Jattao - Someday I'll Be Free (Soulful R&B) [UPDATED]

This is pretty good stuff. I'd re-eq the kick drum to give it a little more "oomph" and a little less "click". Vocals are nicely done, but just a titch upfront. They kinda washout the instrument bed in a few spots, but not by alot. Maybe back them off a db or so. Not a great ending to this. Maybe drop the music out before the last line, and just end it acappela. This is real close to being very very good.

Randy

Back in 1980 while I was in the United States Navy, we made a trip to Copenhagen, Denmark. To get there we went through this long passage that winds its way through Denmark by Flensburg and then approached Copenhagen from the south. We did this so as to not to go into Sweden's declared water sovereignty. When we left, we didn't want to go back through that long arduous passage, so we went north between Denmark and Sweden. It wasn't long before Sweden was calling us up saying we were in their territory. Of course we were, but we lied and said we weren't.

 I have enjoyed every piece that has this very talented girl signing and this one is no exception.

Nice work.

Ron

great stuff Legion. almost a retro type sound (as in around 2000!) it seems to me, though my knowledge of this genre could be written on a postage stamp (with room for War and Peace!). it sounds a little muddy when it starts, but as the ear gets accustomed it becomes perfect. i love the strings which come in for the chorus, and the retro organ is also verrry cooool. This has major potential i'm sure!

Randy:
Thanks for listening and for all your input and suggestions. I'm working on some small changes right now. Will keep the outro as is though as both I and Jattao likes it a lot

SC:
Thanks for listening and glad you liked it. The lead vox are double tracked and panned dead center actually. You seem to have some good ears though as the average RMS on the right chanel of the music (guitar) was a little lower than the left (EP) wich probably gives the impression of the vox being biased. I'm on to it.

Ron:
Cool story, so you have for a small amount of time actually been part of an american force invading Sweden I'm very glad you liked the tune and so is Jattao.

Philip:
Thank you for your input. Glad you liked it.

MGH:
Thank you my man, that was about exactly what I was after. I love the new soul sound from the late 90's and early 00's and really had that in mind while makin this one. Your knowledge of the genre seem to be bigger than you expect. I guess the retro organ you refer to is also a string patch from Dim Pro Classic Keys that I've tweaked a bit, I like it as well, a little melotronic almost.

Tap:
Glad you liked it. Yeah it's a sweet little tune about the unsweetness of life Maye you're missing out on some of the low end and sub on the computer speakers but the new mix I'm working on has a little more bottom as well.

Nice enjoyable listenable tune cool vox.

Thanks for sharing.

Cool song...I've liked everything I've heard

Jattao sing and this is certainly no

exception. Very nice.

Is Sade in the house?!? Well done as usual brother...and I like the way it ends

I'm all smiles on this one. All sounds great over here.

Hey Legion/Jattao

I love Jattao's style so much it's always hard for me to be objective when she's involved.

Needless to say excellent vocal delivery, the real feature here for me though is this song.  I absolutely adore it.

I like the ending here too, although I think I'd prefer some held notes on the EP intro to suggest where the bass is going to fit when it comes in.

I think this is the first time I've heard her in slow mo... very NICE!  Seriously, very cool to hear her get to flex her pipes.  She has such a distinctive voice, Legion. 

No crit on the prodcution... I kind of like vocals up front.  Because that's why I listen to music.  To hear someone sing!  And there's no reason to hide her.  :)

Way to go Legion. Nice stuff.

Couple observations:

• I would wait until :18 to bring the guitar in. Give the listener a few moments to get into the groove on the DnB before getting to the counterpoint that the guitar presents
• I am okay with the kick as it is. The snare is pretty big, so getting the kick underneath it is key.
• The l/r imbalance really bugs me.
• On chorus, I would make the Someday I'll be free line with a slightly different eq on it, maybe also with a reverb or delay. Otherwise it kinda works against itself, like a super-obvious cut-in, and might be more iconic to throw it contrasted against itself , IFYKWIM.
• The "I'm sad" line at 2:51 has a weird effect that throws it out of tune
• Finally, a thing that has always stood out to me about Jat's recorded voice: while real distinctive, there seems to be huge perceived volume swings from word to word with her, almost a push pull effect on the listener, that makes some of the lyrics difficult to follow, and reduces the pleasure of listening to her. Please don't take it as a knock, cuz it isn't. I think a copious amount of syllable wav-slicing could do it, or a series of compressors.

Jonbouy:
Thanks a lot me bredda. I might try that held notes thing.

Tatey:
Thanks for listening and glad you liked it. Yeah, Jattao is really a great singer.

Julibee:
Glad you liked it. Hmmm, maybe I haven't posted the slow songs we're working on. You'll hear more slow songs in a near future Ha ha ha, Jattao says the same thing about listening to music.

Janet:
Thanks a lot

James:
Thanks a lot for listening and your comments. And I who thought I was almost done with the mix I'm working on, damn you ha ha ha. Some great input and I really appreciate it. I think the L/R balance is solved in the mix I'm workin on, it bugged me as well. Nice idea with the guitar as well, will try it. I've changed the kick just a hint in the mix I'm workin on but not much. About the "Someday..." that was my intention, I guess I was a little to careful on the EQ though ha ha ha. Will check the "I'm sad" line as well. With the voice I often run it pretty hard through a leveling opto but backed it of to keep dynamics as this is a slow jam but maybe chaning will work a charm.

No How:
Thanks for listening and glad you liked it. Everything in the tune is based on reality, even if some details have been adjusted to make it fit into a song, so the authenticity is definitely there.

LOL, not an opimizer. An opto compressor. With leveling I refer to LA2A style smooth compressing (the new T-Racks opto can work great as well). Maybe circuitbent it can make one sound like Jattao, it's worth the try aint it

About pharmacists, this is pretty funny: http://www.clearvoicespray.com/

Update:
Fixed a few things with vox, L/R, drums, levels etc etc. Hopefully it's even better now and thanks a lot for all the very valuabe input you have given me. A few edits got left out for various reasons but I did try them (some of them I really liked but it didn't really fit my vision of the tune).

JYY:
I love the T-Racks Opto as well but often (depending on the song) use the LM LA2A on Jattao as it's sound seem to merge very well with hers. I tried chainin' 'em together now and think it sound even more smooth now. The LM manages the main compression and then I let the Opto catch the loudest peaks to make the track more even.

Larry:
Thanks a lot! I'm very glad you liked it, the tune and the mix