"Still Got Me" Now with vocals

JohnnyAmato

New member
Posted this one a while back as an instrumental. Tracked the vocals about a week ago, been mixing it for the past few days and it's time for some input.

After "Summer Dream", this is now just my second tune with vocals. Still have about 8 more recorded waiting to do the vocals, as a crazy injury to my arm/hand will unfortunately prevent me from recording anything new for quite some time. Thank God I got all those recordings done when I did, so I can concentrate on just vocals/mixing in the coming months.

Any input will be greatly appreciated. Thanks!

Still Got Me | Johnny Amato
 
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Sorry to hear about your hand and having to lay off playing. That would suck! This sounds pretty good to me. I might nudge up the lead vocal slightly, but it's close. Bass sound really good.
 
Thanks Robus. Considering that this is just the first mix, good to hear that I'm close. I'm going rest my ears from it for a few days and see if anybody else has anything to contribute. Thanks!
 
Vocals are great and work nice with the vibe of the song. Almost a "Barenaked Ladies" feel, upbeat. The core elements (drums, bass, guitar, and vocals) seem nicely balanced. The vocals maybe up a little, just enough to equal the guitar that drops way during the lyrics.
 
This is a pleasant song. Your vocals in the verse kinda remind me of Pure Prairie League a bit. Nicely done!

[listening to Falling in and out of Love/Amie now.. :listeningmusic: ]
 
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Thanks everyone. Was going to wait a few days to clear my ears a bit, but a few things were buggin' me, so I evened out the vocals a bit more tonight and cleaned up a few pops (that were hardly noticeable anyway, but bugged me nonetheless) Also cleaned up some mud from having the release times a little too fast on a few compressors (mainly the drum bus, kick drum, and the overheads)

Also brought up just the lead vocal a tiny .5 db...

Still Got Me | Johnny Amato
 
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Sounds good to me. I like the laid back feel, the vocals are very smooth, good harmonies and good balance between the lead vocal and backups. The guitar work is tasty especially knowing what you are capable of, the simple guitar hook really serves the song-as does the solo. The only thing i can think as a critique would be to maybe turn the snare up a touch? It sounds kind of indistinct to me. I would have tried a tambourine to strengthen the snare...Maybe a lift of the high end in general? I'm reaching here-I don't think i would have mix critiques if i heard this in passing, sounds balanced and easy on the ears, nice work!
 
YEs, sounds quite good, I might bump all of the drums/cymbals just a bit, but high-shelf it too, just a bit to take some of the sizzle off the cymbals
 
Take this from me, your verses are okay but the chorus through the mood right out from my interest to go on listening.

Get home and turn on the T.V.
Lock the door so no one sees me
Shut the lights and turn off the phone
So I'm sittin' here all alone

Think about the times we had
Everything from the good and the bad
Now I gotta make it through the night
Tell myself it'll be alright ---------------------Up to this point (the lyric is reads/sung lovely)

But you need to write a New chorus For this song.

It's alright
It's alright
It's alright, I still got me


I still got me------------These words are very strong and fits just right as a hook.

Repeating (It's alright, It's alright, It's alright) slows the song down and takes away the richness that was taking place earlier in the first and second verse.

One more thing, the intro it is too long.
 
That sounds fine to me. The bump in level helped to lift the vocal up. It's got a clean sounding center-mix that is so critical in a vocal arrangement like this, IMO. You're good to go.
 
I thought this was pretty good. Vocals sound very nice. Nice harmonies.

The little guitar riff line is a little crisp. I wonder what a slightly-breaking-up guitar would sound like instead of the clean sound you have. I don't care for the super clean sound.

Bass sounds excellent and the level is just right.

Drums are programmed. What-a-ya-gonna-do? They sound OK.
 
