Songcrafters.org

Post Your Work => Cover Songs => Topic started by: Ronniejm on December 27, 2017, 01:55:02 PM

Title: If Tomorrow Never Comes - Garth Brooks Cover
Post by: Ronniejm on December 27, 2017, 01:55:02 PM
Was and still am a great fan of Garth Brooks, and always liked his version of this song
Ronan Keating did a cover of it a while back.

Just for ***** and kicks I started playing around with the MASTER FX on the BR800 on this one.
Big mistake, my head ended up spinning with all the different sounds......
Is there any logical process I sould be following when it comes to mastering?

Cheers
Ronnie
Title: Re: If Tomorrow Never Comes - Garth Brooks Cover
Post by: Groundy on December 27, 2017, 10:20:49 PM
One of my favourite Garth songs Ronnie,
You have done a great cover,
I know what you mean about the Master fx on the 800.
Well done...


Alex.
Title: Re: If Tomorrow Never Comes - Garth Brooks Cover
Post by: Jean Pierre on December 28, 2017, 12:51:57 AM
very nice song, beautiful voice bravo Ronnie
is the guitar recorded in direct drive (electo acoustic)?

I did not know Garth Brooks and suddenly listened if tomorrow never comes on YT and read the biography on wikipedia (thank you wikipedia)

PS your version is quite up to the original
Title: Re: If Tomorrow Never Comes - Garth Brooks Cover
Post by: Hilary on December 28, 2017, 03:33:08 AM
It's just perfect the way it is.
Title: Re: If Tomorrow Never Comes - Garth Brooks Cover
Post by: Mach on December 28, 2017, 06:26:37 AM
This is a really nice version. I don't know a lot of Garth's tunes, but I've heard this one. I use to have a Garth Brooks song book and never really opened much so I gave it to someone who was a fan of his music just starting to play guitar. Good job on this Ronnie.

Mach

Title: Re: If Tomorrow Never Comes - Garth Brooks Cover
Post by: 64Guitars on December 28, 2017, 01:18:43 PM
Quote from: Ronniejm on December 27, 2017, 01:55:02 PMWas and still am a great fan of Garth Brooks, and always liked his version of this song
Ronan Keating did a cover of it a while back.

I don't know the song but I like your performance. Very nice.


Quote from: Ronniejm on December 27, 2017, 01:55:02 PMJust for ***** and kicks I started playing around with the MASTER FX on the BR800 on this one.
Big mistake, my head ended up spinning with all the different sounds......
Is there any logical process I sould be following when it comes to mastering?

On the BR-800, the only mastering effects are compression and equalisation (a simple tone control, really). There are 19 presets with different levels of compression and EQ. I don't have any details on the settings, but you can guess which ones might be suitable for your type of music by their names. For example, preset 13 is "Acoustic" which might be a good choice for you, whereas 15-Orchestr, 18-DJsVoice, and 19-PhoneVox are probably useless for your style of music. Personally, I'd probably leave the mastering FX switched off. If you want to improve your recordings, you'd be better off concentrating on improving your levels as I've noticed that they're much too low on all of your recent recordings. I suspect that the problem might be that you don't realise the importance of the Master fader when you're mixing. The Master fader controls the overall recording level. So when you're mixing, regardless of whether the mastering FX are on or off, you need to set the Master fader so that the "L R" meters at the far right of the display are fairly active. You want the level to be as high as possible without letting the top-most segment light. The top segment represents 0dB. Anything louder than 0dB will be clipped which will cause horrible distortion. So, to avoid clipping, make sure the top segment never lights.

I'd also recommend that you export your final mix as a stereo WAV file and load it into Audacity. Then you can easily trim the ends and use Audacity's Normalize effect to maximize the levels, then export it as an MP3.

Here's a screenshot of your song, as posted, in Audacity. Notice how low the levels are.

(https://songcrafters.org/forum/index.php?action=dlattach;topic=27606.0;attach=187867)

And here it is after I applied the Normalize effect. The levels are now maximized according to the loudest peak.

(https://songcrafters.org/forum/index.php?action=dlattach;topic=27606.0;attach=187868)

This will sound much better. However, it's still best to set your recording level properly with the Master fader when you do your final mix.

Title: Re: If Tomorrow Never Comes - Garth Brooks Cover
Post by: Ronniejm on December 29, 2017, 04:46:36 AM
Thanks very much for the info 64, much appreciated.

Cheers
Ronnie
Title: Re: If Tomorrow Never Comes - Garth Brooks Cover
Post by: Ronniejm on December 29, 2017, 01:25:01 PM
Thanks Again 64 for your help and advice.

I've done a remix of the various tracks taking onboard all you said, and I hope I successfully removed the old mix and uploaded the new one.
Let me know what you think if you have time for a listen,

I hope I'm not out of place here, but this is one of the things I hope to get from this site, from the the people who know way more about multi track recording than I do.
Don't get me wrong, its great to get comments from folks who say they like what you have come up with, who dosen't like a pat on the back?
But speaking for myself I would also like ideas and advice from others as to how they think my stuff could be improved.

Even if its just simple things like "the drums sound a bit loud to me" or the more in depth stuff like 64'S advice to me today.

