Hey ya'll,

It's been while since I shared anything solo. Here's my latest - a little happy upbeat ditty celebrating my wedding anniversary coming up shortly.

All RTs editted in RB and mixed in Tracktion. Hope you enjoy it.

Any and all comments are welcome so fire away.

You Cover Me

That's a really sweet sounding song. Good use of BIAB. Nice harmonies on the vocals too. I like it.

Thank you very much jpt - glad you like it.

Yes yes very well done.
Most enjoyable.
Thanks for posting.

Hi Josie,

When the song started playing I thought, "Great beat!". Then you started singing and my eyes popped open. The first thought that sprang into my head was, "Wow! Gosh that sounds like it could be Karen Carpenter singing." I was very impressed. As the song continued playing, your individuality came to the foreground and really glittered diamond-bright. I just sat here in front of my very dusty computer with my eyes closed, tapping my foot and rocking my head from side to side. The 3 minutes and 34 seconds flew by in a flash.

You've really got Tracktion under control. The overall sounded very well balanced. I also liked the way you weaved various instruments in and out of the mix. Lots of musicianship on show here with this one!

All in all, great work. I really enjoyed the listen. I also found myself thinking, "What a wonderful gift."

My best wishes to you and your hubby on your anniversay
Noel

Josie,

Hey I really like that song! Very well done. Vocals, instrumentation, arrangement, are all great.
If I had to nit-pick... I think it's an excellent mix, except on my system it seems just "a little" bass heavy, but that could just be my system.
(I do have a sub-woofer)

Well done.

Greg

Hi Greg,

When I read your comment, I went back to check the sound on my system because I didn't recall that the bass stood out excessively. After listening to Josie's song again, the bass sounded fine to me. I wonder if your sub-woofer's volume might be up a little higher than mine?

Just in case it's useful information to you or someone else on the forum, I thought I'd mention how I set up the balance of my sub-woofer.

What I did when I first got my system was to adjust the level of the sub-woofer (found on the back of my speaker box) so that the bass sounded the same volume in the mix as it sounded through my headphones (Audio Technica ATH M30). These headphones were recommended by a Nashville mixing professional as having an even response across the full spectrum of music frequencies (gamers' headphones tend to be bass heavy). With the sub-woofer set, I mixed a couple of songs using the speaker system, burnt them to CD and tried them on a few different playback systems. Balancing the sub-woofer by comparing its output to the output from my headphones seemed to produce a good, general sound that translated well through different devices (CD players, car radios, etc.). So I stayed with it. Another advantage I later discovered was that I can use either headphones or the speaker system to mix and end up with a similar sound.

It's good see that you still visit the forum Hope all is going well for you!

All the best,
Noel

Hey Josie!! Long time no see...er..uh..hear. Very nice stuff ya got there. You just keep getting better and better at this. Great vocal too. Keep in touch.

Bob

Hey Rob,
Thank you, glad you enjoyed it.


Hey Noel,
What a thoughtful review. Thank you.


Hey Greg,
Thank you. I'm so glad you like it. Glad to see you. On the bass, I was after keeping it very present for the feel but I don't want it overwhelming. I'm open to bringing it down a bit if needed.

Hey Bob,

Thank you. I really appreciate that. Good to have you back. Hope all those wild fires out that way haven't been close to where you are.

Nice work, as usual. Good vocals, nice harmonies, interesting things happening in the arrangement.

In my headphones, the bass sounds too aggressive. On my monitor, it sounds more balanced. Go figure.

There's a bit of a hiccup at 1:19 when the bass comes back in, as if it hit one beat too soon. The bass is much louder here - maybe you want to ease that transition a bit.

I don't know if it's me or the mix, but I have a lot of trouble making out the lyrics. The soft "southern" vowels combined with the quiet vocals make it a challenge for me to make some parts out. For example:

"And when you reel it in"

is sung wonderfully, but gets buried. In:

"But I'm still dancing on the breeze"

the word "breeze" is really hard to make out - I can hear the "br" at the beginning, but I'm only guessing the rest of the word by rhyming it. I also can't make out the lyric that follows:

"That makes my...."

I know I'm hearing these lyrics wrong:

"Instead of a card with great big letters
I wrote you this little song
You came home in your heart forever
And you'll never hide
Never belong"

But that's not a big deal, because the feeling of the song comes through, which is the most important part.

Beautiful vocal and harmonies. Music is well produced, thanks for sharing!

Nicely done Josie! A very enjoyable listen. Loved the vocal and the harmonies.

John

Hey David,

Thank you. I'm glad you like the song and appreciate your review. I'll check out that hiccup. Meanwhile, here are the lyrics.

You Cover Me
(C)2012 Josie Beck

If I had a dime for every time you smiled at me
I'd be flying high
But I'm already sailing on the wind
And you hold the strings that pull me in
When we're ready to play
You can fly my heart like a kite again

You, you cover me
And I, I'm totally
So totally wrapped up in you
You cover me

If I had a song for every wrong you make all right
I'd be stepping high
But I'm already dancing on the breeze
And you know the key that makes my beat
Nearly every day
There's a brand new song that you play for me

Repeat chorus

Instead of a card with great big letters
I wrote you this little song
You can hum in your heart forever
And it'll never, never be lost

Repeat chorus

Hey Robert,
Thank you so much. I'm glad you enjoyed it.


Hey John,
I appreciate that very much. Thank you.

Great Lyrics Josie, Great Job on the music! I always love your music!

Josie,
I just couldn't close out today without hearing your new tune. The Forum said it all. I really enjoyed it. I especially liked the changes in chorus. Noel mentioned you sounding like Karen Carpenter. I can hear that too. She was one of my favorite female singers.
Happy Anniversary!
SD

Thanks for posting the lyrics!

Very nice Josie! I like it! What a unique anniversary gift!

Josie your voice is so up-close and personal I thought you were singing in the room with me.
What an intimate sound!
You've obviously captured many hearts with this tune. Beautiful.
Loved it
So, many good wishes to you both - Ian

Tommyc, SD, Pat and Ian,

Thank you. Very much appreciated.

Another great solo from my musical partner...

Bob

Josie,

I have been "out of pocket" for several weeks (working about 60 hours a week on a new job), so I am just now able to listen to some of the good material that has been posted on the forum.

I really like this song! You did an outstanding job on the vocals, and the harmonies really work. And by the way, congratulations on your anniversary!

Keep up the good work!

Steve