Traditional Christmas Song

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chrisharris

chrisharris

King of Bling
My daughter Jaimee had to learn a viola part for her Christmas orchestra concert, so I decided it'd be fun to record the whole tune. And, since I just got a new computer this week, I thought it'd be a nice test.

Well, I don't have a lot of the software on the new computer yet, so this is pretty basic. I discovered something...the new computer is VERY loud (fan noise, etc.) and I used a ton of noise reduction to kill the noise, and it put a digital effect on Jaimee's vocal, and I'm saying this up front because it's not AUTOTUNE. AUTOTUNE would have sounded nicer.

Anyway, if it's annoying enough, I'll have her retrack it and just move her into a closet to sing...(seems kinda' cruel, though).

Let me know whatcha' think.

Also, if anybody has any tips for isolating computer noise, please share them.

:D
-THE DEFENSIVE ONE

"SILENT NIGHT"
www.nowhereradio.com/honestmango/singles
 
sounds good..............great singing.........the vocals don't sound too effect covered........what effect did you put on them?..........i know you were probably kidding about singing in a closet, but that's actually what i do.......my cpu is about 10 feet from a closet and i have my mic and pop-filter setup in there as kind of a 'singing booth'........i did it initially because my recordings sounded too roomy, and it helped quit a bit....or you could build a little wooden cpu box with a door and that would be pretty sound proof, you could probably get stuff for that at home depot for under $20....you won't get much cpu noise that way...............try to get rid of the noise from the source, rather than noise reduction software, though...that can kill a recording........
 
powderfinger said:
i know you were probably kidding about singing in a closet, but that's actually what i do.......
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Not kidding at all...I've got a pretty big walk-in closet in our bedroom, and my wife has managed to absolutely FILL it wall to wall with hanging clothes, and I've noticed all the clothes make the space totally "dead" from a reverb standpoint. I've never done it before, b/c I don't have somebody to hit "record" for me, but unless I construct something to go around my computer (sure to be a no-no with the wife), I'll have to figure something out.

powderfinger said:
the vocals don't sound too effect covered........what effect did you put on them?
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I had to use some compression, because she's got a pretty "dynamic" vocal, but I think I've finally got vocal compression kinda' figured out; at least, for what I do. The only other "effect" is reverb..."Concert Hall Light" preset in Cool Edit Pro 2.0.

The more I've listened to this, the more the digital bubbles are bugging me. Definitely going for the closet vocal this evening.

Thanks a ton for listening,
Chris
 
I thought it sounded pretty good. I like the violin. The effect was cool on the voice, and she has a really nice one. My only criticism would be that it might be a bit on the long side, but not too bad!

Nice job Chris.
 
Sounds awsome Chris.I listened to it last night on the nowhere front page.The harmony vocal work is Killer.Im talking 5 star top notch harmonies man.I was singing along with the normal harmony and then I noticed it do some of those beautiful "not so normal" harmonies.This is added to the Christmas Music Rotation on the puter for the holiday season.

Your girl has a natural voice that sounds raw and innocent.It's great.I was gonna pm you later on if you didnt post this tune.Thanks for posting it Chris.

Kramer
 
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Autotune?!?!? who the hell would have mistook that for autotune????? :eek: :confused: You'd have to be pretty stupid...


:D :D

but anywhooo....

to make a permanent record of my comments on this one...

I liked it... it's a great rendition... nice and simple... clean guitars... great vocal and BGVs (ditto on Kramers comments aboot the BGVs.. super sweet)... I wasn't too hip on the viola, and the digital effect that the noise reduction had on her voice was a little detracting for me... (but I'm sure that's just me.) :p Being the anal person that I am, I would re-track the vocals in the closet (something that I wish I could do on my stuff) because her voice deserves better representation. :p


But over-all.. very nice.

WATYF
 
Simply outstanding sir. Cello and guitar. Can it possibly get better than that? She's got a great voice. With the harmonies it reminds me of Peter, Paul and Mary (and I mean that as a HIGH compliment). This was very, very good.:D
 
chris-

that was a very pretty version of that song. Man, I had no talent when I was 12. I could barely play my 3 stringed guitar. I only wish you were closer than Texas! If you and jaimee are ever in the Cincy, lemme know and you can have reign of one of our studios for a day for some recording!:)

Good job, nothing to add over whats been said already.

H2H
 
HEY GUYS!!!

And I mean that literally...why are there no women around here? Oh well, with comments like these, I'm sure my daughter will stick around for a few years.

rats - It's a little shorter now. I hacked out part of the instrumental section in the middle. Another thing that makes it longer is the 4/4 time signature. I'm pretty sure it's usually done in 3/4. Anyway, thank you very much for listening.

kramer - that was very cool thing to say. My wife saw your comment and said: "awwwwww." That says it all. Thanks.

