Quick Favor That I Don't Deserve

  • Thread starter Thread starter chrisharris
  • Start date Start date
chrisharris

chrisharris

King of Bling
I used to listen to a lot of mixes in here...not so much lately, so feel free to skip this, but I'm nearing the end of a recording project with my daughter (she's 14, I'm a little older, lol), and I could use some advice/ears on one tune.

There's a boring story that goes with why I'm asking for fresh ears. See, there's a very generous and talented bassplayer who originally played on this tune (with a very generous and talented drummer), and at some point, my daughter and I decided the song just worked better acoustically, so I dropped the bass and drums.

The guitars were really muddy to begin with, so I cut them pretty severely with the bass/drum mix, but the guitars were too harsh when they were all naked, so I put the bass back in and then it worked as an acoustic song with bass. The problem is, while the bass was ok with the drums, it sounded a bit off without them, so the bassplayer requested that I mute his part this morning.

For reasons that are nobody's fault (except my idiot brother/manager), this CD has to be done by tomorrow, and I'd just like to know if the title track sounds like ass now.

http://www.betteroffdad.com/mp3.htm
"GREAT EXPECTATIONS"

Sorry for the long story, but it's pretty important to me. Thanks if you bother.
--Chris
 
I don't know if it is my speakers but the guitar could come up a tad....you daughter has a good voice.
 
Sounds good to me. What about putting in some very light percussion. A shaker or tambourine or some wet-clave or possibly a fucken glockenspiel I don't know. At least you didn't drop my bass part (yet) :D



[edit]
This song could use some piano.
[/edit]
 
HangDawg said:
Sounds good to me.
Click to expand...
that helps...I was more concerned about there being a big sonic hole in there where the bass was...unfortunately, when I cut the guitars in the low mids, I did it destructively, so I'm kinda' guessing at this point, and if it's close enough, I'm not retracking.

Your bass part on "miss me" was one of the easiest to mix ever, by the way.

Oh, and I'm not adding shit at this point, LOL.


spaztic - thanks; seems to be a fine line here, even though it's a simple mix, the guitars just SWALLOW the vocal when I bump it up a db or 2. Man I'm sick of this song, LOLOL. Thanks again for the ears.
 
I think the low-mid light guitars are made up for in the fact the vocal is pretty beefy. Could be why you cut them out of the guitars in the first place.
 
HangDawg said:
I think the low-mid light guitars are made up for in the fact the vocal is pretty beefy. Could be why you cut them out of the guitars in the first place.
Click to expand...
Yeah, you're totally right...- you have good ears, man. It's the only track on the CD I recorded with a certain (very cheap, very dark AND overly bright) mic.

Here's a tip...if you get an MXL mic thrown in free with a guitar, don't record with it, LOL.
 
Still fighting the mic...I remixed it; I turned up the guitar a bit, and I put some more low mids back in it...the biggest problem I'm fighting right now (I think) is the harsh top end...stupid free mic, lol.
 
chrisharris said:
Sorry for the long story, but it's pretty important to me. Thanks if you bother.
--Chris
Click to expand...

I like it! Your daughter has a great voice and I agree with cutting the guitars because of the beefier voice. There was a couple of backup vocal parts that I would have made a bit louder or at least a bit more distinguishable (too much verb on the one?) but overall I really liked it.
 
Normally I like fuller sounds and at first I would be tempted to put bass back in, but really Jaimee has the voice that can pull this off without it. If I tried to do the same thing with my voice it would sound thinner than the generic paper towel my PB&J sandwich is sitting on, but her voice carries a depth to it that covers where the bass is not. Funny...the mic doesn't seem that bright to me, it almost seems like it lacks some of the detail of the other recordings y'all have done.

I wouldn't try and change the EQ of the guitars...to my ears it sounds just right. It keeps Jaimee's voice and the lyrics as the central focus without making it seem like they're just hanging out there on nothing.
 
