I didn't know where this was going when I started writing it, but as can often happen as a musician, I ended up with something that spoke of me personally. This is a direct result of pouring myself into a track.

And apparently, I didn't need to use words.

Originally recorded and mixed in July 2013.
Remastered in January 2017.

Most of the time I feel like I have to work at something before it's an acceptable product. This time, though, I spent one day, total, on writing, tracking, and mixing. I feel as though the music created itself. But, whether it did or not, I'm very, very happy with it. This song paints a picture, the way I believe all music should paint pictures. I can just see it in my head, and that is a beautiful thing.

Music really can talk.

THE PRODUCTION ===
PreSonus Studio One 2 Pro
PreSonus AudioBox 1818VSL
Dell XPS L502x
2x KRK Systems Rokit 5 RP5G2
Sony MDR-7506
Ibanez RG321MH
Squier MB-5
Toontrack Superior Drummer 2.0
Native Instruments Guitar Rig 4/5
= Vox AC-30
= Ibanez Tube Screamer TS808
= Electro-Harmonix Deluxe Memory Man
= Electro-Harmonix Black Finger
= Pro Co RAT
= Ampeg SVT-2 Pro
= Little Reflektor
iZotope Ozone 5
Waves Kramer Master Tape (Ampex 350/351)

The Soul and the Soil

Wooden Heart
Originally performed by Listener.
Fix You
Originally performed by Coldplay.
Live at Sara Manor.

PreSonus AudioBox 1818VSL
PreSonus Studio One 2 Pro
Washburn D10SCE
Martin OMC160GTE
Shure Beta 57A x3
Shure SM57 x3

The Loft Sessions - Wooden Heart/Fix You

Poison and Wine
Originally performed by the Civil Wars.
Live at Sara Manor.

PreSonus AudioBox 1818VSL
PreSonus Studio One 2 Pro
Chris Mitchell Guitars Margaret
Martin OMC160GTE
Shure Beta 57A x3
Shure SM57 x3

The Loft Sessions - Poison and Wine (feat. Sara Sanner)

Barton Hollow
Originally performed by the Civil Wars.
Live at Sara Manor.

PreSonus AudioBox 1818VSL
PreSonus Studio One 2 Pro
Chris Mitchell Guitars Margaret
Martin OMC160GTE
Shure Beta 57A x3
Shure SM57 x3

The Loft Sessions - Barton Hollow (feat. Sara Sanner)

My, if this one didn't take a long time to finish. I started this a year ago, around the 20th of December 2012. Why did it take so long? I had it 90% finished that next January, but I didn't get to the last passage of the choral section in time to have it finished before school started back up. So, the vocals had to wait. It wasn't until just recently that I was able to sit down with this song and really complete it.

But it's here, now, and I love that. This one's been a long time coming and features some of my best mixing to date. I had this mix near perfect months before I ever considered buying monitors, which is amazing to me. With the acquisition of more useful plugins, I put a little more critical listening work into the mix and the result is something I can call pleasing!

I'm more than excited to finally be able to release this. Many people requested it when I decided to cover something last year, and it's great to feel like it's worth something.

Production notes may come eventually, but for now I'll just run down the notables.

I used PreSonus's wonderful Studio One v.2 Pro to mix, utilizing its included compressors, EQs, and reverberators for the most part. Native Instruments' Guitar Rig 4 played a huge role in this like it does most of my music, being the tone shaper for the guitar/bass tracks and my key echo effect. I used Waves' Kramer Master Tape to fatten the sound in a good many places, and the Puigtec passive EQs as sweetening filters. Ozone 5 served as the master dynamics processor and topped everything off.

Coldplay - Fix You

I mixed this event where all the campus ministries at Georgia Southern University came together to rally the students to pray for the campus, the town of Statesboro, and the whole region, and we did it in the middle of campus. I got to capture the tracks, so I can give you a glimpse of what happened that night, February 27, 2014.

The band is:
Evan Wang - acoustic guitar, vocals
Lydia Morris - vocals
Zac McClendon - keys
Ryan Callahan - electric guitar, programming
Drew Kellum - electric guitar, coordination
Eric Jones - bass guitar
Will Tucker - drums

I made the intro track for Holding Nothing Back, and Ryan Callahan made all the rest of the backing tracks.

