Hard2Hear & Jaimee collab

[B.SABBATH]

pretty awesome.. this is even better than her previous vocals.. definitely diva potential.. no doubt.


On a side recording note, I thought the vocals sounded a bit hot at times, and almost more mid rangey than your usual recordings.. maybe it's from the chorus or something on the voice.. I had to complain about something..

great performance! The music was cool too.. the vocals kinda remind me of Sheryl Crow? maybe.. maybe not.. either way, she has a really excellent voice!

dug it..

 

[twist]

Hey Chris,

Being a proud parent myself, I know exactly how you feel. Your encouragement and approval are very important to her, and well deserved. This kid rocks! She is a true natural talent.

Now just try to keep her feet on the ground....HA!


Twist

 

[twist]

P.S. I didn't think the vocal sat too well in the mix either. It kinda sounds like it's on top of the mix. (Which it is). I wonder if it's just due to the fact that it's two different sessions recorded on two different systems.


Twist

 

[erichenryus]

i forgot to post anything about the mix cause i was blown away.

i think i listened to the version with the mid's in there and it sounded great to me. maybe just a tad hot. it really cut through the mix well though. get that girl into a pro studio, please.

oh and h2h, the guitars sounded very good to me as well.

 

[chrisharris]

Hey guys... thanks for the feedback (and the niceties )

I uploaded another version that B.SABBATH and Twist have heard, and I forgot to take the mid EQ out...after I'd already put it back in... essentially, there's about a 7db boost in the mids of her vocal...no wonder it's peeling your eyebrows off...LOL. (sorry Jaimee). I'll eventually get this close.

I'm working on another quickie right now..it should fix it. Anyhoo, another check in about :30 minutes would be sincerely appreciated...because I'm deaf...damn, I have to get some work done, but priorities are priorities...LMAO.

I think I had it close at the point that erichenryus heard it, and the only reason I messed with it was to move her vocal away from the solo....(she sings over 1/2 of it....my bad).

anyway...be quiet, I'm mixing...LOL.

 

[twist]

Work?

 

[chrisharris]

Okay, I hope I got it close with this one. I turned it up ridiculously loud for where I am, and it didn't seem to peel the paint off the walls.

Anyway, the .wav file itself looks more normal than the others, so the vocal's probably back in the mix?

Oh, and B.SABBATH commented on the chorus (effect) that I used on her vocal. I only used it in parts of the chorus to thicken up the vocal a bit...does it work? I didn't actually use a true "chorus," effect; I duplicated parts of the vocal and slid them forward about 15ms... same outcome, though.

Thanks again. I think Mike wrote a cool song, and I also think Jaimee did a good job (yeah, I said it), so I don't wanna' be the one responsible for screwing it up...LOL.

www.nowhereradio.com/honestmango/singles

 

[Lt. Bob]

Well I'll tell you one thing....she's better than my daughter right now. And she's only gonna get better. Too bad she's almost a teen....the demons will be taking her over for the next few years.

She really has a fairly mature control of her voice. There are a couple of places where I can tell she's 12 but only barely.

As for the limiting.....here's a idea. If the mix is 'up against the wall' leaving no room on top.....how about (gasp) turning the mix down all across the board. I just read an interview with one of the top mastering engineers (can't remember his name but he's one of the biggies) and he said one of the trends he HATES is the trend toward making all records loud. He says he fights about that all the time 'cause it robs the music of dynamics. And dynamics are an important part of musical expression. You probably know that I hate compression and, in fact, I never use it at all. And my mixes sound ok (not that I ever seem to do anything new ). It does make for a lot more work in the mix 'cause you have to ride volumes all over the place but it sounds a lot better than squashing everything to death and ending up with a mono-volume.

EVERYBODY WATCH YOUR LANGUAGE.........So daddy Chris can show his daughter this thread.

Hope she makes it big Chris......so she can afford to take care of you in your doddering old age.

 

[chrisharris]

I totally agree about the limiting, Lt. Bob...(and with the fact that Jaimee will be a full-blown demon soon...it's already started, LOL).

I obviously had to turn the whole instrumental mix down to get the vocal in there... Compression on the whole mix made it sound squishy and soft, so I ditched that pretty quick. I did compress her vocal, because it's just too dynamic for me to envelope with any success...Her mic technique's not horrible, but she does better when I tell her to just sing and let me worry about the levels. ANYWAY...for this last one, I did the digital version of riding the faders...I enveloped the crap out of the mix, and I just limited it at -0.5db with no gain output at all. The overall mix is lower on the levels, but it seems to sound better to me. I'm still getting some distortion from somewhere, but I can't figure it out...it's in neither of the tracks seperately, and nothing's clipping on mixdown...I'll just blame it on mp3's .. LOL.

