Rick (No How) - thanks very much for listening! I plan to change the maj7 at the ending into a C. thanks for sticking up for my piano solo in the instrumental 8! I appreciate it! thanks again for the kind words!

M. Man - thanks so much for listening and commenting! Yeah, horns! Honestly I DID consider asking you to put some horns on this, but changed my mind and decided to not ask THIS time, but I still love your horn playing and will definitely will ask you for some more horns some day! thanks for the comments about the vocals! I'm working on it!

Gary (gdugan) - glad you took it back! I might still beef it up a little more, even if only by EQ or verb or something! thanks for listening again!

RobertB - thanks, Bob! I appreciate the listen and the kind words about the vocals and piano! obviously those are the things I'm most concerned about! I'll look at the master bus EQ and the guitar EQ and see what I can do with them. thanks very much for the suggestions!

Steve - thanks so much for listening and the kind words about my vocals! I truly appreciate you - probably more than you realize! thanks again!

I'm working on an update! stay tuned!

Ah, the ending it MUCH better! (Thanks Gary! He wouldn't listen to me! LOL)

Seriously, I thought it sounded good before, but you've brought it up a notch!

Thanks, Janet! I guess I should ALWAYS listen to Mama, huh?

Thanks Steve! well...actually I'd be honored if we could do something together sometime! If you can bring the metal down a notch to Hard Rock, I can certainly bring my stuff up to Hard Rock level and we could meet there!

OH - one thing I haven't done yet that I might still do is add another instrument, strings, flute, something to the intro like Gary suggested. if I do that - it's still to come!

Good job Reece, your vocals were great and I loved the harmonies. You were able to interject a lot of passion into this tune and the piano and vocals were the strongest parts. I liked the bridge too.

Beags! I missed this the 1st time around, but I love this version. Like others have said, you have a great natural sounding voice. Really rich & resonant; it reminds me of John Wetton (Asia) but he tended to go overboard w/ reverb. I like the up close & personal vocals you've got. Backups =

I also really like the piano sound you got. It sounds almost like an old Yamaha CP70 (U2 - "New Year's Day"). My only suggestion would be to bring the drums & bass up (yes, a tad more!) The bass is doing some really interesting stuff, but I can't hear it too well. It could be my cheap sound system, though...

Vocals have improved tremendously since I last listened to your material.

Jeff

Ducky - WOW! I'm flattered beyond belief! Yes, I know who John Wetton is! In fact I saw them in concert once at the Fox Theater in Atlanta! Not a WHOLE lot of people can say that considering they didn't tour but 2 years? or was it only 1? I don't remember. but wow - thanks! Ok - I'll bring the drums and bass up a little more. lets's see. so far I've brought UP everything except the lead vox and the synth (which is proabaly completely buried by now!)!

Jon C - thanks so much for the remix listen and kind comments! I do appreciate it very much!

Jeff - thanks so much! It has been a while since you've commented on one of my songs! If I'm not mistaken, you're the one who got me to stop cloning my vocals and realize that doing that was adding phase problems! thanks so much for listening and the kind words here! (and thanks for the past as well - that helped me a LOT!)

Larry - this is a DOG house, buddy!!! Whaddya mean wash the CAT??? OH....you said CAR...my bad!

thanks for the listen buddy! I appreciate it!

I am not going to let you off the hook.

I thought about it for a few days, and the reality is, while it may be more work, God is not in a rush. You need to re-record the vocals. You need to accommodate your voice and your natural limits. Sung within your "envelope", you have a voice most people would kill for, myself included. Do not waste it with a false sense of Pride about wanting to force yourself into something not natural and that does not work.

I admire the desire to improve, but you are not, IMO, talking about improving (which means making the most of what you have right now) but about changing (which means trying to force yourself to be something you are not).

I am not sure if I can stress any more clearly what I mean than this... the difference between your natural voice and your forced voice is night and day. Your natural one is remarkably passionate, resonant and rich in tone and harmonics. It can accommodate the style of song and the emotion you want to bring to it, but only if set free. Stop being afraid of who you are, start making the most of the incredible gift you have been given.

I want to hear this song sung properly Reece. I am not letting you off the hook, because I KNOW you can do it. So do it.

Sincerely and respectfully
Shad

(in case anybody failed to notice, its "kick in the pants" week here in CW song Forum .)

I hate to steal max's words...but its very well said....you've come a long long way vocally....good work!

