NEILFEST- Country Girl

[hooper]

NeilFest 2009 Index

All vocals, acoustic guitar and harmonica recorded using the Micro-BR on-board mic and tracked into Sonar.  Electric guitar, bass and electronic drums recorded direct-in. Mixed in Sonar and mastered on the M-BR.  Many,many takes and re-takes while trying to figure out the vocal harmonies.  

Thanks for listening.

Country Girl- Written by Neil Young.
From Déjà vu by CSN&Y

[Greeny]

Wow, hooper - this is fantastic. I love the tremelo shimmer, and the harmonies are (as always) incredible. This is a complicated one for sure! But you've performed and produced it to perfection. It's wonderful. A real keeper.

[LESTG]

Wow love the harmonies!

[Bluesberry]

Really great version.  Very professionally recorded.  Good one for the Neilfest.  Thanks for posting this marvelous version.

[launched]

Jeez - I can't believe it's possible!! Fantastic production - no doubt, the vox and playing are suberb, but it doesn't hurt to know how to tweak the knobs!!

I enjoyed this version of the song - excellent harmonies and guitar parts. Very inspiring and lots of "How did he do that!!"

See you around,

Mark

[Bluesberry]

I enjoyed this version of the song - excellent harmonies and guitar parts. Very inspiring and lots of "How did he do that!!"

I agree Mark, maybe if we are real lucky we can get a brief explanation from Hooper on how he did it.  Any secrets of the trade you wish to share here Hooper, I would love to hear it.

[oldrottenhead]

this is mindblowingly good ken, the harmonies are awesome.  a wizard a true star as ever hooperdooper.

[hooper]

Thanks, guys.  I appreciate it. 
Here are some random recording notes.

*  I used the Micro-BR on-board mic for vocals, acoustic guitar and harmonica…. Running the output from the M-BR into my PC soundcard via a mixer and tracked into Sonar (version 1!)  That’s an easy way for a lazy man to set up a signal chain of mic-to-preamp-to-EQ-to-noise suppressor-to-multiband compressor with great presets from Roland to use as a starting point.  ForNylon is a favorite preset to start from.  This project theoretically could have been tracked and mixed all on the M-BR but I knew that I was going to need lots of tracks and lots of takes and punch-ins to do the backing vocals.   I usually make some adjustments to the signal chain while recording different parts such as adjusting the EQ for the high falsetto vocals (add some at 200hz, subtract some at 3000hz) so those parts won’t be too piercing.

*  Figuring out the harmony parts was a matter of referencing the CSN&Y recording and then analyzing the chords being played on the guitar.  Look down at your fingers while forming the chords and those notes you are looking for are probably right there in front of you, part of the chord.  I especially like layering background vocals over Major 7th chords.   All of the backing vocal parts are double-tracked.  This is a good way to give a mediocre singer some reinforcement.  Usually all parts are recorded dry and then effects added during mixing when there is more control.

*  One of the things I like best about mixing on PC (besides having many tracks) is wav form editing.  Sonar has a feature where I can select part of a track and bump the level of the selection up or down by 3dB.  That makes it possible for example to pull down the level of a secondary guitar part right when the background singers come in… and then restore the level as soon as the singers are quiet again.  Sorting through the mix like that (many, many edits) helps to clear up the mud in a mix with lots of parts.  This is the equivalent to riding the faders on a real-world mixing board.

* Stuff like that…. 

[SE]

Amazing production skills and great song well played = great track

[facemask93]

A true joy to listen to , again another NY i 've never heard , i bet your chuffed to bit's with the result of your effort's , i'd be over the moon with this , in fact it's brilliant mate very , very , well done




Facemask93

[Frank53]

Wonderfully done! I wish I could get harmonies to sound that good. Great recording and production. The built in mic on those little things is amazingly good.

A couple comments on your excellent description. This is the first I've ever heard of someone boosting vocals at 200Hz. I've always read that was an area that one would normally cut, because it can adversely affect clarity. Just interesting. Certainly works for you. Probably depends upon one's voice.

Double tracking the BG voices is a great idea. I have a weak, mellow voice, and should do that more often. A touch of chorus can help sometimes, too. I know it helps to cover my mistakes. LOL!

Great work!

[hooper]

This is the first I've ever heard of someone boosting vocals at 200Hz. I've always read that was an area that one would normally cut, because it can adversely affect clarity.

Right about that!  The idea here is that the 200hz boost is being used to fatten up a thin falsetto vocal. By the same reasoning you can pull out some 200hz on a track that's too fat and needs thining out.

[Ferryman]

Excellent job here, especially with those harmony layers. You've set a bar for me to try to reach now I've had a go at some harmonies. This has a really good CSN&Y feel and I agree with Greeny about the tremelo - it's a great effect but it doesn't overpower. That's hard to do. Very well done indeed.

Cheers,

Nigel

[Flash Harry]

Splendid stuff Ken. You're the master at this. Fantastic playing and singing and wonderful production. You have such a meticulous and patient approach.

Superb.

[M_Glenn_M]

Good stuff Ken. Keep it up.