Dust in the Wind - 2015

[ronws]

I know I have done this song before but I wanted to do it again. I have better instruments, a better mic, and maybe a different approach in recording.

 

"Dust in the Wind" by Kansas.

 

https://app.box.com/s/rthd1ucilvugl6agoe381vp8hg5cpdm8

 

[Bono]

Really good Job, I loved it! The mix is good, to me you should add some reverb on the voice (I'm listening with the speaker of my phone and it sounds like it has not reverb)

Good choice on the song!

[KillerKu]

It's great. I am glad you solved your mic overloading problems. You can record all of your favorites with more timeless sound quality and build up a legacy of your voice this way.

 

There's no real technical help. It's good you have a more raw vocal track so store that one for later, if you're going to add more reverb or whatnot.

[Vats]

Nice one.

 

I'd like to hear, in general, a stronger tone, a more open vocal passage and less nasal resonance and to keep the softer approach as a way of adding dynamic quality to the performance, not as the main sound. Hope this helps. Cheers!

[akarawd]

Great head voice command, really dig what you did there

 

There's a little loss of control at a certain part in the end but nothing that cannot be corrected !

 

Cheers

Than

[Jeremy Mohler]

Beautiful, nice job mate.

[ronws]

Thanks, for the help guys.

 

There is reverb, a pre-set called small room, dark. And the dry track is 60 percent left and the reverb'd track is 60 percent right

 

Then I used it on the other guitars and the main guitar is actually dropped below the reverb'd track.

 

I used to sing this song louder, something like a belt. Geno had convinced me to try a softer version, which I did back then and now. Back then, everyone liked the softer version, and now, maybe, not so much. 

 

So, thanks for your honesty. I must use significantly more reverb. And I should go back to belting this song.

 

I can't hear my nasality, which is limiting because I don't know what to fix but I am going to re-listen and see if I can spot it and fix it. I am not arguing whether it is there, only that I may not be aware of it. I hear others far more nasal than I am and wonder how they cannot hear it in their voice but, alas, they don't. It's whatever you are familiar with, I suppose.

 

And I totally forgot to think about people might listen on a phone speaker and not hear the finer stereo effect I had going on. Now, seriously, that was stupid of me.

 

I had tried a mix out that was a bit more mono but it kind of mashed everything together and I didn't want that.

 

Edit to add: a spot that sounded wonky was the word "ground." I dipthonged it, darn it. And that change creates an odd effect. My bad...

[MDEW]

      Sounds good Ronws. your guitar playing has improved a lot also.

 I do not think you were overly nasal, I think it is an artifact of your physiology,  not a misuse of it (I am trying bigger words  ).

     I can hear a marked improvement of your over all sound. Keep up the good work.

[ronws]

Thanks, MDEW.

 

There are changes I made in this one. I played it looser. This time, playing on a Yamaha C45M classical guitar. Solo part on a Spectrum acoustic jacked into the interface. Originally, I was playing the solo with the Casio keys set on a violin tone but it sounded more like a wind instrument. So, I had already finished and balanced the song and had to go back in and re-do and re-write the solo.

 

The mic is the MXL V67G. I like it better than my old mic. It is warmer and a bit darker sounding, which I like, to help control the brightness of my voice.

 

There are things I am pleased with on this recording, regardless of my nasality. I recorded a good, clean track with good equipment. Like in my thread on recording, if you set your levels right and make a distortion free (and I mean overdriven levels distortion) track, the rest is just, as in this case, judgement calls on the mix. For that, I am proud of my own improvement. And hence, I cannot blame anything on equipment. You are hearing me, for better or worse, as well as if you were here in the same room.

