Cover: How Much I Feel

dachay2tnr

dachay2tnr

One Hit Wonder
This is a cover of the Ambrosia song, How Much I Feel. Comments on the mix and performance gladly accepted. Comments on the songwriting need to be directed elsewhere. :)

http://home.comcast.net/~jcaporaso/music/
Left click on the song title and it should stream. Right click and choose Save Target As if you want to download.

The song was recorded and mixed in Sonar. Home "mastered" in Wavelab.

thanks
Mike
 
dachay2tnr:
Very well done!! Mix is awesome and you sang it great. Wonderful harmonies on the backing vox. The only thing I would change is the fade time at the ending .... more gradual if possible.

Great job! Makes me want to hear more. It was well worth the 28 minute download time.

Regards,
Mountaineer
 
The bass and kick are mixed like a rock tune but the rest of the mix is pop oriented. I would pull back on the bass volume and kick for this type of song. Also a little more compression on the bass, there are some real variances in volume. I would also put the main vocal drier and up front.

The ambiance bothers me, sounds a little too cheapy reverb.

Overall the EQ is really good; clarity with few conflicts except for the cymbals. The cymbals are very weak on the rides volume and tonally thin.

One comment on the lead vocal, it seemed a little unconvincing like you were sitting down to sing or were not concentrating on the words.

I would suggest re-tracking it and pretend your in a smoky and loud bar, then belt that sucker out like your trying to be heard.

There you go, hope that was not too offensive, just trying to help out.
 
Moutaineer: Thanks for listening, man. Glad you enjoyed. LOL about the download time. You must be on dial-up like me. :) BTW, I am not the lead singer, but I will pass along your comments.

As for the fade time, in order to make it longer I would have to start it earlier. There's not a lot more material left after where it currently ends (maybe one additional phrase).


Middleman: No offense whatsoever regarding your comments. If I didn't want feedback, I wouldn't have posted the song. Also, I thought most of your comments had a lot of merit, and I agree with several of them.

BTW, the reverb is SIR. It's the first time I've used it in a song. Are there particular places in the song, or on particular instruments/vocals where you found it most problematic? I have mostly used the Waves reverbs in the past. But in all honesty, I have never found a software reverb I've been very happy with. They all tend to sound cheesy to me.
 
Hey, dachay!

I liked it a lot (that's such a great tune - hadn't heard it in a while and didn't actually recognize it from the title, so I was pleasantly surprised when I heard what it was :)). You have a really good sound there, some nice subtle stuff in the mix that really adds a lot, like the really light acoustic guitar (think that's what it is?) panned left for instance.

I agree with what's been said, especially the comment about the bass and kick being a bit too powerful in the mix. I was listening on cans, so it was especially rough and noticeable. Also, the bass is programmed, right? Well-programmed, I must say! But, sometimes it was a bit too obvious, exact, not very dynamic, or something. Maybe taking it back in the mix will help with that, though.

Fellow Sonar user, so it's always cool to hear what others are doing with it. Can I ask how you got that sweet pad feel to the backup vocals? They really sounded...uh oh...here it is.... warm. :D

Good stuff :)
-Jeff
 
Hey, one of my Cakewalk forum buds. :D

Thanks for checking it out, Jeff. Yes, that is an acoustic guitar - although it is in both the left and right channels (I played the part twice and panned them hard left and right). For some reason, however, you do mostly hear it in the left channel.

Also yes, that is a programmed bass. You guys have convinced me to back off on it. I agree, it fits the song better that way. Sometimes I get carried away listening to the sound of a particular instrument, and forget to remember its place in the overall mix. :)

As for the vocals, here's what I attribute the sound to:
1. The voices themselves. Not that they are great - just that several of the BG voices are naturally somewhat foggy and indistinct. Lousy for lead vox, but great for BGV's.
2. In addition to reverb, I used a slight (20%) chorus effect on the BGV's.
3. I spend a lot of time playing with volume envelopes on the vox. Normally I solo the BGV's and then using the volume envelopes I adjust everything so that no one voice stands out in particular. Ultimately I want them to be a single unit in the mix - three voices, but one element treated as a whole (if that makes any sense).
 
