Alan Parsons Cover

I listened on Headphones, I didn't hear anything bad in the mix. You stayed pretty true to the song other than it seemed more up tempo than the original.

I didn't hear anything that jumped out, good mix and good performance.
 
Alan Parsons -- great engineer, equally awful songwriter. haha. Sorry, I tried to bite my tongue and do love his engineering.

Your mix sounds pretty good. The vocal is sitting behind the instruments (almost sounds behind the drum, which is not good). You need to figure out your reverbs and volume to get the vocal above the rest. The guitars l/r both could come down about 1.5db. Needs a slight shelf above 8k on the entire mix.
 
Nola said:
Alan Parsons -- great engineer, equally awful songwriter. haha. Sorry, I tried to bite my tongue and do love his engineering.

Your mix sounds pretty good. The vocal is sitting behind the instruments (almost sounds behind the drum, which is not good). You need to figure out your reverbs and volume to get the vocal above the rest. The guitars l/r both could come down about 1.5db. Needs a slight shelf above 8k on the entire mix.
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Guess you don't like Parsons covers then. :) But thanks much for the input.

I tried to play around with it a little to see what I could do with the vocals. I pushed the piano off to one side a bit, and went with a different reverb. I had been using a hall reverb, but I put a plate on this last mix. I think both moves helped to bring the vocals forward, imo.

Check it out if you want. It's the version marked 8/15. Either way, thanks again for your thoughts.
 
I've listened to both mixes even though I'm personally not a fan of the original (sorry), but just mentioning that so my feedback is in that context for you.

I think it's a pretty good mix. You've definitely imparted more energy to the track with less of that mellow, super polished quality that I find unappealing in the original.

The vocal is very interesting. Good character to the voice. I feel like the performance gains strength as the track progresses. The doubling works well I think. It almost seems like they struggle a bit with lower register notes, but excel when reaching higher, you know? The highest notes sound more confident and relaxed to me.

There are probably some things I'd have done differently with the instrumental mix, but mostly subjective stuff. Good job.
 
Nola said:
Alan Parsons -- great engineer, equally awful songwriter. haha. Sorry, I tried to bite my tongue and do love his engineering.
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Since you couldn't bite your tongue...how do you mean "awful songwriter"?
I'm just curious what it is you think is "awful" and what you base your conclusion on?
Are you talking about this one song...or that all his stuff is awful?
 
Alan Parsons is the only artiste where I have every single track he's produced. Starting in the 70s, and moving toward now. I actually like the songs, and like the production. Total win for me. I've also seen them live whenever I've been able to.

To Dachay2tnr - why did you change the riff? It's the key component of the song, so to change it to something similar seems an odd thing to do?
 
miroslav said:
Since you couldn't bite your tongue...how do you mean "awful songwriter"?
I'm just curious what it is you think is "awful" and what you base your conclusion on?
Are you talking about this one song...or that all his stuff is awful?
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I don't really know how to explain it because I haven't analyzed the song structures in great detail and only know like 10 of his songs, but in general he sounds like "middle of the road"/"dad rock" music to my ear. Then the takes sound incohesive to me, too. I don't know if that's b/c he does many overdubs or because he uses session musicians a lot.

If people like his music, great. I should have bit my tongue for sure.

He's one of my favorite engineers. His thought process and less-is-more philosophy in the studio are ironically refreshing in this era of overdoing everything.
 
rob aylestone said:
To Dachay2tnr - why did you change the riff? It's the key component of the song, so to change it to something similar seems an odd thing to do?
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Not fully sure what you're referring to. Is it the keyboard riff, or the "looking at you" in the chorus. I assume the keyboard riff, since the other one we left out completely. Lol.

I'll claim artistic license. (But really, that's kinda just the way we started playing it. Not a whole lot of thought behind it.)
 
heatmiser said:
I've listened to both mixes even though I'm personally not a fan of the original (sorry), but just mentioning that so my feedback is in that context for you.

I think it's a pretty good mix. You've definitely imparted more energy to the track with less of that mellow, super polished quality that I find unappealing in the original.

The vocal is very interesting. Good character to the voice. I feel like the performance gains strength as the track progresses. The doubling works well I think. It almost seems like they struggle a bit with lower register notes, but excel when reaching higher, you know? The highest notes sound more confident and relaxed to me.

There are probably some things I'd have done differently with the instrumental mix, but mostly subjective stuff. Good job.
Click to expand...
This is a song we've played for awhile, and I never realized the beginning was somewhat out of the lead singer's range (on the low side) until we recorded it. That's one of the reasons we ended up double tracking the lead vocal, hoping it might give it some more substance. It's pretty much just 3 or 4 notes in the early part of the song. But it does tend to drag it down until it hits the first chorus.

I have a couple of ideas I might try. But it's not like we're looking for air play. :) Just a fun learning experience, both on the recording process for the group, and also trying to develop my engineering skills.
 
Well...I guess if you listen to it out of context, and just compare it to what's "hip" in current music...it's probably always going to be unappealing. I'm not being critical...just an observation.

