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New song recording: The River (ROUGH MIX)

September 28, 2006 at 9:27 am, by Rich Kirkpatrick

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I just made a very rough mix of the song "The River" that I shared a bit ago.  Let me know what you think?  We have used this song as part of our worship at least twice.

My incredibly talented friend Jim and his prodigy son Nathan have helped.  We are using Digital Performer as the recording platform.  In my "studio" (think garage) I tracked the vocals and piano.  In Jim’s we did did the drums (Nathan) and guitars (all Jim but me on acoustic).  The great thing about digital is collaboration.  We can work on different tracks, bring them together and then even create our own separate mixes to compare.  Like I said, this is a "rough" mix with no pitch correction, or other polishing techniques.

Download the_river_ruff92706.mp3

Categories Songwriting, Worship Leading | Tags:

  • http://brianmegilligan.blogspot.com Brian M

    For how you describe the process of recording the end result seemed to come off pretty well. I am intruiged by your request for feedback and as a sometimes-reader of your blog, i’ve decided to take you up on that…I’m a church music guy and I’m always looking for stuff to “fix” so don’t take any of this personally…I tend to go to the negative first! :)

    First impressions from a guy who doesn’t know much:

    Something’s out of tune. Acoustic and Piano is my guess–you can hear it through out.

    BGVs need some clean up– intonation and style match to the solo line.

    BASS–I WANT more bass! and it should tie in with the kick more. It seems like in this song it could be busier given the business of the set.

    Was this recorded to click? It feels like meter is slushy–especially at the beginning and end.

    Drummer needs to decide on a rim pattern at the end and stick with it.

    Drums sounded like they were miked (or at least mixed) from a distance. Instruments in the recording sound “up close” but the drums sound too “roomy.” I would prefer an up-close mix (even though i like the live set sound). I think the pans were a little too harsh on the set too.

    How does this go over in worship? A melodic leap here and there seams like it would be a challenge.

    I’m not a fan of corporate worship songs that sing about “I” so much, but songs of testimony (like this one) _to_ the congregation is different.

    Alright–that’s enough from me–keep these songs coming! :)

  • http://rkweblog.com Rich Kirkpatrick

    Thanks Brian. Did not expect a complete recording review, but why not.

    OK, readers, anyone else with some pointers, feedback or comments? Brian can be sure we will keep some songs coming on this blog.

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