Listen to this or Rami will kill you!!!

[elcholo]

this song is still a work in progress. Mix feedback needed. Also open to any ideas you guys might have for percussion. I have only shakers at this point, but I honestly don't see any real need for any more percussion...but i'm open

There are some musical mistakes i'm aware of, like the wrong note the violinist plays in teh solo, and the piano mistakes i made.

Soundclick: http://www.soundclick.com/bands/page...?bandID=761767

Website: http://strangefamilymusic.net/audio/unfailing.mp3

Thanks in advance...

Cholo

[RAMI]

HAHA! Great thread title.

I'm at work, but will give a listen later, brother.

[ido1957]

elcholo - great tune! It's a bit repetitive in the way you sing the title so often.
The vocals sound like Josh Grobin
The piano paying is top notch and the sound of the piano is super nice.
Tell me about the violin.....
You really don't need anything else with this arrangement - you could add a million things but you don't need to - it stands up well as it is.
Production/Recording is great - no problems there IMHO.
Very well done - heartfelt song - I liked it!

[Greg_L]

Mix sounds pretty good to me. We're talking about "Unfailing" right?

Only thing that sticks out to me is the vocals seem to jump in and out of the mix. They get kinda loud in some spots. Sounds like a job for a compressor.

I don't think I'd add any drums to this. Maybe bring out more strum "attack" with the acoustics and bring up the shakers some towards the end.

Just my 2 cents. This isn't really my style of music.

[elcholo]

Thanks IDO...not me singing though. This is sort of a meditative song on Psalms 23, hence the repetition.

I tried laying down a kick/ride only track. It sucked.
I tried laying down a conga-lite track. It blew
I tried laying down kick only, on the 1 of every measure. turds!

If anyone can come up with something else, let me know!

re: the violin - Recorded in my basement using stereo pair of MSH1s about 1 1/2 feet above and to the front of the violin. Lenorah is an amazing violinist...she blew me away, until she played that wrong note...then I fired her. That was her scratch take anways, and I wanted to get a feel for the mix before retracking.

cholo

[elcholo]

Originally Posted by Greg_L

Mix sounds pretty good to me. We're talking about "Unfailing" right?

Only thing that sticks out to me is the vocals seem to jump in and out of the mix. They get kinda loud in some spots. Sounds like a job for a compressor.

I don't think I'd add any drums to this. Maybe bring out more strum "attack" with the acoustics and bring up the shakers some towards the end.

Just my 2 cents. This isn't really my style of music.

Thanks GregL
I had actually thought of layering some of the strumming guitar you hear (towards the middle of the song) in the left channel and allowing those + the shakers to add the only 'rhythm'...excellent suggestion. I might just pursue that.

I will look into the levels of the vocals. Uncompressed at this point, so when we go to mix for real, i'll pay attention to this. thanks...

not your style? you mean that punk song you wrote isn't in the same vein as this???

[johnnymegabyte]

who says you need drums or percussion. The song carries itself quite well without "a beat". Great job !!!

[RAMI]

Wait a minute. You telling me there's no drums in this song?????

Greg, you responded favorably to the song????? What about the pact? I thought we had a pact.




(I'll listen when I get home )

[elcholo]

thanks for listening, Johnny!

I'm stressing about the drums because i'm a drummer. As we all know, brother's in sticks, no song can be without them. I'm thinking about recording a drum take and burying it in the mix so far that you can't hear them, just so I know they're there... you know, for the principle of the thing.

Drummer's hate ballads, unless the ballads get you chicks. This ballad will not get you chicks

cholo

[Greg_L]

Originally Posted by RAMI

Wait a minute. You telling me there's no drums in this song?????

Greg, you responded favorably to the song????? What about the pact? I thought we had a pact.

What I meant was the song isn't good enough for drums.

[elcholo]

Originally Posted by Greg_L

What I meant was the song isn't good enough for drums.

LOL

[DavidK]

The song is very good, as is the arrangement. The two clicks at the top can be edited out.

re: the violin - Recorded in my basement using stereo pair of MSH1s about 1 1/2 feet above and to the front of the violin. Lenorah is an amazing violinist...she blew me away, until she played that wrong note...then I fired her.

It really sounds like a synth. Not that it sounds bad, it sounds very good. It's just that as a violinist, there is some very strange stuff happening in there. Maybe it's just an acoustic thing like phasing or something. Again, it sounds very good, it is a very good player. Maybe the lower frequencies are being cut?? The attack is a little behind, perhaps she is just a tad behind and doesnt know the piece well. Regardless, she is doing a fine job.

[elcholo]

Originally Posted by DavidK

The song is very good, as is the arrangement. The two clicks at the top can be edited out.


It really sounds like a synth. Not that it sounds bad, it sounds very good. It's just that as a violinist, there is some very strange stuff happening in there. Maybe it's just an acoustic thing like phasing or something. Again, it sounds very good, it is a very good player. Maybe the lower frequencies are being cut?? The attack is a little behind, perhaps she is just a tad behind and doesnt know the piece well. Regardless, she is doing a fine job.

