, KRK Rokit 5 and KRK sub, Avid Eleven
Rack, Tube Works Blue Tube, Marshall JMP-1, Superior Drummer
2, AKG 214, ART Pro MPA II preamp, Sony MDR 7506
headphones, various plugins.
Music: " Man Outta Time " is a male vocal, one-man-band
pop track.
Recording: Tony has submitted a super catchy effort with an
awful lot going on, most of it positive. First up, very important,
and once again-the song is super catchy! The a cappella
intro features some nicely stacked harmonies. In his production
notes, Tony tells us that he follows Cheap Trick singer Robin
Zander's technique of " not listening to each background track
after you record it, which makes vocals sound much fatter than
carefully listening and trying to match what you just sang. "
[I can't wait to try this! -Ed]. The music bed comes in at the
18-second mark. Unfortunately, the volume of the vocal-only
intro is louder than the ensuing track, resulting in a dropoff in
presence and energy. While the instruments are well played
and reasonably well programmed, we found the mix to be
dense in the center, causing some frequency masking that affects
the intelligibility of the bass guitar and kick drum. In addition,
through our speakers, the snare drum is quite prominent
(more on that shortly), really popping out in relation to the rest
of the proceedings.
Suggestions: Tony has spent a lot of time on this project, and
it shows. He wanted the drums " in your face, " and his layering
of six separate electric guitars in the mix to achieve a single big
fat guitar sound was also intentional. While those decisions resulted
in a congested mix to our ears, as a wise one said, " One
man's ceiling is another man's floor. " In the final analysis, the
artist's vision carries the day.
Summary: Fun!
Listen online at RECORDINGMAG.COM
https://www.recordingmag.com/readers-tracks/ https://www.recordingmag.com/readers-tracks/
Recording March 2022

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Recording March 2022
