|
Post by Blackdawg on May 9, 2018 12:06:50 GMT -6
How does a female (or male!) Country artist not sound formulaic these days? It's a challenge. To my ears both of these undoubtedly talented musicians seem standard-issue. Voices inflect and break at just the right moment; they sing lyrics that are personal but exhibit just the right amount of emotion- happiness/sadness, or anger, or sass, in proper portions. I have respect for Ashley McBryde- I bow to anyone who has the guts to appear unaccompanied at the Opry, just guitar and voice. But I just wish these artists did not seem so processed by the music machine. Or do the artists effectively process themselves (beautiful wallflower, defiant tough chick, etc, etc), thinking they have to be a certain way to succeed? I suppose that's true across all genres these days. Bummer. This is why to me...country music is the most boring bland area of the music industry. Nothing has changed in years there.(talking about the style especially the singers. very generic) And every time they try to change it there is something dumb like trying to rap in country. Major fail. Production value for me is the only reason to listen to country. But, I'll take a good bluegrass album or folk album any day of the year over anything country thats come out in the last 20 years. Oh well. Man the first tune, slow burn. Someone heard about distorting the kick to let it cut through more and went a wee bit far with that..
|
|
|
Post by donr on May 9, 2018 12:11:24 GMT -6
It'd be funny if "nose ring" became the next pickup-tailgate-long neck-dirt road-girl-painted-on jeans go-to lyric element. Imagine hearing "nose ring" several times in a half hour of country pop radio.
|
|
|
Post by drbill on May 9, 2018 13:04:06 GMT -6
It'd be funny if "nose ring" became the next pickup-tailgate-long neck-dirt road-girl-painted-on jeans go-to lyric element. Imagine hearing "nose ring" several times in a half hour of country pop radio. Hahaha!
|
|
|
Post by matt on May 9, 2018 13:06:48 GMT -6
It'd be funny if "nose ring" became the next pickup-tailgate-long neck-dirt road-girl-painted-on jeans go-to lyric element. Imagine hearing "nose ring" several times in a half hour of country pop radio. Better this than other kinds of rings I can think of.
|
|
|
Post by Martin John Butler on May 9, 2018 13:30:58 GMT -6
It occurs to me that half the modern Country sound today is recycled Neil Young. In Kacey Musgraves case, the production and playing is beautiful, but the writing hits the formulas just a little hard. I listened to one side of Miranda Lambert's new LP yesterday, and it sounds amazing, but yet again, the vocal and lyric is very good, just not original and great.
In the mood for a real song, relevant, simple and beautiful? Have a listen:
|
|
|
Post by donr on May 9, 2018 14:41:20 GMT -6
Kacey sings nice and she's pretty. I see why she is succeeding. She seems accessible. You could imagine she might be your girl. Now, Dean Miller? Uphill fight for Dean, methinks.
BTW, that Ralph Murphy video is worth watching. Thanks Frank.
|
|
|
Post by swurveman on May 9, 2018 15:35:46 GMT -6
How does a female (or male!) Country artist not sound formulaic these days? It's a challenge. To my ears both of these undoubtedly talented musicians seem standard-issue. Voices inflect and break at just the right moment; they sing lyrics that are personal but exhibit just the right amount of emotion- happiness/sadness, or anger, or sass, in proper portions. I have respect for Ashley McBryde- I bow to anyone who has the guts to appear unaccompanied at the Opry, just guitar and voice. But I just wish these artists did not seem so processed by the music machine. Or do the artists effectively process themselves (beautiful wallflower, defiant tough chick, etc, etc), thinking they have to be a certain way to succeed? I suppose that's true across all genres these days. Bummer. This is why to me...country music is the most boring bland area of the music industry. Nothing has changed in years there.(talking about the style especially the singers. very generic) And every time they try to change it there is something dumb like trying to rap in country. Major fail. Production value for me is the only reason to listen to country. But, I'll take a good bluegrass album or folk album any day of the year over anything country thats come out in the last 20 years. Oh well. Man the first tune, slow burn. Someone heard about distorting the kick to let it cut through more and went a wee bit far with that.. I think the snare is the thing that bugs me most. Way too much of the cartoon punch in what is otherwise a soft, seemingly soulful song.
|
|
|
Post by donr on May 9, 2018 15:50:52 GMT -6
I'm too conscious of the drums in a couple of her cuts on that album. They sound programed rather than played, even if they were played. They should have blended into the arrangement a bit more, if I were King.
