She Is Fine

spantini

spantini

COO of me, inc.
New Mix 5.1 @ Post # 19 (4-8-2022)

She Is Fine ©

I walk into the bedroom and you're standing there
I take off my shoes, you your robe, and you are bare
The phone rings and you say who could be callin' me
At this time of night, the answer is not hard to see

Hello dear, How are you, I'm just fine
With a tear, she says No, she is fine

As they talk, I put on my clothes in the bathroom
I turn out the bathroom light and I head for the door
As I pass I can see her lyin' on the floor
With a bottle-o-pills she had taken from her drawer

Hello dear, How are you, I'm just fine
With a tear she says No, she is fine
Hello dear , How are you, I'm just fine
With a tear, she says NO, she is fine
She is fine
She is...

Lead Break

I hang up the phone and I call the rescue squad
Come on in boys, she's right here, can you save her life?
I went back to my room to call my dear, sweetest wife
No one answered at first, but then I heard her say

Hello dear, How are you, I'm just fine
With a tear, she says No, she is fine
Hello dear, How are you, I'm just fine
With a tear, she says No she is fine
She is fine
She is fine
She is...
______________________________________________

Here's my first (mostly) complete song mix. Please feel free to offer nits and advice as I'd like to get this sounding good all around. The vocal is a first take and it's all over the place, I know. So I'm putting up one without vocal and one with. WTF, right?

p.s. If anyone would like to put some lead guitar in the lead break here it could sure use it - I'm no hot-lick guitarist.

Thank you!

______________________________________________

Just about everyone who hears this song expresses some confusion concerning the lyrics.

It's a little story about a guy away from home on business staying in a hotel. He's having a one night stand in her room in the same hotel. The phone rings, it's her husband calling to check on her. The guy slips into the bathroom to dress while they speak, she feels massive guilt over her adulterous activity, swallows a bottle of downers and passes out on the floor. He comes out of the bathroom, sees her there and calls 911. He lets them in and heads back to his room. When he gets there he calls his wife to check in with her and she's going through the same ordeal as his one nighter because she's also having a one night stand while he's away. It's a vicious circle...

Whether either girl makes it is left up to you.
 

Attachments

  • She Is Fine © No Vocal Mix 1.mp3
    4 MB
  • She Is Fine © With Vocal Mix 1.mp3
    4 MB
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Well your voice reminds me of John Prine I think, or maybe Leonard Cohen.
And you know the vocal track needs some love especially in presence as right now it ducks out a lot.
The music sound good and tight, with the bass and kick locked in.
The tune reminds me of a guy who used to post here under TripleM.
 
Manslick said:
Well your voice reminds me of John Prine I think, or maybe Leonard Cohen.
And you know the vocal track needs some love especially in presence as right now it ducks out a lot.
The music sound good and tight, with the bass and kick locked in.
The tune reminds me of a guy who used to post here under TripleM.
Click to expand...
Thanks, Man. I found a couple TripleM songs here but their player wasn't available. I'm going to keep working on my voice - get some strength back in it. Right now I have very little breath control since I stopped singing regularly. Still breaks here and there, too.

Thanks for your comments.
 
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This one has the same vocal track that has the EQ tweaked and added a bit of reverb and compression. I think it evens it out some, but not enough to let me increase the volume as much as I'd like without it sounding too harsh.
 

Attachments

  • New Mix 2.mp3
    4 MB
spantini said:
. I'm going to keep working on my voice - get some strength back in it.
Click to expand...
You sound comfortable in front of the mic. Areas need attention. But hey, you figure it out , you let me know..

Plenty of potential in this project. Nice job.

The guitars were not aligned well, not sure if its latency or just different parts layered. Tighter would be better. The strums could be more percussive if they were cleaner.
 
Thanks. I did strum differently on the background guitar tracks, and the main guitar track was purposely played tighter. The background guitars are also jangling through some Fender Reverb amp sims - just running wild. I'll work on syncing their strumming with the main guitar for a tighter sound.
 
