[bashville]

Hi Dirk-

Some quick comments. I went to your site and did some listening. There's a lot to digest here--I think the best thing I can suggest for you is to reference other commercial CD's as you're working to compare the sound you're shooting for with what you've actually got. It's easy to get trapped in the mechanics of mixing, become seduced by the sound in front of you, and forget where you're headed.

My main impression is not a problem with recording per se, but with the method you have of assembling the elements of the rhythm section. It seems like all your drums and bass need to be brought forward and put in a position where they drive the performance more. Primarily I think it's about controlling the bottom and not being afraid to push the drums up. By doing the CD comparisons, I think you'll hear how far forward the drums are in modern mix styles.

I can hear you emphasizing the ambience of your room, which is certainly nice, but for many of the styles of your artists, the use of room sounds could be more selective. It seems like many of the instruments in these mixes are just lined up side by side and treated in a similar fashion, instead of the bass playing the role of a bass, the snare allowed to be a snare, and the voice a voice. Does that make sense?

You also have to be fearless about going in and cleaning up musical parts--the sounds themselves seem OK, but if the playing isn't there to begin with you're in trouble. The more locked things are, the better it will be when you start pumping them up. I'd also look at EQ-ing and compressing more as methods of control, vs. methods of enhancement. It's really too much to try to say all in one posting here, but sometimes you need to spend more time getting the lumpiness out of the tracks than worrying about adding a nice sheen to everything. These are all relative statements--you don't want to make things lifeless, but you could stand to tighten up the sounds.

OK? I hope this helps--I think the mics and pre's are less of a worry for you right now than balance and dynamics. Good luck.