Playing/Recording someone else's tune

I'm not listening on very good speakers, but to me the vocals sound way too up front. Pull them back and give'm a bit more ambience. The piano sounds really fake, too, like a korg m1.
Can't comment on the rest because of my speakers. Really sounds pretty decent overall though.
 
Mr Chuck - here's my take FWIW:

The Good: I liked the song. It had a nice "calypso" feel to it. Liked the rhythym guitar and the bass as well. Good feel to both. Singer has an interesting voice.

The Not So Good: I thought the song needed a break somewhere. It got a bit monotonous after awhile. Needs a bridge or maybe an instrumental solo.

Also I didn't think the vocals were very clear. You might want to try a different mic on him. In the meantime a boost at 2.5K and/or a cut at ~300 might help a little (geez, am I really giving eq advice? :) ).

I also felt the entire mix could have been a little brighter (or at least the guitar) to give it a little air.

Personally I would have preferred conga's or bongo's on this. Maybe going to the straight drum kit just on the chorus. Just a matter of preference though. Nothing wrong with it as is.

Overall nice work. I'd like to hear more.

Mike
 
Mike,
Thanks for the listen. This is by no means a final mix as this was a live take, but I do like the tones on drums and bass and we're playing fairly tightly, so I'll probably keep those. The singer accompanies himself on guitar, so for the sake of a guide, we set him up in a different room with the intention of him doing his parts over. I just threw a 57 in him, so you're right about the mic. Also, I'm using a tight chorus on his voice because we did a previous take with the vox double tracked and he liked it. I will probably mic up the guitar too when the time comes. That will give it a little air I hope. He's using an acoustic\electric and I've mic'ed it many times. I'd also like to throw in some background vox and an electric guitar on the chorus.

Keep bringing the eq advice. I thought I'd cut enough 300, but my room seems to eat that frequency.
 
Chuck, this has a good feel, some great piano work, Huey Lewis and the Range feel at times. The acoustic guitar is well recorded and works nicely.

I played around with the EQ as the mighty Dachay suggested and found that a boost at around 2K helped the vocals as did a little "air" at around 14-16k.

The drums "irritated" me after a while, either too much going on or the beat interupted the rhythm of the song. Don't know how else to describe it

I would also add a slighly distorted or fuzz electric guitar at points in the song, just to add some variety.

But I loved the bass :cool:

All round, great toon, well recorded, just needs a little more work to make it work better.
 
My apoligies for getting to this so late Chuck...
cool song reminded me of America a bit.
I like the tracking on the instruments,I think you've got that down pretty good.
I'd like to hear less guitar and more piano on the ending.
The fills and buildups on the drums could be a little more up front,maybe.
I think the vocals are great just where they are.

I think our friend Paul was refering to Wisconsin native Bruce Hornsby.
 
The mixing was a little unbalanced with the bass a tad loud and the keyboards being too distant. The piano doesn't sound full. But it's just a live mix, so don't worry too much about that.

The song sounds like a simple folkish/bluesy song, but I think the arrangement and musicianship is trying to make the song something that it is not. The drummer and pianist are trying to syncopate like Dave Weckl and Chick Corea when the basic structure of the song does not have scope for that. Is that the direction the song really wants to take? The song sounds confused to me. I hope this helps you in preparing for your final mix.

Regards,
Jonathan.
 
Moonrider said:
Wisconsin? Last time I looked he was living in Williamsburg, VA.
Click to expand...

Well, maybe he was from Wisconsin but he wouldn't want to live there out of choice would he? :p

:D
 
Impressed

Don't know how you will take this, but...this song makes me think of 70's Steely Dan...I am sure there is an audience for this...the song sounds like professional work to me.
 
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