[MUSIC] It's a Sunny Day

Steinberg Lounge
1

I’m not sure when my vocalist’s schedule will allow her to come record this, so I’m operating on the assumption that it’ll never happen. :laughing:

I have no idea where the inspiration for the music came from - it just started coming to me one day. Then as I’m noodling around with lyrical concepts (snippets, really) the song’s title came to me and I ran with it.

This song, at the very end at the very least, reminds me of Chicago circa 1970’s. That’s chutzpah because they were a phenomenal group even though I never was much of a fan outside of their hits (25 or 6 to 4, for example), but I’m honestly not trying to say this song is as good as they. It’ll just remind you of that genre.

The lead guitar, rhythm guitar, e-piano, and organ are live. Everything else isn’t. All of the VSTis are from Native Instruments. Guitar Rig 5 was used for the guitars’ distortion sounds.

Edit: updated URL in the link below.

It’s a Sunny Day

It’s been a real tough year for you baby
And I know that life is treating you bad
Nothing’s going well for you baby
You’re losing everything that you had

Now I know your life has got you bumming
Everything is upside down
You will see good and bright days are coming
Nothing’s gonna slow you down, down

It’s a sunny day now darling
Better times are coming around
Don’t you know it’s a new day honey
Don’t you let life bring you down, down, down

So you see that I know how you feel
It’s never good to be in your shoes
But you got to hang tough there baby
Smile instead of singing the blues, blues

'Cause it’s a sunny day now darling
Better times are coming around
Don’t you see that the clouds have scattered
Life ain’t gonna bring you down, down, down

Solo

It’s a sunny day now darling
Better times are coming around
Don’t you know it’s a new day honey
Don’t you let life bring you down

'Cause it’s a sunny day now darling
Pick yourself up off of the ground
'Cause you know that the good times are coming
Nothing’s gonna keep you down, down, down

2

Sounds good! So is that Studio Drummer? The drums sound good to me. I’ll skip over comments on the vocals as you are going to replace. But I see what you mean about Chicago. Horns sound good to me. Nice job!

3

Thanks for having a listen and for validating my thoughts on the horns - I’m quite happy with them too.

Actually, that’s a stock Battery kit. It’s the Tight Kit, which is my goto kit. I have heard many good things about Studio Drummer and need to find time to play with it to get an idea of the various articulations that it has before I start incorporating it into my projects.

4

Definitely my type of music. I really like it and for what it’s worth I personally think this suites a male vocalist rather than a female. The only change I’d make is to take the organ down slightly.

Great job.

5

I agree with the male vs. female, but it’s really tough to find a male voice with the bluesy quality that this genre demands. Marissa, my female vocalist, has always reminded me of a younger Joss Stone so she may sound better at this than you imagine.

Regarding the organ, I just rebalanced the tracks but recognize that I’ll have to do it again after incorporating her vocals so I’m in the “taking notes” from comments phase now.

6

Hey Larry!

and BANG! I am right in the middle of a feel good movie where golden retrievers catch frisbee’s in the park.
I would keep the male vocals and put some female choirs on it.

Like it!

7

Hi Larry,

Yeah, I like it too.
I even like your vocals, you’ve got your own sound, which is a good thing.
I know what you mean with the Chicago reference, I can hear it as well.

Sounds good, nice job! :sunglasses:

Cheers,
Wim

8

Meh @ my vocals. I wasn’t having a good day that day, but I needed something to give to Marissa for practice to see what ideas I had in mind. The original chorus line that I envisioned was much higher than what I sang:

It’s (F#) a sunny day now (E) dar (D) lin’ (E)…

Originally…

It’s (F#) a (A) sunny day (B) now (A) dar (F#) lin’ (A)…

…but I can’t hit that note and sound respectable on tape. I end up screeching like Geddy Lee in that range using my natural voice.

Thank you both for listening however!

9

Hi, Have you thought about doing it in a lower key ? just sounds like it’s in the wrong key for you so your not doing yourself justice really and the wah wah guitar in the left ear should take a few bars rest now and again…IMHO…god stuff tho…keep on keepin on…

10

It’s not the key. I was at a 3 day work conference in mid-April. Had to talk over 1,500 people during the first night’s work session, and haven’t fully recovered. You think this is bad? The day after that night I sounded like Barry White.

Now I’m dealing with a week-long headcold. Blech.

I haven’t listened too much to the song in cans so the (auto-)wah guitar hasn’t stood out enough for me to take notice. I’ll add that to the notes to listen to.