Chris,
Jaimee's voice is carrying the tune well. I am with sile, the mic doesn't sound too bright at all. Just a thought, but how are you panning them? It sounds like hard left/right, with the lead centered. Perhaps pushing them together a bit more? Pan it to 10 o'clock and 2 o'clock? I don't think any more cutting in the eq is going to do too much for you if you already did a destructive cut?
Maybe I am just talking out the side of my neck because I am biased to her abilities...
 
I agree that it sounds good as is. Her voice is beautiful and deserves to be the star of this song. Gives me chills!
 
Well I was a little hesitant to bring this thread back to life.. I have had this recording in my archives since I found out about you site Chris...


1. I am probably the biggest fan or yours on this board. I have looked up to your music and recordings since I started here.

2. You have an amazing gift .. All around gift playing, recording, engineering. etc....

3. This song tops anything I have heard yet! This is.... BEAUTIFUL!

Forget the fight with the mic.. Your daughter made up for all your F-ups..LOL

For over 3 years you have amazed me...

I had a little recording session at my little home studio about a month ago and I had the who's who of St Louis in my studio for a short time..

I made them all sit back and listen to this because I felt so strongly about it..

Thumbs up my friend. And the writing on some of these songs.. 2 thumbs up..
 
Holy crap, Scott...you just about made me cry, LOL!!! Maybe the coolest thing anybody's ever said about anything that came out of my house besides my daughter. :D - Very good to see you, and I can't tell you how much that means to me man. wow.

I felt bad about just letting this thread die without thanking people for listening, but the truth is that I don't spend enough time in here helping people to ask for much. I do appreciate the listens and comments a lot though, nic, spaceboy, rokkett...githun, 7 string and sile - just didn't wanna' take up more real estate in this clinic. Thanks a lot.
 
Chris
Not to burst the bubble, but the guitar sounds kinda bad at the beginning.
Almost out of tune and sort of oscillating kinda like a low bitrate mp3.(not the
whole recording but just the acoustic guitar tone) First chord sounds
good second chord sounds sorta out of tune, kinda like bad strings. And the
third chord sounds out of tune too. Personally, I would leave the strums out and start the tune at 00:09. The oscillating is still there but less noticable
cuz your daughter's voice quickly steals the attention! Other than that
the tune is killer as all your tunes. And your daughter's voice it absolutely
KILLER!!!!! And your voice fits the harmony like a glove!!! You two
sound killer together.

After listening while writting the post, I would say retrack the guitar.
It is worth it if you're up to it. It is out of tune in other places also.
(Old strings) Sorry if this bothers you, but I am just being honest.
But I would hate to see you do the cd and cringe every time you
listen to that track, knowing you could have corrected it.

later...

Hope the cd does well!! Amazing talent!! :)
 
Man, I did'nt know she's only 14.........she does have a very nice voice no matter what age. I agree with a previous post about the vocal sound being a little beefy.........the mic quality is very obvious through my monitors but it may not be so obvious on a home stereo. to me, that mic kinda taints her beautiful voice.....is that a 990? say it ain't so.
 
Chris, I thought at the beginning of the tune that the guitar had a phasey kind of a sound to it like a low bit rate MP3. Hell, it could be because it IS an MP3 (go figure :eek: ). My only VERY minor beef. Overall, I think it's pretty damn good to outstanding.
 
any possible defects here are under my detectibilty threshold.
perfect as far as I can tell.
she has a lovely voice.
cheers
C.
 
Very listenable!
"Great Expectations" really has a great overall vibe, with plenty of emotion and feeling in the recording. Your daughter is very talented, she just has a great voice for doing that kind of music. I bet if she would have been out doing this during the chick singer/songwriter hayday (you know, mid 90's when jewel, sara mclachlan, paula cole, chantal kraviazuk were all real the rage) she probably could have sold a million records. Heck she still might. I'll play it for my wife and daughter and see if they like it. Pretty sure they will.

As for the mix: I really do not feel qualifed giving an opinion on a mix when the person in question is making stuff of higher quality than I am....lol.

Amra
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top