Hello all,
Since this week we do not have a copy of the service to listen to, I thought I would upload a critical listening exercise. If you click on the title it will bring up a song to be played. Listen carefully and take notes on what you hear. Leave comments for all (good or bad). What would you do different? What do you like? Listen to more than the words of the song. Be specific i.e. "at 2:30 the guitar could be brought out more".
-Dan
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12 years ago
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4 comments:
A couple thoughts.
1) You have to click on the title of this post to hear the song. It took me a little bit to figure that out.
2) Ed Cash produced this record and he's one of my favorites so most of my comments will be positive.
Comments:
I like that the lead vocal doesn't have much reverb. It fits this song nicely. As I listen through I can hear each instrument in it's place and that is nice. I was surprised as I listened this time how present the drum set was in the mix. Sometimes it felt like it was second in line just behind the lead vocal. It's a great sounding acoustic set and was kind of a nice touch considering the groove etc. I didn't hear a lot of bass but it was there and I could hear a couple of the bassists fill lines too so it was certainly present. Overall like I said I love Ed Cash's production so I'm biased. He has done most of Chris Tomlins records as well as Bebo Norman, Bethany Dillon and Laura Story if you're interested in hearing more mixes like this.
I thought this mix was good. I would have had the harmony vocal be stronger when it first came in. It seemed to get lost in the rest of the band. However, it sounded better toward the end of the song.
I downloaded this one to my MP3 player and I've listened to it completely through several times. I LOVE the clarity of this recording.
There IS some sort of processor effect on the lead vocal, but it doesn't sound like reverb or chorus. Whatever it is, it's subtle
If I were mixing, I think I'd have been reaching for the lead vocal fader to bring it down just a TINY bit. The lead vocal was not just on top, but prominent/dominant throughout. I agree with Steve too that the harmony vocals were quite a bit under the lead. While bringing the lead down a smidgeon would help, I found I had to intentionally FOCUS on the background vocals to appreciate them.
Still a terrific recording and now that I've downloaded it, I'm sure I'll listen several more times!
First of all this is an excellent recording. So anything I say is such a minor detail that the average listener (our audience) would NEVER notice.
Cliff is right, there is something going on with his voice. I don't think it is reverb or chorus either. His voice in this recording is quite dry. It sounded like he was in a VERY dead and controlled environment to record. Which makes me think maybe this is what we are hearing. When you are used to hearing the natural elements of a room and they are suddenly gone, it could sound like an effect. I thought I heard a little bit of comb-filtering in his voice at times (when the mic hears the source twice but the second time is so close to the first it only cancels certain frequencies). This was possibly from a sound absorbing foam board behind the mic.
I think Ed Cash was moving Tommy's voice around on us a little. I could almost feel Tommy's voice moving around my head in time to the music when he was singing.
The BG vocals could have been brought out a little more but I don't think the purpose of this mix was to create a great even harmony with the BG vocals but to add a little color with them (in a live situation they would have been louder).
The instruments were excellent I especially enjoyed the keyboard. It was perfect for the song.
I really enjoy listening to this song and singing it at CBC.
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