Dachay, another great production from the mighty award winning Dachays :cool: Here's what I hear:

Lead vocal is too dry and/or narrow, needs something else added, like delay or reverb to strengthen it up a bit. Not too much, just a smidgeon. ;)

Bass needs backing off, sounds nice but too up front behind the vocals. Why don't you ask Pedulist for a backing bass track, see what he can do with it? But if i could program bass like this, I would be well proud :)

BGV needs backing off a little too imho, at times they clash in the frequency spectrum with the lead, a lot going on all at once in the same space. Listening as I post, bass is definitely too loud. :)

Ambience doesn't sound right either, not enough reverb? (I know you are wary of too much, but this may be too less)

I am only being picky cuz I know you want us to be; most peeps would be chuffed to buggery if we could produce to such a high standard. :D
 
Thanks for the feedback, Paul.

Agree that I overdid it on the bass. I've backed off on it a bit. Not sure I agree about the reverb. There is quite a bit on it already. Listen to the opening lead vox, you can hear it pretty clearly there. Maybe I need to switch back to the Waves RVerb rather than SIR?

I have been wrestling with distinguising the BGV's from the lead. There is some fighting going on there, but you can still distinguish the lead pretty good I think. Guitar, piano, BGV's and lead are all pretty much in the same spectrum - makes it tough to keep them distinct in this mix.
 
The usual Dachay harmony vocals are spot on. This is a good song choice for you guys. Lead guy nails the falsetto going into the last chorus. Once again excellent production and mix are what I expect from you Mike.
 
Much grass, Chuck. I've be waiting for you to check in. Glad you liked it.

I was worried that we might have over-stretched our abilities on this song. Believe me, the lead is not that easy to sing (and I'm not the one singing it). It has quite significant range to it. We even cheated a bit and dropped it a half-step from the original key, and it still was a bear to pull off. The harmonies were no cakewalk either (pun intended). Could be the most difficult song we've ever sung.

Any event, I appreciate all the feedback from everyone. It helps immensely in deciding how to put the finishing touches on it. Thanks to all for listening and for all the suggestions.
 
Sounds good. The kick and bass are really coming out at me-not sure about what I'm listening on, but compared to other stuff on the same system....Seems mostly during the verse when things are a little more sparse. One Mr. Roboto drum lick in there--during that kinda difficult turnaround section there...Vocals are a bit verby for my taste (and I likes verb)-they seem a little too seperate from the music. BG vocals sounded sweet. Overall though the mix is very listenable-covers low to high nicely....Enjoyed it--tough song to sing I imagine..
 
Hey dachay,
...nice man! I enjoyed this a ton. The stereo placement of the bgv's is perfect and damn beautiful. I might agree with the comments about the upfront bass. I think it might be partially because when the bass is essentially by itself, you can hear the midi sounding attack pretty clearly. ....no biggy, just an observation.

......damn, LOVE those vocs man. (piano rocks too)
g
 
Nice tune.

I thought the bass sounded really good, but there were a few notes here and there that seemed to differ from the original version.

I thought the the lead vocal could come down just a bit, with a tad of plate reverb and a bit of chorus on it to sweeten it up a bit. More reverb on the harmonies would be nice, too.

Other than that, it's a really good job.

I've always loved that song. :)
 
stratomaster: thanks for the comments. Bass seems to be an issue for almost everyone. I have backed it off somewhat, which helps somewhat. A few comments on the reverb as well - some say too much, others not enough. Either it's a matter of taste, or maybe I need to try a different verb. This one happens to be SIR using a lexicon plate impulse.


G-man: Always a pleasure to hear from you. Thanks for the feedback. Someday I'll talk someone into playing a real bass on this - for now, I'm stuck with the synth. :)

Buck: You like the bass?? You seem to be a majority of one in that regard. :D Thanks for listening. As for the verb, I think I am going to fool around with a different reverb. When the comments are all over the place, as they are on this, it makes me suspect something is not working, but no one can quite put their finger on it. Might just be the choice. It is a great song, BTW (although this exercise has now made me sick of it :) ).
 
I commented on this at the other joint, so I figured I'd stop in and say wasup! :D long time no see Strato! and a big ups to my man G!
 
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