|
|
|
Post by yotonic on May 9, 2018 16:57:22 GMT -6
This is how to preserve a great vocal. Arrangement, mix, minimal production. The 2nd version is what happens when production "is" the aesthetic. I want to hear a human being's voice, that's how we "read" the story they are putting off. His pitch is ridiculous.
|
|
|
Post by Johnkenn on May 9, 2018 17:17:16 GMT -6
This is how to preserve a great vocal. Arrangement, mix, minimal production. The 2nd version is what happens when production "is" the aesthetic. I want to hear a human being's voice, that's how we "read" the story they are putting off. His pitch is ridiculous. Man...couldn’t agree more. Production is the star of the show right now, that’s for sure.
|
|
|
Post by Johnkenn on May 9, 2018 17:18:00 GMT -6
This is why to me...country music is the most boring bland area of the music industry. Nothing has changed in years there.(talking about the style especially the singers. very generic) And every time they try to change it there is something dumb like trying to rap in country. Major fail. Production value for me is the only reason to listen to country. But, I'll take a good bluegrass album or folk album any day of the year over anything country thats come out in the last 20 years. Oh well. Man the first tune, slow burn. Someone heard about distorting the kick to let it cut through more and went a wee bit far with that.. I think the snare is the thing that bugs me most. Way too much of the cartoon punch in what is otherwise a soft, seemingly soulful song. That made me laugh. Hadn’t heard the cartoon punch reference.
|
|
|
Post by Ward on May 9, 2018 17:53:55 GMT -6
This is how to preserve a great vocal. Arrangement, mix, minimal production. The 2nd version is what happens when production "is" the aesthetic. I want to hear a human being's voice, that's how we "read" the story they are putting off. His pitch is ridiculous. First words out of my mouth: "What have they done?"
|
|
|
Post by drbill on May 9, 2018 18:11:11 GMT -6
This is how to preserve a great vocal. Arrangement, mix, minimal production. The 2nd version is what happens when production "is" the aesthetic. I want to hear a human being's voice, that's how we "read" the story they are putting off. His pitch is ridiculous. All I could think about for the first couple of minutes were how many of Ralph Murphy's "rules" he broke.
|
|
|
Post by Johnkenn on May 9, 2018 19:08:50 GMT -6
Rules
Sigh
|
|
|
Post by jsteiger on May 9, 2018 19:33:18 GMT -6
I dunno. I'm not a massive Kacey fan but the more I hear this record the more I like it. Granted its usually when Joel is Spotifying in the other room but damn I think her vocals sound tremendous.
|
|
|
Post by guitfiddler on May 9, 2018 22:57:47 GMT -6
She sounds great live too!
|
|
|
Post by Martin John Butler on May 10, 2018 9:47:49 GMT -6
Since Beck's Sea Change, production has changed. Atmospheres have gotten big and arrangements support that vibe. You can almost substitute a Beck vocal on Slow Burn and it would fit right in on that album.
I really love certain aspects of Slow Burn. The simple four chord acoustic guitar part throughout the song is way harder to do than it seems. I find it's much more difficult to remain that consistent than playing a fairly complicated or dynamic guitar part.
I'm on the fence regarding the vocal sound. I prefer a more of an open sound, but it sure works well for the track here. I mean that in the way the vibe gets through and I'm taken away into the mood, so on that level, it's very successful. She's got a lovely voice, but she's far from being an incredible singer, so I guess they have to work around that a little.
|
|
|
Post by Martin John Butler on May 10, 2018 9:59:11 GMT -6
|
|
|
Post by spindrift on May 10, 2018 10:31:55 GMT -6
This song has some kick-ass AGtr and vocal sounds. At :48 on this song (chrous), she sings "Runnin' like a river", there's this little break in her voice which I find lovely. Probably difficult to reproduce and chosen out of a bunch of comps specifically. The way they are processing her voice seems to accentuate this part as well as the "croak" in her voice. Mike Starvou in his Mixing with your Mind book talks about trying to get the "croak" of the singer on the track....it's that magical piece. It's a bit heavy handed for my tastes on this Kacey record, but a good example of what he's talking about I think. Mic selection, serious compression, and some EQ too. Maybe some tuning too? I don't even own a vocal tuning tool so I'm pretty inexperienced with their sound.
