River Born - Whaddya think of this?

Hi Cian
 
So glad I stumbled across this - enjoyed it a lot. Took me back to when I saw Paul Simon at the Glasgow Hydro last year, your harmonies, and indeed your solo voice are brilliant man. Great groove, strong tune and the production is spot on to my ears. I honestly can't think of any criticism, constructive or otherwise!
 
Bill
 

Fellas, thanks for your feedback
 
Cian

Beautiful song. Good vocals and backing harmonies.
Enjoyable to listen to well done music.

I had to listen to this several times because it is a joy to hear.  I'm not sure why it would need much more production, especially when the performances are so strong and the infrastructure is solid.  I've heard your other productions, and this would fit nicely into to your repertoire as is.  However, I don't think you can mess this up unless you bury what's already there.  Good luck with this, Cian, it's a gem!

Cian,
 
Sounds great.   I hear some Paul Simon in there as well (mentioned above) although more of the Graceland album style than his other stuff.   The vocals are outstanding throughout.  
 
If you are looking for suggestions for polishing up the production I wouldn't touch any of the vocals, guitar, piano.   I think you would hear a significant difference tweaking with the drums and adding some percussion, maybe an African vibe like You Can Call Me Al or Diamonds In the Soles of Her Shoes (Paul Simon\Graceland) but nothing too overpowering to distract from what is there.   Maybe changing up the bass guitar a bit.   Otherwise, the track is quite outstanding as is and wouldn't change anything.
 
Regards

This is a very cool song Cian, enjoyed it a lot. I didn't hear any timing issues, but I did think the snare was a touch heavy handed, I might have tried a more subtle 'train beat', but everyone's a producer...

Hi Lads, thanks for all your feedback.
 
I have a new version with some live bass in it, bongo percussion, organ sound and some tweaking all round. I would appreciate another listen from both who havent already and those that have for comparison
 
https://soundcloud.com/cian-mcgovern/river-born-1/s-jGtW0
 
General feedback: Most of the comments suggested some "extra production", I didnt think it needed much more, in fact I couldn't fit much more but by adding some more interesting sounds it may have done the trick. I did think there was something missing in the song something meaty down the mid frequency range arrangement-wise which is why I went for the organ here. The drums are dry so I have fixed a little bit  but lets be honest here, you either go drum loops digital or get a real drummer, middle ground always falls short in my opinion. There is some timing issues like some mentioned, I actually think this is due to my latency and live playing with fx on, I have to hit the keyboard a little earlier to get the timing right in my headphones if you get me, that seemed to tighten it.
 
Thanks,
 
Cian
 
 

Hey Cian - this is just FANTASTIC!  I love everything about it!  percussion, backing vocals, piano, lead vox, all is just great!  I do not think it needs more production myself, I think it's perfect as is!  great work!

Wow!  Add my voice to the accolades above.  Perfect performance, great production, and the vocals are just plain old outstanding.

didn't hear the 1st version but the one I'm listening to sounds excellent.
Mix, production are spot on and your vocal is perfect.
Sounds finished to me - what are you waiting for......? :)

I went straight for the second mix Cian, sounds very professional here excellent job, cool song nicely performed well worthy of a .

Cian,
 
This is good song with an open, fluid arrangement that leaves the right amount of space for your usual fine vocals (i am listening to the new version). Great singing as usual.
 
No crits, here. Good stuff.
 
Cheers,
 
Bert

Just catching up....   I listened to the last version posted 4 weeks ago, and that was great!  For me it's simply "complete".  I liked everything about it, Paul Simon similarities and all.