WATYF - You crack me up. The more I listened, the more it bugged me. I got her to resing it in the closet, and guess what...there was still a BOATLOAD of noise, so it looks like it's not solely CPU noise to blame. I honestly don't know where the noise is coming from at this point, but this time, I lowered the floor of the noise reduction a lot. There's more hiss, I think, but less warble. Lemme' know if it helped or hurt. Thanks, as always, for taking the time to make it better.

track rat - One of my favorite tunes of all time is "Glycerine," by Bush...that cello and distorted guitar just rule. Actually, this one's a little different. It's a viola...I didn't know what a viola was last year when she started playing it, but it's basically a large violin. Supposed to be warmer, and it seems to be. She hasn't had this one for very long...(made me go to Austin to get this old German intrument; since it cost about 10X as much as any other viola there, I'm sure it's better :rolleyes: ) Anyway, I appreciate the listen.

Hard2Hear - Very cool of you to offer, man. It's tempting. So, you think there are commercial possibilities for a Texas girl who sings and plays guitar and piano and a big fiddle? hehehe...seriously, thanks.

OKAY, A SOMEWHAT LESS DIGITAL (and shorter) VERSION IS UP. THANKS IF YOU HAVE THE TIME.

:D
-THE SOMEWHAT LESS DEFENSIVE DAD
 
i added some washboard and spoon tracks and posted on my nowhere site. tell me if you like it......LOL.

so you posted three versions before i got a chance to comment and it kept getting better and i was hesitant to respond cause i thought i'd give you another day and it would just be ready for pressing. you quit your job didn't you? i mean it takes me roughly three months to get a first take of anything posted and i have yet to post a second version of anything and you do three within twenty-four hours!

as for the third post....the vocal sounds better each time with less and less artifacts from the whatever effect it is that made it sound bad. i think on the fourth you might just let it go dry with whatever compression you need to even it out..but that's just a thought. stop messing with her voice dad, just let her sing!

your acoustic guitar sounds awsome. sounds very uneffected and very nicely stereo. double tracked or stereo miced or neither?

love the harmonies, especially whatever you're doing on the word 'heavenly'...that sounds very nice.

can't say much about the fiddle. it just doesn't sound like it's coming through real well. it's not real present in the mix in the solo spots.
 
Hey Chris,

.....beautiful man. It is always a pleasure to listen to your talented little girl. Beautifully played, and performed. I liked your choice of sounds. Super Nice!!!

Regarding the "bubbling" sound that you mentioned (that sounds a bit auto-tunish), Im guessing that you were refering to the bg vocs. Thats where i seem to hear it... I must confess, thats what i thought it was when i first heard it yesterday (tried to post then but.......... ......aw fuck, you know:D ) I listened a few times today..... could be the some of the instrumentation just blends that way with your vocs. It does seem like you hear that little "ledge" in some of those harmonies though.......;) j/k
Beautiful choice of notes for those harmonies man..... A classy rendition of a classic.


G
..............5 big holiday stars for the Harris family
 
Re: HEY GUYS!!!

chrisharris said:
WATYF - Thanks, as always, for taking the time to make it better.
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Huh??? :confused: I wasn't trying to make it better... I just wanted to make up for some of my inadequacies and insecurities by maligning other people's talents and abilities...

sheesh...

you think I do this to help...???


:D :p

(by the by,... it was a little better in the "warble" department... I hope you get a better room to record in soon.)

WATYF



P.S. I'm with Guernica.. another thing that threw me on the whole "autotune" thing was the way the BGV's sounded... but I guess that's just your amazing natural vocal ability... Now if only I could get some vocal ability... (but I'd settle for autotune... :D)
 
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Wow, Chris. Your daughter really has an eerie amount of soul. Not many could keep my interest with a fairly straightforward rendition of a christmas song, but something about her voice really grabs me. Nice recording too!

On another note, when I first signed up at Nowhere, I spent some time roaming around listening to people's stuff, trying as usual to find *something* worth listening to amongst all the online junk. The only page I actually liked enough to bookmark was yours - & I just realized this today when I listened to Silent Night. I was thinking "geez, these song titles look familiar." Then I realized it was that page I'd bookmarked back when (before I found this place).

Just thoughtcha'd like to know...

Chris
 
IS THAT ALL???

Jeez guys, you're gonna' make me give away all of my production "secrets" in this one thread alone. THE MAGIC OF THE MAGICAL BACKUP VOCALS. Lol...Still not autotuned...what I did is even worse, actually. When I sing a backup line, I TRY to sing as tightly as I can with the lead vocal. I don't always succeed. It's not a big deal when you're a little short, but when you're long...it sounds bad. So I frequently splice in between words and move them over to the left to sync up the vocals...or sometimes to un-sync them, if it sounds better. Anyway, when I start sliding my vocal on top of itself, it does definitely sound "unreal." This one actually got worse after she re-sang it, b/c I had to do more sliding than usual to sync up with a new vocal that didn't exist when I sang the original backups. I should have just resung them, but then I wouldn't have time to sit here and hit "refresh" so that I can watch the page time out.

