"Paranoid Android" - Calimoose on vocals.

[Bubba po]

So I finally got somebody to put a vocal performance to this - our very own Supermod Calimoose!

I think he's done an incredible job with an almost impossible song and I'm very grateful to him.

This is my first attempt at mixing his vocals in and it may need tweaking as I listen to it more and more, but I'm offering it up for your consideration.



New mix - louder vocal and other tweaks.

 

[gecko zzed]

Calimoose voice can get pretty high. Who would have thought it? A very credible performance.

The track is sonically and dynamically interesting.

The mix is a little disjointed in places, and I would prefer to hear the vocals given a bit more of the stage.

Otherwise it is a great effort.

 

[Bubba po]

Calimoose voice can get pretty high. Who would have thought it? A very credible performance.

The track is sonically and dynamically interesting.

The mix is a little disjointed in places, and I would prefer to hear the vocals given a bit more of the stage.

Otherwise it is a great effort.

Thanks, Gecko. I've started with the vocals at a level that I think doesn't elbow its way into the mix by pure volume. I want to work the vocals up in clarity and volume as I listen to it more and more, adjusting the EQ of things to give it more room. This is the trouble with having a completed mix that has lived on my PC for about a month - it's been listened to many, many times and tweaked to fit together- now I've got to make room for something else (the vocals) and I know there's work to be done to find them their own space. I was just so impatient to share this I couldn't just sit on it for another week!

 

[NotThatBright]

Calimoose voice can get pretty high. Who would have thought it?

You know it. Especially for a guy with "moose" in his name!

I wish I could give you mix tips, but this is already good beyond the point that I could give any meaningful suggestions. Great singing and, of course, great playing. I just have a couple questions for my own edification:

Is there more than one bass track in the song? At a couple points it sounds to me like the tone changes, but maybe it's just from playing in the upper register.

Is that a wood block your kid starts playing at 3:35, or one of those plastic ones? Did he have it mounted somewhere on his kit for this recording? It sounds great in the mix.

What is your kid hitting at 5:50, 5:53...? Sounds sort of like a bell on a ride cymbal, but not really.

Nice work.

 

[Bubba po]

You know it. Especially for a guy with "moose" in his name!

I wish I could give you mix tips, but this is already good beyond the point that I could give any meaningful suggestions. Great singing and, of course, great playing. I just have a couple questions for my own edification:

Is there more than one bass track in the song? At a couple points it sounds to me like the tone changes, but maybe it's just from playing in the upper register.

Is that a wood block your kid starts playing at 3:35, or one of those plastic ones? Did he have it mounted somewhere on his kit for this recording? It sounds great in the mix.

What is your kid hitting at 5:50, 5:53...? Sounds sort of like a bell on a ride cymbal, but not really.

Nice work.

Thanks, NTB - your praise is much appreciated. The sound at 5: 50 is indeed a ride cymbal bell. I'm amazed at how it jumps out of the mix like that; The wood block sound at 3:35 is a side-stick snare/snare chop, and the bass guitar is one single track, no cutting up or automation. There is compression and EQ on it, and the rest is just playing louder or softer according to the dynamics of the song. It's all using a pick, BTW.

 

[Chili]

Sometimes I would rather just sit and listen to a song than give it a critique or think about what to suggest for improvement. This is one of them. It's quite an undertaking from an arrangement aspect. There's a lot of cool changes throughout. Some parts remind me of King Crimson, other from the 80's, all neatly packed into 6 minutes.

Yeah I think there still some work for the vocals and spoken parts, or not.

Good job to you and Super-Cali-Fragi-listic-Moosie-Modocious.

 

[mjbphotos]

At around 2:10, the bass and acoustic guitar are playing more-or-less the same pattern, but it sounded to my ear like they were kind of stepping on each other, the percussion at this point and at the start tend to overshadow the acoustic guitar.
At 3:35, I'd bring the side-snare down in volume just a bit until this section builds up again. The acoustic guitar could use some more volume in this section too, would give it more feel as the BG vocals/keys are fairly low in tone.
I think the volume of the vocal could come up for most of the song except for the part after 3:35, sounds right for that section. Reminds me of early Floyd (Syd Barrett days).

 

[Armistice]

Bass at 2.13 sounds a bit wrong to me.. given you've spent so much time working out exactly how to play this I suspect it's not wrong, but I think taking a bit of volume of the second and third notes in that little sequence might sit it in better... when repeated at 2:36 it "works" better...

Unleash the moose, as already mentioned.. bit pitchy and strained around 4:40 ish...

Apart from that, awesome job..

 

[rayc]

Prog voice! Could almost do Yes impressions.
A good start Bubba po. Tweak away - pitchiness? - well that'll be up to you in the end I suppose.

 

[Bubba po]

Thanks, everyone.

Yes, there is a little pitchiness in the "rain down" part. It would be up to the Moose to decide whether he wants to send me a fixed version. I have no idea about Melodyne or anything like that! Armistice, not sure what to make of your comment about the bassline - it's possible it's not identical, but my head is so filled up with both versions now I don't know what to do about it!