Fire Fall Down

August 24, 2014. College Sunday at SouthBridge Community Church.

Recorded on a PreSonus StudioLive 24.4.2 using Capture 2.
Mixed in PreSonus Studio One Pro v2.

Track by Ben Reaves
Song "All the Poor and Powerless" originally performed by All Sons and Daughters, this arrangement recorded by The Digital Age.

Performed by
Brandon Reaves: rhythm guitar, lead vocals
Audrey Seal: backing vocals
Ben Reaves: lead guitar, backing vocals, programming
Eric Jones: bass guitar, backing vocals
Eric Hearn: keyboards
Derrick Mathis: drums

SouthBridge Live - All the Poor and Powerless - 2014/08/24

October 19, 2014 at SouthBridge Community Church.

Recorded on a PreSonus StudioLive 24.4.2 using Capture 2.
Mixed in PreSonus Studio One Pro v2.

Song "In Christ Alone" written by Keith Getty and Stuart Townend. This arrangement originally performed and recorded by Kristian Stanfill.

Performed by
Brandon Reaves: rhythm guitar, lead vocals
Katie Pursley: backing vocals
Ben Reaves: lead guitar
Eric Hearn: keyboards
Eric Jones: bass guitar
Brian Stone: drums

SouthBridge Live - In Christ Alone - 2014/10/19

October 26, 2014 at SouthBridge Community Church.

Recorded on a PreSonus StudioLive 24.4.2 using Capture 2.
Mixed in PreSonus Studio One Pro v2.

Song "Cornerstone" originally performed and recorded by Hillsong Worship.

Performed by
Ben Reaves: rhythm guitar, lead vocals
Jessica Sherrod: backing vocals
Jordan Mathis: backing vocals
Brandon Reaves: lead guitar
Evan Price: bass guitar
Derrick Mathis: drums

SouthBridge Live - Cornerstone - 2014/10/26

November 2, 2014 at SouthBridge Community Church.

Recorded on a PreSonus StudioLive 24.4.2 using Capture 2.
Mixed in PreSonus Studio One Pro v2.

Song "One Thing Remains" originally performed and recorded by Jesus Culture.

Performed by
Brandon Reaves: rhythm guitar, lead vocals
Heather Braddy: backing vocals
Ben Reaves: lead guitar
Eric Hearn: keyboards
Eric Jones: bass guitar
Alex Harris: drums

SouthBridge Live - One Thing Remains - 2014/11/02

November 30, 2014 at SouthBridge Community Church.

Recorded on a PreSonus StudioLive 24.4.2 using Capture 2.
Mixed in PreSonus Studio One Pro v2.

This arrangement "Be Thou My Vision" originally performed and recorded by Ascend the Hill.

Performed by
Brandon Reaves: rhythm guitar, lead vocals
Audrey Seal: backing vocals
Ben Reaves: lead guitar
Eric Hearn: keyboards
Eric Jones: bass guitar
Derrick Mathis: drums

SouthBridge Live - Be Thou My Vision - 2014/11/30

January 25, 2015 at SouthBridge Community Church.

Recorded on a PreSonus StudioLive 24.4.2 using Capture 2.
Mixed in PreSonus Studio One Pro v2.

Song "Anchor" originally performed and recorded by Leah Mari with Bethel Music.

Performed by
Brandon Reaves: rhythm guitar, backing vocals
Jordan Wilson: lead vocals
Ben Reaves: lead guitar
Tyler Craft: acoustic guitar
Eric Hearn: keyboards
Eric Jones: bass guitar
Alex Harris: drums

SouthBridge Live - Anchor - 2015/01/25

January 25, 2015 at SouthBridge Community Church.

Recorded on a PreSonus StudioLive 24.4.2 using Capture 2.
Mixed in PreSonus Studio One Pro v2.

Song "Relentless" originally performed and recorded by Hillsong United.

Performed by
Brandon Reaves: rhythm guitar, backing vocals
Jordan Wilson: lead vocals
Ben Reaves: lead guitar
Tyler Craft: acoustic guitar
Eric Hearn: keyboards
Eric Jones: bass guitar
Alex Harris: drums

SouthBridge Live - Hosanna - 2015/01/25

February 15, 2015 at SouthBridge Community Church.

Recorded on a PreSonus StudioLive 24.4.2 using Capture 2.
Mixed in PreSonus Studio One Pro v2.

