Simple little tune

  • Thread starter Thread starter WhiteStrat
  • Start date Start date
WhiteStrat

WhiteStrat

Don't stare at the eye.
So my singer/songwriter friend wrote a song for an upcoming wedding. She wanted something a bit nicer than the recording of the live performance off the board at the ceremony, so she came over and we knocked it out today.

 
Very nice, Bob.
I think the voice could use a little "room", it sounds kind of boxed in to me and very "in your face". I can hear reverb in the back but it sounds pretty distant. Could be my taste though...
Piano sounds lovely.
 
She's got a nice voice. Piano does sound nice. What is it?
 
I echo Joey's comment. I like her voice, but I almost want to turn down my volume because it's *so* much higher than the piano. Turn her down a bit, and layer on some reverb, and it'll be awesome. Good work!
 
I can hear what the other guys are saying about her being maybe too up front. But she's got a damn nice voice, so I can live it. Piano sound like a piano!!!! Very nice.
 
The voice is a little out of pitch sometimes, but I can only relate to that idea, but if i like the riff or phrase i'm playing, I wont try to remake it to get it perfect.
I love the tune. Great voice and simple nice piano with great harmonics. :)
Thumbs up !!
-Though i'm new to this "profession" I must agree when people digg your authentic piano.
 
Nice song, nice vocals, nice keys.

Wrap a bit of reverb round the vocals to give it some space and that should settle it back in the mix significantly just doing that. Something nice and flattering like a hall-type reverb.
I think that's what people are referring to when they say it's a bit in you face, or "boxed in". Possibly could drop the level back a touch but I think with reverb you shouldn't need to more than literally a couple of dB.

Round about 4 mins, at the key change might just be worth checking the vocal level meters, because it's clipping where she sings out, but only just. Could be the master bus, or the vocal not sure.

The piano could do with some reverb too I think. It's an electric piano right? Putting in the same reverb hall setting as for the vocals should really help. I usually put in a second reverb too, something short and a bit bottom-heavy to give the piano more of an real acoustic grand-piano tone, but be careful not to over do it. You shouldn't really hear the short one actually as reverb, more just as a kind of opening out of the tone of the piano (I know I sound snobbish but can't explain it any better, I hate myself for it, sorry!)

I know that seems like a lot of comments on something that I'm saying sounds good already, but I'm only saying them because I think it's already really close to being great.
 
Hey thanks for all the listens and comments guys--sorry it's taken me so long to get back here.

I think I jumped the gun with this one (actually, I usually do!). I was so stoked to have something, anything, to post in the clinic, that I rushed it. I should have given my ears a day or two. I definitely hear what your saying.

So here's a second go 'round. I tried to "tuck" her voice into the piano without burying it under the piano. (And bumped up & tweaked the reverb.) Let me know if it's better:



Thanks again!
 
Oh yeah--the piano. She tracks and sings with her Kurzweil stage grand, but I also capture MIDI and then replace it with a patch of my own. In this case (and always with her voice for that matter) it's a concert grand patch from Sample Tank. Real nice to work with.
 
Yup. Good work. New version addresses all the issues I had with it. Great job, man. Sounds awesome.
 
Odd, I was thinking it'd be an ode to wedded bliss but it kicks off as a praise song.
Well captured & mixed/fixed.
 
Yes, the 2nd mix is a huge improvement. The vocal and piano are integrated now in a way that they simply weren't before.
 
Back
Top