I'm One Selfish Bastard

  • Thread starter Thread starter chrisharris
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She's so talented! Her pitch is right on. Tell her not to be afraid to let loose on those crescendos. She holds back just a touch during the vocal vamping. The braces coming off will be an adjustment vocally(speaking from personal experience), it will help with enunciation after she gets used to it. Great song! She has the "GIFT".
 
Vestast - Yeah, that's our Dutch friend on bass. I'm really getting spoiled lately :D - Gimme a sub check if you can...I did some kind of dangerous stuff down in the 50Hz region, lol. Congrats on your milestone post, by the way. :D ... I will continue to envelope the guits, by the way, so thanks for that.

Stavencrows - Hey man...WELCOME TO HOMERECORDING.COM - Thanks for the kind words, but I can't take much credit for this one really. Real Drums and a fat bassline just make everything sound better, and I'm not responsible for recording either of those. Mixing becomes much easier when you're not spending all of your time chopping up drum loops, lol.

Turnitdown - First of all, very funny, lol...thanks for the chuckle. Secondly, thanks a lot for the supportive comments on her writing. I think she has a good ear for melodies, and the lyrics will get more sophisticated as she does, but improving her CONFIDENCE in her writing is really important right now, so your comments are very much appreciated. Thanks.

drummerdude666 - Man, I think it's great that you're even attempting to record and mix at your age. You'll be a freaking MONSTER by the time you get out of high school. I started recording 3 years ago...at age 32, LOL. If you've got a great singer now, the only advice I can give is to just keep her centerstage in your mixes, and use as little compression and as much enveloping as possible so that EVERY word she sings is audible. Thanks for the ears on my mix...I'm hearing "more guitar" from a lot of people...that's usually a sign that something needs to change, lol.

Clark - your post made me laugh...then it made me smile. Thanks.

guitarhunny - thanks for listening and for the advice. She has a lot of maturing to do in terms of mic technique and especially enunciation...it'll happen. She also has asthma, but she seems to be kind of growing out of it. She actually wails unmercifully live, lol. It's fun.

Thanks all...
 
Very good!!! My wife likes it too. The kid has talent. Please tell me her pitch isn't that "on". Please tell me that it took 20 takes and pitch correction to make her sound that good. Tell me this so I don't quit music. :D
Oh yeah, the recording is very good also.
You must be a great dad. And a proud one.
 
Bass sounds good Chris. Some funky stuff but still sounds good !

You have no idea how much more frustrated I just became by listening to this mix.

You are a bastard .... :(
 
What a voice!

That's stunning, Bro. I have just the same general observation about the LF stuff. But that voice!


Nice mando, by the way. :D
 
First and foremost, the song and writing is fantastic. What kind of vocal mic are you using? You may of mentioned this before..sorry if you have. Mix sounds great to me, and everyone's playing on this is damn good. She's something else man :)
 
i have to agree...this stuff would give that Avril Lavine chick...a run for her money!!!..Definitly some great stuff....keep her goin musically...and you just might be one rich dad!
 
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EdWonbass said:
Please tell me that it took 20 takes and pitch correction to make her sound that good.
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lol...I usually have her sing the tune 2x, then I comp together a vocal from the best takes. I honestly don't remember if I used any antares on her, but chances are that I did. I don't run it in "auto" mode with her because she really does have excellent pitch, but if she has a note that she missed on both takes (rare), then I'll tune it. Anyway, thanks a lot for the listen and the comments.

geet - Thanks a ton for the followup man. I just took the compressor off and went with the crappy enveloping job...it still pops out and ducks in some places, but you're right..the sound of the vocal is a bit better. Thanks.

Vestast - thanks for the check man...your post made me feel pretty good. :D

Treeline - TOTAL Adobe Audition project here, buddy. COME OVER TO THE DARK SIDE, lol. Thanks for listening man.

Freshears - you rock...the mic sucks (AKGc3000). I actually had another condesner that I loaned to a buddy about a year ago and never got back (*sigh*). I've been putting off getting another one b/c I hold out hope that I'll eventually get my mic back, but I'm ready. This mic sucks for vocals, seriously. Hey, thanks for listening.

markaholic - nice words mate. Thanks. She pretty much keeps ME going, though, lol. Take care.

THANKS FOR LISTENING EVERYBODY - Buh Bye!!!!! :D
 
14??

Yer daughter fooled the hell out of me man--wow--I thought I was listening to a grown woman-great voice-nice stuff too -right up my alley-acoustic style- not much more to say--
 
WOW! Her voice is amazing!!! (picking my jaw up off the floor)

I think her voice has a slight Melissa Ethridge-esque quality to it, but without the raspy harshness. I actually kinda like the nasal quality...I think it adds a nice character to her voice. It's subtle enough that it sounds good to me. Quite the mature song topic for a 14 year-old though!

This is really a great recording too! There are just a couple places where the guitar and drums seem ever so slightly out of synch (around 1:10 or so, and some others), but it's barely noticeable. Awesome!!!
 
By the way, that "Mary" song on your site reminds me a LOT of a favorite funky UK group of mine, "Badly Drawn Boy." It's simple, quirky, but damn cool, just like so many of their songs (check out "Have You Fed the Fish").
 
Chris,

I can't add much beyond what was said: I love 'Be Careful' and this one just adds to her growing repertoire.
What singing training did she have? Just 'doing it' or?