Song "Man of Sorrows" originally performed and recorded by Hillsong Worship.

Performed by
Brandon Reaves: rhythm guitar, lead vocals
Audrey Seal: backing vocals
Ben Reaves: lead guitar, keyboards
Eric Jones: bass guitar
Derrick Mathis: drums

SouthBridge Live - Man of Sorrows - 2015/02/15

February 15, 2015 at SouthBridge Community Church.

Recorded on a PreSonus StudioLive 24.4.2 using Capture 2.
Mixed in PreSonus Studio One Pro v2.

Song "It Is Well" originally performed and recorded by Kristene Dimarco with Bethel Music.

Performed by
Brandon Reaves: lead guitar, backing vocals
Audrey Seal: lead vocals
Ben Reaves: keyboards, aux guitar
Eric Jones: bass guitar
Derrick Mathis: drums

SouthBridge Live - It Is Well - 2015/02/15

March 1, 2015 at SouthBridge Community Church.

Recorded on a PreSonus StudioLive 24.4.2 using Capture 2.
Mixed in PreSonus Studio One Pro v2.

Song "All I Need is You" originally performed and recorded by Hillsong Worship.

Performed by
Brandon Reaves: rhythm guitar, lead vocals
Audrey Seal: backing vocals
Jacob Strickland: lead guitar
Jordan Mathis: keyboards, backing vocals
Eric Jones: bass guitar
Derrick Mathis: drums

SouthBridge Live - All I Need Is You - 2015/03/01

March 8, 2015 at SouthBridge Community Church.

Recorded on a PreSonus StudioLive 24.4.2 using Capture 2.
Mixed in PreSonus Studio One Pro v2.

Song "Holy Spirit" originally performed and recorded by Kim Walker with Jesus Culture.

Performed by
Ben Reaves: guitars, backing vocals
Audrey Seal: lead vocals
Eric Hearn: keyboards
Eric Jones: bass guitar
Brian Stone: drums

SouthBridge Live - Holy Spirit - 2015/03/08

I wrote this song by accident.

The initial idea was a piano line I happened upon while jamming with a roommate in 2019, and iterated over again until recording a quick sketch of improvised vocal melodies and nonsense lyrics. I noticed the MIDI I had recorded for the piano line bore a striking resemblance to a mountain summit, and one night the theme clicked, and the verses came to me. Snowblind deals with parts of me I fear incapable of interfacing well with the world, reincarnated without the benefit of the cycle before. I don't want to explain everything I understand the words to mean, because it already does so for me, and can easily mean something else to any person that hears it.

This song was entirely finished 4 years ago, and sat waiting on me to decide it was good enough to put into the world. I spent those years feeling like my relationship to creativity was irreparably damaged, living with family and worrying about being perceived and feeling guilty about doing anything that wasn't in some way earning a paycheck. Since then, I've moved to Chicago and started over on the work to demolish the walls between myself and my outward person. I'll get there. The experience of recording this song is proof that I was able to do it before. I'll do it again.

Kelly Reaves: vocals, keyboards, guitars, bass, programming, mixing, and mastering
Jon Heim: some composition & drum motifs

Recorded at a previous residence in Beaufort, SC.
Mixed at a previous residence in Statesboro, GA.
Mastered at home in Chicago, IL.

Snowblind

Okayfine "Snowblind"

Happy birthday, Kenny G.

Sara Sanner and I are They. You could say They are we.

This is our rendition of Seth Avett and Jessica Lea Mayfield's arrangement of Elliott Smith's "Between the Bars."

Elliott Smith - Between the Bars

April 5, 2015 at SouthBridge Community Church.

Recorded on a PreSonus StudioLive 24.4.2 using Capture 2.
Mixed in PreSonus Studio One Pro v3.

Song "You Make Me Brave" originally performed and recorded by Amanda Cook with Bethel Music.

Performed by
Katie Pursley: lead vocals
Ben Reaves: guitars
Brandon Reaves: guitars
Tyler Craft: acoustic guitar
Eric Jones: bass guitar
Derrick Mathis: drums
.

