More My Handsome Nell...

N

Neeps

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What do you people think of this one?

All opinions positive or negative welcomed...

Again it's not finished but I like to get comments from you guys so I know whether it's worth finishing....

Doug's takes the lead vocal... Handsome Al provides backing...

Thanks in advance... and thanks to http://www.lightningmp3.com/ for the free hosting... must remember to pay that web hosting bill!
 
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Al and Doug, you already know I'm a lifelong Handsome Nell fan. But trying to forget that bias for a moment, I have some comments.

The ac gtr performance is engaging as usual as is the song's message, vocal sonority, string track's writing and the feeling of sincerity in the song.

(anal critical listening turned on)
The mix is a little heavy in the 200-350 Hz range. Maybe needs delicate EQ'ing of individual tracks to control. Arrangement-wise, maybe start with the vocal solo and add the harmony line a little ways into the song so there's some build-up that way in emotional intensity. If you could add a little sparkle in the 5 kHz range on the guitar it might add to balance the sonority of the arrangement since there's not a high range instrument featured. I like your singing so much that the intonation doesn't really matter to me, but objectively, it's a little off here and there. Big deal, a little vocal prac at the keyboard can fix that. Or use autotune like eveybody else does and don't hassle with it and get distracted from the feel of the song. Without added instrumentation you might consider shortening the song to around 3:30. (anal critical listening turned off)

Love your stuff and glad you've posted another.

Tim
 
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Hey Tim

Thinks for your positive comments...

I wish I could get away with singing out of tune and still sounding good! I do agree with you though.... big Dougs has got a nice timbre to his voice thats carries him at times when he could do with being a bit more accurate...

You are spot on about the the instrumentation at the end... we left it long on purpose with the intention of adding some more instruments but we never got round to it...

As for the mixing tips... we're kinda restricted to get accepting things as they are at the moment cos we need a pair of monitor speakers before we can start mixing properly...

Thats all in the pipeline come next months pay packet!

Cheers
Al
 
Al said:
I wish I could get away with singing out of tune and still sounding good! ...Dougs has got a nice timbre to his voice thats carries him at times when he could do with being a bit more accurate...
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Hell, you should hear my voice. :eek: It's why I play instrumentals only.

By the way, happy birthday Dougal.

Tim
 
Very nice - thank you.


The only thing I can suggest is to add instruments more gradually to the mix and giving the listener more room to listen to your lyrics. I didn't find the pitchy vocal stuff very distracting, but found myself wanting to hear you deliver the syllables more strategically. I don't know if that makes sense to you, and it's just a nitpick.

Thanks for posting.


-Casey
 
Supercreep said:
I didn't find the pitchy vocal stuff very distracting, but found myself wanting to hear you deliver the syllables more strategically.
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Hi Casey

Thanks for the nitpicking, that's the reason we post up here to try to find out how to improve our stuff...

What I'd like Dougs to do is to sing with more clarity... he sometimes spits out the words a bit too much for me... i don't know if this is what you mean by delivering the syllables more strategically...

He does read these threads so all those in favour of Dougal washing his mouth out and trying to sing with a bit more clarity and "strategic delivery of syllables" raise their hand... he doesn't listen to me but maybe public opinion can sway him...

As for adding instruments more gradually and building the song more rather than just firing into it since both you and Tim have mentioned it thats something that we'll definately be looking into...

Cheers for the listen and the comments

Al
 
stop being so damn observant!
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Ha! It just caught my eye on the HR main page where B'days are listed. Don't usually look there but scanned it yesterday as it was Fathers Day, although that connection doesn't have any logic. I'm so culturally illiterate I don't even know if you have a Father's Day in Scotland or, if so, if it's on the same day. Do you? Is it? Just curious.

Tim
 
Ha!

I can hear your dad saying to you, if he read this thread, (turn on Scottish brogue) "So then son, it must be that your American friend thinks we don't we have calendars in Scotland too?" heh-heh... that's what MY dad would have said.

Tim
 
My Dad is a man of few words...

later in the day when I remembered i said "happy Fathers day by the way"....

he just said "Aye!"
 
This is a take! Great stuff, lovely.

Only the drawing in of air as you sing.... gotta get rid of that.....imho.


hope you don't mind me sending it to a dear friend :)
(just don't get too full of yourself now, ya hear :D )



...
 
Why thank you Mr Mush!

Feel free to send it to as many people as you wish...

As for the breaths .... I'm afraid they are not just a product of the mic technique... Dougs smokes a big pile of grotty rolling tobbaco every day and he has trouble breathing at the best of times let alone while trying to speak or sing songs...

We're gonna get him on a program though!

He's gonna be getting nicotine patches, inhalers, gum and we've already got him on a rehabilitation fittness program cycling 10 hours a day...

So give us a few months and we'll retrack the vocal and Dougal will sound like Prince Charles!
 
wow, sounds serious.... i hope he gets better :)

as for retracking the vocal, why not if you have the vocal track on its own, just go in and remove the breathing in sound manually?.... it's a great sounding take otherwise, shame to lose it!....




...
 
We've tried that technique before and found that the end result sounds unnatural. It sounded like the singer sang the song in one breath. So the breaths do matter but they shouldn't be so loud. I think it's singing technique as much as anything.

Cheers
Alistair
 
This is a great song, as usual, but also different sounding than the previous songs.

I like Dougal's singing very much, but agree that the breathing is a bit distracting, and with a few more tries, he could get that "perfect take." I understand what one of the previous posters meant in regards to him selling the emotion a little more, notably, towards the end.

At some point in the song the backing vocals should come back again to make more sense of the first section. I think you could keep the arrangement the same, but for the final chorus at 3:00 minutes - bring in the extra vocals in some fashion. While I like the way the song ends, I have a feeling you could add a whole segment, perhaps, at 3:47 just as the song is winding down. Instead, maybe a driving guitar strum so the song picks up with both sets of vocals, reaching a higher, more dramatic climax. (I'm sure you know what I mean. This has been done in many songs. Getting an extra chorus by adding another set of vocals in the background or with the foreground.) The first section with both vocals was so cool that I think it would work well to recreate at that point, then the arrangement continues to it's conclusion of winding down.

Hope that made sense. I know that's a pretty big change, but it's cool that you're open minded about arranging it differently. Awesome song. As always, I can't complain about the mixing at all.
 
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