Wow, a thousand dollars? Is that the cost of his input into the project, or do you get some of that for trumpet and guitar parts?
In the following comparison, by first track, I mean the one entitled Sunset Motel.mp3. By second track, I mean Sunset Motel2.mp3.
Ok, first, to make this test more fair, I lowered the first track so it's apparent loudness was similar to the other. Otherwise, it's easy to right away give preference to the louder one. For those of you doing this in Sound Forge, aim for having both files show RMS loudness around -17dB. The louder of the two tracks has an average around -11dB which is quite hot.
The first track sounds punchier, more dynamic, and clear, even though it is more compressed. The drums, especially the snare or whatever passes for it, sound snappier and sharper, and I can pick out the rhythmic pulse a lot easier at lower volume levels. The nice nylon string guitar part is more discernable as well, and I'm guessing that if this is used as background music, say, while the local weather forecast scrolls across the television screen or someone waits on hold, that the first track is more likely to get toes tapping, and its melody more likely to lodge in the listener's mind.
The second track, to me, has drum sounds that don't catch my ear. They remind me a lot of those old Roland sounds you hear in hip hop or r&b tracks. The hi-hat sounds less crisp, the snare sound is less attention-grabbing, and the melody guitar track has a lot of reverb.
In terms of the background harmonies, I prefer the first track as well. The chords are more colourful, whereas the second version relies more on simple triads. In the first version, the background, while being more harmonically dense, nevertheless does not come close to obscuring the melody. On the other hand, I think the background parts are too noticeable in the second version.
So, I clearly like the first version better. If that is your version and the second one cost $1,000, I think you don't need to outsource for keyboard parts in future!
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