Helping out a friend/trying to do something Erlandesque

Pedullist

Pedullist

Stop it, I can't breathe
Hi there,

My friend Jerry de Vos wrote a beautiful song about 'looking for harmony in love'. He usually performs it with just a guitar and a vocal, but he asked me to make it a little bit more adventurous and eh......'spacious'. I always thought of it as a very good song, so I said 'yes, please lemme do it' immediately.

So here it is, it's a departure from my usual stuff as I didn't use a clicktrack and I didn't use drums. Plus: it contains very sparse orchestration. On the other hand, I couldn't help myself and added some harmony vocals... :eek: :D

My kingdom for a singer who will stand still in front of a mic! Everytime I ask a singer to help me out I'm having serious trouble recording them because they move, dance, drink and smoke during recording. And what's up with that thing called 'mic-eating'? Latent homosexuality? Dunno....but it drives me maaaaaad....all that proximity, then all of a sudden they start to move and the proximity is gone. Argh!

:D

Anyway, here it is....Harmonie

(written and sung by Jerry de Vos, all instruments and some vocals by me

Btw, that's recording with an open window again...

http://www.nowhereradio.com/artists/album.php?aid=2618&alid=462 (should be up in 10 minutes)

I'm really looking for some help on the mix. I'm not sure whether the spacy guitars are too loud. And I'm having trouble with mixing the acoustic bass.
 
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Pretty song
The guitar is straight up the middle with the bass and might be clashing with bass overtones because the guitar seems a bit lost, in my opinion. I heard all the character of the bass when it was played alone but then it started mixing with the low-end on the guitar. (BUT I have no freekin idea how to mic/mix an upright - man, that sound is fat.)

I'd move the guitar out toward one side a little and the bass on the other side a little and let the vocal split them. (And then I'd post it up here and ask everyone else!! ha ha!!)

The singer's voice is really nice. Your backups were nice, too (Ich will auch harmonie!) The ambient orchestration is gorgeous. I paid no attention to what was being played - it just added a lot of mystery/emotion to the song.
Cool tune!!
~Milan
 
Not much into mix critiques tonight, but I dug the music. Soothing. And nothing really bugged me much mix-wise anyway. Just add wine.
 
Hey Ped - howsabout letting us download it? Nowhere's streaming slower than the village idiot tonight.
 
i don't know what everyone is bitching about, i just streamed with not much trouble.

anyway, i really like everything you post ped. i didn't realize you played an acoustic bass. that's one of my favorite instruments. sounds good to me, birds and all.
 
groucho said:
Hey Ped - howsabout letting us download it? Nowhere's streaming slower than the village idiot tonight.
Click to expand...

You can download it, just login to Nowhereradio. Hey, it's free. :)

Thanks guys.
 
Here is a trick for getting vocalists to sing properly. Give them two mics, an SM58 they can swallow and a decent large condenser. Leave the 58 disconnected and let them use it like a prop. Do the real recording with the condenser about a foot in front and a foot above their mouth.
 
THis is nice

You don't even need to speak the language to enjoy this piece. You might try bringing the vocals up just a tiny little bit, or not. There were just a couple of places where they were dropping a bit under the instruments.

Nice playing and the orchestration is great.
 
Pedullist said:
You can download it, just login to Nowhereradio. Hey, it's free. :)

Thanks guys.
Click to expand...
I couldn't d/l it either...I thought it was my new browser, but yours was the only one that I couldn't d/l yesterday.
 
Hey Ped,
Nice man, ...acoustic bass... COOL! I dont think the spacey guits are too loud, theyre actually quite beautiful. MC mentioned the panning as a way to separate things a bit. I would agree to that, I kinda like a tub bass a little to the side anyway.... kinda the way swing artists record theirs. ...and moving the guits to the other side the way he suggested should balance things out pretty well. This was nice man, what chain did you use to record the upright?
Nice stuff bro, g
 
Pretty music.

