He Ain't Heavy--2nd remix

I thought of this song a couple weeks ago and really wanted to try it. But I found one especially good version on youtube and figured it's already been done to perfection and I couldn't improve on it. But then I thought, "ah, what the heck-I wanna do it anyway." So I did. Only took three days (so far!), which is a record by far.

No one's heard this yet--the mix is all mine. So fire away--I really want to know how to make it better. Piano players, any suggestions on the piano part especially would be welcome. (Peggy Sue, where are you?) I practiced this one enough that I actually played it straight through. (I was reading the music though.) Then fixed it up a bit with prv. Yes, even those of us with long skinny fingers miss notes too! Jonbouy--I hope the piano is loud enough for you. I tried!


EDIT: OK, I rolled some off the bottom end on the piano, like suggested. Hopefully it's better!

2nd remix: lots of changes on this one...

I must lead a sheltered life; I've never heard this song before. But it's really nice they way you performed/arranged it. But... wow... when I saw the photo icon you chose, it really put it in perspective. Very emotional, very powerful. Great work, MaBs.

Thanks, both of you! This song came out in 1969--I figured most of us around here were around then. But maybe not... Here's the link so you can hear the words. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e7HPqi5uVeo

And yeah, I looked for pictures of brothers, etc., then finally decided that soldiers would fit great. I have several friends who are or have been over there, so it's sorta close to my heart.

Do recall, my monitors might be different in that area than yours. I also may be a tad over-sensitve to the sound as I had a lot of trouble with the flutes in my "Sinbad's Theme" song. You should probably get some other input before deciding that any change needs to be done.

What flute patch was that by the way?

Cheers
Shad

Excellent playing and top notch as always Janet!

Is this the song that they played in "Zoolander" where Ben Stiller was walking down the road going home or away, I can't remember what he was doing but I think this is where I heard it. Not sure. Just wondering if anyone's seen that movie.

Excellent performance and recording!!!

Keep on keepin' on!

Janet - this is really great! but you need some high tenor vocals and harmony on this! Think you can pull that off??

I'm listening on a crappy soundmax and crappy headphones so I don't want to go into mix without a decent reference, but on this system things are sounding pretty good.

Reece--I love it when people say "it sounds great on my crappy speakers!" LOL. But thanks. And I'm going to respond to your post before you edited it, when you said, "you need some really scratchy gutteral vocals on this!" And my response is: until I get a de-esser for this new mic, Melodyne and some more practice, I could add some really breathy, off-key, blah vocals. But I'll spare you... I could actually do tenor, etc., but it's not a pretty thing... Maybe some day...

Thanks, Larry. I looked it up on youtube and it was done by the Hollies. Barry Manilow did a great version of it, but I can't find it right now. Yeah, I didn't have soldiers in mind when I worked on it, but it seemed to fit when I was looking for a picture. Glad your son made it back safely!

Thanks, Kevin! The drums are SD2. I just downloaded some new free beats from GrooveMonkey and used one of those. Now that I finally figured out how to use SD2 and have put it in a few songs I was feeling limited with the beats. I really like this one too. Thanks.

nice job. the flute was good. piano was good too.

I have had this song in my head all day!

He aint heav aaaaaayyyyy - heee'sss my broth 'aaaaaa

Jon--I'm glad you're happy finally. And no, I'm not gonna ruin it with my vocals. I'll try to ruin another song with my vocals. This one is too nice. And what was that enigmatic comment about playing around with it some more? What are you suggesting? Come on, you can tell me! Actually, I want to be done with it, but we'll see. It's not exactly like I was hearing it in my mind (I heard different horns) but I just got to the point where it was enough. And I have a few songs to do for friends right now, so this one might just stay like it is for awhile. But I'm still curious...

And thanks, Herb.

Tom, thanks so much. I'll see what I can do about eq'ing it. This is the first song that anyone said was bottom heavy, so at least I'm getting more bass in there!

Shad, I hope it didn't bother you singing it all day!

Dan--thanks very much!

Janet,
This is wonderful.
I've always liked this song, and even now, I can picture the sheets of Father Flannigan stamps( which I believe inspired the song in the first place). The photo you selected is priceless, and is the spririt of this song.
I played this at work today, then listened to your catalog. You started out nice, and it has been a joy to hear you evolve. This is the most heartfelt and confident piece you have done to date. This had to feel great while you were playing. You are just drilling those keys. Tell me your eyes weren't wet when you hit that last note.
Overall balance is outstanding, not quite getting a rumble, but possibly a bit heavy in the low end. Just a touch.
I'm hearing a good balance on all of the instruments here.
I would be very proud of this one.

heh heh heh

Nah, its a memorable tune and you did it well.

Janet,
Very nice, like RobertB said, heartfelt and confident. It's obvious that this song means a lot to you. Nice violin and strings arrangement, flute too. I like how the violin and flute have a "thinnish" sound to them which helps them really contribute when they are present but share the space well with the rest of the instruments. Nice work Janet, you are definitely growing.

ORIGINAL: Mamabear

Anyway, I just posted a new mix with some of the bottom end rolled off. And yes, I had help--I wouldn't have a clue how to do that myself.

There ya go, I correctly suspected you'd play with it some more...

I couldn't fault it before and still can't.

Janet

I just finished up for the day (11:30 PM). They had us start at 7:30 this morning and we worked thru lunch and supper, making today the longest day yet without a break, so keep that in mind with my critique. I did 21 proofs today!!! My head is about ready to explode.


I can hear a huge difference in violin and the flute and I am positive you do as well. I think though that the relative loudness of thye instruments is a touch off. A violin is a very loud instrument and you have it in here very very soft. If you want the strings that soft, then drop an octave and go with a cello. Otherwise you need to bring the violin up in volume. In order for this piece to be true, the violin would have to be either at ppp to pp all of the time, or he is standing off in the corner.

The more I listen to this and the way you have it arranged, I think that you would be better off with a cello than with a violin. You can keep the lower strings in the background like this, whereas a violin wants to be farther out front. Some of my facvorite pieces by myself and others are trios of piano, cello and flute. The 3 go togther great and there are a lot of classics composed that way.

Please don't think that any of this is meant to distract from a very good arrangement as you have it. I am also partial towards strings and like to see them more in the picture, but normally, that is what is done anyway.

I hope this is making sense, I have reread what I wrote and it doesn't make sense to me, but then at this point, not much does anyway. For the hours I am putting in here, they should have paid us more.

I gotta go to bed.

Still it is a great arrangement!!!