Kiss Me

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GuitarLegend

GuitarLegend

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No not me, its the name of the song. The first time I posted here I was embarrassed about what I didnt know. Have studied up and started a new student band at the same time. Ditched the old M-Audio soundcard for a Focusrite Saffire PRO 24 DSP and hopefully know a little bit more now.

This is the singer's favorite song

Kiss Me
 
A decent mix. In fact, if you were trying to say that you are a beginner, then it's a damn good mix.

I can only find minor things to pick on. Some of those are even a matter of personal taste.

I thought the bass was a little too big for the song. But it adds to the groove.

The snare sounded a little loud but yet, distant somehow, if that makes any sense. Are these samples or actual recorded instruments?

The lead vocal could be nestled down into the mix just a tiny bit more. It is the type of voice that will still cut through. But be careful not to let it get lost. I'm talking just a smidgen.

Overall, good job. It was enjoyable to listen. Thanks.
 
Thank you for your comments, really appreciate them. I was expecting to be shot down in flames which always helps to up your game but comments such as yours are always good to let me know I am on the right track.

Beginner? I would go with that, although I have had a lot of experience at making really bad recordings with the number of finished tracks up around 100 now. Listening to the song now with your comments in mind, I agree with the snare being a touch loud. It is already being compressed but I thought the level was acceptable. I will check that out. The bass is a Fender Precision Bass (45/65/85/105) recording the line out of a Hartke Model 5000 bass amp. The guitar is a Cort electro-acoustic but I don't like the sound of the piezo pickups, so it was recorded with an AKG D7 (dynamic) into a Peavey XR1212 mixer then into the Saffire PRO 24 DSP. The vocals were recorded using the same setup. She did her own harmonizing.

The accordian was synthed using Cakewalk. Effects on the drums, guitar and vocals were added later using Pantheon Reverb and Sonitus FX Compressor.

The vocals are perhaps a bit prominent, I am starting to see that now as I listen to professional recordings. I was maybe a bit too eager to showcase her :/
 
In this recording of Santana's "Game of Love", I think she gives Michelle Branch a run for her money, given that she is only 14

The drums are synthed as are the trumpets. The bass is a Fender Precision, the rhythm guitar is a Cort acoustic via AKG D7 and the lead guitar is a Gibson SG through a Marshall JVM410H on a 1960 Lead quad box, miked with an AKG D7

Game of Love
 
This is pretty well done. I think there is a disconnect between the acoustic guitar and the vocals, which doesn't sound right. The acoustic sounds like it was recorded with the mic pretty far away. It has a roomy distant sound. The vocal, on the other hand, is in your face and up front and kind of dry. To make this more intimate I think the guitar needs to be close mic'd with less room, which you can always add reverb to later, and the vocals nestled back a bit. The vocals, while really good, need tuning on a couple of notes.
 
I tried to immitate the original guitar, although the original uses two guitars. It starts with one, then the second one comes in. The effect is a kind of distance thing but when I listen to the original, they seem to have all the highs knocked out of their first guitar, then the second one is almost not there. Once the bass guitar comes in, I think my recording is close to the orig although a little less orchestral. I might be able to more closely immitate the original by splitting the guitar track, and shifting one to the left with all the highs knocked out and shifting the other untouched to the right, as per the orig.

I spent some time getting the accordian to sound distant, like it was being played in the next street. I am happy with what I got there.

But, I may be tone deaf or something but I cant hear any bad notes in the singing. Can you tell me where you are hearing anything off pitch?
 
There's a few places where it seems to go slightly flat. The word "sparkling" sounds flat in three places. Some of the lines that start out with Kiss Me sound a bit flat too. It's easy enough to check with a vocal tuning software. Just plot the vocal out and see if the vocals are actually landing on a correct note. My guess is that you will find a few that miss a little on the flat side.
 
That certainly rings true... she is habitually on the flat side... It may be that she is not AS flat in this so it sounds good to me but if you can hear it, then it might be time do some serious graphical analysis

Thanks for the comments :)
 
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