The bass sounded like the mic was a bit far away. Not sure if it was or not, just sounded that way - especially in the first few seconds of the intro.

Was that a backwards guitar in spots? (e.g., :43).

The harmony vox I think need to come up. I also think the lead vox during the chorus need to come up. Not sure but you might want to play around with a little wetter reverb mix on the vox.

Nice.
 
Did someone say harmony? sweet

Singer has a good voice and the song sets a very nice mood.
the harmony parts were pretty good.
I find this to be a song that his fans will just eat up.

For me, a wildcard score of : C+
 
Nice full sound on the acoustic bass, very smooth sounding tune relaxing. Calgon, take me away. One thing I'm thinking when you mention Erland is maybe boost the definition of the highs in the vox more. Like the accompany swells. Floaating.
 
Ped,
Very nice stuff. Loved the harmomies. Please bring them up some. I think since they are panned pretty far it should not be a problem. I really love all the sounds you got here including the space guitar. Perfect.

I even feel the lead vox could come up in spots. Maybe a little fader riding.

Pretty song. Nice work.
 
I like this a lot, Tjarko. Very calming. Very tasteful.

As far as mix comments, I'm thinking there's some battle for low end and low mid. Sounds like the bass and the electric guitar that weaves back and forth (that is guitar, right?). Probably only some light tweaks.

Background vocals sound great. Glad you decided not to go too sparse.
 
MC Gitarz: thanks Milan, and believe it or not: this is my old Framus Acoustic Bass GUITAR. It's a huuuuuge bass guitar, as you can hear. My double bass is at my friends house, I'm thinking about retracking the tune with my double bass. Anyway, I'll pan the guitars and bass some more (there 11% now)....

Tom: thanks man, take care of yourself...

chrisfuckinharris: doubleposter!

erichenryus: thanks, see comment Mc Gitarz for more information on the bass. It's not what you think. I do play double bass though, even longer than I play bass guitar.

jgourd: yeah, I was thinking about that too. Thanks for the tip/encouragement to actually try that.

sloop: it takes some volume fading I'm afraid. The guy moves way too much LOL.

Guernica: chain for the bass: Stagg MCO-7BK mic >> Joe Meek used as mic amp, with compressor and equaliser turned off >> Behringer mixer (used as router) >> Creative Audigy. Thanks man!

TripleM: you were right, I kept some distance to prevent it from booming. Maybe too much. There's backwards guitar all through the song. I just noodled along and reversed the track without thinking. It turned out lovely.

CyanJaguar: we don't have any fans LOL. We only have you, the guys of the board. And some friends and certain openminded parts of the family. But you guys seem to eat this up, so that's lovely. :)

Khompewtur: hehe, thanks. I toned down the highs (a really small notch in the upper area), because they were 'hyping' on the silibances (as Tom likes to say). And I must admit: I'm totally fond of Erlands music and talent, but not very much of his 'hyped' vocal sound.

skids: I want the harmonies to be part of the wide open space. So that's why I mixed them this way. :)

frod south: thanks Phil! You're right. I'll work on a second mix and see whether I can prevent a battle. :) Personally, I'm particularly proud of the swelling vocal harmony in the middle. It turned out just the way I wanted :D

I'll tell Jerry you guys liked it. He'll appreciate it, I'm sure.
 
Also your friend is very talented. This song is very laid-back, soothing in a way.. I like that.
Gotta love those harmonies. Very tastefully done. Overall another very fine piece.

I'm not the best person to be giving mixing advice, but I would bring those vox up a bit. They're not really burried in the mix but they're so fine they should be louder :).
 
Thanks Laynestaley. I'll bring the vox up. Definitely.

Hey guys, I found a pic of the bass. Unfortunately it's not a very good pic, and not a very recent one either LOL

The Framus Acoustic Bass guitar (I don't know if Warwick is big in america but Warwick evolved out Framus...):
 

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