And your daughter's great. Jaimee is gonna' have a similar voice, I think...alto all the way...but your daughter's got a range on her too...that Pat Benetar tune is not easy.

Thanks for helping out, man.
Chris

 

[JR#97]

wow. nice. i'm dancing around like a girl getting ready for prom night! great song H2H. great performance Jaimee. great mix, daddy.

only suggestion would be more vocal dynamics. she sounds pretty much pedal to the medal throughout. even during the quiter section. anywho.... the performance is still worthy of being damn proud of.

 

[Gidge]

chris,

Im not gonna comment on the mix, because i know youre a mere amateur ....but it does sound ok......

you probably already know what Uncle Gidge thinks about the vocal.....it justs rocks.....you need to get this girl to Nashville quick and let Mike help ya get a demo cut....shes got a lot of talent and potential and it would be a shame to let it just sit idle right now.......


MIKE

 

[Stratomaster]

That girl has more than just a cool dad-she's got "it". Really good vocal performance-man those are some high notes-very listenable tune. I liked the bridge with the tremolo guitars-maybe a change of vocal sound(chorus?) would have been cool there. The mix sounds good-maybe a bit loud-it sounds pedal to the medal most of the time. Keep her recording! Nice to hear such talent at her age. Good song!

 

[David]

Go Jamiee GOOOOO!

Move aside chris, this is to Jamiee. , Baby girl, i'm on my 6th listen to this...ok, it's seven now. Look baby girl, i don't care what anyone tries to tell you, or tries to lead you, always follow your heart...and belive me YOU GOT HEART. Okay i'm on my eighth listen now , Mike this is such a great tune (great work sir). Jamiee this is GREAT!

Ok, chris you did a jam up job too, music mix wise is very good in my monitors. What kind of mic did you use on the vocals? Man this is a wonderful tune, Thanks for sharing.

 

[participant]

Chris... listened to this last night (been busy)...

Jaimee's got a really grown-up sounding voice. Lots of emotion; betcha she's a "dramatic" lil actress, from the sounds of it My cousin's like that-- they should both be in front of a camera, or something. It's called "a performance", I guess, eh?

The song has a Gin Blossoms/Counting Crows feel to it... but then Jaimee comes in and does the Charlotte Church thing. Some practice would help w/the rough spots... (which are very few)... she's just gotta keep going. Who knows? "American Idol part 17"??

Very very.

-c

 

[Doug H]

Liked the singing, good song.

EDIT:

Just read the thread, she's 12? Sounds great.

 

[dres]

Well I don't download very often but when I saw this was a Chris and Jaimee production I knew it would be worth it !

Awesome song guys. Got a great "happy" sound to it It's all been said before but Jaimee sounds great... in fact really really good.. I'd even say exceptional for a 12 yr old .. and no doubt she will get even better as time passes. On the downside thats an extremely strong voice to argue with !! But parents never argue with their superstar children do they ?? LOL

This is sounding very pro ... I'm intensely jealous Well done

Cheers
dres

 

[Kramer]

The song has a Gin Blossoms/Counting Crows feel to it... but then Jaimee comes in and does the Charlotte Church thing.

To be exact the electric guitar riff is from the gin blossoms tune "Follow You Down".

But Charlotte Church?! Charlotte Church sings opera type shit.This is raw NON-operatic(is that a word?) singing!

On the rough spots she sounds even more like a young Janis Joplin..only more melodic.

 

[chrisharris]

To be exact the electric guitar riff is from the gin blossoms tune "Follow You Down".

Yeah, about that. I should reiterate that I did 2 things to this tune. I hacked off the first part of the guitar intro, and I sped it up. The riff didn't remind me anything of that gin blossoms song in its original version..., but it's unmistakeable after I screwed it up...so before it turns ugly in this thread, that was ME!

 

[Jagular]

For the love of Pete!!!!

Talent like that at that age ought to be outlawed

That really is amazing Chris. I think Lt. Bob said earlier that he could tell here and there that she is 12 and I agree, but for the most part I would have never guessed.

Maybe I'll post a recording of my 2 year old singing twinkle twinkle little star (actually it's really cute)

Not to forget H2H - I hadn't heard this before. Great song and it sounded great pitch shift and all .

Another keeper

 

[Kramer]

Yeah, about that. I should reiterate that I did 2 things to this tune. I hacked off the first part of the guitar intro, and I sped it up. The riff didn't remind me anything of that gin blossoms song in its original version..., but it's unmistakeable after I screwed it up...so before it turns ugly in this thread, that was ME!

..not to worry dude.Everything comes from something else.Im sure the gin blossoms stole that lick from something they had heard in the past.(either conciously or unconciously)

We ALL do it.