I want to learn, and I'm way past reading the books, I've tried, just get confused, so I'm looking to the knowledge thats out there in songcrafters.
Nothing wrong with a bit of critical critique in my book.....

Ok rant over

Thanks Again
Cheers
Ronnie
Title: Re: If Tomorrow Never Comes - Garth Brooks Cover
Post by: 64Guitars on December 29, 2017, 01:36:56 PM
Much better Ronnie. The levels are just right.

Title: Re: If Tomorrow Never Comes - Garth Brooks Cover
Post by: Jean Pierre on December 30, 2017, 12:36:50 AM
back again on your song...

very impressed by the quality of your voice
Title: Re: If Tomorrow Never Comes - Garth Brooks Cover
Post by: Hook on December 30, 2017, 06:23:22 AM
Very nice listen, i enjoyed it.
Quote from: Ronniejm on December 29, 2017, 01:25:01 PMI hope I'm not out of place here, but this is one of the things I hope to get from this site, from the the people who know way more about multi track recording than I do.
Don't get me wrong, its great to get comments from folks who say they like what you have come up with, who dosen't like a pat on the back?
But speaking for myself I would also like ideas and advice from others as to how they think my stuff could be improved.

Even if its just simple things like "the drums sound a bit loud to me" or the more in depth stuff like 64'S advice to me today.

I want to learn, and I'm way past reading the books, I've tried, just get confused, so I'm looking to the knowledge thats out there in songcrafters.
Nothing wrong with a bit of critical critique in my book.....

Ok rant over

Thanks Again
Cheers
Ronnie
I don't find anything wrong with your quest for criticism but we do tend to be a positive, supportive sort around here. Also your recording was really good. If I were forced to find a critique i would say when you drop out the drums it's a little abrupt both times. I don't know what your using for drums but maybe try a fill or end phrase on the last measure before the stop. Even just a cymbal crash could be enough to end the phrase. That me nit picking though, and i don't do it often.
If you really want critiques you can try homerecording.com . They are a little more free with their critiques, often leaning toward rude-ish. I'm no prude and can take critique just fine but the best part of songcrafters to me is the kindred spirits that just love making music. We take the time to listen to each other's songs and i learn quite a bit from that alone.
I look forward to more posts from you.
Rock on!
Title: Re: If Tomorrow Never Comes - Garth Brooks Cover
Post by: Hilary on December 30, 2017, 05:28:41 PM
You've got something that quite a lot of people don't have which is quite difficult to put into words - the best I can come up with at the moment is authenticity and sincerity. Don't fix it if it ain't broke. I think all you need is your voice and your guitar and some bog standard mixing (without the bolts and whistles, ie no compression, delay, reverb, echo etc, etc).

BTW - I checked out that site - crikey I'm not sure I'd have the balls to post there, but it made quite compelling reading and they did have some good ideas.
Title: Re: If Tomorrow Never Comes - Garth Brooks Cover
Post by: Ronniejm on January 04, 2018, 08:56:55 AM
Thanks Hook, I do know what your saying about SC, I would never want to change the friendly atmosphere we find here.

That said thanks for your friendly tip on the drums, thats the kind of thing that would I would never think of, but it's a valid point,
and now that you've mentioned it, I'll work on it and hopefully learn in the process.

Hilary, thanks for your words, they do mean a lot......

I've not had a chance to look at the other site mentioned yet

Cheers
Ronnie
Title: Re: If Tomorrow Never Comes - Garth Brooks Cover
Post by: Oldrottenhead on January 04, 2018, 12:56:03 PM
beautiful, never thought i'd say that about a Garth Brooks song lol. gaun yersel Ronnie.
Title: Re: If Tomorrow Never Comes - Garth Brooks Cover
Post by: TPB on January 05, 2018, 05:49:06 AM
Well done levels were good
Tim
Title: Re: If Tomorrow Never Comes - Garth Brooks Cover
Post by: Hilary on January 16, 2021, 12:00:32 PM
Stunning!
Title: Re: If Tomorrow Never Comes - Garth Brooks Cover
Post by: StephenM on January 17, 2021, 07:56:34 PM
yes it's very nice....... I really like Garth Brooks...
I agree you play well and have a nice voice.... reading through the comments it sounds like big improvements in the recording were made.... there is always room to get better at that... and sometimes you get better and then bingo...backwards...
hope to hear more....
64's advice on mixing is correct IMO if you are not going to use a mastering service such as LANDR or even a mastering setting...  If you are just going to mix and post....the highest recorded levels without clipping is the best... but the harder you drive the channels the more the signal gets compressed...so that clipping is minimal....but it can smash the music.... I think your ears can tell you alot...and that takes practice....also mixing through a set of reference monitors (can get a pretty ok set of Presonus 3.5 inch monitors for a little over a hundred bucks)....is worth gold.... mixing through headphones is hard...not impossible but you have to take your track and check it on phones, cars etc...because headphones and non reference speakers will often not tell the truth....
If you decided to use a mastering service such as LANDR (there are many)(Landr has 2 free masters a month).... then mix about -6 to -4 db below 0.....the mastering will take care of the rest.... and it can be quite impressive the results... certainly worth trying.... but....DON'T TAKE MIXES THAT ARE MAXED AND MASTER THEM!