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Eleanor Rigby

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Ok - here's a song I finished a couple months ago. I start out with the lightest curbing I can make up in the E4 - A4 range. Most the time above E4 I'm curbing - except 1:33 which is Overdrive on G4. Paul McCartney and the rest of those Beatles guys had great control up in that range. I think they were curbing most of the time. They knew how to do it really lightly, which is not easy. It always amazed me how natural sounding they were up there.

http://soundclick.com/share.cfm?id=9925494

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  • 2 weeks later...

I didn't have the right environment when I saw it in the thread to listen to it. This is now corrected and...

I'm just listening as I type this response...HOLY SHIT that is awesome!!! Very current. This could easily be on the radio today and be a smash hit!

I agree wholeheartedly. I could have written it myself :D

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I stumbled onto this thread by accident. I had already listened to the clip but very briefly and was in a hurry and didn't have time to write comments. I just listen to the track again and it's just a joy to listen to. For the most part I didn't listen to it with critical ears. I just sat back and enjoyed the music and the vocals. It's very professional sounding and you really have singing in the blood, man. I particularly liked your phrasing and emotion. Sometimes you put in slight vibrato, sometimes you ended a phrase with a slight downwards dive. Sometimes you pulled a bit back on the volume and sometimes you put your voice in a higher gear. You also showed that you have some control over moving across your range (from chest to head). And like Snax said, this could be something you'd hear on the radio. You've also put some effort into learning to mix songs, haven't you? Your songs always sound very well mixed.

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jonpall - thanks for your comments! I was actually putting some finishing touches on a new version of Eleanor Rigby when I read your post and thought I better update my web page. I've got all new drums / bass and I changed up the 3rd verse with a Drums / Vocal only section. If you get a chance please check it out and see what you think.

On mixing - thank you - yes I've been putting in a lot of time especially the last month as I've been switching out all my drums from Addictive Drums to Superior Drummer 2.0.

I'm searching for ways to practice distortion and your recent post is a good example of how to do it. I'm so paranoid that I'm doing it wrong that I haven't really developed a serious practice regimine for it yet.

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I wasn't sure where your new version of Eleanor Rigby was.

My recording setup is a Sennheiser 835 dynamic mic (a condenser would be better) through a cheap M-Audio Fast Track audio device (or whatever it's called). Then I use Cubase SX and EZDrummer. I haven't tried out those drum programs you've mentioned. Btw. are you playing the guitar solo on your version of "Carry on my wayward son"? It's very good. It's been very long since I heard the original version so I have no idea if the solo even resembles the original one.

It sounds that you're mostly using creaking instead of distortion. Personally I don't think you really need to change a thing about your voice. F.ex. your vocals on "Carry on my wayward son" show great connectivity in your voice and there is some grit here and there. If you really want to look into distortion (with the false folds) you could check out a recent post of mine about that subject in Bob's "Urgent" thread and see if that may help you. Basically, you may need to twang and lighten your sound colour (via a raised larynx and a lowered soft palate) to the point of you first thinking "hmm, that can't be right - it's too extreme and even slightly silly". But that's usually what you have to do at first and then you can pull back a little on the sharpness in the tone and make it a bit rounder but still keep the distortion so that you're morely likely to sound like Dio in his prime than Brian Johnson at the age of 89 in an elderly home.

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Geno,

man..I responded to this back in December, but I guess it didn't post. I've played this for several people and they were all blown away. Agree that this could be on the radio right now. You are insanely talented brother. Congrats.

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jonpall - Here is the new version: http://soundclick.com/share.cfm?id=9925494

EZdrummer is good - I've got it. Superior Drummer 2.0 is it's big brother - both created by Toontrack. I upgraded from EZD to SD2 for $99 when they had a special last fall. I had been using Addictive drums which is also good. Sounds like you've got a very nice setup. The quality of recording you are doing is excellent. A couple years ago I bought a large diaphram condenser for vocals - Sure KSM24. Your mic is more than adequate.

Yes - that's me on the guitar on Carry On. The original Solo was pretty short and they also had an Organ solo. I start out playing the orginal solo and then keep going with my own solo through what would be the Organ solo.

I'll try those distortion ideas. I would like to be able to turn it on and off at will - safely. Thanks for your ideas.

analog - thanks for the comments! I really appreciate it!

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You sound effortless and very pleasant. Not even your pronunciation suffered while you were holding back to have a lighter sound. The arrangement is also pretty cool. I didn't know the song before, so that probably influences my opinion, but even after youtubing the original, I still prefer listening to this.

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this is exactly what i am looking to do, whenever i try to do that beginning "ahh look at all the lonely people" i either get really loud, or my voice breaks apart. I don't know what to do or how to practice getting the effect i'm after. I also did a cover of eleanor rigby but i did it much differently then the way you do it. basically using falsetto for all high parts. I'd appreciate if you'd listen guitartrek

http://www.box.net/shared/dg1koumr6y

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this is exactly what i am looking to do, whenever i try to do that beginning "ahh look at all the lonely people" i either get really loud, or my voice breaks apart. I don't know what to do or how to practice getting the effect i'm after. I also did a cover of eleanor rigby but i did it much differently then the way you do it. basically using falsetto for all high parts. I'd appreciate if you'd listen guitartrek

http://www.box.net/shared/dg1koumr6y

Rich - I like your arrangement - very nice. Singing lightly in curbing up there is not real easy. There is still intensity to it even when done lightly because the TA and CT muscles are working against each other. When you sing in falsetto or neutral it is mostly just the CT muscles so you can sing as quiet as you want to. If you want to learn how to do sing this way - the fastest way is with a DVD instructional video or by taking lessons from someone who knows how to teach it.

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Validar - Thanks for your comments! Yes - as I love Dream Theater I take it as a big compliment!

anonimuzz - Thanks for listening and commenting.

ronws - "as mixed by Kansas" - Funny!

I don't say that just because you like Kansas. I hear some of the same production values as I heard on the first album, such as how they mixed "Journey from Mariabronne (sp?)" Or "Incommudro Hymn to the Atman." (Kerry Livgren and his fanciful titles!) And similar to mixing on "The Wall."

Whereas, the albums "Leftoverture" and "People of the South Wind" had a different tonality to them.

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