R&B with emphasis on the B!

  • Thread starter Thread starter elbenj
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elbenj

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Probably the first song I ever wrote and it was quite
a while ago. I feel pretty good about the recording.
Feel free to comment!

Song is titled "It Use To Be So Sweet"

www.javamusic.com/lbenj
 
i like the way the tune is mixed as far as the placement of the lead and back vocals in the mix. the music style seems more easy listening that r&b and isn't my thing, so i won't comment there. of course i'm listening on laptop speakers... not exactly a prisine listenting room.

both songs are kind of laid back-ish. i'd like to here you pull the blues out of your vocals on a tune and show some real pain.
 
FIrst thing I noticed was that I liked the bass.
Second thing was that I was not really digging the strings. Although on a second listen, they sounded fine.

Third thing is that I like the backing arrangement. Its cool.
You sing well. I think those lead vocals will sound better if you took away some of the soundstage and put the singer almost in front of our face.

I am listening on headphones .I will send you the email I promised as soon as I can listen to your stuff on my monitors.

I liked the song. I think it could still give that effect if was a few BPMs faster. maybe 3 bpms faster.

YOu can get away with some more panning of the backing vox imho. and you can also make them more forward.

The song reminds me of Will downing who I just love.

The end is tight as far as climaxing

keep it up
 
Not bad. Sounded almost adult contemp at times. I thought the strings were ok. THe background vocals and lead vocals were real good for most of the song. There were a few spots that bothered me with the vocals. Don't remember exactly where they were.

Good track though

Ray J
 
The bass sound's real good, and I like lead and back-up vocals as well...nice track man and good recording on this.
 
crossstudio,

Hey I think I feel you on the laid backish feel. I have
stepped both of the songs down a couple of half steps
so that I could have a more controlled feel to my lead
vocal and its affecting the feel I wanted. Also, I dont seem
to have a clue as to what genre Im doing from song to song
so I will have to apologize if I say its one thing but sounds
like another. :) I appreciate the feedback!

Cyan,

Thanks for listening. On the backing vocals, Ive got them panned
hard left and right and center. And pretty much tripled track each part. And thanks for the Will Downing comparision thats pretty awesome! I am gonna redo the lead and take a look at the tempo
change. Also, I hope you downloaded the mp3 and not just listened to the preview. The preview just doesnt do this recording
justice.

Ray J,

Thanks for listening and you are right on the lead vocals
I made some irritating phrasing errors that are gonna require
a retake or one of my favorite new terms "A Do Over" :)
It amazes me how much pressure Im putting on myself in
my own recording studio. Again on the adult contemporary
I dont have a handle on what to classify these songs..what
would you call this and the other "Heavenly Woman"

David,

Thanks for listening, the bass is actually my main instrument
and so all of my arrangements start with the bass. I can,t seem
to record the bass guitar as of yet the way it needs to be and
have resorted to the Triton for my bass sounds.

To all, download the mp3..it really is a much better representation
of the recording.....Thanks again for listening guys!!!!!
 
Oh for real?

Thats cool then cos I listened to the preview.

Don't you need like a password to listen to the real thing?

Hey, tell me how to get to the real thing and I will give another review of that one.
 
Hey Cyan,

Just click on the download button..if it doesnt work let me
know...there should be no need for a password.

Thanks again Man!
 
hi elbenj,

It asked me to "login before I download"

I have to have a login name and password to download.

What program did you use on this?


Hey, I have some questions about my post. Can you please go there and help with it? thanks

CyanJaguar
 
Hey guys,

My bad on the downloads. You have to be a member to do
the actual downloads. I will find a way make them possible
for downloads. In the meantime, you might want to register
with them. It seems to be a pretty neat site and easy to use.

I mean you can't have your mp3,s posted in too many places
can you? :)
 
hi,

THe 128 kbps version is MUCH better.
Now I can say for real that the bass is NICE.

I actually like your placement of all the instruments.

What I thought was a soundstage is actually a tripling of the lead.
It works, but it sounds abnormal. I think you took it out somewhere in the song and then it sounds good.

Very good song.

peace
 
OK...

Nice song -- I really like the guitar parts with the vibrato (whammy bar?) and the bass is excellent. You sing really well. There are certain phrases that sound just ever-so-slightly off -- I'm not sure why, I think it's a combination of phrasing and delivery and pronunciation -- for example, at about 1:29 (first chorus) the way you annunciate the word "sweet" sounds -- well, funny... and the deep roll on the "r" when you sing "remember" at about 1:42...

Then the backup vocals there... I like the parts, but there's something funny about them too. Are they Autotuned or otherwise pitch-shifted to be higher than your normal range? And there's that pronunciation thing again... it's almost a nasal quality on certain syllables... I really notice on the first couiple of times of "it used to be so sweet..."

Boy, this is really nitpicky, it's just ever so slight, but my feeling is the song would be that much more moving if I wasn't hearing this.

-AlChuck
 
Cyan,

You are right on the money. I sang the first verse with 4 parts
initially thinking that it would be a chorus rather than a lead,
then decided to make it a lead and since I went through all the
trouble of tracking the first verse chorus, left in it there to get
feedback on it as it is.
Thanks for taking the time to listen!!!

AlChuck,

You too are on the money :) I have a naturally nasally voice
so I have to really concentrate to keep unnasally.....there are
definitely phrasing errors..and there is no doubt about it that
the lead will be done over and over again until its perfect:)

As for the backing vocals the same thing..the phrasing of the words..especially the sweet..which might sound more like
swate at times...but I dont use any autotune or pitch shifting
and I dont plan on using it..just a whole lot of "DO OVERS" which
is the great luxury of homerecording ..so more DO OVERS for
my backs upcoming :) thanks for the tight critique, I intend
on taking these songs and others to highest level obtainable.

I figure if I can make it through this tough engineering crowd
i should make out o k :) Thanks again for the feedback guys!!!

Did you guys download "heavenly woman" ? your thoughts
on that one if you dont mind.....
 
Whew... after I posted my message I looked at the top and saw where you said, "I feel pretty good about the recording," and I thought, "oh shit, he's going be mad at me..." :)
 
AlChuck,


What I meant when I said I felt good about the recording
was the mix, the arrangement and the quality of the sound.
The comments so far have been directed towards the vocal
performances which I knew weren't quite up to snuff yet :)

I felt you were sincere about your judgements and so,were
cool :) Thanks again man!!
 
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