This was her first take, sight reading...definitely doesn't know the piece, which I tried to score out for her (im a noob). I'll check my lower frequencies on EQ and see what happened...thanks! One thing I didn't really like about her playing was i think she uses too much tremolo...I'd like for her to wait a second or 2 before starting it - but that's her style I guess. I'll try to get her to cut back when we start re-tracking.

cholo.

[RAMI]

I didn't know what song to listen to, but I saw Greg mentioned "Unfailing" so I hope I have the right one.

It's a beautiful tune. I wouldn't know what to do with it, percussion-wise, either. So maybe it's perfect the way it is.

I see what David is talking about with the violin sound. It doesn't by any means sound anything but really good. But it almost sounds like a really good string patch. I don't know why though. Something in the high end just seems to sound slightly synthetic, but I can't put my finger on it.

The panning is great, as is the sound of the instruments. Very nice tune and sound.

[elcholo]

Originally Posted by RAMI

I didn't know what song to listen to, but I saw Greg mentioned "Unfailing" so I hope I have the right one.

It's a beautiful tune. I wouldn't know what to do with it, percussion-wise, either. So maybe it's perfect the way it is.

I see what David is talking about with the violin sound. It doesn't by any means sound anything but really good. But it almost sounds like a really good string patch. I don't know why though. Something in the high end just seems to sound slightly synthetic, but I can't put my finger on it.

The panning is great, as is the sound of the instruments. Very nice tune and sound.

Thanks RAMI! I appreciate it.

[elcholo]

yes - the violin is a synth, It's a VST instrument...Garritan Personal Orchestra http://www.garritan.com/.

can't pass off synth strings as real...I laid these down to send to the artist so he could hear the idea I had for the violin. Still a work in progress.

Lenorah is my violinist, who hasn't made it to the session yet. and I do plan on recording her with my MSH1s here, as previously lied about in an above post. I shouldn't have been a poser...sorry.

cholo

[RAMI]

Originally Posted by elcholo

yes - the violin is a synth, It's a VST instrument...Garritan Personal Orchestra http://www.garritan.com/.

can't pass off synth strings as real...I laid these down to send to the artist so he could hear the idea I had for the violin. Still a work in progress.

Lenorah is my violinist, who hasn't made it to the session yet. and I do plan on recording her with my MSH1s here, as previously lied about in an above post. I shouldn't have been a poser...sorry.

cholo

Hehe...No man, it's a good way to see if it passed. It's pretty damn close.

[elcholo]

Originally Posted by RAMI

Hehe...No man, it's a good way to see if it passed. It's pretty damn close.

If you listen closely, you can hear the bowing...but the constant tremolo and inability to control it blows...but for fake strings, they're not too terrible.

cholo

[DavidK]

Originally Posted by elcholo

yes - the violin is a synth, It's a VST instrument...Garritan Personal Orchestra http://www.garritan.com/.

can't pass off synth strings as real...I laid these down to send to the artist so he could hear the idea I had for the violin. Still a work in progress.

Lenorah is my violinist, who hasn't made it to the session yet. and I do plan on recording her with my MSH1s here, as previously lied about in an above post. I shouldn't have been a poser...sorry.

cholo

You should have heard my conversation with my girlfriend last nite:

" This guy is trying to pass off a synth as a real violinist".

I had another post written and deleted, seriously. It said " Ummm, your pulling our leg...". I didnt want to hurt anybodies feelings. As a violinist, I could tell right away.

There were a few tell tale signs. For example, the violinist hits a high G but never shifts. For that to happen, the player would have to be 11 feet tall and have 12 inch fingers. Also, the vibrato ( what you referred to as tremelo) as way too consistent.

However, you did a GREAT job with it. You tapered off ends volume-wise, played the appropriate style, it sounds quite good. Another tell-tale sign was the intonation: it was too good.

sorry.

Sorry Schmorry, you made my day. I am happy that I am still able to detect it. If synths keep getting better, I'm out of a job.

[elcholo]

Originally Posted by DavidK

You should have heard my conversation with my girlfriend last nite:

" This guy is trying to pass off a synth as a real violinist".

I had another post written and deleted, seriously. It said " Ummm, your pulling our leg...". I didnt want to hurt anybodies feelings. As a violinist, I could tell right away.

There were a few tell tale signs. For example, the violinist hits a high G but never shifts. For that to happen, the player would have to be 11 feet tall and have 12 inch fingers. Also, the vibrato ( what you referred to as tremelo) as way too consistent.

However, you did a GREAT job with it. You tapered off ends volume-wise, played the appropriate style, it sounds quite good. Another tell-tale sign was the intonation: it was too good.



Sorry Schmorry, you made my day. I am happy that I am still able to detect it. If synths keep getting better, I'm out of a job.

I played that using a volume pedal on my keyboard... that synth is supposed to be sampled from a Stradivarius... I dont' know about that, but it does sound good. Thank you for pointing out the tremolo/vibrato mix up.... I've been confusing those words for the last 2 weeks for some reason. The constant vibrato is what gave it away for me...

check your PMs...

cholo