Seeking advice and comments on an original Christmas song

[MJLeeman]

Any observations, comments, advice and suggestions on the following track would be welcome and very much appreciated.

https://www.taxi.com/members/nwRU7pygQr ... stmas-time

Cheers
Michael



HEARTFELT ADULT CONTEMPORARY CHRISTMAS SONGS with Male or Female Vocals are needed by a Film/TV Music Publisher for (up to) $10,000 placements in upcoming Netflix Projects.

NOTE: This request is open to Original Songs and Covers of Public Domain Christmas Songs. If you are submitting a cover, please double check to make sure the Covers you submit are truly Public Domain! In case you’re unsure if your covers are in the Public Domain, here’s a link that will help: Public Domain Christmas Song List.

This Publisher looking for Mid-to-Down Tempo Songs that could fit on a playlist with the following references:

"Where Are You Christmas" by Faith Hill
https://youtu.be/P1qXL1cEgi4

"Hallelujah" by Carrie Underwood & John Legend
https://youtu.be/4KiFSKLTj0U?t=30

"It's Beginning To Look A Lot Like Christmas" by Michael Bublé
https://youtu.be/QJ5DOWPGxwg

"Snowfall" by Ingrid Michaelson
https://youtu.be/vjZJ__LysvM

"This Christmas" by Donny Hathaway
https://youtu.be/xrxvHpKI9-0


Quoting the Publisher: "We are looking for (mid-to-down tempo) mature, warm, and heartfelt songs that could work for Christmas. Live instrumentation would go over well – cozy string arrangements and piano-driven melodies that are reminiscent of a Holiday setting. Any songs that appeal to the Adult Contemporary genre could work: Soul, Singer/Songwriter, Pop, Indie, etc."

Please submit top-notch Christmas Songs (ORIGINALS or PUBLIC DOMAIN COVERS) that capture the heartfelt, warm, and cozy feelings of the holiday! Memorable melodies, well-crafted Christmas-centered lyrics, polished production, and emotional, well-performed vocals are all required for this request. Your submissions can range within the Adult Contemporary spectrum and incorporate Pop, Soul, Singer/Songwriter, or Indie elements. Instrumentation that's generally similar to the references (and others like them) will suit your submissions best – think piano, strings, organic drums/percussion, etc. Incorporating some Christmas-y elements like tubular bells or sleigh bells is recommended for this request, as well. Live instrumentation is preferred for this request, however, if you choose to use any virtual instruments or samples, please be sure they are high-quality and sound like the real deal.

Lyrics should avoid references to specific names, dates, times, places, and brands – unless they are Christmas related (i.e. Santa, North Pole, December 25th). No profanity, please.

Please do NOT copy the referenced songs or artists in any way, shape, or form. Use them only as a general guide for tempo, texture, and tone. Do NOT submit any material with unauthorized samples of any other artists’ music, sounds, or any other form of media. Broadcast Quality is needed.

NOTE: This Publisher will need instrumental-only versions of your Songs as well, but not yet! All you need to submit for now are the Full Songs with vocals, but please have mixes-minus-vocals on hand and ready to send at a moment’s notice if you get a call or email from the Publisher. Go ahead and submit for this if you would be able to get your mixes-minus-vocals in their hands within an hour after being contacted.

The estimated license fee for each placement is up to $10,000, depending on the ultimate use. This Publisher offers a NON-EXCLUSIVE, 50/50 deal. You’ll split any applicable sync fees 50/50. You must own or control your Master (and Copyright for originals) to submit for this opportunity. Please submit as many Songs as you’d like, online or per CD. All submissions will be screened and critiqued by TAXI. Submissions must be received no later than 11:59 PM (PDT) on Monday, August 8th, 2022. TAXI # S220808HD

TAXI # S220808HD

[MJLeeman]

Hi, I like everything about this and I think you're on target for the brief. The vocal is very well sung in a classic style. However, it might be worth revisiting the vocal track processing. Unless its my ears, there's something going on with the transients which produces a sort of crack at the start of some words. You can see where its happening by looking at the spikes on the track display on your taxi page (eg 31s). I'm not sure what it is, perhaps some unsympathetic gate or compressor setting, but if you could tame that a little I'm sure it would help the vocal sit a little more comfortably. Otherwise, its great!

Thank you for your observation, Telefunkin - practical advice, something which I didn't pick up and that that I can turn my attention to - precisely why I continue to seek assistance on this forum. I will certainly take my time to look at the mixing issue which you identified and try to eliminate the problem as best as I can.

And I am grateful that I have stumbled upon a very competent vocalist and I am fortunate that the melody suited his natural vocal range.

Cheers
Michael

[Casey H]

Nice. The only thing I don't know (really not sure) is if the vocal is TOO much in a classic style and needs to be more a contemporary interpretation of a classic style, if that makes any sense. Good luck with it!

Casey

[MJLeeman]

Nice. The only thing I don't know (really not sure) is if the vocal is TOO much in a classic style and needs to be more a contemporary interpretation of a classic style, if that makes any sense. Good luck with it!

Casey

Thanks for pointing that out, Casey. Bing Crosby v Michael Buble perhaps!. From what I have heard of both vocalists' music, they croon(/ed) in the baritone/tenor range. For me, the former was a baritone/tenor and the latter is a tenor/baritone, i.e excels at a higher range, so this is perhaps perceived generally as a more modern crooning style. For me, the singer I engaged for this song shows characteristics of both artists, and I suspect that a more 'modern' sound might occur by just transposing the melody a couple of keys upwards, which I am certain he could manage.

Your observation is food for thought which might be applicable for future endeavours. So next time, I would seek my singer's views on this and maybe ask him to try to pick a comfortable key for him which reflects either a modern or traditional style. So I definitely feel that I have learned something here.