 

In fact, maybe that is the problem with my reverb settings. What I chose kind of mimicks the room I am actually in, rather than a performance hall, cathedral, or small canyon. My presets go up to cathedral or I can totally mess around all the parameters come up with fish-speak, if I want to. So, yeah, what you hear in this recording is EXACTLY, as far as I can judge my own voice, which may be not very well, what you would hear  if you were at my house in the back living area. You on the 8' sofa and me in the chair, twanging on the guitar and warbling along. In a normal room, the reverb is fast and subtle.

 

I can hear some natural rasp in my voice that I was not doing anything technical to get. Some of it is just the sound of my voice and maybe, the allergies it feels like I have been suffering about a month. Which is not an excuse but it might explain my sound. I probably need to take another med for that.

 

The other part I am kind of technically proud of is in the practice of singing it soft. To actively hold back on the volume of the higher notes when my natural inclination is to go louder and brighter. So, this is an achievement of progress in my breath management. Whether this song ultimately gets good reviews or not, whether my choices in how to sing and mix it are questionable or not, I have achieved a few good things that will help me everywhere else. For example, the lack of people noticing anything off pitch. This means I have improved on pitch control, which is a good thing.

 

And also, thanks to the applause of others here.

 

All of this is valuable to me. The audience is the audience and they can only hear what they hear. And least we have here guys that are more technically savvy to express more directly and accurately what could be changed to help and that is way cool.

[ronws]

And a few more notes, just for giggles to explain my evolution in this song. It first hit the radio in my recollection, in 1977. I was 13 at the time and this song just blew me away. Not only the beauty of it but hearing it on a rock station.

 

I had been playing guitar for about three years, then. (There were and are plenty of guitar players far better and more accomplished than myself, not the least of whom is my brother, Slstone.)

 

So, I figured out, without tablature, which did not exist to my knowledge back then, nor sheet music, which I did not have access to, how to play this on one guitar. My thumb would play alternating bass on the two lowest notes while the first, second, and third fingers were tri-toning the rest. It was a tight little pattern.

 

In 1982, I saw Kansas play at the Reunion Arena in Dallas. Dang it, they play with two guitars, Kerry and Dave (Williams.) Anyway, so this time, I played the pattern loose but maintaining the meter.

 

On the album, and certainly in concert (though it was John Elefante in 1982), it sounded louder or more belty and so that is how I sang it for a really long time.

 

Our fellow member Geno had suggested I try it softer, which I liked and so I keep that onset, mostly, for this song, whether it ultiimately fails, or not.

[slstone]

I think you mean Rich(Williams). Dave(Hope) was the bass player.

[ronws]

You are correct, Scott. I meant to say Rich. At least I got the last name right.

[Bono]

 

I used to sing this song louder, something like a belt. Geno had convinced me to try a softer version, which I did back then and now. Back then, everyone liked the softer version, and now, maybe, not so much. 

 

I´ve not heard the louder version, but I do like this soft version... personal taste

 

Neither I hear nasality issues.. at least in this song

[ronws]

Thanks, Bono. If anything, I might sound a bit hypo-nasal on the word ground, which didn't bother me because even though I don't sound like Steve Walsh, he always sounded a bit hypo, to me. Which was not a bad thing, just a sound.

 

But the audience hears what it hears and some may hear nasality in my voice, though whether they meant hyper, which is through the nose, or hypo, which is blocked sinus, I am not sure.

 

But again, thanks for your help and review. You could have said the entire thing stank like a pile of horse droppings and that would still be okay.

[thisoldroad]

You've got beautiful qualities in your voice that can really shine in mellow songs with minimal arrangements.

If you are not used to sing softly, I think you should do it more and experiment with dynamics.

Im not sure what is your musical preference, but I think that man and guitar approach might suit you very well.

I didn't hear nasality. As others have already said, add some reverb.

 

Nice job and great song choice!

[ronws]

You've got beautiful qualities in your voice that can really shine in mellow songs with minimal arrangements.

If you are not used to sing softly, I think you should do it more and experiment with dynamics.

Im not sure what is your musical preference, but I think that man and guitar approach might suit you very well.

