New recording "Yvonne" made in C15, including with Omnivocal

Steinberg Lounge
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My latest recording, “Yvonne”, a love song to an exotic dancer (story is totally fictional, but it was inspired by a real-life encounter back in the mid-90s) is out there as of today:

I recorded this in Cubase Pro 15, and it’s the first time I’ve used Omnivocal “in real life” (as opposed to just to try it out), layering it with my own background vocals for a richer blend. The process on that part was a bit involved as I’d tracked my own vocals first, and I wanted the Omnivocal doubles to match my own parts reasonably well. Thus, I used VariAudio to extract MIDI from each of the original four (two parts each, doubled) live BGVs, then painstakingly edited the MIDI to deal with glitches before assigning the parts to Omnivocal (2 female voices to double my high part, and 2 male voices to double my low part). I also used Waves Vx Sync to tighten the timing and pitch of the rendered-to-audio Omnivocal parts against my real BGVs. Given the context – i.e. somewhat subtly in the background of the overall mix – Omnivocal worked well enough. However, next time I have a similar need, I’ll try experimenting with IK’s ReSing as I think the workflow will be MUCH more efficient.

As for the rest of the production, it’s a combination of programmed and played parts. On the programming front it was sequencing and editing Toontrack grooves for drums in SD3, programming my own loops in NI Session Percussionist for the tambourine, and sequencing UJAM Virtual Guitarist Amber2 parts to my chords for the acoustic guitar. Bass (IK MODO BASS 2), electric guitar (UVI Workstation with Acoustic Samples Telematic V3 through UAD Paradise Guitar Studio for amp simulation and FX), piano (IK PianoVerse NY Grand S275), and organ (IK Hammond B-3X) were played from a keyboard controller, and brass parts (Samplemodeling The Trumpet, Mr. Sax T, and The Trombone) were played on my Akai EWI-USB wind controller. I did all the real vocals.

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From the opening brass I was transported way back to the very early seventies.
The whole thing (except the vocals!) reminds very much of the Bonzo Dog Band, when they are serious. I do mean that as a compliment, as I think the Bonzo’s were brilliant.
Sorry if that impression was unintentional, this is me being complimentary.
“Oi’ll give it an 8.”
:+1:

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Well, that’s one I’ve never heard of. Had to google them and check out some tracks on Spotify. I have to say I’m not catching the comparison, but none of the tracks I listened to (only excerpts, but probably at least a dozen) would seem to qualify as “when they are serious”.

That said, though, I like the notion of the “art school” thing and infusing music with comedy, cabaret, etc. One of my key “things” with songs, whether covers or originals, is to look at the lyrics like an actor might look at a script and try to bring my interpretation to the song. (I did a fair amount of musical theatre in high school and college, unfortunately, never playing the romantic lead, only the bad guy – e.g. Judas in “Jesus Christ Superstar” – or some other “character” part.)

I appreciate the thoughts, and your checking out the song, in any case.

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Mine are mostly addled, these days.
I think the Bonzo song-writing was/is impeccable. I think your song would have been a nice fit on Gorilla or Keynsham.
As I said, I like it.
:+1:

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