Yes, it's Country time again..

  • Thread starter Thread starter chuckduffy
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Oh yeah - ps -

This one is for a real 'album' so one thing I am interested in is whether the idea is preposterous - ie - the mix is good for a cheapie home studio thing but would never pass muster for a real release.

A friend of mine hooked me up with a slot on an upcoming Ricky Nelson tribute album, based on my goofy faux country covers of other stuff like 'Under the Milky Way' and the like.....
 
You're right; the vocal is off-pitch. The problem is, with pitch, a little off is worse than a lot off. So here's my suggestion for you. Don't sing it, Talk-sing it. Kind of like a Johnny Cash or Merle Haggard sound. Tell the story and don't try to hit the pitches. Good Luck,
Rod Norman

chuckduffy said:
This is a cover of an old Ricky Nelson track in my patented goofy faux country style. I could sure use some ears and advice cause it is driving me batty. You guys were a big help with my synth and garage rock crap, so why not country :-)

Any thoughts, ideas, suggestions whatever would be most welcome. I already tried half a dozen times to recut the lead vocal. I realize its pitchy, but all my vocals are, and I couldn't get a substantially better take. Dropbox link below.

THANKS!

EDIT 04/30/2013 - I posted the initial version with SERIOUSLY screwed up BG vocals, so I uploaded a new version.

Click to expand...
 
Rod Norman said:
You're right; the vocal is off-pitch. The problem is, with pitch, a little off is worse than a lot off. So here's my suggestion for you. Don't sing it, Talk-sing it. Kind of like a Johnny Cash or Merle Haggard sound. Tell the story and don't try to hit the pitches. Good Luck,
Rod Norman
Click to expand...

I think your observation about pitch is spot on and I completely agree "A little off is worse than a lot off". Although I've always known I've had serious pitch problems, and for the most part have a voice that people either tolerate or HATE - I was under the impression that this particular performance was of the "lot off" variety :-) Thanks for the talk sing advice, I do a lot of that - but wasn't feeling it on this one. I do have another mix that raises the BG vocals up quite a bit, and it seems more tolerable sandwiched, at least to me.
 
the lead/solo needs to come up slightly and the vox needs to come up slightly ...... you're over-obsessing about the vocal pitchiness ...... it doesn't call attention to itself ...... true, it's not perfect but TBH, perfect sucks ..... this sounds like a real person singing ..... it's fine.
Go listen to any of that old cowboy music ..... none of those guys sang perfectly on pitch everywhere.
I'm fairly sensitive to pitch as I'm a long time piano tuner. This isn't bad and I wouldn't stress over it.
............ nice tunage
 
Lt. Bob said:
the lead/solo needs to come up slightly and the vox needs to come up slightly ...... you're over-obsessing about the vocal pitchiness ...... it doesn't call attention to itself ...... true, it's not perfect but TBH, perfect sucks ..... this sounds like a real person singing ..... it's fine.
Go listen to any of that old cowboy music ..... none of those guys sang perfectly on pitch everywhere.
I'm fairly sensitive to pitch as I'm a long time piano tuner. This isn't bad and I wouldn't stress over it.
............ nice tunage
Click to expand...

Thanks for checking it out Bob! I posted a new mix on the first page. Made a bunch of changes over the past week. Primarily got rid of the horrible maximizer (live and learn) that was making everything harsh and in face. Adjusted bass levels and slight EQ, Raised BG Vocals A TON. I realize the BG vocals may now seem a little over the top, but I really like them Panned the Lead a little more right. Smoothed out the rhythm guitars a little, took the stupid drastic scoop out of the acoustics.

Lemme know what you think of where the lead and lead vocal sit now if you get a chance.

As far as obsessing - I try not to. This is what I have to work with, I'm not about to auto-tune anything and practice does not make perfect in my case - but I'm not looking for perfect. The proof is in the pudding I guess - the track will either be accepted for the compilation, or it wont :-)
 
sorry i'm late to the party,

I've never heard this particular track before, but i'm a big Ricky fan from the early days (always did a couple of his in the set!)

as others have said that Gretch sound is oohh-la la & for me the BV could still come up a little

i'm not in any shape qualified to give mixing advice but a question ( have you tried a bit of verb?) i always use it on Ricky songs


as per originals i suppose(not very imaginative i know!) but anyway just wanted to say

I LOVE IT! :guitar:
 
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Country tiiiiiiime, country time....taste like that good old fashioned lemonade. :)

Hey chuck, real short and sweet here. I'm not super-familiar with Ricky Nelson (other than Garden Party) but this all sounds great, with a real classic country vibe. I also dig the Gretsch/tremolo lines. Good job!
 