...Here's the latest version.
Still Got Me | Johnny Amato

Overall flow is very fluid and I think it sounds very clear overall. While listening, I noted:
-background vocals well done in terms of composition and mix; they really add to the tune;
-progression to more intense (higher notes) melody in the final chorus works well to conclude;
- the guitar work was restrained in a good way;
-wondered if an effect on the guitar solo would stand out too much; could be a nice contrast if subtle
at, eg, 2:00?
-I think the lyrics are well done; debated whether some allusion/further development of the idea that
the absent former partner isn't just a former partner, but is "on the run" would divert focus too much.
kind of like the saying in a story, if you put a gun on the mantel in act 1, it should go off in or before act 3!
Yet the single allusion also allows one to have individual associations. One approach might be slight change in
end-of-song chorus to add to the melodic change. This is a horrible example, but along the lines (no pun!)
of "it's allright/the midnight fight/the [something]flight..."
 
YEs, sounds quite good, I might bump all of the drums/cymbals just a bit, but high-shelf it too, just a bit to take some of the sizzle off the cymbals

Thanks Mike, I was wondering about the overall kit volume. It could maybe come up a db or two, but when I try it they seem a little too up front, I kind of like them just driving the beat in this from the back. I might feel different tomorrow, you know how it is...
 
That sounds fine to me. The bump in level helped to lift the vocal up. It's got a clean sounding center-mix that is so critical in a vocal arrangement like this, IMO. You're good to go.

Thanks as always, Robus. I respect your opinion so that's good to hear.
 
I thought this was pretty good. Vocals sound very nice. Nice harmonies.

The little guitar riff line is a little crisp. I wonder what a slightly-breaking-up guitar would sound like instead of the clean sound you have. I don't care for the super clean sound.

Bass sounds excellent and the level is just right.

Drums are programmed. What-a-ya-gonna-do? They sound OK.

Thanks for the input TripM. The guitars are all acoustics- Ovation Custom Legend on the left, and a Taylor 355 12-String on the right; the lead melodies in the center are all the Ovation, with a smidge of Delay and a very tiny bit of Chorus.

The bass is my '06 USA P-Bass as always, it can sometimes be tricky to mix, it's always got these low-mid resonances that stick out, more on some frets than others. The C# (fret 4, A string) is always particularly bad, I usually try to avoid it in arrangements if possible.

I agree the drum sound could maybe be improved to sound more real, I'm open to suggestions.
 
Overall flow is very fluid and I think it sounds very clear overall. While listening, I noted:
-background vocals well done in terms of composition and mix; they really add to the tune;
-progression to more intense (higher notes) melody in the final chorus works well to conclude;
- the guitar work was restrained in a good way;
-wondered if an effect on the guitar solo would stand out too much; could be a nice contrast if subtle
at, eg, 2:00?
-I think the lyrics are well done; debated whether some allusion/further development of the idea that
the absent former partner isn't just a former partner, but is "on the run" would divert focus too much.
kind of like the saying in a story, if you put a gun on the mantel in act 1, it should go off in or before act 3!
Yet the single allusion also allows one to have individual associations. One approach might be slight change in
end-of-song chorus to add to the melodic change. This is a horrible example, but along the lines (no pun!)
of "it's allright/the midnight fight/the [something]flight..."

Thanks number six for the input. The guitar solo (Ovation Custom Legend) has a smidge of delay and chorus, very subtle though. A little reverb as well.

Good lyrical ideas, I just wanted to keep it as simple as possible. It's just a cheesy little Taylor Swift-ish type tune, didn't really want to make it more sophisticated (for lack of a better word). You make good suggestions though.
 
Sounds good to me. I like the laid back feel, the vocals are very smooth, good harmonies and good balance between the lead vocal and backups. The guitar work is tasty especially knowing what you are capable of, the simple guitar hook really serves the song-as does the solo. The only thing i can think as a critique would be to maybe turn the snare up a touch? It sounds kind of indistinct to me. I would have tried a tambourine to strengthen the snare...Maybe a lift of the high end in general? I'm reaching here-I don't think i would have mix critiques if i heard this in passing, sounds balanced and easy on the ears, nice work!

Thanks for the listen, Strat. The snare volume I did wonder about, the whole kit level for that matter. It's fine as is I think, but could also maybe come up a tad. I'll have to see when I hear it fresh in a few days after I rest my ears.

Funny you mention a tambourine. I've used one on a couple other tunes recently, and yesterday I realized I didn't use one on this, and thought about trying it. Maybe I will, not sure. It probably would work accenting just the snare, good call, might try it.
 
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