Cheers
Michael.

[kregdurant]

Nice. The only thing I don't know (really not sure) is if the vocal is TOO much in a classic style and needs to be more a contemporary interpretation of a classic style, if that makes any sense. Good luck with it!

Casey

I don't necessarily think its the vocal that sounds classic myself. I think its the combination of the music bed WITH the vocal. It's definitely got that Michael Buble style vocal, if the music bed is brought up to date i think the vocal would work just fine.

Heres a good reference for a vocal with this style vocal over a more modern vocal bed. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mBycW6iu8GM

One thing that i did notice, well maybe not notice, but felt, is some parts feel a little off tempo and rushed. I dunno if its the lack of percussion playing tricks on me or not though. The "Gloria" part its the one that stands out the most to me.
Other than that i think its pretty solid. I've been trying to come up with ideas for this listing as well (hard to do when you haven't really celebrated xmas in like 10 years, maybe that should be my song lol), definitely not the easiest thing to write about, at least for me lol.

[MJLeeman]

Unless its my ears, there's something going on with the transients which produces a sort of crack at the start of some words. You can see where its happening by looking at the spikes on the track display on your taxi page (eg 31s). I'm not sure what it is, perhaps some unsympathetic gate or compressor setting, but if you could tame that a little I'm sure it would help the vocal sit a little more comfortably.

Thanks again for this observation, Telefunkin. I studied this issue today. What I did is look at a magnified version of the audio file of the vocals. For some reason, I expected to find a big spike/jump in the amplitude of the initial part of the transient (bearing in mind that I don't yet know much how these things work on a microscopic level). But the spike was not there in the vocal audio file. However, when I added a fade in at the start of the transient, the problem seemed to be solved. I am confused therefore about the origin of the spikes in the oerall stereo master file. But thanks for pointing this out so that I was ultimately able to solve the problem with a fade in to soften the attack.

Cheers
Michael

[MJLeeman]

Just be careful not to overdo the fade and make the singer sound like he's missing consonants.

Yes, I kow exactly what you mean. For a while, the new version sounded a bit like Christmas -ime.

Cheers and thanks again
Michael

[MJLeeman]

Nice. The only thing I don't know (really not sure) is if the vocal is TOO much in a classic style and needs to be more a contemporary interpretation of a classic style, if that makes any sense. Good luck with it!

Casey

One thing that i did notice, well maybe not notice, but felt, is some parts feel a little off tempo and rushed. I dunno if its the lack of percussion playing tricks on me or not though. The "Gloria" part its the one that stands out the most to me.
Other than that i think its pretty solid. I've been trying to come up with ideas for this listing as well (hard to do when you haven't really celebrated xmas in like 10 years, maybe that should be my song lol), definitely not the easiest thing to write about, at least for me lol.

Thanks for pointing this out, kregdurant. I reviewed the mix, and in particular the rhythmic issue that you raised, and I agree that there was some instability in that respect. I experimented with jazzing it up, so to speak, rhythmic-wise, e.g by adding drums/percussion as in the Buble reference, but this idea didn't work at all with what I had done to date. Eventually, I brought up the piano track in the mix and this seemed to provide some rhythmic pulse; so I went with this solution. I also added some substitute vocal phrasing in a couple of parts, which I had originally got the vocalist to provide as alternatives, and I also modified/filled out the backing slightly. So I think that I might stick with the final arrangement as in the link below, unless there are other glaring mistakes of areas of improvement to look at. Not sure if the vocal needs some de-essing.

I might say that I would not have come to the decisions made without the input of those above who kindly contributed to the topic on this forum. So, thank you very much for those contributions.

Here's the updated version:

https://www.taxi.com/members/nwRU7pygQr ... l-revision



Cheers,
Michael

[kregdurant]

I think it could benefit from just a little dessing for sure, just because they are definitely a little distracting. But not much, most of these xmas songs are pretty sibilant anyways and you definitely don't want to sound like Mike tyson singing xmas carols lol. (a desser on your FX bus is always a great thing to practice as well)
At 33 seconds on "Gloria" i do hear a crackle, don't know if that was a bad edit point or maybe some mouth noise. And for my taste the vocal could use a small boost at around 5k and a little less compression.
Then the first bell, and the bells at the very end could probably come down a few db. They walk on the vocal a bit
Of course i'm not in my studio right now so it's hard to dissect
But overall it sounds great! Great job mayne! <3

[MJLeeman]

I think it could benefit from just a little dessing for sure, just because they are definitely a little distracting. But not much, most of these xmas songs are pretty sibilant anyways and you definitely don't want to sound like Mike tyson singing xmas carols lol. (a desser on your FX bus is always a great thing to practice as well)
At 33 seconds on "Gloria" i do hear a crackle, don't know if that was a bad edit point or maybe some mouth noise. And for my taste the vocal could use a small boost at around 5k and a little less compression.
Then the first bell, and the bells at the very end could probably come down a few db. They walk on the vocal a bit
Of course i'm not in my studio right now so it's hard to dissect
But overall it sounds great! Great job mayne! <3

Hi, Kregdurant,
I incorporated your suggestions re boosting the eq in a certain range and tried to alleviate the other issues. I found that after a while, I got to the stage where the production started to progressively suffer more and more from over processing, etc. and was getting worse, so I backed off and made a decision to go with the following final version. There still seems to be a bit of sibilence and a couple of other issues, but I think that I will go with this (as at the link below, which is the same link as the previous one) or maybe I'll rest my ears for a day or two before revisiting and submitting and putting it behind me.

https://www.taxi.com/members/nwRU7pygQr ... stmas-time

Thanks again for your input, and that of others previously - very much appreciated. I have learned very much.

Cheers
Michael