Artist Name: James Henderson Title: Take Time Genre: Easy Listening Rating:
Equipment
As submitted by artist: Apple MacBook Pro 2017-I7 processor, 16gb ram. Logic Pro X, Fender Telecaster, Epiphone Les Paul, Gipson 1968 Hummingbird acoustic, Tascam monitor speakers, Sony studio headphones, Boss pedals and more
Production Notes & Credits
As submitted by artist: This song was written, recorded, and mixed by me; James Henderson. I play all instruments and I used Logic Pro x\’s drummer for all percussion and drums.
Music
“Take Time” is an “Easy Listening” instrumental written, performed, programmed and recorded by James.
Reviewed By Marty Peters
This month’s Spotlight is an moody instrumental song that provides us a great example of sound integration and “weaving”. So what exactly is “weaving” you ask? Well in this context it is the positioning and placement of various, often related sound sources throughout a track. In the best cases it is handled creatively and seamlessly, just as we find here. Starting from the bottom up, James has constructed a basic but effective drum program via his Mac/Logic Pro X software. The slightly syncopated pattern combined with the rich whole note bass part provides a great bed for the layered sounds that build upon it. Utilizing three primary guitars plus organ and percussion, James creates a great sense of movement with well designed panning and performance choices. We love how the guitars “speak” to each other here, one arpeggiated, another with a sharper stabbing attack and a third chiming in with some sweet Mark Knopfler style lead line fills. The guitar mix balance is outstanding through our monitors, each with a distinct voice but also in concert with the others. The introduction of the percussion and organ just past the one minute mark is also skillfully handled. Placed even wider in the stereo field they are almost delicate in presentation, contributing in a subtle but effective manner and James does a great job adding and subtracting them to the mix throughout the song without any noticeable energy fluctuations. We like! Of course as we’ve often mentioned in this column, it’s the sum of the parts that wins the day in the recording world and James comes up aces here. His smooth mix is presented with a nice ambience that complements his composition!
Suggestions
Kudos to James for his focused effort here. He honored his tight arrangement with a skill level that eludes many of us, both at the performance and balance level. Three individual but complementary electric guitars functioning simultaneously is not an easy trick friends, we would urge all of you to give “Take Time” a close listen ( headphones too! ) and experience the goodness for yourselves!
Summary
Mighty fine indeed.
Contact
James Henderson, [email protected]