My first time recording someone *else*

[groucho]

Well, here's my virgin foray into recording someone besides me. Damn, it was fun too. I'm tired as hell of *my* rusty old voice.

So, lay it on me, folks. Be mean. I can take it.

It's the jazz tune "Cry Me A River". I'm doing everything except singing.

www.venusburning.com/chris/Cry_Me_A_River.mp3


Thanks!
Chris

[chrisharris]

What a cool mood piece. You have a very ecclectic musical background/taste. That means you're great, lol.

"Plebian" and "me and" - what a great rhyme.

Okay, I'm getting what sounds like hiss...I'm not saying it IS hiss...it could be some kind of plate verb on the brush...but it sounds like hiss.

I really think that pno sounds wonderful. Kinda' "plinky," which is PERFECT for this piece.

She's got a pretty nice voice. "Now you say you're lonely"....the very first line sounds kinda' weak/shakey, but I'm totally nitpicking, b/c the rest of it I loved.

What did you use for the drums?

[chrisharris]

I don't think I said it...but I loved this. Sorry about the shabby mix comments...I'm more into looping this, lol.

Very nice.

[groucho]

Thanks for the listen, Chris. The drums are from loopology.com - but I chopped and channeled them pretty heavily. The original loop was in 3/4 and I turned it into 4/4 and then did an aburdly long and tedious session inserting tiny little fills that probably no one is going to notice.

Can I just say that I hate not having real drums and having to do this loop/sample shit?

Okay.

Chris

(Geez, I haven't been the most prolific commenter lately, but I pop in when I can. I guess I gotta hang around more to get comments nowadays.)

[chrisharris]

Originally posted by groucho
Can I just say that I hate not having real drums and having to do this loop/sample shit?

Yes...lmao.

[crawdad]

No comments lad? Crawdad to the rescue!

I only have two suggestions. I want more bass for sure. It gets there for a second after the piano break, then fades away again.

Also, I'm not crazy about the vocal ambience. This is just a personal thing, and I think it has to do with hearing recordings from the era where they actually performed this stuff as the norm. I want a plate with more...verb I guess. This ambience sounds like somebody singing live in a room on stage somewhere. Maybe thats what you were going for. I thought the vocal performance was very nice though.

Nice performances though and a very clean and lean recording. You must tell me two things. First, your vocal chain--mic pre, etc. Second, whats that piano? Real? Sampler? It sounds pretty nice, which I think has a lot to do with the person playing it!

[groucho]

Okay, signal chain: ADK A-51s into Art Tube MP into Boss BR-532 recorder. Mixed in Cool Edit.

I'm with you on the bass thing, crawdad. In fact, before I even read your post I remixed it with the bass and drums up a bit. I have the hardest time with bass - it continues to confound me. It'll sound great everywhere, then I'll get in the car and it'll sound way too boomy. I'll start the engine and start driving and it'll disappear...

the elusive little bastard.

Yeah, I'm not a big fan of that big, reverb-laden sound that many female vocalists are treated with. I was kind of going for a simpler, more intimate sound. But it's good to hear these kinds of comments. Several people on another forum have also expressed a desire for more reverb, and at some point I should consider what people seem to want to hear (much as it galls me...).

Thanks much for your ears and comments,

Chris

[groucho]

Oh, I forgot your last question: the piano is a Technics digital piano. And thanks for the nice words on the playing. I had a good time with that one.

Chris

[Stratomaster]

Yo Groucho-good to see something from you....Cool song-great performances--I agree with whats been said by others on the mix...I heard that "hiss" accompanying the drums? And more bass!! If this is a remix with more bass-it still needs more bass-Bass is the glue that holds a song like this together---more more more..Nice piano work-very tasty--good vocal performance as well-though I would have liked a bit more verb to take the edge off a bit. Very nice listen overall-good way to start the day.

[crawdad]

Isn't that "hiss" just the brushes on the snare?

[chrisharris]

Originally posted by crawdad
Isn't that "hiss" just the brushes on the snare?

I thought so originally, but unless there's a huge plate on the brushes, then it's something else. The drums are a loop, so it's not there. I've had a similar effect happen when I plated a guitar track...it's the fact that it comes and goes with the brush that made me think it was a verb...but when I got it on my guitar track, I ended up ditching it because EVEN THOUGH IT WASN'T HISS, lol...it gave THE IMPRESSION of hiss...so what's the difference?

[groucho]

Hmm. Not sure about the hiss thing. I just checked in headphones (which admittedly is something I should probably do more often - I hardly ever use the cans) and all I get is the swishing of the brush against the snare. Can you give me any clues about where/when/how the hiss comes in? I'm not saying I don't believe you - it's quite possible my ears are just fried at this point.

I decided just for the heck of it, to do an even reverb-heavier mix of this thing. If I like it I'll put it up and let you know in case anyone wants to hear it.

By the way, I made an instrumental version of this tune available online for this guy who wanted to use it for someone's audition tape. If anyone cares, it's still up there at:

http://www.venusburning.com/chris/george/

All I ask is if you do anything cool with it, send me a link so I can hear.

Chris

[jake-owa]

No it's not the brushes I'm hearing. It sounds like there are some distorting things here. The piano seems to peak out and the vocal gets too loud or harsh in spots. The mix has a brittle harshness to it, what are you using to mp3 your stuff?

[groucho]

Hmm.. distortion and harshness - something funny's goin' on here. I encode with Cool Edit. When it comes to mp3s under 320 kps they all sound equally shitty to me. Cool Edit's 320 mp3s sound great, but I get a lot of complaints about file size when I use that setting, so...

It's a bitch, this mp3 thing. Whassay y'all come by my place and we'll listen to it here...?

Chris

[groucho]

Just in case anyone is not bored to death of this song (as i am now), the latest version's up there now at the same link. Whaddya get for yer buck now? Well, you get more reverb on the vox, more bass, and a (I think) slightly smoother all-around sound.

I was actually attempting to emulate the reverb that crawdad had on his latest tune. I'm not saying I got there, but that where I was aiming kinda.

thanks again all.

Chris