Current Tape Reviews
Artist Name: Alan Jarvis |
Title: Forever |
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Date Posted: March 2013 |
Genre: Rock and Pop |
Equipment Used:
Mac with M-Audio ProjectMix I/O audio interface/control surface running Apple Logic Pro with iZotope Nectar vocal processing plug-in, Native Instruments Vintage Compressors and Solid Mix EQ plug-ins, plus various Native Instruments virtual instruments for keys, pianos, and synths (MIDI-controlled from a Yamaha Motif XS7 keyboard workstation). RODE NT2000 and Studio Projects T-3 mics; Presonus Studio Channel mic preamp, TC Electronic G-Natural acoustic guitar processor.
Production Notes & Credits:
"Forever" is a male vocal soft rock/pop tune. Alan wrote, performed/programmed and recorded the track. the mastering was done by Jon Astley at Close to The Edge in London, England.
Reviewed By: Marty Peters
Recording: Alan has managed to get a fair bit of mileage out of his many plug-ins here (it's not clear if the Yamaha Motif is used as a sound source or only as a controller). While no one would be actually fooled into thinking that the acoustic guitar sound as presented here is the actual miked instrument, the intent gets across. Ditto for the other sound sources as presented; we are left with a very good sketch of where things could go if the virtual instrument sounds were replaced by actual instruments.
That said, Alan has indeed done a superb job with the one "real" sound source here, namely the vocals. The marriage between Alan's voice and the Studio Projects T-3 tube microphone is suburb. We love the soft but up-front nature of the voice in the mix, the harmonies are perfectly balanced, and Jon's topflight mastering job insures that they are delivered without artifact. Well done, gents!
Suggestions: As with many "demo" one man band efforts, we would love to hear "Forever" retracked using "real" instruments. That aside, when stuck with lemons, the smart ones make lemonade. Alan and Jon have done so handily.
Summary: Great TV or movie soundtrack material!
Contact: Alan Jarvis, alan@squishymusic.com
That said, Alan has indeed done a superb job with the one "real" sound source here, namely the vocals. The marriage between Alan's voice and the Studio Projects T-3 tube microphone is suburb. We love the soft but up-front nature of the voice in the mix, the harmonies are perfectly balanced, and Jon's topflight mastering job insures that they are delivered without artifact. Well done, gents!
Suggestions: As with many "demo" one man band efforts, we would love to hear "Forever" retracked using "real" instruments. That aside, when stuck with lemons, the smart ones make lemonade. Alan and Jon have done so handily.
Summary: Great TV or movie soundtrack material!
Contact: Alan Jarvis, alan@squishymusic.com
About: Marty Peters
