Stained Blue

[Justin Schaffer]

I helped my daughter record, mix, and master this one using CW.  The live instruments recorded were a 1950's Martin D18 (recorded though both an NT1A and a XM8500 dynamic, at times each mic panned for wider sound), and a bass guitar (recorded through both the amp and DI).  The Subbass that comes in later on was MIDI using the SI Bass Guitar (I believe Dance Synth preset).

For this one she wanted vocals really wide (similar to Harry Styles' "From the Dining Table") and mellow (similar to many Phoebe Bridgers' songs) to go with the feelings of blurriness and absence.  So the vocals are a bit unconventional, but that is the subjective creative choice we made :)  We used three separate VOX takes, all recorded through an NT1A: one panned hard left, one hard right, and one up the middle - with the middle track at a much lower level.  All the VOX reverb is coming from the middle take and ducked with NOVA  because we didn't want clashing reverbs.

Hope you enjoy her song and my latest mix!

Links here:

Soundcloud 

Spotify 

-Justin

[FreeEarCandy]

A very nice song to start with. Lots of downplayed emotion.  Your daughter has a smooth whispery voice with a good helping of the higher registers. I'd be interested in hearing the bass a little wider to help fill out the panned vocals.  They sound a little alone way off to each side, and I think your daughters voice is high enough that the additional low end will not mask her voice. I think it would also create a hole down the middle for the acoustic to bleed through some, as the bass and acoustic seem to be pretty much down the middle in the same spot, and the one with the most energy is likely masking the weaker.

Nevertheless, a really good song and performance. - Dean

Edited June 15, 2023 by FreeEarCandy

[KSband]

Nice song and vocals and well recorded too.

[Bajan Blue]

really nice track, beautifully sung and played. 

i thought the mix was great

Really enjoyed this

Nigel

 

[Larry T.]

Beautiful. Great song melodies, well written by Kenzie. Minimal yet powerful lyrics. Production is sparse but works perfectly. Your daughter's voice is amazing on this. She makes it real and valuable. Good luck????

[Ross Smithe]

Fabulous songwriting and performance, your daughter is very talented! Your production choices are great as well, really compliments the tune. Enjoyed it!

[Kevin Walsh]

What a beautiful song! Your daughter is certainly a very talented songwriter and has an amazing singing voice. Thanks for posting this!

[Justin Schaffer]

Thanks everyone for the positive feedback!

FreeEarCandy:

Quote

as the bass and acoustic seem to be pretty much down the middle in the same spot, and the one with the most energy is likely masking the weaker.

I agree... we wanted to keep the vocal as the main stereo sound in the song, but I did try to subtly put some harmonics from the bass in stereo using  Basslane (free version), but perhaps not low enough freq or at too low of an amount setting.