I will definitely be raising the vocal volume in the first half, though. The vocal in the first loud part is actually louder on my version than on the original! It's pretty much drowned out on the Radiohead version! Same goes for the percussion - mine's actually toned down a little, and there's quite a loud Cabasa part missing because I haven't been able to borrow one so far.

I'll listen to this again, paying attention to the points mentioned.

 

[Armistice]

Armistice, not sure what to make of your comment about the bassline - it's possible it's not identical, but my head is so filled up with both versions now I don't know what to do about it!

I just thought a couple of notes really jumped out of the mix at that point... just suggesting automating them down a tidge... the phrase was repeated later on and it sat down nicely. Could be just me if no-one else noticed...

 

[Anders Erisian]

Great cover overall. I listened to the version you posted without the vocal a while ago, thought it sounded pretty good to me so i didn't comment.

I thought the vocal was just a bit too low in the mix. I thought the vocal style was perfect for the song, a bit nasal, head-voicey, like someone singing a bit above their normal comfortable range, but i've never heard calimoose's voice before so i could be totally wrong there. It was a bit pitchy at points too, but nothing overly disconcerting, and probably far better than anything i could ever do, so don't consider that much more than a minor nit-pick. Just saw your post where you said you were going to raise the vocal - sorry to be redundant.

 

[calimoose]

I have no idea about Melodyne or anything like that!

I gave the vocals completely raw (no processing including melodyne) and completely disorganized. I can work on some of them (I have a good enough grasp of melodyne) for example. The tricky thing is, when I was using melodyne (I was processing the track on my own), melodyne's analysis seemed to pick up multiple vocals within a single track, so I guess there were lots of overtones in my vocals at certain points? I'm not really sure....

There are other tracks I would've used than what you went with in some instances (i.e. "crackle of pigskin..." bit), but I can do some minor processing and send it your way eventually so you can just help it sit in the mix better, as clearly I am pitchy at some points.

Great cover overall. I listened to the version you posted without the vocal a while ago, thought it sounded pretty good to me so i didn't comment.

I thought the vocal was just a bit too low in the mix. I thought the vocal style was perfect for the song, a bit nasal, head-voicey, like someone singing a bit above their normal comfortable range, but i've never heard calimoose's voice before so i could be totally wrong there.

Actually, you're totally right! Both about the nasally nature of my voice (damn allergies....) as well as my vocal register. This is a song I can sing spot-on in the car, but when you're trying to get a studio-quality vocal track, this is about as high as I can go before the pitchiness and inaccuracy comes in. The vocal dynamics within each phrase was really tricky, as he mixes falsetto with chest voice on a dime.

With that said, Bubba I'll try and get you a better version that isn't a hodgepodge of vocals all over the place. Your mixing skills are lightyears ahead of my own so I won't comment in that regard. But 30 minutes here and there after work made it really tough to nail a solid quality, especially with your enthusiasm rushing me!

Either way, great mix. It was certainly a pleasure to do work together remotely, especially on one of my favorite songs.

 

[Bubba po]

There are other tracks I would've used than what you went with in some instances (i.e. "crackle of pigskin..." bit), but I can do some minor processing and send it your way eventually so you can just help it sit in the mix better, as clearly I am pitchy at some points.

Really? I loved that version of the line! I'll go through back through the tracks and see if I missed a good one.

With that said, Bubba I'll try and get you a better version that isn't a hodgepodge of vocals all over the place. Your mixing skills are lightyears ahead of my own so I won't comment in that regard. But 30 minutes here and there after work made it really tough to nail a solid quality, especially with your enthusiasm rushing me!

Aw, man - I'm really, really sorry if you felt pressured in any way. I think I just assume that everybody else has the same amount of time and enthusiasm to spend on recording and mixing as I do. Anyway, the door is always open on this mix if you're unhappy with any of your performances or if you come up with anything even more brilliant in the future. Your voice really suits this song and as far as I'm concerned, yours is the one I'm sticking with. Any niggles we can sort out between us.

I had a fantastic time doing this, so thank you so much.

 

[calimoose]

It was my pleasure, my friend! Isn't that what HR's all about? Collaborating with other members and helping them out? That, and wondering whether Mutt's next post is going to be or

 

[Bubba po]

It was my pleasure, my friend! Isn't that what HR's all about? Collaborating with other members and helping them out? That, and wondering whether Mutt's next post is going to be or

LOL.

 

[Bubba po]

New mix with louder vocal and other tweaks added to front page.

 

[Armistice]

I reckon the first couple of seconds of the "What's thaaaaaaaaaaaat?"s need to bump up a touch... the long scream sits OK but I think the first bit is just a bit too far down... apart from that, I got nuffin'...

Excellent job.

Now, if only we can get you onto Racey covers...

 

[9 strings]

mmh.
King Crimson ? not really

what is it at 3:08....damn is this a Git-solo? The Bending is a little bit wrong. In the solo many "blue notes" in it

 

[Bubba po]

mmh.
King Crimson ? not really

what is it at 3:08....damn is this a Git-solo? The Bending is a little bit wrong. In the solo many "blue notes" in it

WTF! This is at least your fourth edit on this comment! From "The singer can't sing" to "the mix is so thin I can't fix it" to "the song sounds wrong, especially the bass" to "your guitar solo sucks ass". Are you butthurt? I'm still not listening to yours.