28 Nov
2004
28 Nov
'04
11:49 a.m.
On Sunday 28 November 2004 07:52 am, Dave Phillips wrote:
Hey John:
I'll chime in with some kudos for the tune, but I agree with your own
Thanks
assessment re: the vocal, it does need to come
forward. No point in
singing words if they can't be heard or understood, yes ?
Vocals are often a problem for people who don't particularly think of
themselves as "good" singers (whatever that means: is Bob Dylan a
"good"
singer ?), and there's a resulting tendency to put the vocals too far
I say two words to my comparatively green musician friends who say "ya gotta
have good vox"; Tom Waites. AFAICT it's the same with every singer as far as
insecurity goes and I've worked with lots.
Under normal circumstances I belt, and had it been a serious recording I would
have done things a lot differently. Really, to get a good vocal mix I'd have
to shitcan the scratch track, but there's some things I really like about the
guitar performance. And you can hardly tell where I had to turn the page on
the lyric sheet! I'm still debating cutting the extra 2 beats. Probably go 12
string when it's time to rerecord.
back in the mix. The thought is often to truly
"mix" the vocals in with
the instruments, but I suggest taking it the other way on, i.e., mixing
the instruments against the voice. The song is the thing, its melody and
lyrics must be clearly heard (or at least clearly sensed: I can't
Yup. I used to work a lot with doo woppers. 'Nuff said.
usually understand the lyrics to Mudvayne but at least
their man is out
front). One of my favorite local musicians made a wonderful album years
ago, but the one mistake he made on it was to mix his voice too deeply
into the instrumental sounds. He told me he wished he hadn't done so,
and that his decision was based on his poor opinion of his own singing.
Sometimes it's best to get another opinion, I guess that's part of the
function of a good producer.
Budgets do get in the way. Years ago, I'm sure it was analog with no
automation and I can tell you that having reproduceability makes life _so_
much easier. I'm lacking 2 things right now. A quiet location and enough space
to set up my console and stands.
No tubby sound here, probably because my monitoring system is fairly
decent. The instrumental mix has a nice loose sound to it that
complements the song. I agree with Florian re: the character of the
Right well I didn't use a click or anything. I got the idea for the hook,
banged out the lyric in about 15 minutes, tried it on top of the progression
(had been kicking the tires on the progression, but with a madrigal feel),
gave it the cowboy spin and let it rip.
tune, the sounds really match the intent of the
lyrics. Good stuff,
let's hear so>
Btw, perhaps this thread is more on-topic on the users list ?
I meant to apologize for that. Sorry guys.
Best,
dp
Florian Schmidt wrote:
>On Sat, 27 Nov 2004 14:36:10 -0500
>
>John Check <j4strngs(a)bitless.net> wrote:
>>Anyhoo, I had a spark of inspiration and banged out a little sort of folk
>> tune tracked with ardour. Audacity as a front end for LAME. Still
>> getting my ears calibrated to a subpar monitoring system so forgive the
>> buried vox and any tubbyness.
>
>Great tune! I really enjyed it! And yes, the mix is a bit odd, but i
>like it. Gives the tune even more character :)
>
>Flo