Had to try it - acapella

MC Gitarz

MC Gitarz

New member
I couldn't help myself - it sounded like a lot of fun and it really turned out to be quite tricky. The song is a civil war folk song I heard around 1960 recorded by Theodore Bikel. There were no harmonies - just TB and his guitar.

I went from the mic to the ART preamp through a noise gate so I could cut out the disk noise. Probably a little too much gate - you tell me. There is no EQ - I tried to EQ with mic placement and distance. That was the tricky part since it's my voice with the same basic timbre and idiosyncrasies (that's a big word for the parts of my voice that suck.) I then added a tiny bit of compression to the overall mix. Three hours. You can tell me how many parts you think are there. I tried a lot of cross-harmonization to get a thick sound.

Have a ball! There's a ton to critique in this little two-minute mix. It's called "Two Brothers" (only 1.8mb - a quickie!)
http://www.nowhereradio.com/MCGitarz/singles
Milan
 
Milan,

Nice Job!:)

I am not sure how many vocal parts there were in your production? I think I heard about 4 different and distinct harmonies but I would assume some of these parts were doubles so, my official guess is seven individual track were used to produce this. Am I close?

I liked the discipline and restraint you used in achieving eq strictly from mic placement. You achieved a very smooth sound overall but, I found myself wanting to hear just a little more top end on the main vocal to separate it from the harmonies and as well perhaps to have it a tiny bit louder.

I think Sluice has started a new trend here on the board and I fear it won't be long before everybody who doesn't smoke two packs a day, will be offering up an ac-capella performance. Thank god almighty, I will not be participating!:D

Anyway, I feel you did a very fine job on the tune and did justice to the original though, I think TB had a more baritone voice then yours.

Cheers!:)
 
The Ghost of FM said:
Thank god almighty, I will not be participating!:D
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O, I would be most interested to hear it. You've got a wonderful raspy voice to do an a capella song. I'm not kiddin'...
 
Awesome! You guys are making me wish I took more time on mine, or at least waitied til the afternoon to do it. I might have to do another one! :)


Apart from your very nice voice and control of it being soothing, I also liked the recording and the controlled reverb you applied to it. This shows some very good experience.

I knew there were some real singers here!
 
excellent.. very much dug it!








SLuiCe said:

I knew there were some real singers here!
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I may not be a real singer, but I'll be making an acapella attempt after I finish a heavy song..:rolleyes:
 
B.SABBATH said:
I may not be a real singer...
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Neither am I. I'm referring to his obvious experience in a more academic environment. I definitely at least hear some choir experience in there. Maybe even some barbershop quartet.

But this is where he comes on and says he started singing a month ago at the urging of his grandma.

:rolleyes:

:D
 
yeah man, this guy did a good one.. like you..


I'm going to try and do one a little different though... maybe a little darker..

actually, a lot darker..:o
 
Thanks, folks!
Pedullist - you nailed it! And that impresses me 'cause I recorded the damned thing and I can't separate all of the tracks in my head. And why would you take yours down?? I liked it a lot - especially the harmonies. This ain't a competition - besides, y'all are being w-a-y t-o-o nice. My lead (especially) gets really shitty with the 'oo' sound - and, gee, the tune starts with the word 'two'. Oh well.

Ghost - good call - I did double the lead in a few spots in an attempt to bring the melody to the top. I guess that's why we have other people do the mixing - I heard the damned thing so many times I could hear the melody just fine!! And bless your heart for having heard of Theodore Bikel! That's worth a poll unto itself! (I gather you ain't exactly in your 20s, if you know what I mean.) And I agree with Pedullist - you need to hammer one out - hell I smoke like a chimney and I KNOW some of the purists out there could hear it.

