Acoustic Country/Folk/Bluegrass "Pack Up Your Sorrows&a

[dgrieser]

So I've been playing at a bar once a week with some guys for a few years. We never rehearse, we just play. Lately we've been working up some new material and actually rehearsing some, so I took my laptop and threw up some mics and multitracked some of the tunes we've been playing. All one take, no punching in or fixes, real relaxed and informal. It came out better than I thought it would.

Any suggestions to improve the mix, sounds of instruments, etc., most welcome.

http://www.caneraising.com/greggsfiles/packup.mp3

Vocal/rhythm guitar: Shinybox 46L/Symetrix 202/Firebox/Reaper
Lead guitar: Oktava 012/Firebox pre/Reaper
Mandolin: Octava 012/EH12AY7/Firebox/Reaper
Bass: Line out to Firebox/Reaper

[HuskerDude]

I don't know a ton about bluegrass, but this sounds really nice to me. The only thing I might change is moving the vocals a little more up front. I really like the tone on the guitar and mando, though. Those sound tops.

[David Piper]

I also think the vocal could be much more out front. Mandolin sounds nice, but the chop chords are louder than both the vocal and the guitar solo. A little two-beat bass part would sound nice, too!

[dgrieser]

The mandolin can be too loud?

The mandolin player should never do the mixing.

Thanks for taking the time to give it a listen and helping me out. I'll see if I can get a better balance with the vocal/instruments and maybe have the bass player redo his part. He does get a little busy. He's playing one of those little Ashboury basses with the silicon strings.