A song for you revisited

[TAE]

I recorded the piano and vocals live about 12 years ago...Uploaded to moises today and had it add strings and horns...a little wonky but I think I might redo this and add the strings and horns / play sing it a little better to make a a real wiener

 

[Papanate]

Interesting Bowie like flavor to the song.

 

[PorterhouseMusic]

Yeah dude.... soulful. very nice.

 

[Slouching Raymond]

I'd say more Elton than Bowie.
A few knocks on the mic, and a bit of distortion.
The piano intro was good.
Worth re-visiting.

 

[TalismanRich]

It immediately took me back to the original days of Leon Russell doing it. The strings were a nice addition, but they don't sound like real strings. It's more like the days when people added Mellotrons to give the feel of strings.

I wonder if some really good string samples would do it justice.

 

[TAE]

It immediately took me back to the original days of Leon Russell doing it. The strings were a nice addition, but they don't sound like real strings. It's more like the days when people added Mellotrons to give the feel of strings.

I wonder if some really good string samples would do it justice.

Thanks Rich. Sometimes on covers I go way off the beaten path but I tried to stay true to Leon's early version of this. As a play by ear, no formal training keyboard player, it took me a minute to master that sweet intro ( of which he does several iterations in multiple keys over the years) but I did and it is always impressive. Yes the strings ( and horns) are way back in most places and several wrong notes within. Letting AI add those strings and horns as an experiment 12 years later reminded me that what I was doing back then (One shot live recordings) was fast and easy and cool. But not really COOL!. With a little more effort and patience, with all that I have at my fingertips today I need to knuckle down and strive for what I am really capable of producing rather than just "fast and easy" sub par productions. Time will tell how that all goes.

 

[TalismanRich]

Russell's vocals can be an acquired taste, a bit like Randy Newman, Bob Dylan, or Paul Williams. They're not great singers but incredible songwriters and musicians.

 

[TAE]

Russell's vocals can be an acquired taste, a bit like Randy Newman, Bob Dylan, or Paul Williams. They're not great singers but incredible songwriters and musicians.

Yeah vocals are like candy everyone likes candy but no one likes all candies. What one person loves another may hate and it flat out makes no since. 3 of the 4 you mentioned sing certain songs that I really dig. (sans Paul Williams) .Leon... A song for you, Tightrope, Masquerade. Randy Political Science, I love LA, sail away. Dylan Lay lady lay, Knocking on heavens door...for sure there lots of songs I am not a fan of Bob's voice on but it's Bob and his songs and damn he wrote some good one...Another one a lot people hate on is Neil Young but dang he's good....

They all earn the mighty seal of bad taste but I like it! Mory is a character my nephew created ...cool story behind him.

 

[TalismanRich]

Funny you mention Neil. There was a programmer who once said that he would put on a Neil Young album when he was coding. His comment was "no pain, no gain!"

Paul Williams wrote a ton of great songs. Old Fashioned Love Song, Rainy Days and Mondays, Evergreen, We've Only Just Begun and a bunch more.

 

[CoolCat]

Randy Newman Leon Russel...somehow is a favorite of my son whose mainly punk rock...but Ive grown to like his stuff and respect him, he's a main staple.
Leon Russel a main player.

That track sounded great imo,....wow, for you to say it was fast and easy? ....I have hours of stuff that makes your fast n easy...sound like Capitol Records. lol
geez.... nice recording, well balanced and clarity. I like the strings alright, nice glue.... vocals well done.....if anything the mic- might have a few plosives-pops, was it up super close? 1:26 crackle like a cable?....
which mic and vocal chain did you use? that's a wide range vocal track, loud, with quiet sections, and middle volume.

I'd be super happy with something at that level of recording and playing skills. nice job!

 

[TAE]

Randy Newman Leon Russel...somehow is a favorite of my son whose mainly punk rock...but Ive grown to like his stuff and respect him, he's a main staple.
Leon Russel a main player.

That track sounded great imo,....wow, for you to say it was fast and easy? ....I have hours of stuff that makes your fast n easy...sound like Capitol Records. lol
geez.... nice recording, well balanced and clarity. I like the strings alright, nice glue.... vocals well done.....if anything the mic- might have a few plosives-pops, was it up super close? 1:26 crackle like a cable?....
which mic and vocal chain did you use? that's a wide range vocal track, loud, with quiet sections, and middle volume.

I'd be super happy with something at that level of recording and playing skills. nice job!

Thanks CC appreciate the kind words. Back when I started trying to lay tracks down again / push that damn red button, I decided I wanted to impose the KISS rule (KEEP IT SIMPLE STUPID). Something I have always pointed out...Garbage in, garbage out. So that said my goal is to never push the red button until I am happy with the way things sound "live". In this case it was ran through a Behringer USB mixer stereo mix into Reaper with the reverb from the mixer on the vocal as I performed it while playing the piano ( One shot) .. No fix it in the mix stuff. The end recording was exactly what I heard when I performed it. Yeah those plosives suck and that is exactly what they are. Pretty sure the vocal was through an SM 57 but there is a chance that I sang into a ADK A 51 ST... The only kind of sort of "boutique" mic I own. I probably took out the silence on the mic part in Reaper so you didn't hear the keys clanking (Yamaha 88 Motif at the time) Did several like this....later on I've just been running a stereo mix into an iphone and then "mastered" in Audacity. I have a whole new set up sitting in a box that will take my recordings to a different level but I have some honey do's to complete before I open the box and "get lost" as my wife calls it. Mac mini m4 with Logic Pro, really anxious to give it a go.