Sluice - thanks for the kind words about my experience but I'll confess right here and now - since I've been hanging out here I've been re-mixing a LOT of my older stuff. I really haved learned a lot out here. And the fact that someone will even consider listening to an old folk song proves that everyone is on the same page - it ain't about the style - it's the lessons. You and Ped inspired me to try this as an experiment - and it worked. I don't have the fanciest equipment but I tried to get the best possible signal in first - after that it was noticeably easier to do the mix. No fader riding, no knob twiddling. Another lesson learned. BTW - My grandma DID urge me to try this after hearing your tunes - remember? She says I need to be "more like that Sluice fellow." (Actually I started singing in church and went to a college with a conservatory of music so we did TONS of choir work.)

B.Sabbath - thanks for listening! And I'll look forward to hearing one from the darker side. I think you'll find the experience interesting. I actually had some fun and I didn't get all wrapped up in cords like I usually do!

Doug - Thanks for the listen! And thanks for the kind words!!
 
Amazing, fantastic, beautiful, tight.

And of course the subject matter is very timely.

I would submit this to PBS for one of their Civil War series shows, I really think they would snatch it up.

If you want strive for 'perfection in the mix', go though all the tracks and snip the ending 'd' or 't' on words that end a phrase ... off all the tracks except the two that are perfectly in sync, I really only have a nitpick issue with the 'd' at one point. But that's a total nitpick.

The 'k' on the end of 'railroad track' was absolutely perfectly in sync and perfectly placed, it's just that one 'd'.

You sound like you've done some barber shop before.

I believe you have used a nice mic selection on the different vocal parts ? If you did ... well ... there is great character and seperation in each backup vocal.

Thanks for entertaining us this loovlee marnin' mate, but did ya have to make us cry so ? :D
 
Pedullist - Granny doesn't like me talking about her personal life in open forums - you should know that! (She hates all that spam)


Studioviols - I knew you'd like this! But some of the answers may surprise you - I didn't change out mics on this one - I just moved off axis or farther away. I got right up on it for the basso-not-so-profundo parts - that made it a little more profundo. I've never done any barbershop singing - but you're not alone in that assumption. I think the 6ths I placed sporadically through the harmonies lend themselves to that interpretation. I'm much more influenced by the Don Cossack singers and there's a ton of that stuff in there. (I even sang a few of the parts in their standing style, i.e. fists into the kidney area - helps the projection and diaphragmatic breathing)

Great idea on the word endings! I have a 'scrub' feature that lets me isolate little shit like that but I've never tried it. I will tomorrow for sure.

But man, you didn't say anything about the pitch on the word "two" that occur all over the place. They're really hard for me to nail pitch-wise. Didn't you find it annoying? Come on now - this was an experiment - I ain't emotionally attached. I really need to know if my pitch is off or if it's the way I percieve my pitch on certain syllables.

And thank you for the ever-so-kind words!!
Milan
Originally from Gettysburg, PA
(OK I'm a little emotionally attached)
 
Hey man...I listened to "Amanda" on your page too; SWEEEET acoustic sounds. I have to find the thread for this tune and see if you posted how you recorded that guitar...EQ, etc. VERY intersted in that; I can tell it's a nice instrument, and new strings don't hurt either, lol.

Okay, the guitar initially got my attention, but that mando absolutely kicks ass. It's funny, but something about a panned mando just adds a TON of depth to acoustic recordings. And the verb at the beginning that you used on it...man, nice freaking track all the way around. There's something about the vocal sound that makes me want more ambience just on the lead vocal, but that's the only nit I can find on this. Mostly, I'm just inspired to know that you did this at home. I TRY to get stuff to sound like this, b/c we're using a lot of the same instruments and ideas, but I have yet to get close.

I'd love to get my hands on that vocal track and just experiment with different (expensive) reverbs, lol. Allison Krauss...dammit, I wanna' know what magic box they use to verb her vocal...but I digress.

How long have you been playing mandolin?

sorry to ramble; I tend to do that.
 
Very, very tastefully done. And you're absolutely right, it's not about the style, It's how well can you do with what you've got. And I think you did very well here. Personally, I enjoy a little change of pace like this sometimes. Diversity is a good thing!

I really liked the idea of cleaning up the ending consonants. That's a great way to tighten up the performance without having to retrack. It should be fairly easy to do, and well worth it.


Twist
 
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