Hey Chuck - just coming back to check out mix 7. Sounds great. I guess I kind of miss the "in yer face-ness" a little from a prior version, but this sounds warmer and probably more appropriate to the genre. BGVs are nice where they are now, and the lead vocal still sounds great to me. I am not hearing pitch as being problematic here myself.

I don't think I even realized Ricky Nelson sang? I think I remember him from a '50's or '60's sitcom or something, right?
 
like everyone is saying the lead tone is sooo good. I don't know if the guitars need to be lower but I'm gonna listen to the changes you made next. My ears would like a little more kick drum.

Edit: After hearing mix seven I can tell that lowering the rhythm guitars made a big difference. The mix sits so much better. I still want more kick though!
 
heatmiser said:
I don't think I even realized Ricky Nelson sang? I think I remember him from a '50's or '60's sitcom or something, right?
Click to expand...

What? didn't you see that film he was in with big John Wayne, when he sang that wonderfull song with Dean Martin? I'll never forget it!(what's it called now?) :D

AND did you never hear Hello Mary Lou?,,,,, bet ya did? :D

this sounds very good anyway Chuck!! :guitar:
 
reganito said:
like everyone is saying the lead tone is sooo good. I don't know if the guitars need to be lower but I'm gonna listen to the changes you made next. My ears would like a little more kick drum.

Edit: After hearing mix seven I can tell that lowering the rhythm guitars made a big difference. The mix sits so much better. I still want more kick though!
Click to expand...

Thanks for checking it out!

Re - rhythm - I put a tiny bit of compression on the rhythm guitar group bus, just shaving off the peaks where the guitar was 'poking' out for some of the fingerpicked and picked parts. Took out a stupid mid scoop on the acoustic (WHY DO I KEEP SCOOPING lol) and lowered that bus a little and things sat much better.

Kick is tough in stuff like this - I like to lead with the bass. It's almost unheard of to have a prominent kick in old stuff like this - mostly big stand-up bass parts and a little ratt-a-tatt tatt snares, heck there aren't even really cymbals. Anyway - I will try another db or so on the kick and see what how it goes :-)
 
heatmiser said:
Hey Chuck - just coming back to check out mix 7. Sounds great. I guess I kind of miss the "in yer face-ness" a little from a prior version, but this sounds warmer and probably more appropriate to the genre. BGVs are nice where they are now, and the lead vocal still sounds great to me. I am not hearing pitch as being problematic here myself.

I don't think I even realized Ricky Nelson sang? I think I remember him from a '50's or '60's sitcom or something, right?
Click to expand...

Hey heat - his parents were the stars of the super popular 50s/60s show The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet. He started singing in the late 50s and was a massively popular teen idol kind of guy - but the music was really cool. You should check out the original of this song on youtube. I love his voice.

The biggest problem with the in yer face thing is that it sounds great on some setups (headphones) but plastic and crispy on others. It really had to go cause the crispy high end was just ruining the track for me. I did a nutty alternate mix that I may post. I went back to the original and noticed that the BGVs were STILL about 5db higher than in my mix, and also panned to the left of the lead vocal as a group. So I tried it, and raised my vocal, and added more verb and it started to sound a lot more 'period' :-) There is a seriously heavy duty bass vocal by a friend of mine in here (the oh baby parts) that really only start to shine when they are about 5db louder.
 
chuckduffy said:
Thanks for checking it out!

Re - rhythm - I put a tiny bit of compression on the rhythm guitar group bus, just shaving off the peaks where the guitar was 'poking' out for some of the fingerpicked and picked parts. Took out a stupid mid scoop on the acoustic (WHY DO I KEEP SCOOPING lol) and lowered that bus a little and things sat much better.

Kick is tough in stuff like this - I like to lead with the bass. It's almost unheard of to have a prominent kick in old stuff like this - mostly big stand-up bass parts and a little ratt-a-tatt tatt snares, heck there aren't even really cymbals. Anyway - I will try another db or so on the kick and see what how it goes :-)
Click to expand...

I didn't know the kick thing was genre specific. Thank you for educating me!
 
Mix 7 has a clip at 01:13 otherwise sounds good. I like the period bass sound. That click is classic.
 
reganito said:
I didn't know the kick thing was genre specific. Thank you for educating me!
Click to expand...

Well - it's partly personal preference, but it is true that you don't hear a lot of 'kick' in old country - modern country totally different story :-)
 
Manslick said:
Mix 7 has a clip at 01:13 otherwise sounds good. I like the period bass sound. That click is classic.
Click to expand...

Oh - hey thanks for the info on the clipping. Is the click (classic) you mention the initial click of the attack? I love that sound.
 
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