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Kevin,

Here's a mix I did for Scott Walters, it is the theme song for his wetland project in Minnesota.

www.walterswetlandbank.com

I played all the instruments. The beginning acoutsic guitar (and the acoutsic guitar all through) is really three tracks of the same guitar playing the same thing. They are recorded with a Shure SM-81 mic. One is lower and centered, two are hard panned right and left. I put all three on their own buss and then eq them. They have a bass rolloff from about 400 to 450hz on down. Then I put a very VERY mild compression on them set at 4:1 with a soft knee and fairly short attack. I also give them a bump from about 4k up to about 8k where I put on a treble shelf.

The vocalist, Sandi Kay, a great studio singer, is recorded through an MXL V-69 mic it has a bass roloff at about 150hz and a very small bump around 500 with a treble shelf increase from around 2k up, very small increase. The reverb is a freeware from Kjaerhus Audio, their Classic Reverb and it has a similar setting on the compressor, only even lighter, just to keep everything up on top in the mix. Also, I highlight sections by hand and raise or lower their volume to keep the mix even without squeezing it with compression. I did very little tuning, maybe a part of a word here and there.

There is a nylon string guitar on the left and a mandolin on the right playing figures as she sings. They are panned about 30-30. The whole track, other than the vocal, was bussed. The mandolin and nylon string, and you can assume everything else except for the bass, have a rolloff from about 150 on down. I didn't compress them, just highlighted spots by hand and raised or lowered them.

At about 0:23, there is a jaw harp (that's Mr. Frog LOL.) It's panned about 60 on the right. It, and all else except the bass was recorded with the Shure SM-81.

There is a tambourine hard panned left and shaker hard panned right. Tambourine is tricky, it's easy to get too much, as opposed to cowbell...there's never enough cowbell.

The Bass is an Englehardt upright with polymer "gut" strings. It has a KRK pickup run through a Fishman Platinum Pro preamp. I cut 20 hz on down, cut a little 80 hz, and boosted 100hz and a little of 250 hz.

The Irish Pennywhistle is about 30 to the left, has a high roloff around 5k and has a bit more of the Classic Reverb.

There is a vocal "tongue click" and two places where she over ran the mic, but not the track. See if you can find them. (This is a test ).

I mastered it with an Electic-Q EQ, a Kjaerhus mastering compressor and a Kjaerhus master limiter. When I master, I usually drop 30 on down a bit with a rolloff, bump 100 a tiny bit, then shelf from 10k up to 20k a few dbs with an upward slope. I'll dip 500 and 1k slightly. This is a starting point, then it's up to the ear to tweak.

The most important thing is...I didn't use Band In A Box.

Hope this helps.

Mike