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Mist(re-mixed EJH song) by Jim Bouchard [Email]
Genre: Acoustic

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SONG STATS:
Hits: 1190
Comments: 17
Votes: 11
Plays: 222
Last Played: Oct 30, 2008 - 07:32:03 PM
Downloads: 105
Fans: 14
Uploaded: Feb 06, 2007 - 07:30:33 PM
Last Updated: Feb 06, 2007 - 07:52:58 PM
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Keywords:
ejh (3), Mystified (149), Jim Bouchard (30), bossa nova (9), ambient (481), wind (29), mist (4), valley (11), trees (9), fir (2), granite (2), morning (35), wind (29), cold (39), dreaming (13), water (49), air (14), light (102), evergreen (2)
Description:
This is my remix of Ed Hannifin's song "Mist Comes Up the Valley". I suggested to Ed that I thought it would be nice with bass guitar instead of a midi bass and he suggested I take a shot at re-mixing it. I recorded my bass guitar, added a couple drum and percussion tracks, a misty ambient (bitcrushed) wind track, and a track that is a section of the original mp3 of the EJH mix, reversed and looped and highly effected with Filtertaps, Supatrigga and Echo. Then I took Ed's original .band file package and found the first take of Mysti's vocal and the first take of Ed's guitar and mixed those in, in varying degrees. First thought being best thought, I used those takes intentionally with only one vocal, only one guitar track, having intended to get back to basics in this song...so to speak. Since the song is about getting lost in dreams and/or how you imagine the world when wrapped in mist, I thought it would be good if it had a sort of subconscious/ambient mix.

I was going to put it in the bossa nova category because that's the beat, but I really wanted to put it in the folk-electronica category, except that there isn't one. Sort of like Cibelle, perhaps.

The original is here: http://www.macjams.com/song/28492

jiguma has done a version that can be found here: http://www.macjams.com/song/28679

The song art is a picture that I took while driving through a dense winter fog in the foothills of the Adirondacks on the way to see my father for the last time before he passed away in 2006. At the time I certainly felt much like what's expressed by the words of this song...

(and if you are among those that get notified about a new song of mine, I apologize if you got one for a song that didn't exist-I discovered a glitch inthe first version I uploaded and deleted it pretty quickly until I could fix it. Just in case you were wondering. If you weren't...never mind!))

Lyrics:
The Mist Comes Up The Valley
© 1984 Ed Hannifin


In the morning, we turn our backs to the wind
It’s no use, pretending the cold will give in
The mist comes up the valley, swallowing granite and tree
I thought I heard a gull cry, but we’re ninety miles from the sea

And I might be anywhere
I might be anyone
I could be anywhere at all


You can’t see what causes a heart to remain
Surrounded by the evergreen and the rain
But when the mist comes up the valley, and the firs turn black and white
The only light’s the moonlight, but the moon is out of sight

I might be anywhere
I might be anyone
I might be anywhere at all


It’s easy, when dreaming is all that you dare
To fall for a life made of water and air
The mist comes up the valley, softening all guarantees
An open invitation to imagine the world as I please

And I might be anywhere
I might be anyone
I might be anyone at all



Hardware:
bass guitar
ART Tube PAC
US122
eMac
and the original
iMac G5
Focusrite Saffire
Rode NT-1A
Whatever Mystified used

Software:
GB3
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Dreamy &mdash 02/06/07 - 08:22:31 PM
You're certainly good at remixing the bossa nova versions of songs. The bass is very nice, and bridges between the vocals and drums well. The rest seems to have been blurred into the ethereal, which sounds perfect. I like this take of the vox; it seems that Mysti is grooving to the beat you've laid down, somehow. Another excellent mix of a really fine tune.

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So I'm a one-trick pony! &mdash 02/06/07 - 11:38:08 PM
I love brazilian music! What can I say! I noticed that the picking pattern Ed used was sort of a bossa nova beat. There's a lot of world influences in folk music. Thanks for the comment!

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Chilled! &mdash 02/06/07 - 08:45:45 PM
This is such a cool interpretation. It sounds like you heard the same things in the original that I did (and then some). The wind/ethereal noises suit the lyrics so well. That vox track was indeed a bauty, and I'm glad it got to see light of day in your mix. Very nice!
Neil

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Man &mdash 02/07/07 - 03:21:07 AM
Ohhh...

And, awwwwww... A very nice remix, Jim. The production on this is absolutely beautiful!!!

Thanks! Macca

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I'm happy as a clam... &mdash 02/07/07 - 09:44:08 AM
It has been exciting and fascinating, listening to different realizations of this tune... Different takes on what certainly seemed to me, at first glance, to be a pretty simple source... And I'm loving it... It's a very cool education of the most thrilling kind... I feel honored that you and Neil consented to bring your approaches to remixes of this song...

It has also been an education for me in how much a bassline can bring to a song... I really have loved both this one and Neil's take... the song gets different with something interesting on the bottom...