erichenryus - LOL. You jugband freak. Actually, I think a nice raking washboard would have been lovely on this. Don't tease. The thing about her voice...besides compression, reverb's the only other thing I intentionally put on it. But the noise reduction is a must on this one. There's a VERY SUPER noticeable hiss if I don't use any. If I can hear it, it's bad...trust me. The gits...THANK YOU...I've been trying for months to get a comment like that. New mics helped, I think. The stereo'd rhythm guitars are really just one track, copied and panned opposite about -80 and +80, with one of the channels offset by 30ms. After screwing around with double tracking, I've decided I'm just not good enough on rhythm to make it sound "uncluttered" unless I do it this way. The other guitar is my Rosewood Larrivee (boomy)finger picked and panned a bit to the right, I think. Finger picking it gives it an acoustic bass sound, kinda. As for the viola, WATYF commented that it sounded a bit "thick," which I interpreted as TOO LOUD, so I pulled it down a db or 2 and cut some mids. Wow, you probably didn't care that much :D

Guernica - hehehe...Please see ridiculously long-winded and defensive response at the top of this post. Yes, it's still cheating, but I'm always very careful to point out the precise METHOD I used for cheating. But more importantly, thank you for your cool words and stars and stuff. You're one of the good guys.

WATYF - Please see ridiculously long-winded and defensive response at the top of this post. Yes, it's still cheating, but I'm always very careful to point out the precise METHOD I used for cheating. Thanks again man.

groucho - Thank you for taking the time to listen. I really appreciate the comment about the other tunes too. I figure there are now 2 people on the planet who have my page bookmarked...yes, you're the other one. LOL. Thanks, man.

Okay, if anybody else can get this site to load and takes the time to respond...Here's my request. PAY NO ATTENTION TO THE MAN BEHIND THE CURTAIN...FOR I AM THE ALL-KNOWING AND ALL POWERFUL OZ, AND THIS IS MY COMMAND!!!


:D
-The Technologically Challenged One.
 
very nice.. I especially liked listening to the real viola.. loads of talent, no doubt!


To my ears, it definitely sounds like auto tune on all the vocals.. I listened to sweet lorraine again, and that sounds very different vocal wise..


that being said, great piece of work... a classic sounding great version of this tune..


sam (w/1!) :D errr, I mean 5!
 
That was beautiful. You gotta be proud of your daughter. She has a very resonate voice. Nice instrumentation. One of the better renditions I've heard.

Maybe I shouldn't mention it (keeping in the holiday spirit) but it seemd like the viola covered up the low harmony part.
 
Dont mean to butt in on your thread Chris, but this site seems to be working, so im gonna blurt out as much as i can before Im forced into "HELL" again:D .

You mention cheating.... the more i hear from you and the other guys messing w/ auto tune, the more i think its a great idea for bg vocals. I sometimes put 6 tracks of vocs down for harmony bg's..... ....and alot of them are in a range i dont have any business being in:( . It might take me 40 or 50 takes to hit the note somewhat convincingly. At times like that, I would jump all over auto-tune if i had one. .....try to save a little time and sanity. I dont consider that cheating, I would call that good sense. If it makes the tune sound better...... its a good thing.

.....anyways, Great song man!!!!
 
proud pappa!!!

i love it!! her voice sounds more mature on this one, dont know why?? you have every reason to be a proud pappa!!! i wouldn't know auto tune if it bit me on the nose!! but there is something happening?? im hearing tremolo?? which i guess could be mistaken:confused: is that an effect?? or does she naturally have that tremolo style?? either way, it was a pleasure!!
i can't think of a better way to spend time with your family! way to go guys!!

thank's

peace

rick
 
fenderlikingood's right... tremolo FX all the way... (haven't dl'ed the newer version)... (was going to post that last night, but leave it to rick to point out the obvious ;):D) At least you understand how to set it to the tempo of the music... multitap? Has to be... either that or you broke out a calculator to set the dang thing :)

Cool BGVs chris, and I mean REALLY COOL BGVs... sounds like one o' them Oakridge Boys-type band harmonies (or "Brooks & Dunn" or whoever the hillbillies of the month are :D)

Jaimee sounds like her voice is getting better, all the time. She certainly sounds more grown up than 12!

The stereo spread is excellent... the F--A--R apart halves of the acoustic work well in this tune, because of the F__A__T sounding middle of the sound stage. (A good separation trick).

Sounds great. Her viola playing reminds me of my brother's violin playing when he was 9-ish... coulda been pretty good had he stuck with it. A talented young woman, there.


Sincerely,

-the OTHER nobody :D
 
Very nice Chris. Nice arrangement (no surprise there) good playing and the harmonies are very cool but you know what the coolest thing in the whole song is? That little flourish she does with her voice right at the end. You know the one I'm talking about? That , my friend, is a very mature lick.
She's gonna be good bro; your fun is just beginning. I enjoyed all the parts that everyone else likes.....but I keep coming back to that bit at the end.......nice....
 
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