I didn't hear nasality. As others have already said, add some reverb.

 

Nice job and great song choice!

Thanks, and I think you mean add even more reverb in addition to the reverb I already mentioned putting on it. Which may be hard to detect if you are listening to it on a cellphone or even one of the smaller smartphones. I duplicated the vocal track and panned the dry one left 60 percent. Then the dupe, I put small or medium dark room reverb and panned it 60 percent right. The over all effect is that my voice is a smidge left of center, which was not planned but kind of cool. I was going for the unplugged sound.

 

And thanks, I think this style of performances suits me, also. I should probably do more of this, though I have also done so in the past. Other lesser known songs that don't get as much attention because they were not huge hits like this one was. In fact, Steve Walsh fans who leave after the band plays this song "dusters." Just here to hear that one song and then, vamanos por la Casa.

 

A song like this gets a lot of response because a large number of people know the original and have some basis for comparison. But if I were to do "Run for the Roses" by Dan Fogelberg, I can count on one hand, the number of people here who would know that song and would comment. And I am not complaining. I agree with you, I should work more on the stuff that suits my temperament.

[Gneetapp]

Hey Ronws, nice work! I could not hear nasality, and you were in tune for the vast majority of the song, and in control of your head voice. But I think your voice could benefit of a little more reverb because it sounded (IMO) with less reverb than the guitar, which was well played. I think I get what Vats meant with a beefier sound, and I agree, as I told you once that I like the other head voice (mix voice?) you use sometimes. I just don't remember now which song was that. I think you could use the really light sound for stylistic effects instead of all the time. I don't mean belting instead of the light approach either, but the mix voice/cry/twang. Sorry I don't know the right technical terms, but I'm not a vocal coach or an advanced vocal student, as you know. Overall, great sound man! Keep on rocking!

[ronws]

Hey Ronws, nice work! I could not hear nasality, and you were in tune for the vast majority of the song, and in control of your head voice. But I think your voice could benefit of a little more reverb because it sounded (IMO) with less reverb than the guitar, which was well played. I think I get what Vats meant with a beefier sound, and I agree, as I told you once that I like the other head voice (mix voice?) you use sometimes. I just don't remember now which song was that. I think you could use the really light sound for stylistic effects instead of all the time. I don't mean belting instead of the light approach either, but the mix voice/cry/twang. Sorry I don't know the right technical terms, but I'm not a vocal coach or an advanced vocal student, as you know. Overall, great sound man! Keep on rocking!

That's okay and I don't know all the technical terms, either. But that doesn't stop me. 

 

Call me the Shrek of singing, stomping down small trees in my path.   

 

This is how the tracks were effected. 

 

Classical guitar on first track, slight compressor, since it is such a light sounding instrument. No eq, no reverb.

Acoustic guitar for solo, eq based on the RIAA profile, which raises the bass and drops the the treble in a gentle decline.

Vocals, reverb with 10 ms predelay, 30 meter room, dark. Dry vocal track 60 percent left, reverbed vocal track 60 percent right. No eq adjustment, no compression.

 

But what I am getting from you guys is that it needs even more reverb. I may re-mix with that in mind.

 

Anyway, thanks Gneetapp for the support. It is valuable to hear your opinion and that of others. Most times, when I take the advice of others, it usually helps.

[Artist Anthony Flake]

You did an awesome job here Ronws, Sounds better than the original to me! Tone are pure and rich!

[dannysaxcho]

It sounds nice. I think it would sound better in couple keys lower because the notes seem pretty high. I wouldn't be able to sing that high but I guess it's all matter of opinions  

[ronws]

Thanks, again, guys. Danny, this is the original key of the song, in standard tuning. And the key is C and its relative minor, Am. On the pre chorus, the pattern goes G - Dm7 -Am.

 

Then the chorus  is D with an F# root (basically chorded as F#, - A - D,  to G, then to Am. And I am following the melody line from the album release.