'Reason' - Comes in 4 flavors...Comments Please...

[questor]

Here's (another) tune i am submitting for the following listing:ACOUSTIC SINGER-SONGWRITER SONGS are needed by an established Music Publisher in L.A. who has secured TONS of Film/TV placements for many TAXI members. This Publisher is only looking for songs that are piano/voice or acoustic guitar/voice - NO additional instruments in the track, please! Songs should be original and along the lines of Jeff Buckley, Elliott Smith, Rufus Wainwright, Patrick Wolf, Fiona Apple, Rachael Yamagata, Aimee Mann, Tori Amos, etc. All tempos will be considered for this one, but please be sure that the arrangement is SOLO piano/voice or guitar/voice. Solid performances are necessary and recordings need to be Broadcast Quality (excellent home recordings should be just fine). Male or female vocals are just fine. They offer a non-exclusive, 50/50 split deal - you keep your original copyrights. Please submit one to three songs online or per CD. All submissions will be screened and critiqued by TAXI and must be received no later than January 14, 2009.TAXI # S090114SSFirst of all, let me say, all comments welcome regarding lyrics, melody, whatever... I appreciate ALL advice !! With that said, I have specifically had alot of issues with production as I am limited with my primary recording device (Boss BR1600) as well as my lack of knowledge and poor 'production' quality ear.However, my equipment does have several options for mastering, so I thought I might be able to get some opinion about which preset works best for this song. To that end, I created 4 versions of the song (all mixed exactly the same) but each uses a different mastering preset (which is part of the song title like "Reason - Live").Anyway, I wondered if anyone could give these a listen and tell me which is best and how I could make it better (I can adjust many values on the presets, like compression, etc).Comments on the overall quality of the song, lyrics, melody, whatever, are also always welcome. If you only listen to one, just please mention which one you happen to be posting about so perhaps that can point me in a direction as well. I totally understand if people are not interested in listening to 4 versions, whatever you feel upto listening to is greatly appreciated, even if it is a random choice.Thanks,Qhttp://www.taxi.com/mnhprojectUPDATE: I added 5th version based on sofdances feedback...I basically tried to bring the reverb down a bit and copied the guitar to 2 tracks and panned them hard left/right.Reason (Premaster, Live, Pop, SoftComp)You're a cool windthat the winter blows inArms so warm around meYour beautiful kiss is a frosty mistIt means the world to meCHORUS:I got a reason to love youI got a reason whyno matter the seasonI got a reasonand I ain't got no reason to lieSoft shines the spring like the dress your inAs the clouds slide over the skyYou look at me stillwith a new lover's thrillAnd I'm so glad that your mine-- CHORUS --Me and you at the summer fairBright shining eyes and a bow in your hairDancing and laughing into the nightSo warm in my arms in the morning, morning lightYour soft brown hair falls into the airLike the leaves that fall from the treesOur passion burns as the leaves turnyou're so much more than you seem-- CHORUS TWO:So many reasons to love youso many reasons whyno matter the seasonI got a reasonand I got no reason to lie

[slowdance]

Q,Of the four.......softcomp helped the vocals a littleBoth the guitar and vocals seemed distant in the tracking......some pre amps might help the songs clarity and sonic image then any "mastering effects" at this stage of the recording.duplicate the acoustic and pan to the left and one to the right..this should help focus and surround the vocals.........Regards,Dick

[questor]

slowdance,Thanks for the advice... I will try the panning idea.Also, I did use a pre-amp on both the vocals and the guitar, but I hear what you are saying about the distant issue. Actually the guitar used to be much more upfront but I could not get the vocals that way well enough, so I added a bit of reverb to distant the guitar so at least it sounded relative to the vocals. Not sure why the vocals sound so distant in this song, but I will keep working on the issue.UPDATE: I added 5th version based on sofdances feedback...I basically tried to bring the reverb down a bit and copied the guitar to 2 tracks and panned them hard left/right.Thanks again,Q

[heinsite]

HEY QUESTOR!!i'm laughing here, are we RELATED? as i TOO use the Boss 1600--for a songwriter i find it is fine if you're doing to demo stuff out--and i'm sure for a more techie dude than myself, one can do a WHOLE lot of crap--but it's not in my DNA...i am SO familiar though with the presets on the mastering, and i'll be damned if i almost always go back to the "CLEAN" setting...helps crappy musicians like myself...really...i'll listen to the latest and get right back..the best,warren

[heinsite]

Q man--ok, i like many elements of this, but as i hear it, it has to be the original recording of the tracks that may be the problem...only the panned version is much of a difference...which i personally thought was cool,...i actually listened to ALL versions, and there is just too much "noise" in at least one of the tracks, might be the guitar track, static sound, can't you hear it?....i think it will need to be re-recorded...you also might try the "clean" comp setting, but with that static, it might help, but not enough i fear,as far as the song, it is nice, but yes, production is in the way right now with it IMHO...--one other note, the chorus is strong, but some of your other lyrics are a bit cliche, and awkward in places, one being "soft shines the spring", if i were you i'd try to say it as you were talking--that's what the few classes i've been to have told me...but alas...it's easy to give advice! keep up the good work, good luck...this is coming from a basic "forward" failure, so take what i say with a grain...LOL...all the best,warren

[questor]

heinsite,Thanks for the detailed critique. I will definately go back and listen for the static... I recall hearing some in earlier versions, but I thought that was due a mic/connection issue. Guess not.I totally see what you are saying about some phrases not being really 'casual' speak. The whole song is probably a bit too sugary, but unfortunately I don't think I could redo all the lyrics well enough before the deadline tommorrow/today.Hopefully I can clean up the static issues and I will definately keep your comments in mind on any future rewrite as well as future lyrics.Thanks so much for the help.Q

[questor]

heinsite,This is funny, I had been thinking about the phrase "soft shines the spring" and this morning when I was half awake I realized what the line was supposed to have been...."Soft signs of Spring"...somehow it had morphed over the development of the song.Thanks again for bringing it to my attention, not sure how I messed that up. Probably from not writing down the words (or keeping them updated).Also, I figured out where the static came from...I used Audacity to speed up the song and *I think* it may have been introduced (or at least exaggerated) during the conversion process. Might have been my fault though for converting the WAV file while it was over a networked line rather than copying it first locally and then converting it. Thanks again.Regards,Q