Best,

CC
 
People, you're swelling our heads, LOL, but I really really really really appreciate the listens and the mix comments a lot.

dolod44 - thanks man...I still hear her as a little girl, but I've heard enough people say that she doesn't sound like a kid to pretty much believe it now, lol. Thanks again.

tomleblanc - Very kind words man. Yeah, the drums were obviously done after the fact, but it wasn't the drummer's fault when things go a little south on the groove...it was mine; I really need to retrack or edit some guitars in there to sync it up. Very much appreciate the comments. The "Mary" tune was written (and sung) by another guy who shows up here sometimes. His name is Brad, and he goes by "Cat-Eggs," and I think he's an evil genius of sorts. That was a fun one. I"ll definitely check out "BDB" if I can find them. Be good. :D

Cosmic - Thanks a lot for the listen and the comments. Jaimee didn't really sing on pitch until she was about 6 for some reason...I thought she was a lost cause, LOL. She sings in a couple of choirs, but that's obviously a different technique. I've worked with her some, and she took a couple of voice lessons from a Baylor voice student that I personally liked a lot in terms of her approach, but mostly she just sings - (while I may be shot for this), I don't have a lot of faith in most voice training approaches...it's AWESOME for breathing and conditioning, but too many of them have a warped sense of what "good" singing is, and it tends to erode the uniqueness of a singer's voice sometimes...obviously, not always, and like I said, there are good ones out there...but I'm one of those guys that doesn't mind it when a singer's voice kinda' cracks in a musical way as long as no permanent damage is being done, lol. I probably typed waaaay too much here. Thanks again.
 
You gotta be as proud as a peacock. She does have a amazing voice. As for the mix you're going to have to have these other guys tell you about that. I'm still trying to learn. But it all sounds good to me. :D
 
I will add in that your daughter has talent. Just dont let it get to her head. Seriously. Im sure she has plenty of room for progression and nows not a good time for her to feel like she already has everything she needs. Just make sure she realizes that there is alot to learn.

The mix is balanced well between instruments but in my opinion its all rather thin. It doesnt seem like its completely caused by equipment either. Sounds like things were sucked out with EQ.

With the drums there is alot of 8KHz and the worst is all the stuff above 12KHz. You have alot of air but it makes the cymbals sound like they are going to fall apart :D. The snare is very 8KHz dominant too. Get some 1KHz back in there to get some punch back in there. Get some low mids there too. In the 200-300 range. This can be said with the drums in a whole because they all seem a little low cutted too high and mid scooped.

The bass sounds pretty good but feels a little to dynamic in my opinion. Maybe put more 50Hz in there to feel it out a little.

The guitars sound pretty good but seemed scooped. I only hear high end and 1KHz on the louder parts.

The vocals are alright. It almost doesnt matter how they sound because her voice makes it great.

The distortion guitar is barely audible. I dont know if thats what you were going for or not. But again it just sounds incredibly scooped with no balls or definition. It seems all 1KHz based, and it sounds like you recorded it through a telephone.

Is there an organ in there somewhere too? Im hearing some kind of harmonies behind her voice but again its almost like its not even there. I hear it and i could write all the notes out for it but its very transparent.

And im not sure if im hearing backup vocals or not. Im not sure if they are backup vocals or if its the keyboard/organ im hearing making weird interactions with the voice.

Anyway, i cant really figure out whats going on with some of those things so thats probably not good unless it was intentional.

The song was great and it was pretty tight besides some timing flaws. But really not that noticeable. Im a tough critique when it comes to the recording part but keep in mind i dont know your equipment or experience circumstances. I just hope that what i say helps you look at things at a different perspective. It just sounded way to scooped in my opinion and the cymbals and hi hat sounded like you put a BBE Sonic Maximizer on full. Maybe it was EQ stuff that you did in post and you can fix it. If not, no problem, just expirement with my advice/opinions a little.

Danny
 
Toonsmith - thanks for the listen and the comments. We're all learning...especially me, lol.

darnold - thank you for taking the time to detail out your thoughts. You've got good ears, like some others here. There's a pretty big hole in the mix right now that's in the process of being filled with some electric guitar tracks that I got yesterday. There's no organ in there or keys of any type, but I used enough autotune on my backups to turn them into a freaking synth, LOL. There's a tiny bit of distorted guitar in the mix, but it's a cheap strat with "Amplitube" on it so I really buried it, lol; I was trying to use it the way that acoustics are sometimes used in electric songs...barely audible - just a touch more texture to the mix, but it won't matter b/c they're muted in the version I'm working on, lol. The other guits are bigger.

As for the drums, yeah...I've been fighting them because all I have is a stereo track. A guy was nice enough to record them after I did a quick acoustic demo, and I really didn't wanna' be a pain in the ass, lol. There's no BBE on them, but there is an uppermidrange boost - when it's not there, the snare is inaudible, and when it IS there, the top end of the kit sounds brittle. I think the silent snare just bugged me more, hehehehee...

Again, great ears; I have about a week to finish it up, and hopefully it'll be a bit less thin by Thursday with help from people like you....Oh, and thanks for the parenting advice :D
 
How 'bout this???

Chris,
Did you ever think about making the raw tracks available for a Public Mix Contest?
I think that would great, and you'd get some additional perspectives on the mix.

Just thinking out loud... :rolleyes:
 
turnitdown said:
Chris,
Did you ever think about making the raw tracks available for a Public Mix Contest?
I think that would great, and you'd get some additional perspectives on the mix.
Click to expand...
I think it's a cool idea, really. WAAAAY back in the day before public mix contests, I put up my tracks for a tune in the clinic and we did just that; lots of fun, and I learned a lot; I think it would probably suck for the contestants for this song, though, due to the fact that I only have a stereo drum track. I also submixed the backups awhile ago too or there'd by about 40 tracks in this, LOL. I appreciate the thought and the idea, I'm just pretty sloppy when it comes to saving raw tracks, and I don't think the exercise would help anybody except me, lol.
 
Okay, here's the metal version, lol.



Just a rough mix, but maybe it's worth pursuing down this road.
 
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