Homeward Bound

[ronws]

I am new here and I usually hang out in a singer's forum.

A friend and I collab'd on "Homeward Bound" by Simon and Garfunkel.

We did two versions. First one, he sang the lead vocal and I sang the harmony. Second one, I sang the lead and he sang harmony. Judging by the reaction, most people preferred the version where I sang the lead. And this is that file.

But now that I listen to it later, it sounded a little clippy, though lower the volume of the box dot com player and adjusting my headphones made it sound better. Which may be a thing with whatever algorithm Box uses.

On one of the album covers that S & G used, Paul was in front and Art was behind him and to his left, or your visual right. So, I did the mixing and I would mix whoever was harmony vocal slightly panned to the right, somewhere between 20 and 30 percent. Lead was dead center.

My friend played and recorded the guitar. He sent me the cheat sheet but I think he played the guitar part well enough that I could not improve on that. However, the guitar solo in the middle, that is me. I have a Spectrum acoustic with built-in pick-ups and that is what I used. I have other guitars. Only in the last few weeks, I acquired a few more goodies that I am starting to use.

Please excuse my friend's pitchiness, he was singing a harmony line he imagined, rather than the original harmony line that Art did.

https://app.box.com/s/2eol9mc2ac5l7hu27xwc

 

[mjbphotos]

The guitar is boomy at times, lead vocal is 'roomy' and a lot of sibilance. Harmony vocal (ignoring the pitch) is low in volume.

 

[mspin]

Just a little feedback. If you are going for what you feel is a true faithful mix to the original I could understand your description the the process you used.

Vocals need to re thought. I don't think they work here. Sometimes you need to sing to your strength and produce a cover in that vein. Pan the vocals out and use the stereo field. Double tracking vocals can open up a lot of sonic possibilities.Same thing with the guitar. Make it sound bigger. Utilize the width of the stereo field. Try and make this version truly your rendition. Background harmonies will sound much fuller if you multi track them. You can add some slight ms of delay to fatten up the stereo field. Try to balance out the harmonies with the lead vocal. Hope this helps and I appreciate you posting here. Nice effort

 

[TripleM]

I would recommend taking off all the chorus or whatever is making everything sound swirly. I think the reverb was over done too. Leave that all dry for the time being at least.

You can hear a ton of hiss come in when the lead guitar is playing. You can hear it drop out shortly after the lead guitar stops. Little noise at 1:56 and another at 2:11. Little pop at 2:55. There were probably a few other spots too.

Backing vox are pitchy as mentioned. But I'm hearing some pitchiness on the lead vocal too.

 

[ido1957]

I agree with all the previous comments....you need some work on the performance. I can live with a good performance that is recorded badly.
http://youtu.be/7z9wd9bS1FM
Listen to the original for hints on how to make this better
- get a drum track behind you and get the timing right. It will help you sing it - by following the drum you will flow better.
- the lead vocal needs to be up close when you sing the verses and you move back to sing the louder chorus
- drop all the reverb and effects back so that you can barely hear them
- high pass all the guitars and vocals (get rid of that boomy bass sound in the guitar and lead vocal)
- forget the lead break for now - focus on the singing. You need to work on your lead playing and it's making this sound worse. If you really want a lead part try to mimic the vocal line on the lead (later as I said)
- the harmonies are as important as the lead vocal. S and G were masters at that. Don't record until you have all the parts down cold. Nobody wants to hear that you don't know your part. The Youtube link to their version is above - study the harmony and if need be sing falsetto so it's smooth. I'd rather hear a solid falsetto that straining off pitch chest voice.
- the lead vocal needs work on timing and pitch too - I think most of it is timing where you don't know where to start phrases because you are following a wavering guitar tempo whereas a drum would guide you better.
- memorize the song so you can sing it blindfolded - zero hesitation
- I'm OCD about the harmonies following the lead vocal and matching the phrases word for word. Start and stop on the same words at the same time.
- double track the harmonies and pan them L/R to give it some fill and stereo width.
Lots of work to do - good luck....

 

[Bruthish]

Agree on what was already mentioned above. Multitrack it to a click track and get the vocals where they should be and should be a good song for your collection.