I’m tying up loose ends, as this one has been simmering away for a while now, waiting for the stragglers to get their contributions in, but we got there in the end.
I really loved this band when I was about twelve and I guess I never grew out of them. I did a solo cover a while ago, but was curious to see what it would sound like with my ‘hired guns’.
The young’uns were not enthralled and only provided a single verse and chorus each (bass and piano), requiring extensive cut/paste editing.
Usual format- send out the basic Trio+ song structure and replace with the parts when they arrive. Dublin brother feels able to contribute again, after acquiring a new e-drum interface. Yay! Copenhagen Cousin Lars provided a couple of solos, and I couldn’t decide which to use, so slapped them both in. More is more!
Chris provided the guitar picking and we omitted the fiddle as it probably would have been lost in my mix.
I got bored looking for better video footage on the internet, so settled for two b/w YT docs.
Good enough is good enough.
I always get a feeling of satisfaction finishing a collaboration and I find I learn something new every time I open Reaper.
Hope you enjoy
Credits:
Chris Goldring, Guitar
Lars Larsen, Guitar
Hans Larsen, Drums
Niels Larsen, Piano
Tor Larsen, Bass
Brian Larsen , Vocals, guitar, mix & production
(re-upload with some mixing/vol changes- see comments below)
Apart from the pure enjoyment of working/playing with people you like on a fun project without deadlines or consequences, there’s a long list of additional skills you learn when doing something like this. Highly recommend having a go if you have the opportunity
The performances of everybody were excellent as always. I did enjoy the guitar solos. Also thought you did a fabulous job layering the vocals.
Mix comments as always totally subjective. If I were mixing this I would have lifted the drums up to be a little more prominent. Maybe you referenced the original and did similar? Irrespective, I’d like to here a little more kick, snare, and hihat. Of course may be the not-that-expensive JBL headset that I am listening through.
Nice collab there Brian! That must take a fair amount of effort to mix but can definitely see the appeal. Nice solo work, must say I agree a little with David perhaps lifting the drums a little would be good but hey, what do I know about that!!
Congrats to the whole band
Hi
Seems this is like the full meal deal. We have a lot of Larsen’s here. LOL, I guess that is the value one gets in the full meal deal?
So gone are the days of a cell phone and Brian strumming away? I must say this one is a bit surprising based upon your past offerings of the simpler variety.
Sounds good to my ears and is well produced. Subjective, but you might have considered putting that ending guitar solo center?
I would agree with DavidP on the drums…
One tip I might impart is the Stats for Nerds deal at YT. If you right click on your video as it plays at YT (YouTube) you will get a popup menu and you should choose Stats for Nerds at the bottom. As you can see here your video is not optimal in final volume.
YT won’t make that up. If you go over -14 LUFS they will limit you and you don’t want that. By going over I do believe you are looking at less that -14 LUFS-1 Now then, when you render out your final copy in Reaper you want to look at the near bottom corner where it says LUFS-1. That value should be at or near -14 LUFS for optimal YT posts. Paying attention to this will present your video at optimal volume. If others are listening to YT recordings and turn up to hear yours. They won’t be blasted in their ears by the next offering to be played which will likely be up at the full volume.
If you need some help on the above rendering and obtaining good YT results. You can go to this excellent Kenny G video and you will become an expert on rendering out a final mix in about 10 minutes:
For Stats for Nerds and LUFS-1 help, the first 3 minutes of the following might help you:
I don’t know how you are putting this video together video editing wise. But if you get it right in Reaper on the LUFS-1, you don’t want your video editing software to mess that up. Basically, keep that neutral.
Good job mate and good to see/hear you getting into Reaper more! That old producer hat is fitting you well…
LB
@DavidP , @Notter & esp.@LBro,
Thanks guys for your ears. It’s much better to get third party listens as they don’t have any “Oh no, you can hear me or make me louder issues”
Drums now increased in volume and outro guitar centered (nice pickup)
I’ve just come out of a quick tour of the sound levels rabbit-hole. (I’ll have to do some deeper research LBro, I don’t seem to have that loudness-plugin in my Reaper). I did go into my video editor (Movie maker) and found a sound level control and increased it by a third. I don’t think it made that much of a difference on YT stats for nerds, although it’s running at -4 instead of -6 now.
Anyway, I replaced the video and that’ll have to do for the time beiing
Hmmm… I was never bothered by all this before
Where’s Gordon when you need him?
Next level on drums becomes the balancing of different drums and cymbals. The hihat and kick sound good to me but maybe the snare is a little low.
My guess would be that you received a single drum track from Hans. So probably not something you can do anything about and more fuss and bother than possible benefits.
If you don’t have the loudness plug-in (though I thought it was a standard Reaper plug-in) then you can also get a view when you render out the final audio or video. You’ll see a bunch of readings provided including LUFS-I (the integrated LUFS measure, which I guess is an average of some sort). You can aim for that to be around 14 LUFS.
I think LBro generally aims to get as close to the nom as possible without exceeding on Stats For Nerds. He’s targeting to be decimal points below (I think). I think -6dB is not too bad, though I would be pushing it up a bit.
I always have a limiter on my master track and will push it up to increase the loudness without a lot of limiting happening, as this becomes a trade-off between loudness and dynamics.
You may also have a compressor before the limiter. Don’t want to speak too much klingon. A combination of gentle compression so as not to squash out all dynamics plus increasing the level with the limiter will enable you to get within that reasonable range below the YouTube norm without it becoming a game of huegly diminishing returns.
And keep in mind, the overall mix, arrangement, and levels of your current version sounds pretty good to me.
Well Brian, I would tend to think them 3rd party folks are not much interested in why we are here at JG. That is to learn dude. We care about you and what you do, so we try to help.
The rabbit hole can be snuffed out with some petrol and a match… LOL - (Don’t try that at home kids)!
One way to judge your video volume, right at YT is to spot check listen to a couple videos, then yours and and couple after. I did and yours dropped out a bit from the others…
As for Reaper plugs, I am sure DP is right, as I found it on my Windows machine. Use “Find” under “Options” in the “Add Fx” window to search on [Loud] and you should find the loudness plug. The real workhorse plug here though, is the limiter. Use “Find” again and search on “Realimit”. Those 2 ‘finds’ should get you going.
Be careful coming out of the rabbit hole as I hear there is a hungry fox around your parts!
Hello Brian, you’re always good for a nice surprise .
You know, that I’m a big fan of your ‘just Brian and his guitar’-performances of songs almost nobody has ever heard before.
This production reveals Brian-the-all-round-talent. Really great job of you and the whole Larsen-Goldring-gang . Chapeau !
The ‘projects’ are fun, but very different. I see myself more as a ‘puppetmaster’ with a lot of expensive equipment. The others provide all the lovely parts and I get to play around with them.
The social interactions around it all is just as important as creating the song itself.
And then I get all the lovely feedback from you guys too
And don’t underestimate your vocal part. Your voice is at least as important to the song as all the other instruments.
I also liked the pictures and videos. They are telling a very interesting (although sad) story.
The “Look at me!” phenomenon has deep roots in our family
The first ever photograph of a human was taken in 1838.
24 years later my great grandfather was already posing…
Copenhagen Cousin Lars provided a couple of solos, and I couldn’t decide which to use, so slapped them both in. More is more! 
. Chapeau 
!
.