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teachers, performers and listeners of this forum,

I was wondering if you would have a listen to my vocal performance on this cover tune. It's an old Joan Baez song, rocked out a bit. Not looking to do anything professionally with it, but it's a song we perform live, and we recorded it for the heck of it.

I'm interested in your opinions of the vocal performance, my choice of tone and so forth, if you feel it suits the song....
I'd appreciate any input.

http://www.rwkresiak.com/music/diamonds_and_rust.mp3

Everyone's talking 'bout baggism baggism. Why are you in the bag?

I gave it a listen. I like the tonal quality of your voice. It's been a LONG time since I heard the song, so I can't comment on how similar or different it was from the original arrangement, but to me it worked well.

The only nit I had was that it seemed the background harmony was at times "competing" with the lead melody. I know you were singing lead sort of freeform, which works, but the bkgd vox needed to be either lower in the mix, right on the beat, or right in sync with the melody. At the parts where there's lots of words sung fast, it is noticable to me the most. At that point, I'd have the harmony do an "ooo ooo" or something else, so the lead vox has a cvlearer pronunciation.
But that's just me. Overall, I think it's a great recording!

Hey Tom-- thank you for your time. I'm having another listen to the track, and I see your point. Actually that's me doing the back-up, too-- so I guess that's why it competes with the lead. I'm competing with myself <giggle>.

The original song is very folky-- typical Joan Baez vocals, with that characteristic pitchy, low-toned vibrato. I never really dug her voice, and of course that's relative to the listener, but she's a good writer. Right from the heart.

In the BAG? You mean on my picture? We were performing live at a Beatles tribute, and I was doing Lennon's "Yer Blues," incorporating the concept of BAGISM, for effect. "Yes I'm lonely-- wanna die...". John and Yoko did alot of interviews and performances using a bag. Here's the concept idea, right from the BAGISM site:

The underlying concept of John and Yoko's "bagism" idea is interactivity among people without prejudice. The Internet is a great place to achieve that ideal because you are judged only by your words -- not by your looks, age, gender, ethnicity, etc.

Thanks again. Peace ON!!

Hello dear Gina,
I had the same feelings as Tom. I thought the song was a great choice and that you sang it beautifully. I was a fan of Ms. Baez back in the day. But, the background vocals did not match up well enough to the lead vocal for me, so they distracted me from it. I'd love to see you place them in a parallel space to the lead vocals and then bring them down about 20% in volume. It would top off a great recording!

Best of luck.

All we are saying is give peas a chance.

I asked about the bag thing because it's in your tagline. I figured you'd know ALL about the baggism baggism thing. Although George was my favorite.

Ah, Heidi-- so very cool of you to respond. Yes, I had my husband (RwK-- the musician/Engineer of this song,) explain the parallel thingy to me, and then the 20% part. Yeah, it all makes alot of sense to me now.

I did the song a couple of times, using different tones on that lead. This is the one I came up with, that I thought fit it best. An experimentation phase, if you will. I'm a scientist by trade-- an artist by nature.

Thank you soooo much for the prompt input. Truly appreciated.

Gina

Tomski-- yeah, that's what I thought you were talkin' about-- the avatar. <giggle> Stage prop.

Hey, George is very cool. I went through a major George phase-- and NEVER CAME OUT!!! I absolutely love both him and John. But Johnny boy-- ah yes, my first love.

...this ism, that ism... ism, ism, ism...

PS: Y'know the BAG thing works well, too, if yeh put on a couple pounds and don't exactly feel "audience friendly". Bwwwwwwaaaahhhaaaaaaaaahaaaaaaaa.

Hey Gina,
Glad your husband could translate! LOL. When I do my own background vocals, I find it works best for me to have my lead in one ear and the vocal I am recording in the other ear. Then, I always make my husband/engineer turn down the vocal I just recorded in my phones so that I can now hear my next vocal track louder than the track I just laid down. It helps me a lot. I try to match the exact phrasing, vibrato, tone, etc. of my backing vocals so that they can lay just under the volume of the lead vocal like a cushion without taking any attention away from the lead. My favorite all-time singer who does her own backing vocals is Joni Mitchell. Her vocal arrangements were always so beautiful and creative. Okay, so I look forward to hearing your next go-around on this one! I know you'll be very happy with what you create! You sound wonderful.

Heidi

Personally Gina V, I like the contrasting texture the background vocals add to the tune.
Very well done by the way.

You're too kind, Heidi. Comin' from someone in your league, that's just so flattering. Thank you again!!

Hmmm, that's intersting, Dak. I did want those backing vox to flow smoother on purpose, for just that reason-- a contrast between the two. Mebbe if I just get 'em lower on the mix, as Heidi and Tom suggested.

Of course, we just recorded it for the halibut (nyuk, nyuk, nyuk...,) as I have been mainly a live performer. But hey-- experimenting can be fun. And thank you for such a nice complement. Gina