Another Cover of an Oldie

Very close to the original. My son and I like to sing this one together. We're weird like that. :)

Two suggestions....

1) tame the snare. especially during the solo section. I hate saying this, but it is too far up front throughout the song.

2) add more harmonies. You've got the lead vocal and one harmony from what I can tell. It would be great to get at least 2 more and hit the 7th chords like the M' & P's do.

All else sounds good. Great job all around.
 
Thank you for the feedback. I thought the snare was a little high too, will have to check that. There is only one harmony piece but the backup vocal is put through an Abbey Roads Reel ADT to spread it out a little. I will have to listen to the original again to pick up the extra harmonies you mentioned. I thought we did good without the extra harmonies (that I was not aware of) but if it makes it better, I will look into that too.
 
Chili said:
1) tame the snare. especially during the solo section. I hate saying this, but it is too far up front throughout the song.
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And pan it center?

The original's got a way bigger reverb on the whole mix, too.
 
So far so good.

The performance is fine, as is the recording (mostly). I reckon the others above have made some pertinent comments, particularly about adding extra harmonies to give it the M&P richness. The snare in the original reflected the musical taste of that era . . . Simon and Garfunkle did the same thing in Sounds of Silence in an attempt to be less folk and more pop. But the song warrants a more gentle treatment.

The singer has a good strong voice, and an unusual sound. I could easily imagine her singing more bluesy material. However, at two points in the song she does these horrendous slides (at .39 and 1.12). I can't remember if those slides were on the original, but they (in my view) are not nice to listen to.
 
gecko zzed said:
The singer has a good strong voice, and an unusual sound. I could easily imagine her singing more bluesy material. However, at two points in the song she does these horrendous slides (at .39 and 1.12). I can't remember if those slides were on the original, but they (in my view) are not nice to listen to.
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I have pulled her up on those slides on a number of occasions. She keeps slipping back into them. I do tell that to all my singers and mostly they get the idea. This one, just a bit harder to tame... but I totally agree with you
 
Cass Elliot was what made the M & P's, that voice she had was just the best. If you were to retrack, I would go back and focus on Cass's performance and try to capture that sound.

I agree with others on the snare, but it isn't hideous. Mix sounded good overall.

Vocal slides didn't bother me, it sounded like she was at her lowest end of her range and there was some struggle. Even with that, very good performance.

Nice work.
 
The snare sounds good for the time era, maybe just bring it down a decibel or two. I think it is a really good song and your close to nailing it.
 
Thank you for the kind words. After listening to it 50 times to find things I didn't find before, sometimes you just need another set of ears on it. I had always noticed the snare and ignored it for some reason, possibly because I was focusing on the vocals so much. However, I am about to attack the snare now so I hope you like the next pass... thanks again, really appreciate the comments
 
Btyre2013 said:
that neumann sounds very nice, great recording!
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Oh I totally love the Neumann... with that and the UA6176, most of the time I have nothing to do. Used to spend a lot of time getting the recordings to sound that way and now I feel lazy. But good lazy :D
 
Ok, listening to comments, I addressed the snare drum, tamed that somewhat. Added a touch of reverb to the final mix, not so much that it is too obvious but enough I think. From a comment by the singer herself, I bumped the backing vocals up a db. Comments would be most appreciated. Its the same link but I will repeat it here so you don't have go back through the thread.

California Dreamin'

The singer, Sherry, is only 19 and has been singing in bands for me since she was 14. The first song I ever recorded her singing was Pat Benetar's "Love Is A Battlefield" and I was pretty impressed with the way a 14yo did that one. Since then she has recorded dozens of songs with me including a very powerful version of "Jolene" and a rendition of Santana's "Game of Love" in a room recording of my student band with my top guitar student providing the close to authentic guitar solos all the way through. Sherry's pitching has improved markedly since then and I hope she continues with this. She is always a pleasure to work with (barring vocal slides...)
 
I listened to the 1st mix last night and I definitely prefer this one.

The vocal performance is great. The backing vocals in particular were really well executed. She gives the lead vocal almost a more bluesy feel with some of the slides thrown in there.

I like the addition of more reverb and I think that helps. The drums sound better to me than last night, but still a little bit on the robotic side.

It sounded like there was a chorus effect on the guitar? That seemed a bit out of place to me, but I don't suspect you're trying to copy the original exactly or anything. I just don't care for that effect I guess.

Really good job all around though. I'm not a huge fan but I heard this track tons on the radio growing up, and I always thought the melodies were pretty awesome, and that carries over well to this version.
 
Thanks for listening. There is no deliberate chorus effect on the guitar but there are two of them, which is probably what you are hearing. I appreciate the comments on the vocals. She is no gentle singer and loves to let it out. I like working with her voice, its easy to do a lot with.

Drums... a bit hard to un-roboticise them in a song like this where they have to keep that regular beat. I did take the edge off them and I like the song better now.

I try to copy the original only so far. The only one who can sing it like Cass Elliot is Cass Elliot. If someone says they cant sing it like her, I ask them to sing it like themselves and see what we get. There are a few well-known artists who have performed this song, none of whom were anything like Cass. In this case we have the Sherry Dawe version. She enjoyed doing the song and that's the main thing.
 
Yeah I can find no fault in the current state of this, great work. I love that song, but who doesn't?

TheLurker
 
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