11

Didn’t think it was bad…just in the wrong key…

12

Pretty cool, Larry!

…where did you find the time to do this, havent you just moved house?? :astonished:

Theres something buggin me a little…It sounds like its cloaked…err, likes my speakers have got
a sheet over them? Can’t quite tell what it is :confused:
I feel it needs to open up a little, bit of ‘air’ maybe???
I wouldnt just add some top, think that would kill the hat and cymbols.

Something to try, or add to the ‘notes’ :wink:

duplicate the track and add an EQ (which has M/S) to one of them

Set the EQ -
On the Side EQ, cut 320hz by -6db, Q1.8
On the mid EQ, cut 490hz by -6db, Q1.4
(the Q doesnt have to be spot on)

Then flick between the 2 and see if you hear what im hearing.
Thats ‘not’ the EQ settings you want to use to correct anything (…if theres anything to correct that is), just to expose what I think I’m hearing.

:sunglasses:
Sav

13

Yeah, I think the problem is in the EQ of the vocal track. I was actually mentally noting to myself on the way to work today that I need to bug Tom Zartler for another phone conversation on how to record and mix non-digital instruments since it seems that I struggle the most with these.

I don’t remember off the top of my head what frequencies I killed on the vocal track (using the 30-band stock EQ) but I may have went overboard with the cuts (i.e. cut too much -12 instead of something less like -6 or -3) or maybe I just incorrectly selected the frequencies to cut. It’s these two concerns of mine that made me want to reach out to Tom more than anything else.

As far as the time goes, when you have a 75-90 minute commute each way to work - even if I don’t go to the office every day - you have plenty of time for mental composition. I’m guessing that I spent a total of 8h total to track and edit this track because by the time I sat down at my DAW I already had all of the parts worked out in my head.

14

Question: how does adding a M/S EQ work if the original track wasn’t recorded using M/S? It’s a simple mono track recorded using my vocal mic.

15

Sorry, I think I should have said mix, not track, did you think I meant only the vocal track? :confused: :blush:

16

Sav,

I lightened up the frequency cuts on the vocals and bumped the volume on that track up a bit and it’s already sounding better. I’m going to make a few more edits before replacing the version I have at that URL. Stay tuned.

17

:sunglasses: …will do!

18

Ok, a new version has been uploaded. I’m a lot happier with this one.

Sav: I wasn’t a fan of the EQ that you suggested for the following reason: the Rhodes sound is instantly recognizable because of those particular frequency bands. When I cut those out as you suggested on the master bus the e-piano sounded…blech.

So then I wondered if maybe the problem was that the vocals didn’t have the umph they needed. I had already did some harsh cuts in the original version so I started fiddling around with the EQ you suggested but on the vocal track. The result was that it sounded like I was singing through a transistor radio. But then I noticed something: the vocal track was not being sent through a HPF.

Normally when I mix, I’ll send all tracks that are not bass, kick, or toms through a group channel that has a HPF with a cutoff of 120 Hz on it. But this time the bed tracks were done separately (and sent through the group channel). When I added the vocal track later I forget to set the channel routing to that group track.

When I corrected the routing issue things immediately sounded better. But because I have a naturally nasally sound, I added a presence boost in the 8k range which gave it more life without having to resort to an exciter.

Your thoughts - as well as those of everyone else - about this new version are greatly appreciated in advance!

19

in my defence

…hehe

Nah, Im glad you gave it a go, but more important, you came back with your findings, and I get to learn something too :smiley:

Yep, the cloak has gone, sounds more open now.
Did you change ‘any’ EQ on the rest of the mix? even a tiny bit??
Im flickin between the 2 mixes, and I swear the new version is a touch brighter.
To make sure it wasnt the new vocals causing this effect, I listened through the solo section.
Its only a nats … but its brighter. :confused:
Good though! :smiley:

One new thing I did notice, and it might be in the vocal track (didn’t notice it in my headphones at 1st)
Listen to the vocal line at 1.14 …

Don’t you know it’s a new day honey
Don’t you let life bring you down, down, down

Theres a real high whistle noise :confused: ?

Sav

20

Well, it’s brighter because I rebalanced several tracks: the vocals, lead and rhythm guitars, organ, and e-piano. I made sure the relative loudness was the same for the foreground instrument (voice or guitar) for consistency. As a result, there’s a lot less crowding in the main frequency bands.

I don’t hear the whistle by the way.

The only EQ I changed was on the vocal track. I just confirmed it. What I did was take the GE-30 insert out and use the stock EQ preset Presence. But remember that I also routed this track to the HPF group channel.