Here's my Michael Buble' impression of CRAZY LOVE. Not really, but the previous discussions of CL got me thinking about what other styles could be used. You know, Barry Manilow has been doing these Greatest Hits of the decades albums and maybe someone here would like to try a Barry-style arrangement. ???

Anyway, do you have problems recording. well I sure do. It seems no matter how many times I play thru a song, as soon as I touch 'record' everything goes wrong. You'll hear them here - harmony on verses - what's that; flubbed fills and even a lukewarm organ solo (this deserves a good brass solo). So, whatever it's worth, here's version #4 of Crazy Love. I'll list the other 3 just for reference.

Crazy Love - swing


Crazy Love - cassp

Crazy Love - tony mads

Crazy Love - scott yee

Cass, man, I really enjoyed your bb swing rendition, perhaps, even better than your original. Rather than Buble, your vocals gave me the impression of how Van Morrison might deliver a swing jazz standard.



Yeah, I too often experience that anxiety filled 'everything go wrong''rec button' activated feeling. Nonetheless, whatever minor imperfections heard on your song, they didn't bother me in the least. I think this your best song submission here so far. Thanks for sharing.

Scott

Oh really? Thanks for the compliment, Scott. I think you're showing your style preferences.

As I've said before, these arrangers shine on dance styles, be it big band, bossa or waltz. This is what the designers are designing for. And even though the rock style are good, they are not as realistic and well-written as the "standards" styles. Just MHO.

OK ... here goes ...
pros:
I dig cass' vocal style, and his treatment of songs ...
I like the BB swing style that was used ...
cons:
I am not sure about this style for this tune ... it made me think of "Nick the Lounge Singer" (Bill Murray)from Saturday Night Live, when he used to try to swing songs like "Born Free" ....
I also didn't have "Crazy Love" for the harmony ...
t.

Cass,

I had the tune playing in the background in my office and I thought sure has that Van Morrison sound. Nice work. Tony has a point not sure about this style for this tune. You sound like the G70 is starting to fit you like a glove

I sure do appreciate the positive vibes.
As for the style, it's not one I would choose for this song, but I can imagine a lot of guys (I don't want to call them lounge singers) who do this quite often, and don't even know it.
Plus, I wanted to highlight the G70 style. I think the Yamahas are equally good in this genre, but I love the warmth I hear from Roland

I'm getting comfortable with the G70, for sure, but it's a lot of work setting up songs. I guess that's what those UPGs are for, hey? Unfortunately, I'm a very "on the fly" guy and I may never do a particular song twice. Especially with my midi-laden songlist, arranger tunes are few and far between right now. But I know enough now to save some of these settings to avoid the frustration.

So I guess this forum has really helped me get comfortable in my arranger hat.

[This message has been edited by cassp (edited 09-18-2007).]

I also didn't have "Crazy Love" for the harmony ...
t.

Tony, I don't understand your comment. Do you mean you didn't like the harmony?

I've received a few comments regarding my use of the harmonizer. Maybe I'm using the wrong settings or turning it up too strong. Let me know so I can work on that.

Thanks for putting up yours and the other versions of the song cassp. I enjoyed each one of them. The beauty of arrangers, eh?




Tell ya what, though - recording this stuff at home on our own recording gear sure beats screwing everything up when a studio clock is ticking away at your wallet. That's when the pressure's on.

I thought they sounded a little 'muddled', but listening through headphones I didn't hear that ...
t.

The thing about harmonies is... It isn't often that close-voiced four part harmony works very well, even with REAL singers. The trick, just like horn voicings, string voicings, you name it, is to spread the voicing wider. But this will often stretch a pitch transposer further than it wants to comfortably go.

Especially if you are a baritone or lower. You have to make sure all the harmonies are higher than your voice. Most pop music, at most you'll hear two harmony parts and the lead (if they are blocking around the melody). Often just the one. Try for a simpler harmonizer setting, and you may up with less mechanical sounding backing. One, maybe two voices ABOVE your singing, cassp, might help.

But, of course, good pitch is important, but flies away from the need to phrase like Van, who is anything but precise in his pitch! What's a boy to do?

For me, sadly, until these things can totally fool ME (I don't care if anyone else notices!), I can't bring myself to use the harmonizers...