Amazing Grace - RnB Style (Help me improve it!)

Hi All,
 
I was exposed to a lot of church music as a child, probably my first songs to learn were all hymns being part of the local and school choir. Amazing Grace was always one of my favourites, it just has that glorious melody which is simple but yet so powerful. After reading up on the situation of John Newton when sailing through a rough storm on a slave ship, the song suddenly rang a little deeper.
 
This version wont be to what you expect and I know there is plenty of christian musicians on this forum! instead of going the church route, I changed it up. It now has an RnB beat, funk arrangement, light orchestration and a tonne of vox layering.
 
Please let me know if you like or not and if possible some crits/improvemetns on what you didn't like, where did you get bored how did the mix sit
 
https://soundcloud.com/ci.../amazing-grace/s-B9YDm
 
Cian

Thanks starrise.
 
I have a kind of electric gospel piano in there and I dont think I have synths there unless my orchestration sample choice sound crap!
 
Im actually thinking this is a bit "long" to be RnB and might cut out the 2nd/3rd last section.
 
Anyone else have any other thoughts?
 
Thanks,
 
Cian

Love the up tempo spin on this. I thought the lead vocal stayed fairly constant throughout and maybe you could build this a bit more to match the build in instrumentation, backing vocals and key change, that I felt worked quite well.
It's a tough job to make this a new song. Good job.

Really like it. Out of interest what were your main sound sources...especially the brass falls?!

:-)

Well done Cian and nice take on this classic. The mix and vocals are very nicely done!! I agree with Rebel007 on the build up need.........(especially during the key change) would give this more of an emotional uplift.
 
Really enjoyed listening to this (x2).....good job!!! 
 
   

Thanks everyone for their feedback on this.
 
I agree with many points.
Eq-ing the intro vocals makes a lot of sense. I too feel the lead vocal should become more present as the song goes on and you know this is a problem with doing part/multi takes with a digital DAW, instead of trying to do one full take and your vocally naturally lifting the song relative from start to finish, instead you go back record individual sections without any real reference to the other parts, make sense.
 
Unfortunately I have gone travelling just before I could get a chance to implement these few tweaks. Perhaps when I get back.
 
Thanks,
 
Cian
 
 

A great and interesting interpretation of one of the great gospel songs ever.
Great arrangement and terrific vocals.

Re: The Mix. Nice A-
Re: The Song Style. C+
Re: The Performance. A+
 

You're a talented vocalist and a very good musician, but this arrangement/style seems like a bit of an odd juxtaposition.  It's almost like if Kanye West were to try a country song; it might be pretty darn good but it would sound out of place.  I respect the craft and effort you put into this.
 
Regards,

My belief is that any song can be done any way.  Amazing Grace the movie. was great.  I actually love this version. The modulation at the end was really smart.  Nice, Cian!