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If you know me on here, you'll know that I was never (and I'm still not so much) convinced by my singing voice. However: floyd, Deej, rayc, and many others have encouraged me to sing ... if only, perhaps, to improve my voice through practice? wink In any case, encourage me they really kindly did ... so here's a song where I sing, myself.

These past few days, I've managed to catch the cold of all colds ... and I'm still far from recovered. However: I woke up at 5 a.m., the other day, with a basso profondo voice, the envy of Dmitry Hvorostovsky, himself (I joke, of course, but you get my point ... I was reaching low notes I never reached before, due to the cold smile ) wink . My first thought was, obviously: hang on a minute, if I sound this low, I NEED to record Deep River ... I will never in my life get the chance to sound this rich low with my voice, ever.

The flip side to this is that my voice was also VERY croaky, so there are notes which I'm barely able to hold, which I would usually effortlessly hold, if I did not have a cold. So: advantages and disadvantages, to this smile ... but, long story short: what do you think? smile Thank you ever so much for listening, and for any comments!


THE LYRICS:

Deep river,
My home is over Jordan.
Deep river, Lord,
I want to cross over into campground.

Oh, don't you want to go,
To the Gospel feast;
That Promised Land,
Where all is peace?

Oh, deep river, Lord,
I want to cross over into campground.


THE BAND:

****** Song Summary *************
Title: Deep River
File:Deep River - 24 May 2024.SGU
Key=Db , Tempo 55, Length (m:s)=2:28
No intro. 30 bar chorus, from bar 1 to bar 30. Repeat x1 chorus
No Melody
No Soloist track.
Song is saved with Volume, Pan, Reverb, Chorus, Bank0,
Style is _LUNDI.STY (Lundi Slow 12-8 RnB with Organ)

RealTracks in style: 564:Bass, Electric, Blues Monday Sw 065
RealTracks in style: 4307:Organ, Rhythm RnBSlow12-8 Sw 060
RealTracks in style: ~529:Guitar, Acoustic, Strumming Hank Sw 065
RealTracks in style: 3778:Guitar, Electric, Rhythm VintagePopArpSlow128 Sw 060
RealDrums in style:Nashville128^08-a:Snare, Hihat , b:Snare, Ride

Mixed and mastered in Mixcraft Pro Studio 10, with the "Voice Radio Spot" preset

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This one seems to have gone by, completely un-noticed frown ... so I thought I'd "break the rules" a little and "bump it up", just this one time. If it still doesn't get any comments, I'll take the hint, haha smile but was just curious to hear any feedback, that's all. Thanks for your patience with me smile

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James,

This is a beautiful and emotional rendering of this spiritual. I really like your choice of RTs and the mix is excellent.

I think your "cold" voice provided you with some creative inspiration.

Bob

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James, kudos to you for taking advantage of your cold and for having the audacity to take on a song owned (figuratively) by Paul Robeson. Nobody has ever had a cold that made them sound remotely like Mr R, or could even make someone not think of him when singing one of "his" songs. But your post did give me an excuse to listen to Mr R's version again, so THANK YOU!!

Definitely keep singing! But find your own voice (and songs) as well.

Note: I have not posted my own vocals on this forum

Last edited by DC Ron; 06/02/24 09:13 AM.

DC Ron
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Pleasant tracks, James.
Always good to hear you sing. The cold works.
smile

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James

The croak and deep voice suit the song.
Nicely done.

Peter

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If a cold would enable me (Bud) to sing I'd get out the meds and go for it!
Well done ...

J&B


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James, you did a nice job on this one.
That cold really did allow you to hit those low notes.
Nice backing tracks and mix.


I got banned from Weight Watchers for dropping a bag of M&Ms on the floor.
It was the best game of Hungry Hippos I've ever seen!


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Hi, James.

The vocal sounds fine... But I hope you've gotten over the cold anyway. wink

It's good to hear you sing, and everything sounds fine.

There are a couple places where you "pop" the /p/ sound, or overdo the /s/ and /f/ sounds. A singer with more practice is going to be able to avoid these kinds of problems by doing things like turning slightly so the airstream isn't directed into the microphone when those sounds are made.

Fortunately, these are usually pretty easy to fix in the DAW.

Although I haven't used Mixcraft. the documentation indicates that audio tracks have an Automation lane. What I'd suggest doing is creating an automation lane for the audio, zoom in on the problems, and drawing in envelopes around the sound to lower the volume. I do it all the time with human and synthetic vocals, and it works likes a charm. smile

Nice work!


-- David Cuny
My virtual singer development blog

Vocal control, you say. Never heard of it. Is that some kind of ProTools thing?
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Man this sounds really good to me and it's an excellent rendition of this timeless classic.

I really like what you did with it!

Insofar as the time lag man I don't know what's going on with other people but I have some elder care issues going on that are making my brain explode so I'm amazed that my eyeballs haven't popped out of my head.

So now that I've had a second to actually do something other than that I had a chance to listen to it and I say it's great!!

😂

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Bob: thank you. Yes, as soon as I sounded like the drain, I thought: "I MUST record this song!", haha. Thanks again for your kind words smile

Ron: I didn't know James Robeson's version ... but yes, many singers have done superb versions of this song. I just thought I'd have a humble go at it, especially since the cold was helping me smile Thanks for listening to my little effort! I've listen to Mr R's version, now ... wow smile

floyd: thanks ... and thank goodness the cold did work smile

Peter: thank you smile

Bud: haha smile I can't sing much, either, but the difference between you and I is that I don't know that ... wink

Mario: thanks! The cold was well worth it smile

David Cuny: yes, I've gotta fix those sibilant sounds - argh smile It has to be done, though! Thanks for showing me how, and thanks for your nice words about my singing! smile

David Snyder: I'm really grateful for your kind words!!! We're all incredibly overstressed and tired and busy, these days, so don't worry about anything ... it's so good to hear your stuff around here, whenever you're free to post, and to read your comments. THANKS for taking the time to stop by! smile

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