I mean, you can take music for the '50s, '60s, '70s, etc...and most 20-30-somthings today will say it's sounds like "MOR/dad Rock"...because it's not your generation...but that doesn't by itself mean it's "awful songwriting", IMO...though you are not the only one who might hear things in that way.
I know lot of people (even here on HR) who can only reference what is appealing/good to what they listened to during their teens or twenties. Most of the stuff outside of that ends up being either unappealing or misunderstood....and if it's something from like way back...'20s, '30s, '40s...they would proabably never listen to it...or if it's from a foreign country, and especial in a foreign language. :D

I can see that happening more with your typical "fan" type listener, but I always find that odd with musicians....I mean...I like to think that musicians usually listen a little more deeper and open-minded and beyond just the superficial/generational appeal of any music...though I find it's not always the case, and people do tend to get locked into one main style that they like/listen to...most of their lives.
I guess it's not that unusual.

For the time period, APP was kind of on the more modern/techy side of Rock. The earlier albums were probably much more cerebral...but as things go, the minute something makes it to Pop radio...then the artists end up pandering to that and their music tries to feed the beast.
AFA the production aspect of having lots of different people on the albums, and it being more of an assembled product VS a "band" recording in a studio...that was one of the things I found very cool about APP back in the day...and Alan Parsons' production approach and skill was something I always admired and used as a reference...because it is very similar to what we all do as solo musicians trying to record songs...it's all layers and overdubs for the most part. So I found that somewhat inspirational about the APP stuff. It showed me early on what you could do without a typical "band" approach...and I thought it was very cool....very much like painting pictures by using a variety of colors and brush strokes, etc....not like a photograph, where you just capture everything all at once...if that makes any sense. :)

Sorry....didn't mean to get into a whole APP discussion thing.

To the OP...I tired to play your song...but I can't get 'em to play or download. Why don't you just embed the MP3 file into the post?
You can do that.
 
miroslav said:
Well...I guess if you listen to it out of context, and just compare it to what's "hip" in current music...it's probably always going to be unappealing. I'm not being critical...just an observation.

I mean, you can take music for the '50s, '60s, '70s, etc...and most 20-30-somthings today will say it's sounds like "MOR/dad Rock"...because it's not your generation...but that doesn't by itself mean it's "awful songwriting", IMO...though you are not the only one who might hear things in that way.
I know lot of people (even here on HR) who can only reference what is appealing/good to what they listened to during their teens or twenties. Most of the stuff outside of that ends up being either unappealing or misunderstood....and if it's something from like way back...'20s, '30s, '40s...they would proabably never listen to it...or if it's from a foreign country, and especial in a foreign language. :D
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I really don't know (or care) what's hip and haven't listened to much new music over the past few years.
I mean this morning with breakfast I was listening to ragtime/jazz from the 10s and 20s, and it sounds like crap from a technical recording standpoint, but I love it. But the music has some vibe and mojo in an odd way. And I think that's what I miss from Parsons. Not everything is about being hip. Some people just prefer certain sounds or energies over others. I can find that energy in a Sousa March, a Joplin Rag, or a Rage Against the Machine tune, but I don't find it in Parsons. That's all I'm trying to get across.

It's all just preference and what gets your ear stimulated.

I always admired and used as a reference...because it is very similar to what we all do as solo musicians trying to record songs.at.
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Yeah I can see that.

I find him inspirational as an engineer. He even has (or had, not sure if it's still up) a good series up on youtube on engineering that's just fascinating to watch.
 
miroslav said:
To the OP...I tired to play your song...but I can't get 'em to play or download. Why don't you just embed the MP3 file into the post?
You can do that.
Click to expand...
I have had issues in the past with this site (and others) about posting copyrighted material (covers). Admittedly that was a few years back, and maybe things have changed. I mean there's covers all over youtube these days. But rather than ruffle any feathers, it was easier just to put them on a cloud server.

If someone (moderator?) can clarify the policy these days, I'd be happy to post on this site.

In the meantime, appreciate your trying. I find the feedback I get on this site, even when I don't agree with it, is usually honest and therefore valuable.
 
Nola said:
It's all just preference and what gets your ear stimulated.
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Well...back in the late '70s, APP was sort of an evolution from the Pink Floyd style of "head music"...and so much of it is very "chill" and subtle...it's certainly not "high energy Rock/Pop", that's for sure, and when APP was at it's peak, it was anything but "MOR/dad Rock"...but I can see where to the younger crowd it may seem that way.

Anyway, that aside...if not with you, I do see that a lot of people tend to stick with the music they grew up with...which I guess is normal....so they don't find much appeal with music well outside of that period.

I can dig the Ragtime...but a Sousa March (or any march music) I've grown annoyed with hearing...mainly because I've been forced to listen to march music way too many times....but I won't go into that here. :D

Was checking out some Sydney Bachet earlier...love how he plays that soprano sax.


dachay2tnr said:
I have had issues in the past with this site (and others) about posting copyrighted material (covers). Admittedly that was a few years back, and maybe things have changed. I mean there's covers all over youtube these days. But rather than ruffle any feathers, it was easier just to put them on a cloud server.

If someone (moderator?) can clarify the policy these days, I'd be happy to post on this site.

In the meantime, appreciate your trying. I find the feedback I get on this site, even when I don't agree with it, is usually honest and therefore valuable.
Click to expand...

Oh yeah...I see your point...it was a cover...but I'm sure I've seen other covers getting posted around here recently.
 
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