[James Nighthawk]

Well I may be a Hertfordshire boy, but I did my degree at the University of Hull. So I have honorary status. Perhaps 

And good Pop trivia there Ram'. The Beautiful South had some good songs, when they weren't being too cheesy. But the cheesy ones paid (or still pays) the bills I bet!

[andy5544]

I'm all for a good swipe at the south 

just jealous Schavuitje

nice song james , see you mic'd up your acoustic 

[Schavuitje]

The Beatles... End of discussion 

[nooms]

hi james
thought it was  'here comes the sun' at first,
very nice clear sound overall, sounds fresh and sunny morning and i hear paul heaton crossed with neil tennant.. ? its your attention to diction i think...
 but i couldnt tell you what its about without reading the words, they passd me by in the arrangments, lots to take in but couldnt grab hold of a theme or hook till the
chorus ...its 3 in the morning and i apologise if im talking bollox..
i'll play again tomorrow morning in daylight

allthe best, nooms

[Songsmith]

Hiya James,

nice song & well played & singing was nice but I have a couple of issues with it & only personal taste, I also thought the acoustic  guitar was a tad on the thin/weak side & the shakers coming in gave me the image of some maniac you dragged off of the street to play them, the timing didn't marry up for me, (just thought I'd share that image) at all.
They are just a couple of minor gripes & hyper critical cos overall it's a very polished professional job. Nice one mate 

[Kafla]

Hey James

What can I say , this is so well recorded and played that its embarrassing (for me )

The don't give your love out section is a mega hook - I love it and man as a duet this is just awesome

The only gripe I have is the middle 8 section. Whilst in isolation I think its excellent I just think it complicates an already complicated song in terms of sections and changes. I was with it until that point but then I lost the structure of the song - I would need to listen several times to get this straight (which I might do )

I would leave that section out and stick to the hook but I am a sucker for pop arrangements!

Top effort mate

[cheff daniel]

its all so very clean and neat. the verses sounds familiar, the chorus was surprising at first but then nothing happened. sorry its all a bit boaring to my taste.


gr.  Dan

[James Nighthawk]

Thanks to everyone for the feedback

@ Nooms: Yup I am big on my diction. Wos dragged up proper me. And a 3am listen will always be a sleepy one - a fellow nighthawk I see  

@Songsmith: Not ever had anyone mention the shakers have a timing issue. Granted neither of us playing are percussionists but we did stick to the beat. Maybe just a bit loose for your taste! I wanted things fresh and "one take" here. The acoustic guitar used is my Martin DX-1. it is a bright folky guitar which suits I think, and primarily allows the double tracking across the speakers without booming/clashing. Sounds always need to be considered in the mix as well as individually - two wider spectrum guitars here would have swapped the mix. Just a few of my producer notes for you 

@Kafla & Nooms: Funny. My first track posted on here needed more changes according to many. This one has too many changes! Lol. The middle 8 fits fine, and there is something to be said about pop music revealing its hand over a number of listens. I wouldn't change the set-up of this track for the world 

@Cheff Guess I'm just not your taste!



 

[nfelockhart]

Lovely!

Someone has already said it, but yea, the "Don't give your love out" part is awesome. It changes the atmosphere nicely, gives the song an interesting side to it which in my opinion, is important for an acoustic piece like this because it tends to be kind of boring sometimes. A killer job there. I would want to hear some punch on the verses if I get greedy; the verses sounds a little cliche, not as interesting.. But that's just my liking.

Wonderful job!

   

[Ramshackles]

I listened again on my monitors; nothing to add for the songwriting part but I have some boring techy points;

- bass is low compared to everything else and has slightly excessive low mids...its the 'mud' area...the same for the reverb on the vocals. I'd put in a big bell cut around that area on the reverb return....

- The timing issues with the shaker...there are some timing mishaps between the shaker and guitar which can be a bit off putting, but I understand you were going for a more lo-fi nature? But in any case I think that the main problem that kind of gives the illusions of bad timing is that there are no accents on the beat..e.g. 1st and 2nd. It would shore up the rhythm if you accented either the first beat of the bar or every other beat.

- The guitar is a little bright, especially for a martin which have natural 'woody' tones anyway....did you boost the higher freqs on this?

- You mentioned going lo-fi or having a one-take feel to it or something. I think thats a little at odds as it gives off a more 'produced' feel than one-take. Hard panned, close mic'd, double tracked guitars that have a lot of presence don't really give off a one-take/lo-fi air to me: But that is not necessarily bad as they give off a 'produced', careful air...
The same with the breathy/fairly reverby vocals...
'One-take/Lo-fi' kind of songs I would class as something like Bon Iver's Flume, Bright Eyes' First Day of My life (although, granted, that has doubled guitars) or The Shins' New Slang. The guitars have less presence and there feels like less post-processing going on...the main point is always the raw performance and emotion in the song rather than pristine capture...


But these are all just anal production comments
But you seem very particular, keen on production and obviously seem to have a fairly nice setup and love all the techy stuff - so I feel you are fine talking about that aswell and my review is harsher as a result 

[James Nighthawk]

Thanks for the in depth listen Ramsy

Some very good points there, and yes as a producer I am more than happy to discuss the tiny nuances in mixes.

With the bass, I largely concur. This was recorded a couple of years ago now. Since then I have learnt to avoid DI-ing bass where possible. A cab allows a more rounded sound and less editing. I compensated for on this recording, leaving a less than optimal EQ here. Bass is a tertiary instrument for me so still learning to really make the most of it. I wouldn't rerecord this one as I have come to like how it sits, but I definitely have been changing tactics since!

Accent wise, on percussion I think we tried that, but with the tambourine on the "one" I wanted the rest to sit back. But perhaps a little more thought should have been applied here to balance it, and you are quite right, a defined ONE and/or THREE helps guidde the ear, I tell my clients that all the time!!

The guitars were brightened up a little yes, I do like shimmery acoustics. Plus I, (and Jen) have quite warm voices so it seemed to balance the mix better than the flat EQ in the overdub booth. Since then I have picked up a Gibson Sheryl Crow which I mix in against the Martin at times to cover the warmer end of the EQ, and love the combo that brings!

And you are very correct about the juxtaposition of high production against one-take-ness. It is always going to be a point of contention for me. I am an organic writer with a producers head on. As such I always worry about over cooking my sounds, but equally if I don't do enough I get concerned that the song is not "at its best". Two heads fighting one another!!

This kind of thing will balance itself out over the years I think and hopefully meet in the middle.

It is so much easier to produce for others than for oneself!!!

Thanks again Ramshackles

[Songsmith]

Hiya James,

so THAT'S what a Martin sounds like!! Thanks for the advise too, I'll try & use it 

[Schavuitje]

Finally 

[James Nighthawk]

@ Songsmith and Schav.... Have I stumbled into a long running debate here RE Martin guitars? 

[mihkay]

Can't really add anything to the plethora of comments...   except.... I do have a love for the bass guitar and would perhaps have had a little more bottom end in the mix, but...It's a song at the folk end of the popular spectrum so perhaps not.
Personal choice? 

Otherwise loved it, and I do agree about Bass and DI-ing.