Here I Am- Christian Rock

i missed this because it slipped down the list pretty quickly with all the posting....


 I like this. Good song. Nice groove. 

I didn't find any major issues with it. 

Two things I would do. I'd raise the vox slightly and eq it to be a bit brighter so the words cut through a bit more.

And I'd redo the lead guitar solo. I realize that was likely an "artistic" statement since the rest of the song was well done, but yeah....personally, I'd record that again.  Two things with it.... the notes are not in tune ( Artistic decision?) and the overall tone doesn't fit the overall tone quality of the song. 

Overall, I think this is a good song. recorded well.

I think this is a really good "Worship song".  I could hear this being sung on a Sunday morning in a contemporary service. 

I'll just ditto Herb.  He gave some good advice.  PTL!!

I have remixed this one based on the imput that I have gotten from Herb and Warren.  I have added a little more brightness/ presence to the vocals and I think that the sit better in this mix and are clearer, slightly less dark.

I have also redone the guitar solo.  This is a mellower version that the first one.....and hopefull....more tuned to the key.  Follow the original post for the new up load.

I would probably work on clearing up the middle, spread the guitars out to the right and left more. They are down the middle interfering with the vocal (primarily the electric. The acoustic up the middle is Ok because you have it EQd where its not interfering with the vocal so much. Keep it up the middle.

Take 2k on the vocal and lift it about 3-4 db try this before and after the vocal compressor to see which works out best.

When you spread the guitars bring up the piano as well. Bass is too low in the mix. Kick way too compressed and a little low in the mix.

Those would be my changes.

James, I went back and listened again to the drums and I believe you are right, something is just a little weird about them.  I will play around with the room some tonight and see if that helps them out.  Good catch.  They seem a little bright now that I am listening and I would prefer a more "woody" sound if that makes sense.

Middleman, I like your suggestions as well and will try spreading the electric guitars out a little farther.  I believe that they are about 50% left and right as of now.  I love bass...and because of that....I have to kind of what myself from overdoing bass.  Maybe I was a little concervative here and will try bumping it up just a tad.  I will also check out my kick and see if I have over compressed it. 

Starise, really glad you like the song.  Thank you for your comments on my vocals.  I have never considered myself a singer, only someone who writes songs and has no one else to sing them.  Maybe I am finally improving a little.

Great sounding track!

The remix sounds pretty good. Love the acoustic.

Hi Mike. I really liked the tune. Easy to listen to and has a really smooth flow. Great voice. I thought the acoustic was performed good just too top heavy. In the mix I think it could sound fuller mid and low wise. Very cool and I enjoyed listening.

First of all, the content of the song is great.  Praise God for your openness. :)

Hearing only the latest mix, I really like it.  The vocals get a little lost in the chorus. I don't think it's an EQ thing, as adding a high-end shelf will probably just result in a bunch of extra sssssssibilance.  Probably just the level of the vocal track. Or maybe it's my headphones and I need to give it a listen at home.  I like the way the acoustic is done, myself, as the pick noise adds some percussion that might otherwise be added by a shaker or tambourine.  It doesn't need either of those because it's got the pick "click".

Still, great tune.  I like the solo a lot.  

++1  ---Tom Petty

Hey Martin,

Thanks for critiquing this song.  Some very useful advice you  have given me.  

I will listen to electric guitar again and maybe sweep a high Q through the frequencies to see if I find anything offending that needs to be tamed.  I originally had the electric guitars lower in the mix, but I ended up liking this song better with them having more impact in the song.

AS far as the vocal tuning goes.  I scoped this one with Melodynne and checked the graph pretty thouroughly; eveything was tweaked to be on pitch.  Sometimes I have a tendancy to slide up to a note and I can certainly look at that a little closer.  I guess, I have also read that sometimes you just have to really use your ears to pitch correct as  well, because they don't always graph correctly.  I guess if you spot a specific area and gave me a time reference in the song, it would help me to know which area specifically does n't sound right.  

I never thought of using pitch correction on the solo.  I guess I can check it on Melodynne, see if any thing is slightly off pitch.  

BIABDude and Scotty, thanks for listening.  Scotty, you should have heard the original solo that Herb was refering too, it really had that Neil Young, raw, slightly off key sound to it.  This one is pretty tame compaired to the original.



Oh, yes....almost forgot about the words "like and infection", in this song.  A lot of the  regulars over at my other forum site, Christian Song Writers, are struggling with this as well.  If I was to say, "your love is infectuous", it seems like that would be fairly normal use of the term.  But then, see, I am not your typical cookie cutter Christian song writer.  I prefer to be a little controversial and on edge.  Afterall, that is the Lennon-Pettyism in me.  When I thought of his love overtaking me, as something that I could not neccessarily control and something that just spread though out my soul, the idea of a love infection came to me.  I am sure that it rubs some the wrong way, but for now, I am liking it.

You might be right Middleman, a little compression adjustment might do the trick.  

You noticed the drums, cool.  Yes when James brought up the drums sounding a little strange, I was like...wow, how did I miss that.  Sometimes you just hear these songs  over and over until you don't notice the obvious.  I'm liking them much better as well.  I have a friend up in MN that is an exceptional drummer and of course, his comment today was, "oh...midi drums."  

Hey Bobby, thanks for listening and your words of encouragement.  Yes, especially guitar tone is so subjective.  It's funny, because if I make the electric to have more distortion or overdrive, I will have those who say it needs to be more of a crunch with less distortion.  My solo actually started out much heavier on the original and I went to a little bit mellower version on this last one.

I also appreciate your invitation to collab and some day may take you up on it.  I am a big fan of collaberations; I just feel like I am really a simple EQ or compression tweak away from having this one exactly the way I want it.  

Janet, thank you for listening as well.  Yes it does sound like, when you read through the whole thing, that I have pretty much changed everything.  In reality, nothing but the solo was retracked.  Everything esle has just been adjusting panning, EQ, levels, and maybe small tweaks of compression.  All of which is VERY subjective to the listener and can differ based on what they are actually listening on.