Artist Name: Mike Bernier Title: If I Vote For You Genre: Rock Rating:
Equipment
Instruments: Roland V-Drum TD-6 Percussion Sound Module, Epiphone electric bass, Warmoth electric guitar, Gibson Les Paul Custom guitar, Line 6 PODxt Amp Modeler.
Recording Equipment: Shure KSM44 side-address condenser microphone, Focusrite Platinum TwinTrak Pro channel strip/monitor mixer, Mackie Onyx 400F Firewire Audio Interface, PC running Cubase SX3, Sony Creative Software Sound Forge 9, and iZotope Ozone 3.
Outboard: dbx 1066 Compressor/Limiter, JBL LSR monitors, Sony subwoofer.
Production Notes
Mike did it all at his home studio.
Music
“If I Vote For You” is a male vocal rock song.
Reviewed By Marty Peters
Mike has assembled a fairly ambitious one-man band effort here, with lots of good stuff for the most part. Making smart use of dynamics, he has arranged his song such that its two main components work together pretty smoothly. Juxtaposing a stripped-down acoustic guitar and vocal foundation with larger full rhythm and vocal chorus sections, the track stays on point with no energy shifts to bog it down. Tonally, we particularly like the drums here; the Roland TD-6 kit steps up big time, and Mike proves a more than capable player. We’ve often commented that a major drawback in the one-man-band recording scene lies in the drums, but not here! Moving on, we also dig the fine harmony vocals in the chorus sections—well recorded, and excellent execution in our opinion! As for negatives, while we applaud Mike on his use of vocal processing, at times the ambience on the lead vocal tends to leave it sounding a bit washed out.
Suggestions
Strong effort here! Mike has worn all of his hats pretty snuggly to our way of thinking, particularly with the quality of his performances across many instruments. As for the processing issues, reverb and delay can be a very personal choice for many performers and recordists. We suggest that Mike tighten his up just a bit in the verses and let it rip in the chorus, increasing his dynamics even further.
Summary
Well done.
Contact
Mike Bernier, [email protected]