EleanorRigby-NEW VOCAL

Ok I was waiting until the first version of Eleanor Rigby was not on page one of the song forum but it seems to keep poping back up.  I am very grateful to all of those who listened and gave comments.
 
Here is the result of some of those comments: http://soundcloud.com/aaudiomystiks/eleanorrigby-1 
 
I figured out what the dud notes were, including the fact I forget to put in the Em key signature in Notion 3, which resulted in the F# being an F natural, this is where the dissonant sound was coming from.
 
I decided to relinquish the lead vocals and instead got Alice to sing the song.  I don't normally like doing this because, well it's an ego thing but I could not sing that high, I even imported the track into reaper to use the Varispeed and I think this is what McCartney did on the original.  He slowed the track down and then recorded the vocal, then he returned the song to normal speed and well someone suggested the orignal is intended for a soprano singer.  I think Alice is singing soprano in parts.  Correct me if I am wrong.
 
Now because I wasn't really takeing Alices vocal seriously, I was thinking of overdubbing some of my own vocal over the top of Alice, I made a number of mistakes, one was using an SM58 but Alice is most comfortable with that microphone, this can lead to a bit of a boomier sound with the vocals and I did my best to combat that.  Then because I recorded the vocals in Reaper, then imported the vocals into Sonar X1, the vocals were recorded at 24 bit whilst the strings were bounced out at 32 bit fp, finally Alice wanted to do another layer of vocals after I had imported all the tracks into Sonar and I forgot to set the audio up properly resulting in the last lot of vocal being recored at 16 bit.
 
But all in all I think I have masked these problems and as someone has already commented on the vocals being there favorite part of the track, I must have done something right.
 
Finally I am still tossing the idea up of cutting this track up and turning it into a heavy metal dance version, maybe, time is not on my side and to get good results I need time.
 
Thanks for all the support over the weeks
 
Ben

Hey Ben I liked the track alot and think you did a great job.  The only 'but' is that the main vox is off to the side and very distracting....Like, I want to grab my left speaker and put it in the middle of my desk, that distracting.

Besides that, I thought it was a great job.  Have you thought about an electronica version??

Hey, Ben


This new version sounds much better with the "real" vocals added, and both you and Alice did a great job on the song.


Even though I know the early Beatles records were all recorded with what at the time, was experimental stereo panning,  I think I agree with Mike that these days, the vocals would sound a bit more natural if they were panned center.  It might be worth a try, just to see what it sounds like.


Either way, fantastic job on the orchestration, and the entire production.  Have a good one!
Bob

Hey Bob and Guitarpima (what exactly is a guitarpima??) Thanks for listening and thanks for the positive comments. 

Well guitarpima I don't know about "not topping" it, I've learnt a lot and I keep improving, even from the last version of this track to this version of the track.  I love to try new stuff and experimental stuff, so I may just stumble onto something.

Thanks so much for listening and the comments, it's always nice to feel appreciated.

Peace Ben

I like this version a lot better, Ben.  Alice did a great job here.  there are a few places where she's "sliding" the vocals that don't sound quite right, tho.  other than those few places, the rest of it sounds great, including the harmonies she did.

A great tune and you did a good job covering it.  It brings back many memories, like getting my first car!  The girl has a very nice tone to her voice.  There wer some pitch issues but you can fix that, right?  She's a keeper, Ben!  All things considered, I LIKED YOUR COVER!!!

I likes it Ben.

Hey guys thanks for listening.

Hey James, yea I tried to humanize the strings this is where the program has a couple of issues still.  When I tried to shorten the note duration and or tried to alter the note position even by 2% it introduced phasing, so it made it hard to humanize the notes.  Maybe there is a way but as I say this was my first attempt at using the software, so I need some more practice.

As for adding some ambient stuff as I have said the next version is the dance heavy metal version but that may take a few more weeks and it all depends on what I am doing and where I am at.

Thanks guys

Ben

Hey Bapu thanks for the support, yea I was trying to follow The Beatles version but it also has a lot to do with how the rest of the strings sit in the peice, for me, panning it hard right allows the violins to have their own place in the mix.  It's important that the voice does not become the central charecter, it's just one part of the melody a very important part as you would hear if you listend to the strings only version but only a part of the whole.

I am hearing everyone who say's they find it distracting but its one of those "subjective" things again.  I will go back and listen to the Love version of the track and see how they have panned the track.  For all of you who do not know Love is the new version of Eleanor Rigby that Giles and George Martin did for the Cirque Du Soleil show.

Ok thanks Bapu

Peace Ben

Not much to add to the comments. I liked it, it sounded good, the vocal being hard right was weird but I got used to it pretty quickly.

Great job.

Cheers,
Terry.        

Much better, but I would move the vox to the center.  The violin ochestration is very cool, not an easy task I'm sure, well done.

Daryl

Just to be contrary Ben, I preferred the synth version This is OK, but as the original is 2 string quartets and vocals, this version is almost a carbon copy (without the harmonies). The synth take on it was much more creative and interesting IMO.