New take on an old classic

Elton123

Elton123

New member
So I'm submitting a tune for a charity holiday album. Thought I would let the great ears on here tell me if something is out of whack. We didn't really know what to do. One of the gang suggested this and we went with it. Really fun organic experience to pull together musicians who never play together and see what happens. We tracked in about 3 hours start to finish and I added a few parts in post.
 
It sounds like a good mix to me. I don't hear anything sounding off at all. Good job.

This arrangement really threw me at first, but I kinda warmed up to it as it went along. Damn, the guitar solo sounded exactly like Trey from Phish...I'd almost swear that was him. Uncanny.

Very bold choice to speed this one up like this. I'm not sure I can deal with that, but this is really well put together. Are those live drums?
 
heatmiser said:
It sounds like a good mix to me. I don't hear anything sounding off at all. Good
This arrangement really threw me at first, but I kinda warmed up to it as it went along. Damn, the guitar solo sounded exactly like Trey from Phish...I'd almost swear that was him. Uncanny.

Very bold choice to speed this one up like this. I'm not sure I can deal with that, but this is really well put together. Are those live drums?
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Yeah. Live drums. All live. Just 2 or 3 post guitar parts and overdub vocals.
 
Nothing sticks out for me Elton, nice job. This is very different from all the versions I've heard before, which is always a good thing when it comes to taking on a classic. Low do a great woozy, stoned version of this on their Christmas Album too. The shuffling drum beat makes the song for me - it's all very well arranged :)

By the way, I think I've complimented you on vocals before and you've said they weren't you - which parts did you play on this?
 
robgreen said:
Nothing sticks out for me Elton, nice job. This is very different from all the versions I've heard before, which is always a good thing when it comes to taking on a classic. Low do a great woozy, stoned version of this on their Christmas Album too. The shuffling drum beat makes the song for me - it's all very well arranged :)

By the way, I think I've complimented you on vocals before and you've said they weren't you - which parts did you play on this?
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Thank you Sir. I played some secondary guitar parts. The delay thing on the left and the slide guitar. Also put on the piano in the chorus. I did them in post to fill some holes.
 
Lovely interpretation. Most folk get caught up paying hommage to the clacial popular incarnation.
Sparkling guitars work a treat.
Cool touch that the guitar solo goes elsewhere.
I like the arrangement & mix.
 
rayc said:
Lovely interpretation. Most folk get caught up paying hommage to the clacial popular incarnation.
Sparkling guitars work a treat.
Cool touch that the guitar solo goes elsewhere.
I like the arrangement & mix.
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Thanks Ray. Guitar player did the arrangement. Great local jazz, fusion and rock player. Lucky to have him on it.
 
did you mix this, it's a decent mix. I loved the deley on the fill in guitar parts. Drums came out excellent. The only thing that kind of seemed out of context a bit for me was the guitar solo. I kind of expected a cleaner sound to go along with the other parts, and using the delay like you did on the fills. What was done for the solo was good though.

Toward the end of the song, when the male voice jumps up in pitch and strength, it kind of overpowers the background harmonies just a tiny bit (compared to the rest of the vocals). Imo since the male vocal line comes up in pitch and strength, if I was mixing this I would probably bring the back ground vocals up just a bit more, so they are blending in just a bit more.

This is all just subjective though. Really the song is very good just like it is.
 
Toastedgoat said:
did you mix this, it's a decent mix. I loved the deley on the fill in guitar parts. Drums came out excellent. The only thing that kind of seemed out of context a bit for me was the guitar solo. I kind of expected a cleaner sound to go along with the other parts, and using the delay like you did on the fills. What was done for the solo was good though.

Toward the end of the song, when the male voice jumps up in pitch and strength, it kind of overpowers the background harmonies just a tiny bit (compared to the rest of the vocals). Imo since the male vocal line comes up in pitch and strength, if I was mixing this I would probably bring the back ground vocals up just a bit more, so they are blending in just a bit more.

This is all just subjective though. Really the song is very good just like it is.
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Yes, recorded and mixed it. Great points and ideas. Thanks so much for the listen. Guitar solo is just what we kinda heard. We could have gone in several directions for sure.
 
About the only Christmas tune I like....... The drums sound to live compared to everything else ...feels like they are in a very dry room ..The kick feels like it`s pure air. And they felt very stuck in the middle need a little widening and some life added like delay and a nice room verb. Other than that everything else was cool very nice Vocal.
 
alkie said:
About the only Christmas tune I like....... The drums sound to live compared to everything else ...feels like they are in a very dry room ..The kick feels like it`s pure air. And they felt very stuck in the middle need a little widening and some life added like delay and a nice room verb. Other than that everything else was cool very nice Vocal.
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Thanks for the listen and great feedback on the drums. Much appreciated.
 
great rendition. The drums do sound like they are in a metal room and actually some longer verb tails on it might help, in addition to the ambience on it now. One of the better nuggets that floats thru the clinic here, every so often.

All played nicely, but each instrument seems treated differently which created a fake soundscape...which basially all modern music is nowadays anyway. But it tends to sonically detract in this case. Lush, tinkly guitars, great female singing, drums in their own booth, etc Hard to explain, but this mix tells me you have the ears to understand what I'm trying to say.

Good job. I especially like the female singing and the gtr parts.
 
mixmkr said:
great rendition. The drums do sound like they are in a metal room and actually some longer verb tails on it might help, in addition to the ambience on it now. One of the better nuggets that floats thru the clinic here, every so often.

All played nicely, but each instrument seems treated differently which created a fake soundscape...which basially all modern music is nowadays anyway. But it tends to sonically detract in this case. Lush, tinkly guitars, great female singing, drums in their own booth, etc Hard to explain, but this mix tells me you have the ears to understand what I'm trying to say.

Good job. I especially like the female singing and the gtr parts.
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Thanks so much for the listen and the feedback. The basic setup was 3 in a room playing live. Drums close miced and a LDC room mic, guitar amp in an iso booth, bass direct and girl in the vocal booth. Then vocal overdubs and guitar overdubs. Quite honestly, I'm not happy with the drums either. It was one of those situations where the kit was set up and miced already because we did about 15 tunes in a 3 week period for a holiday charity album. Still, no excuse, but it always seems like there is never enough time to get drum sounds. Either clients don't want to spend the time or its a rush job. Thus goes the life of a hack engineer. :) But definitely here, I could have spent more time on the mix side of things to try to dial them in better. But one of the great things about this forum is to be able to bounce things off unbiased critical listeners to learn and get better.
 
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