I wrote a song for my wife, cuz, well, I luv her. Please listen.

  • Thread starter Thread starter Teddie
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Teddie

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Hello friends,

I re-recording/re-performed a song I wrote for my wife 10 years ago back in 1990. When I wrote the song, me and my wife Kathy had been going out for a few months... so at the time she was my girlfriend.

The original version was done with a Tascam 4-Track (and it was pretty dang bad)... This NEW version was done with the equipment that I've been using for my regular song posts (and a few more years of experience too)...

Please have a listen... and if you like it please let me know of course, but gimme some feedback on the mix, cuz this is the first mix of the new version, so I'm sure your comments as usual will help me out... That's why I luvz you guyz.

Okay, it's the song called "KATHY" here: http://mp3.com/smartapple

Thanks,
Teddie
 
Oh, I forgot to mention that I redid this song for my wife's birthday coming up in a few days.

Also, the original version didn't have the orchestral violins like this one has. Those things can really make a song into some crazy full movie sounding stuff. I like that sound of the orchestral violins...
 
Eww gross...love songs...makes me feel all "ookie" or something. :)

But alas, I understand where you're coming from... just trying to get a little piece of action like the rest of us. Heh.

Ok, seriously. Pretty nice recording job here. Everything is in its own place with some room left over. Your MP3 encoder absolutely butchered the cymbals unfortunately. I hate it when that happens. Which encoder do you use?

The violins and everything work pretty well. Nice dual guitar solo work too! Vocals were nice and upfront.

Towards the very end...I think the mix is a little off-balance to the left. It kinda made my right ear mad if you know the feeling. I also think that the guitar noodling in the right channel throughout the song could come up a bit...it sounds like it's pretty nice, but it's hard to hear. Maybe just a touch of compression would help it out.

I tell ya what, if I was a chick named Kathy, I'd do ya.

BTW, I listened to the Which Way clip on your mp3 site... pretty cool to get some radio play.

Slackmaster 2000
 
SM2K,

Yah, bro... icky love songs... I'm completely "ookie-fied". Hehe...

Thanks for listening to it though. Regarding the butchering of the cymbals, I hate that too. I'm using a XING encoder. I know folks are hinting to me to encode at a higher bit rate, but I usually encode at 128 because that's what mp3.com requires and also I'm still running a 56k modem and large file sizes make me cringe. Do you think if I use a different encoder, the quality might be better? I always thought that XING was a pretty good encoder... actually, in addition, I thought that an encoder was an encoder was an encoder... so if I encoded at 128 with XING and then encoded at 128 with, say, Music Match, it would be the same... Am I wrong? I don't know much about this encoding thing... I only started messing with the mp3 stuff since May of this year 2000, so I'm still pretty green.

Hey, about the off-balance to the left thing you were saying... You're absolutely right (correct). I listened to my last mix a thousand times (as I usually do with my new stuff to analyze it to pieces) and I noticed that the left was heavy with stuff and the right channel was uneven with it, I mean beyond any good panning technique that I usually try to use, it just seemed that I panned a lot of the stuff on the left for some reason. I'm gonna fix it after I get a few more comments from people. Damn, you guys help me a lot.

Thanks for listening and for the "do me" support, PAH!
 
I've never used Xing. Some encoders are better at various bitrates than others. I used to use Blade a long time ago and it would murder my cymbals at 128, but did a good job at 256.

Then I found SCMPX which so far for me has produced the best quality MP3's at 128kbps. It's free. You should grab it since you can never have enough tools! The link is http://70.nu/ch3/index_e.html (BTW, it has a VERY small footprint...doesn't even modify the registry)

I have this friend who claims that he can tell no difference between MP3 (128) and CD audio. Don't you just want to smack people like that? :)

Slackmaster 2000
 
SM2K,

hehe... Hey, thanks much for that link. I'm definitely going to download that encoder when I get home tonight.

I'm really curious to see if it will encode better than my XING (which I hope it does).

Thanks again!
 
Damn you Teddie!

First of all, a great job Teddie. Nice and clean guitar work, great solo, great mix. Up to your usual standards, which basically means = perfect!

What did you use for the orchestration? (the violins) they sound extremely sweet.

One thing that bugged me was the drums, around 01.23 you go into a more mellow section. Till then you have the regular rock beat with a open hihat, going bass-snare on 2 and 4. But after 01.23 the hihat gets lost, you only play it in the beginning of each measure. That sort of stands out a bit too much, I would have liked closed hihat hits on all 4 beats. You could do that for the other mellow sections, and leave the 2-4 open hihat on the other harder parts with the guitar solo and stuff.

Other than, extra cool!

I just love your voice, how bout a collabration sometime? :))
 
Terrific vocal sound and playing as usual....I agree with Slack about the noodling coming up....lyrics weren't TOO ookie because the tune was so good....gibs:D
 
Memo:: hey bro, thanks for listening and for the kind words. For the orchestration (the violins) I used my Casio keyboard. I was initially going to try to get a "rock" organ sound (like maybe the WallFlowers might use) but I couldn't get the sound right, so I used the violins thing which I think might sound better than my original idea... so it worked out okay for me :) I think you're right on that hi-hat thing... I'm going to try and see what I can do... It might be hard though cuz the drum track is all fused together instead of having the drum pieces (ie. hi-hat, snare, etc.) seperate tracks. Although I may be able to do a little cut and paste thing. Thanks for giving it a good listen... I love getting help on my mixes. A collaboration... sure... I'd like that.

gibs:: Thanks for listening, bro :) I'm going to up the noodledation on that channel for sure... Thanks!
 
*sniff* - shucks Teddie, your tune really got ta me!!!

:)

Seriously though... nice job - good arrangement, solid playing....

A couple of comments on the mix though... WAY TOO bright, especially the hi-hat (panned left! - unusual perspective to pan drums from the point of view of the drummer rather than the listener's, but it's a matter of taste). That hi-hat was way too up-front in the mix, distracting from all other rhythmic parts.

Someone else mentioned some of the guitar "noodling" - very good, but also too far back in the mix. Vocals are clear but also slightly too far back...

Solid tune though... just needs a bit 'o polish....

My 2 cents...

Bruce Valeriani
Blue Bear Sound
 
bvaleria, thanks much for listening... that's an excellent 2 cents :)

I've taken the suggestions so far and remixed it... I've got to wait a couple of days for mp3.com to update it to the new version I just uploaded but I'll post another thread to get some "mix checks".
 
I'll check out the remix when it's updated. My added couple o' pennies: I think the kick might be too "clicky" for this tune... maybe a patch with more "thump" and less "click". Good tune, even though it's an icky love song :p.
 
pglewis, thanks for listening... I wasn't able to do the kick-drum change... but I did a lot of remixing to the song and I just checked and the mp3 has been updated to the new one...

Would you guys take a listen again please and listen for your "advice" changes... I really pretty much took everyone's advice (at least I think I did) and implemented it into the new mix... I think it sounds pretty good right now... hopefully, this can be my last remix, but if not, that's cool too. Lemme know.

Just to remind, it's called "Kathy" and it's here: http://mp3.com/smartapple

Thanks for all your help - you guys make my stuff sound good.
 
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