Note I have not had the opportunity to make a record like this but it would be a challenge for sure. I'm pretty acoustic/folk-rock focused and more of a hi-fi guy.
|
|
|
Post by Blackdawg on May 10, 2018 10:40:14 GMT -6
This song has some kick-ass AGtr and vocal sounds. At :48 on this song (chrous), she sings "Runnin' like a river", there's this little break in her voice which I find lovely. Probably difficult to reproduce and chosen out of a bunch of comps specifically. The way they are processing her voice seems to accentuate this part as well as the "croak" in her voice. Mike Starvou in his Mixing with your Mind book talks about trying to get the "croak" of the singer on the track....it's that magical piece. It's a bit heavy handed for my tastes on this Kacey record, but a good example of what he's talking about I think. Mic selection, serious compression, and some EQ too. Maybe some tuning too? I don't even own a vocal tuning tool so I'm pretty inexperienced with their sound. Note I have not had the opportunity to make a record like this but it would be a challenge for sure. I'm pretty acoustic/folk-rock focused and more of a hi-fi guy. Man i hate how it gets quieter and less intamate in the chorus. Loudness wars at its finest..ass backwards dynamics. I will say i love the reverb treatment they are doing in most her stuff. Dark lush stuff with long tails really adds a wonderful depth.
|
|
|
Post by spindrift on May 10, 2018 10:42:58 GMT -6
Ah, I just noticed that after you pointed that out....chorus could be much "huge-er"! Ya, those are some good reverb skills.
|
|
|
Post by jeremygillespie on May 10, 2018 11:08:10 GMT -6
This song has some kick-ass AGtr and vocal sounds. At :48 on this song (chrous), she sings "Runnin' like a river", there's this little break in her voice which I find lovely. Probably difficult to reproduce and chosen out of a bunch of comps specifically. The way they are processing her voice seems to accentuate this part as well as the "croak" in her voice. Mike Starvou in his Mixing with your Mind book talks about trying to get the "croak" of the singer on the track....it's that magical piece. It's a bit heavy handed for my tastes on this Kacey record, but a good example of what he's talking about I think. Mic selection, serious compression, and some EQ too. Maybe some tuning too? I don't even own a vocal tuning tool so I'm pretty inexperienced with their sound. Note I have not had the opportunity to make a record like this but it would be a challenge for sure. I'm pretty acoustic/folk-rock focused and more of a hi-fi guy. My favorite "breaking up vocal" of recent is all over the last Lumineers album. I don't think much studio trickery going on, just a great vocalist blowing things up a bit. Reminds me of Levon Helm or Lowell George just puttin it out there with all the feeling they've got.
|
|
|
Post by schmalzy on May 10, 2018 11:28:31 GMT -6
Well, I guess I'm buying a Kacey Musgraves record now.
That's a thing I didn't think I'd ever utter.
In my opinion, those are a couple truly killer songs, arrangements, and productions.
They're a little snare-drum-heavy...but that's something people could (accurately) say about my mixes. In fact, my snare drum assertiveness - plus a few other taste-related details - just won me a country record I'm mixing this month. Test mix from me - a part-time guy - against some full-time guys. They wanted to sound a little more rock and less 90s country (their songs and vocals sound a little Dwight Yoakam and a little Brooks & Dunn) and they thought my pushed drums and compressed guitars made it a little less polite. They didn't use those specific words, but that's what it boiled down to, I think.
That Kacey vocal sound - holy shit. It just sounds really honest and true for her. I BELIEVE her - and that's something I hope to achieve in my productions. Good work to all involved in that project (not that they need MY praise).
|
|
|
Post by spindrift on May 10, 2018 11:43:23 GMT -6
Let's play a stupid game of guess that chain: Kacey's "Love is a Wild Thing" song
AGtr on the Left channel - Martin with a KM84 AGtr on the Right channel - J45 with a C451EB CK1
Other guesses? It would be fun to find out for reals someday.
|
|
|
Post by cowboycoalminer on May 11, 2018 7:22:44 GMT -6
If you don't love me now...you will never love me again..... No references to back roads, nose rings, grandma's, drinkin' or tailgates needed.... Refreshingly with no twang (personal preference...) This era of music is my all time favorite. And this album in particular is as good as recorded music gets. Great writing, production, performance etc. In these days, songs were shaped and honed for months and sometimes years before they hit the record button. Not all songs were of coarse but some of the greats. It shows in the music because it is timeless. Can someone name me one timeless recording in the last 5 years?
|
|