SouthBridge Live - You Make Me Brave - 2015/04/05

This is Midna's Lament, from The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess. This is the song you hear when you are needed to rush Midna to Zelda, maybe halfway through the game. Unbelievably well-composed, and classic in the truest sense of the term. I love the song to no end, and wanted to share some of that by remixing it into an ambient piece with a hint of that orchestral influence heard in the Wii version of the game (GameCube version used ROMs for sounds, Wii supports SoundFonts and pre-recorded soundtracks).

Midna's Lament

Dueling Mixes is a place you can learn from two mixers going head to head, mixing the same song each month without talking to each other about it, and voting either mix to victory. You can join a forum filled with other mixers focused on improving, download the multitracks from each month's song for practice, and have your mix critiqued by hundreds of members learning from your work as much as you're learning from them.

October 2017. Mixed ITB in Studio One Pro 3.3.

20171016 DM Mix: ill Factor (feat. Graham Cochran) "Raise My Flag"

Part of OIART's massive collaboration with several popular YouTube musicians, "Dread Machine" was offered as material for a mix competition, to which I entered. This mix is floating around in Ontario, somewhere...

OIART "Dread Machine" 20180315

Recorded this live on video for self-promo in early 2011. My favorite song by the band Porcupine Tree, "Trains."

Recorded using:
FL Studio 9.8 beta
Shure Beta 57A dynamic mic
Washburn D10SCE dreadnought
Zoom G9.2tt (as preamp)
E-MU 0404 PCI interface
NI Guitar Rig 3
iZotope Ozone 4
Celemony Melodyne 3.2
Martin 80/20 Bronze strings, extra light (top e .11)
monitored using Behringer HPS3000 headphones

Porcupine Tree - Trains (2011)

The majority of the orchestral parts to "Ghost Love Score," from Nightwish's 2004 album Once. Used in a cover of the song at the first annual SHS Idol talent show in 2010. The show was a disaster, but we somehow pulled off the song.

Programmed in 2009 using
FL Studio 8 & 9
Garritan Personal Orchestra 2 (to be updated to 4)
IL Autogun
Modartt Pianoteq 2.3
IL 3xOsc

Transcribed by ear from the original track using Sibelius 5.

Ghost Love Score - Nightwish (2009)

Another cover of mine. Tracked the same time as Trains, but this one might have come out better because of how many practice takes I did. On Trains I just hit record and went for it.

Recorded with the same equipment as Trains, I'll copy over the list soon.

Porcupine Tree - Nine Cats (2011)

Decided it would be in my best interest to create a song around the Sacred Grove theme variation in The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess. So far, all I've done is sequence the original variation, and add an 8-string bass sound at the end. I'm uncertain what style would make this sound best at the moment, so feel free to leave a comment and suggest a direction to go. Purely electronic, however, is not an option, as I'm opposed to putting the sound of electronic with themes from the Legend of Zelda. The two don't mix.

Sacred Grove - The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess

Instrumental cover of "Everything" by Lifehouse originally created for Justin & Morgan Knight's wedding. Planning at some point to take it and perfect the timing on all tracks, subsequently recording vocals on top as a finished cover of the song.

Lifehouse - Everything (Instrumental version)

A test of my ability to create Vangelis-type sounds from my favorite synths back in 2012, when I used FL Studio 10. This is the introduction and main theme from "Chung Kuo," a terrific piece that manages to be multiple times the width and height of this sound.

Vangelis "Chung Kuo" Theme (2012)

Following our bewilderment at the resounding success of our Clocks cover, we decided we should calm down. Then we did this.

Never mind the fact that it took us nearly a year.

All parts tracked on a Dell XPS L502x, equipped with a PreSonus AudioBox 1818VSL and FL Studio 10.

Guitars were tracked with an Epiphone Les Paul Standard. Completely stock, filed down the frets and the headstock had completely snapped off at one point; now held on by epoxy. :D Ernie Ball Regular Slinkies.
Guitar processing is Native Instruments' Guitar Rig 4 Pro. JMP and Plexi models were used, and run through Poulin LeCab 2, which loaded RedWirez' Marshall 1960A cab impulses. The Neumann KT84 mic was used a lot. The rhythm and lead parts ran through Waves' Kramer Master Tape for an analog and colorful sound.

