Thanks. If you get a chance to listen through monitors, let me know if you still think the backing vox are too loud. I struggled with the balance of all these layers of vocals. I don't ever use this many vocal tracks. It's 10 vocal tracks.
I'm not hearing excessive sibilance on my end. It's a little crisp, but not too much to me. The reverb decay may be adding to what you're hearing. I agree about the distorted guitar, but it was kind of intentional. I had a thicker guitar sound, but it got mushy with all the vocals going on. Thanks for checking it out.
The Beach Boys had the best vocal harmonies ever. I don't, but I tried anyway.
http://soundclick.com/share?songid=7234792
Any mix/performance critiques or suggestions are appreciated.
Thanks,
Greg
I think this is basically a good recording, maybe a little more in-yo-face and not as ambient as original Beach Boys recordings, but you show your recording & playing competency on this. This mix sounds smoother on the top end than some of your previous mixes from 'bout a year ago, which I found too ear-searing while playing back at 80~90% full volume, my preferred listening level. I use that as a sort of yardstick when judging mixes. F/I, a classic 70's Lennon album will sound righteously good at that level, while in contrast switching to Metallica the sound is unbearable at that level. A dynamic mix holds together at that volume, and an overly heavy-compressed mix will literally fall apart at that volume, or perhaps your speakers....
Anyway, the fidelity of this mix is strong but not overpowering & pretty much in the pocket, IMO. So, kudos to you for not making my ears bleed. J/K!
I only follow covers on this board, so sorry if I've missed some of your other works! Dude, you rock, and I'd not just say that.
I don't think your basic style (as I hear it) fits this tune. Dude, you're way too manly with your energy, and the Beach Boys [IMO] were somewhat whimpy and sophomoric, ho hum. Nice harmonies, okay. Put on some tighty whities about 3 sizes too small before you do the Mike Love trip. Nah, just kidding, but I mean it! Heh.
You're capable of taking this tune to a new level,... don't make me "hint" what style I need to hear you do this in to be "authentic".
Okay,... take the tempo up about 25~30%,... mix volume about the same but manifest the guitars a lot more crunchy,... take it down to 2-part harmonies, max,... 1-2-3-4-BAM. Take out the tampon and I hope I never hear you doing MIke Love impressions again.
PS: I'm leery of fade-outs, because I generally believe they hide unsmooth endings, but I confess to not being an expert on this original Beach Boys recording, whether that would be authentic to the song. Maybe the original Beach Boys "clunked" on the ending, you never know.
I find your recordings generally good, so I can't knock the mix or your talent. Beach Boys seems like an ambitious stretch for you, so props on that. People never get tired of hearing KISS, the Ramones, Stooges or maybe Ted Nugent. That's where I see your niche. Take this tune, crank it up and make it like a Ramones or Stooges tune, and I'd bow to your genius!
/DA
But then that would make it like the Beach Boys version and not GregL Ramones in your face version. Yes it does need the high pitch vocals in the backing vocals. Sidechain a chorus effect to the backing vocal tracks and see how that works to beef them up. Start with a small amount and go from there. Also slap a small plate reverb (or any descent plugin) on the master bus and see how it sounds. Id also like to hear the mix with more dynamics. Put up a mix thats not so squashed, and let us compare. Id rather turn up my volume knob then turn it down to get the same loudness.
Yes, you are right. Its the reverb. Understand about the guitars. Don't you hate when that happens?
If that was the intention, then its perfect.
Yeah, in your face is better.
I wanted to keep it respectful, but it's not supposed to be a dead-nuts accurate remake. The arrangement is pretty correct, but I simply can't do the super-high vocal stuff. I'm a man!
I tried some chorus and it just makes the backing vocals sound washy and unclear. My pitch isn't good enough I guess. It definitely sounds worse with chorus. Maybe it's just too many vocal tracks.
Thanks for checking it out.
)! It all sounds good to me, your drums are great as usual, nice tempo changes and I think the vocal harmonies sound really good. I know how much work that is. 
Thanks dude. I'm not a big fade-out guy either, but that's how the original is.Ha, ha, the Ramonies play the Beach Boys
Sounds great Greg (even though I hate fade-outs
To me you've taken the soppiness out of the original and gave it balls! Great stuff!
Joe
Thanks a lot Ray. What's next? Ummm, I'm doing a juiced up cover of Sam Cooke's "Cupid" for my old lady and a sappy but Gregified punk doo-wop-ish original for Valentines Day.
Wow. The vocal layering is rich and complex. Like ray, I thought the bass sound in the beginning was really noticeably cooler than normal. Very full and deep, yet very articulate. I've heard the song before but am not really familiar with the arrangement, so it just sounds like greg to me!
Thanks XLR. I toyed with the idea of more subtle drums, but decided to go with my gut which always tells me to go big.
Thanks man. I should be able to get started on your drums this week maybe. I don't know anything about pitch shifting and autotune and all that stuff. If I can't sing it, it just won't get sung.Try to sing it as high as you can while staying in tune and not blowing your vocal chords out of your mouth and then pitch shift it up. Do that sparingly, as it tends to go from natural to chipmunk in less than one formant shift!
Nice job on this as usual, dude.
I can't wait to see what you do with my drum tracks!
Thanks LT. I'm gonna start focusing more on originals again.