Only A Lulla-Bye
May 10, 2020
nick
Lullaby
Melody from Bonnie Raitt’s 1990 release, “Nick of Time.”
Time’s come for
closing your eyes.
But no, no farewell—
only a lulla-bye.
And good days ahead:
stars in the night.
No, no farewell—
only a lulla-bye.
Because the light of the stars we see is actually coming from the future, I’m offering an optimistic suggestion: the days on which that light is shining will be good ones.
Looking for feedback on
How does this sound on the ears mix-wise? Pretty stumped on how to approach mixing such a stark recording, and a Baritone Ukulele in general.
Discussion
alechutson May 12, 2020 6:19pm
So warm and comforting, the perfect quality for a lullaby. Really dig the mix and intimacy of the recording. Great job as usual!
nick May 13, 2020 10:11am
🙂 thanks alec
juliapiker May 12, 2020 1:29pm
Sounds so soft and nice nick. thanks for writing a perfect lullaby
I am LOVING the atmosphere on this. the room noise is or isn’t intentional? but it works really well. I like hearing where you are, it gives the mix more intimacy. Your vocal is sitting in a really nice place mix wise. For tracks like this I like hearing a close mix, no wide stereo, just you and the uke. I like everything about this.
nick May 13, 2020 10:10am
thanks JD. re room noice, expected more than intentional… my recording space is next to a bunch of windows next to a street. figured it would be a nice touch on this one, though.
nick May 13, 2020 10:11am
thanks JD. re room noice, expected more than intentional… my recording space is next to a bunch of windows next to a street. figured it would be a nice touch on this one, though.
Tengo May 11, 2020 10:04pm
Nick, this is beautiful. This feels like some of the hidden tracks at the end of epic album closers that I would look for as a kid and sit there and rewind the CD manually so I could just live in those short songs for as long as possible. So beautiful so so lovely
nick May 13, 2020 10:07am
oh love to hear that, thanks buddy
nurphgun May 10, 2020 10:07pm
So beautiful. I like the mix a lot–love how dry it is. The word “metallic” came to mind, maybe because I’m very aware of the uke strings (I know they’re nylon, but still?), and because your voice is bright and clear. The singing’s actually flawless. I love how the whole tune kind of centers around that bluesy bit in the melody–that’s the piece that makes it lullaby-ish to me; it’s simple and memorable.
nick May 11, 2020 9:14am
Thanks Nor. It’s actually a Baritone Ukulele with two metallic strings and two nylons. It’s super fun to play, and yes, part of my mixing struggle came from getting across the bright and crispy qualities of the metal strings and omitting the tinny pokey parts. And im glad you like that little riff. It’s meant to be a sort of spinning-mobile-play-thing that a child would look forward to hearing/playing with/figuring out each night.
Sam Pearce May 10, 2020 10:03pm
Yeah, I agree with Ryan – those little grace note details, in the ukelele (I wasn’t sure what instrument) and singing are wonderful, and make the one minute more densely emotional. I’m gonna listen one more time for the mix, but nothing bothered me the first couple of times.
Sam Pearce May 10, 2020 10:08pm
I think the mix is lacking nothing if you’re listening to it as a multi-tracked recording. It’s very pleasing to listen to. *If* you wanted to create the illusion of you singing and playing the uke in one take, I think you might need to process the uke more similarly to the vocals, or something like that, to make it sound like the two occurred in the exact same space, and moment in the universe. And I really don’t know about mixing in technical terms, but when I closed my eyes and imagined the performance, that’s what occurred to me.
Ryan May 10, 2020 7:39pm
This is a very nice one. Your voice is—quite good. And I dig the mix. Would be curious if you tried widening the stereo field on the uke, but I don’t think it’s necessary. Nothing about the mix bothers me.
I always think about you when I find myself putting a little doohicky in a track like that hammer/pulloff on the uke in the first few seconds of this tune, which you later mock in the vocal. You’ve got one of those brains that easily sees every variation of even the smallest idea, and I always try to learn from that. I think you do an expert job using several natural-sounding variations of that tiny moment. It’s never overdone. This was heartwarming.
nick May 11, 2020 9:05am
Thanks Ry. I’m glad you enjoyed the doohickey and all its cousins. And yeah, I fooled around with the width of the uke, but I couldn’t quite give it that space without overdoing it, so I went for a simpler approach. I guess kyle is “worth the money” or whatever.
aubspeeps May 10, 2020 6:25pm
it sounds lovely; I love hearing your voice more it’s really beautiful
Nothing about any of your tracks ever sounds forced, your music is something you can just drop right into and be there if that makes sense (it does in my head). You seem to be able to do this spanning a variety of styles and that grounded feeling is something I’m starting to associate with you; when this came on I felt settled in my chest and I knew it was yours. Great job!
nick May 11, 2020 9:08am
that is incredibly sweet, aubrey. i do get a kick out of genre spanning, but i often worry about spreading myself too thin. im glad you for one see my personality come through across these few different approaches 🙂