I also enjoyed that you used a different vocal take from Mystified for this one, and mixed it differently...

The swirling ambient loops and misty sounds surely convey the sense of the tune... Your write-up indicates that you get where the song is coming from... and I love the photograph...

Thank you, Jim, for putting the care into this that you did. It's already very gratefully in my iPod...

Ed

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Thanks for allowing me to post this! &mdash 02/07/07 - 03:43:08 PM
I was fortunate to play for a number of years with a great bass player, John Rapoza, in a number of different bands, and I learned a lot from him (though not the trick for getting finger noise from showing up in the recording) about making the bass line propel the song along and to make it harmonically interesting by not playing just the root/tonic thing. I am just a hack, but the more I record my own bass playing, the more I learn. I've never been able to play bass in a band, though I've probably wanted to do that for longer than I've played guitar in bands. Everytime I try out with a band to play bass, I get switched to guitar! I had fun with this song and there are a lot of little secret things in this mix that tickle me, hidden stuff that keeps it interesting for me.

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this piece &mdash 02/07/07 - 01:10:00 PM
of music from ed/myst is timeless.....love what u did with the bossa beat...the soft bass with slide noise intact is kool......great workup doctor bouchard....!

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Wow! &mdash 02/07/07 - 04:59:35 PM
Another fantastic remix of a great song; I'm amazed at how different it has sounded in all three versions, yet each sounds really good.

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Beautiful &mdash 02/08/07 - 09:08:05 AM
Entrancing. This remix is excellent, Jim. I feel you've enhanced the song - the parts sound integrated as though they should have been there in the first version rather than being afterthoughts or production trickery.

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Really nice &mdash 02/08/07 - 09:25:27 AM
Lovely sound on the bass and the whole ambient nature seems to work really well. I like the fact that backing almost disappears at points but I wonder if the vocal is a little too on top of the mix at those points and could maybe come down a touch with lots of reverb.

All in all an excellent remix.

Cheers

Dick

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Thanks for the comment! &mdash 02/08/07 - 10:24:04 AM
When I ran by my working versions of this by Ed, he asked if I could keep the focus on the vocal, so I brought a lot of the other levels down, but I can see what you mean about the backing almost disappearing in points. It doesn't bother me too much. I didn't volume string Mysti's vocal at all, I just used it exactly as she recorded it, except for in the little interlude in the middle where I brought it down for a more evocative effect to the wordless part. It's something I could have paid more attention to, but I liked the idea of using the raw performance for the most part.

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Nice &mdash 02/08/07 - 08:36:58 PM
cool addition Jim! Swings a little more now.

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Fabulous &mdash 02/09/07 - 02:12:29 AM
This is the daddy of all of the 'The Mist Comes Up The Valleys' (copyright stevel - 2006).

:-)

Joking aside

What did you use to get the background reverse echoes and general all round fantastic ambience?

Great stuff



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ah yes, details... &mdash 02/09/07 - 10:14:00 AM
One of the first things I did was I took the original mp3 into Peak and reversed it. I was waiting around to meet up with Ed so that he could give me the .band file, and so all I had was the mp3, and I had been planning on using a backwards vocal track for ambience and I was just curious how it would sound, so I reversed the mp3, with not just the vocal but also the guitar and Ed's original bass and all Mysti's harmonies. It particularly sounded neat in the vocal interlude section, and so I pretty much just used that section and looped it. That fades up and down through the whole song. I also used on one track a Sonic Boombox wind sound effect loop, that has a sound effect loop called Concrete cut in in parts. Both of those tracks are highly effected with a Pluggo AU effect called Filtertaps. I have also duplicated the vocal track and the guitar track that I used here and mixed those in very low with Filtertaps and echo. I used Trackplug on the bass track, and there's 2 tracks of Drums on Demand Volume 6 loops, and a track of Shaker that has a Pluggo Resonance filter on it.
I guess I pulled out the stops on this; for getting back to the basics, I took a long route and probably didn't arrive at that particular destination, so I'm glad you liked it! :D

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Ethereal mist... &mdash 02/09/07 - 03:03:29 AM
I like the wash of background sounds in this :)
Really captures the mist creeping across the landscape, via the soundscape....lovely.

Thanks for sharing this version, Jim

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Ah! &mdash 02/09/07 - 04:48:56 AM
Ah! Such a great surprize! Listening to creatively created covers is one real treat in my life. This one is a highlight!

You have done LOTS to the original. The song has got a new mood. The creativity and craftmanship shown amaze and impress me. Salut!



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I was a bit sceptic when going in here &mdash 02/13/07 - 12:26:23 PM
'cause I like the original so much, I was afraid to much "tampering" with this might take away the magic.

Well of course I have found peace in your interpretation of it as well Jim:)

The drums seems very well blended in. I like the relaxed bossa groove. I also find the ambient, mystical sounds as a great addition to give a connection to the misty mood. I think I miss to hear Ed's guitar a bit clearer at some places to support the vocals some...

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