Bass was tracked using a several-years-old Squier MB-5. All stock, pretty sure only the neck pickup worked at the time. Ernie Ball Regular Slinkies.
Bass processing was fun. I used Native Instruments' Guitar Rig 4 Pro again, but only the Pro Co Rat stomp model before running the track through a Fender Rumble 100. The preamp out then went back into Guitar Rig, where I used a special combination of cab settings designed to make a deep but distinctly colored sound. To aid that, I used Kramer Master Tape to fatten up the low end.

Drums are all Superior Drummer 2.0 and the stock Avatar kit. Some processing was done inside SD2.0, and bleeds are all enabled. Outside of that is FL Studio's stock compressor set for transient content, and iZotope's triode-modeled tube exciter module. On the ambient mics, I used a high pass and slammed Kramer Master Tape for a bigger room sound. Then it's onto some compression and limiting on the drums buss, and another Kramer Master Tape. That compresses the whole kit the way tape does, and gives it a meaty edge in the character of tubes and tape combined. Big cymbals, big toms. Love it.

Synth is Native Instruments' Mikro Prism, set to the preset "Lonely Molecules." No tweaks. Beautiful pad right out of the box. And it was free. Thinking about getting Prism though.

Piano was played by yours truly, no sequencing this time. Minor edits to certain notes, but otherwise it's just me playing my M-Audio Keystation 49e right into Pianoteq.

Vocals were once again recorded in Reid's garage/bedroom. Or is it bedroom/garage? Reid, as usual, sings lead, and I sing background. Same setup on both tracks, minus the echo on my tracks.
We used a Shure Beta 57A, iZotope Ozone 5, FL Studio's Reeverb 2, and Guitar Rig 4's Roland RE-120 tape echo module. Manual correction was done in Celemony Melodyne, but I assure you, we didn't auto-tune anything. Not with Auto-Tune, and not with Melodyne's "Correct Pitch" macro. All that we did was by hand alone.

Although we pretty much didn't touch the cover for a good four months, I worked painstakingly on the mix once in a while, working hard for a bit then putting it down again, until it reached this point.

This is in fact the final mix! No more updates, I'm pretty happy with how it sounds.

Go find the "SD2.0 ... Test" sounds on my profile to see what the drums used to sound like.

Safetysuit - Annie

Asheville Shouting (Reid Song)

Asheville Shouting (Portfolio Mix)

Red Red Yellow

Red Red Yellow (Portfolio Mix)

Bulletproof

Bulletproof (Portfolio Mix)

Hearts In Atlantis

Hearts In Atlantis (Constellation Sound Mix)

Never Stop

Never Stop (Constellation Sound Mix)

Recently Warren Huart with Produce Like a Pro released a full-length mic demo where he and a couple other musicians covered Eric Clapton's "Layla" using nothing but the 023 Bomblet as the microphone. Unlike a "single mic recording," this was multitracked like most other modern productions, with the exception of using ONLY a single 023 Bomblet on the drums. With that cool sound in mind, I approached this mix dramatically differently from Warren, aiming not to capture the crispest, most "glossy" version of the recording, but to capture a particularly "70s" flavor. The ONLY instance of any tape emulation is an instance of Saturn 2 on the high end of the vocals, otherwise there is NO tape used anywhere in this mix.

PLAP Soyuz Bomblet Mic Demo - Eric Clapton "Layla" Alternate Mix

Uploading this because I don't know what I'm going to do with it yet. Jon and I recorded parts together and eventually decided he should do drums for it, for which he practiced on a Roland e-kit for like two months straight. Then I took his recording and we transcribed the drums into programming for Superior Drummer. This is the existing parts and mix, devoid of whatever thoughts of vocals we might have had for it. I'm keeping it in mind.

Jon Heim & Kelly Reaves - what meter?

A quick improv I did directly to tape using Spitfire Audio's new re-recorded Soft Piano library.

The only processing done on this recording is some gentle EQ and compression. No other plugins, especially time-based, were used.

Tape Improv 20200730 - Spitfire Audio Originals Soft Piano

Made this intending to record a joke song, and ended up with no joke. I've never made music like this before, ever.
Some of the lyrics are a little hokey, but I actually kinda feel this.
Made in 4 hours in the middle of the night because of course it was.

Trying

Hi. I'm Kelly. I'm a mixing engineer.
I produce, sing, and play guitar, bass, piano, and synthesizer.
I am Okayfine, using my most useful means of expression to get the hurt out.
Member ASCAP.
Currently based Chicago, IL.

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