ORIGINAL: Maxprizm

Hey Reece, I can tell you put alot of yourself into this. I seem to remember hearing some of your stuff a long time ago and it sounds like you have made some large strides towards improving. This is a very nice song, almost prayer-like. The instrumentation sounds great. I love the piano chord changes around 3:35. The vocal sounds a tad loud but you do go from very soft to loud rather quickly in spots. I agree with Shad in that there are sweet spots to your voice, when you are "going for it" you have a nice honest tone but tend to waver or have less confidence in the more subdued areas. I dont want to harp on the vocals but I will offer one last peice of advice. When you are singing try to relax as much as possible and dont think of it as a 'performance' you have to get right, but rather focus on the intimate lyrics and what they mean to you, and who you are singing to. Especially in a praise song like this wich lends itself to deep conviction. To me, there is no right or wrong in a song like this, there is just the emotion and power of the message.

ORIGINAL: Spaceduck
Oh MAN! Not only would it have been great to see Asia, but AT THE FOX!!! I know that theater very well. Best live venue in the world. THE WORLD.



^ note this is an indoor venue. The sky & stars are painted on the ceiling.

Must've been an awesome show man. I'm pretty sure the Fox is closed down now, right?

Duck - YEP - that's the place! The painted ceiling was incredible and the acoustics were really tight in that place! I think it is closed now, but I don't know. I've not been to Atlanta in many years, now. An interesting tidbit about the show - Asia's opening act was a JUGGLER! And I have heard from others who saw them on that tour that they also had a magician on some shows.

But it was an awesome show!

You got some great eq separation between instruments which is comforting because I learned all my eq tips from you!

Thanks, Duck! At least I can do PART of this process really well! And it helps to hear it! thanks again!

Shad - I do truly appreciate your persistence and your honesty. I may well try to re-record the vocals, but I do not know if I will rewrite the melody or not. See, I really don't think that a song of me belting out full vocals throughout the song is really going to be a good song. I think the song needs dynamics in the vocals and if I change it to what I think you're asking me to do, then I don't think it will be a good song. I may re-do the vocals and I might even rewrite some of the melody and/or lyrics, but I'm afraid I don't agree with having it all full belting vocals throughout the song.

thanks again for pushing me to be my best! I do appreciate it!

Jon -

Tom - thanks so much for the listen and the comments. I agree with Ed's critique as well and I am working hard to try to correct those parts of my vocals which do not shine. I appreciate you, Ed, Shad and everyone else who are keeping me accountable in the parts of my vocals which are NOT the best and I encourage you to continue to keep me informed about those parts when they are not the best. I will strive to continue to improve! Thanks!

Danley - thanks so much for the listen and the kind words! I appreciate it very much!

Sounds very good Reece.
It has a nice full sound and I can hear the acoustics better. You didn't bring them up much but I like where it.

You made some good moves..I enjoyed it. Great job!

Mike

ORIGINAL: Beagle

Shad - I do truly appreciate your persistence and your honesty. I may well try to re-record the vocals, but I do not know if I will rewrite the melody or not. See, I really don't think that a song of me belting out full vocals throughout the song is really going to be a good song. I think the song needs dynamics in the vocals and if I change it to what I think you're asking me to do, then I don't think it will be a good song. I may re-do the vocals and I might even rewrite some of the melody and/or lyrics, but I'm afraid I don't agree with having it all full belting vocals throughout the song.

thanks again for pushing me to be my best! I do appreciate it!

I think you misunderstood what I was suggesting. I am not suggesting you rewrite the song, only reconsider the way you sing it.

Your voice has all the dynamics you need to keep the mood and feel of the song intact. This is already discernible within the song as it is (within the parts that work for your voice).

This medium is sooo poor for communication sometimes. If you were sitting here I could show you and I think you would then see what I was trying to say. A vocal coach would probably have the words, but I seem to not.

When you try to sing softly, you seem to stop breathing correctly, which makes modulation of the tone difficult at best. This is what I meant about singing from the stomach/chest/diaphragm. If you sing too low in your stomach (which is what your soft parts sound to me like you are doing) one problem occurs (breathy modulation), if you sing too high in your chest, another occurs (pinched/stressed sounding vocals). When you sing from the diaphragm (which is what modulates breathing for speaking among other things) the tone will ring out purely, but it will also be a bit louder because you are allowing more air to pass over the vocal cords.

While it may seem louder or more forceful, you can modulate that with the mix or mic positioning. The dynamics will still be there.

They (the vocals) may be different than what you may want, but that is just the way it is (I want to sound like Jon Anderson, but it is not going to happen).

Nurture the voice you have and forget the one you do not.

Cheers
Shad

'Just lower the instrument bus 3-4 dcbs and I'll love and cherish "My Savior" exceedingly.

Later you can smear the instruments back with some reverb and/or get all self-conscious about trite beauties of vox and instruments.

Hi Reece,

I agree with Philip, the instruments are overwhelming your vox on this latest mix, especially the piano. On the brighter side, the guitar sounds fuller