I meant to say this before, the melody you're singing is in the same register as the guitar chords, and I think that is not helping the vox to be as clear as possible.
Short of re-tracking the guitar to play alternate chords in a different register you could maybe do some panning.
Or maybe I know nothing.
 
Manslick said:
I meant to say this before, the melody you're singing is in the same register as the guitar chords, and I think that is not helping the vox to be as clear as possible.
Short of re-tracking the guitar to play alternate chords in a different register you could maybe do some panning.
Or maybe I know nothing.
Click to expand...
You noticed.. ;) I did take it up because it was easier to sing higher until my voice gets back where it belongs. Normally, I would sing those higher parts in a lower range - on stage after a pitcher of beer.

Two of the guitars were panned L & R but not much, maybe 15%. They may get wider as things go along.
 
I did this prior to Manslick's last reply.

More... I added more verb to the vocal and upped it's volume several dBs. The major, glaring part is a flubbed word in the last verse (cone/phone). I also added another guitar up the middle through a small amp sim with no FX - that seemed to tighten things up a bit more.. just a bit.
 

Attachments

  • New Mix 3.mp3
    4 MB
Here it is after correcting the vocal flub (misspoken lyric cone/phone) at the start of the last verse.

 
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The intro reminds me of Mink DeVille. Your vocal is much improved on that last version. I'd be tempted to put some compression on the vocal to even the level, esp in the last verse. Cool tune
 
Thank you. I'm glad you like it. I should have such style as Mink.. ;)

I know what you mean. I could try a bit more compression on the vocal, but I may just retrack it as it could use cleaning up in a few other areas.
 
Excellent tracking and mixing. I listened to 1, 2 and 4. I can hear the difference in all the vocals. Didn't like #4. 1 and 2 are a tossup, although maybe a nod to #2. I can see why you're struggling with the vocals, but everything else is pristine.

The instrumental part could maybe use a lead instrument over the chords. Otherwise kinda just eh.

But good job overall.
 
Thanks for the encouraging comments :) I'm looking for someone to fill in that lead break section. Bass is my main instrument and my lead guitar skills are limited to fast bass-like runs with no frills. I'd like it to rock more than that.
 
The vocal sounds unique! I can't believe it's the first complete song mix. Compared to my first song, this one sounds much better. I'm not sure if you intended it, but it sounds pretty much '70s one but with a modern feeling. I think it'll sound better If you process the vocal part a little bit more.
 
soulicparadox said:
The vocal sounds unique! I can't believe it's the first complete song mix. Compared to my first song, this one sounds much better. I'm not sure if you intended it, but it sounds pretty much '70s one but with a modern feeling. I think it'll sound better If you process the vocal part a little bit more.
Click to expand...
Thank you for your encouraging remarks :) This one was written in the early 80's and performed live with my band only once. That version was a faster tempo and had some grittier guitar work from a pair of guitarists (I was on bass).

That seems to be the consensus - improve the vocal performance. After a brief rest to get my ears back, I'll dive into it again. The current track is clearer, but I believe it sticks out from the mix too much. It's too forward.

Actually, it's the first (mostly) complete song mix I've posted in this forum. My mixing days go back to the early 80's when our band first entered a recording studio. Then I took up home recording - all analog. I put that on hold from '98 until around 2013 when I joined here and took up digital home recording with a DAW (Reaper). It took a while before I became comfortable with doing all this "in the box", so to speak.
 
Meanwhile, back at the ranch...

New Mix 4-8-2022

Here's the latest updated mix with some lead guitar in the break. The lead is 2 tracks - 1 recorded wet with a bit of reverb only, then a 2nd dry. The blend is mostly wet with just enough dry to give it some bite. No other FX added. The 2 leads are aligned here, though I have been playing around with some delay on the dry only then flipping it around to delay on the wet only - it fattens it up but I'm not sure I like it better than the cleaner sound here. I haven't settled on the volume of the lead guitars yet, it just sounds kinda nice here for now.

 
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Okay, I just came to this now, so I played the most recent mix, and then I went back to the first mix (with vocal) and compared, and I have to say I much prefer the level of the vocal on the first one. Don't hate me. I just want to turn down that new vocal by 3 dB or so.
 
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