Been meaning to record this one for awhile. It’s a one-take version, although not a first take - I think it’s the 4th take. The biggest thing was picking a key that would work. JT plays it in C (A capo 3) and the guitar is so lovely in that key. Capo 6 is the highest I can comfortably play it, but then the guitar doesn’t sound as nice. Capo 3 is a bit low for Krista, so after fussing around with a capo on 5 and 6 we finally settled on Capo 4. Then we had an issue with levels, and finally sorted that out today. We recorded 2 separate tracks, with guitar plugged directly into AI, and dynamic mic for vox so that there was very little guitar bleed into the vocal track. Anyway, it’s a standard in our repertoire now, and a great song to play.
Very beautifully done! Mari - your guitar sounds awesome, and Krista’s vocals are just beautiful! Great production - well balanced guitar and vocal levels - they compliment each other very well. Thank you so much for sharing this!
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Love it Mari, you both did an amazing job. Loved how bright guitar was and Krista’s vox. You are truly a goddess of fingerstyle guitar. Do I hear some sort of fx on the vox or is it just playing around with EQ? Nevertheless really enjoyed the song, well done!
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That was wonderful 
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@Tom_B @adi_mrok @Heatherxx thank you!
Adrian, Krista added some plug in from CLA Vocals to vox, one of the presets that she then fussed around with a bit.
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wonderful to hear you both on a recording again, Mari. The vocal and guitar both sound fabulous. I thoroughly enjoyed it. Please pass on appreciation to Krista.
I’m listening on mid-fi buds on my laptop before work and would be inclined to drop the guitar level just a little from a balance perspective. I’m hearing it panned a little left which sounded great. Liked Krista’s vocal sound, CLA Vocals does such a good job.
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One my my fave songs, thankyou for this Mari and Krista. What glorious tones in guitar and vocals. The fussing was well worth it.
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One of my all time favourite songs, and one I have a special connection to. That was truly superb, and moving. It really was.
For 3 minutes, 33 seconds the world disappeared as I became immersed in your wonderful rendition of this timeless classic. I felt privileged to hear it. Thank you Mari and Krista.
Shane
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Mari, honestly appreciate you sharing this! Killer! The guitar part is very solid (I am not sure for how long you are playing) - superb job! The vocals were great as well.
For improvement: I back up the statement of DavidP regarding dialing the guitar part a wee back in the mix to let Krista’s voice shine even more. Secondly (and this is more for the improvement of my own hearing 
I was wondering if only I am recognizing a bit of an intonation/tuning issue with only a few notes (mostly before the chorus)?
As a disclaimer to the improvement part: I myself gave up on learning Fire and Rain due to the, if I recall correctly, nasty hammer ons on the Asus4 (relatively to the capo) w/ the little finger or better to say due to the needed fingering because of the rest which then follows. Got to go to the Finger Gym more often. So again: Great job you two!
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Well that was just wonderful. Beautiful playing and a lovely vocals.
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I seem to remember way back when I first joined the old forum I replied to one of your recordings with Wow. Well this is another Wow moment.
One of my favourite JT songs and the pair of you really did it justice. Superb guitar playing, singing and production. Well done Mari & Krista.
I should have been going to see JT live at the end of this month, however it’s been postponed due to Covid. When eventually it’s rescheduled, I’ll be thinking of your version when he sings this song.
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Tears and goose bumps ! Tears and goose bumps. And a life long favourite.
Well I can certainly ignore what you said in your mail for sure.
Mari and Krista that was beautiful. I assume its the Martin that is being tickled it comes across so clear and bright. And how wonderful it is to hear Krista sing again, she really suits the song. That was magical.
@mari did Krista use one of the CLA plugins on the guitar was well ? Interested in which CLA Vox preset she started with, as guess she had a bit of a fiddle. The timbre shone through.
Made my morning 
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OK Anne & Kate McGarrigle, move over. My favourite new Canadian-chick-duo is in town 
Not recognising the handle, but knowing you’re down with the kids @mari, I asked myself: 'Is she really covering a Justin Timberlake song? 
Can’t comment on intonation, as I’m out of tune most of the time.
I can hear guitar and vox beautifully, which is good enough for me, but enjoy it when others ask questions/make suggestions as it makes me listen again more carefully.
Vibes
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@mari a really really outstanding track all round. Nice bright guitar and lovely vocals. Well balanced production. Just a lovely song to listen to. Thank you for sharing.
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Mari and Krista, this is a truly wonderful cover!
Both vocals and guitar are on top.
I’ve listened twice, and most likely I’ll come back again.
Thanks for this piece of Music.
Leo
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That was wonderful, Mari. Excellent playing and vocals; please pass on my compliments to Krista.
Production was also very good. I’m listening on monitoring headphones and the track sound great. I might bump the vocal up (relative to the guitar) just a touch. The guitar sounded good, too. My only comment, there, is that it sounds very “piezo pickup.” That’s not necessarily a bad thing, but I found myself wanting some “microphone warmth.” Have you experimented with recording the guitar with both the pickup and a mic? I know you’re trying to avoid bleed, but even a dynamic mic on the guitar blended with the pickup can work pretty well. I hope you don’t mind the suggestion; I don’t intend to sound negative at all. I thought it was a well recorded, beautiful performance and I listened to it several times.
Great song choice, too. Love James Taylor.
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Oh what a treat on this dull and miserable Monday morning here in the UK!
Guitar and voice were both great, you complimented each other wonderfully. All I have to add is ‘can we please have some more?’
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Thanks David. Yes I’ve been reminding Krista that my only New Year’s resolution is to play more guitar, and that kind of involves her on the singing bit! Re levels, we had a tough time on that. To start with, the up-and-down lines in the Reaper track were to the edges for guitar, and barely half way for vocals, but the AI knob for guitar was at half, and for vox it was at 3/4. We then decided that Krista should sing louder, so she did. The up-and-down lines didn’t change much, but then the vocals were way louder than guitar when both were at zero in Reaper. I rendered tracks with guitar at zero and vox at -6.82, -4, -3, and -2, and Krista preferred the track at -3. She didn’t continue on to listen to -2, since she was happy with -3. (I’m such a techie in my vocabulary ha ha). Perhaps it was a case of the one performing that bit didn’t want to be too loud? I’m not sure. Yesterday I thought the levels were fine but this morning I agree the vocals could be up a bit. In any event - any idea why the Reaper lines don’t really seem to indicate relative volume levels? I thought they should.
@batwoman @sclay @SgtColon @Rossco01 @crocodile1 @DarrellW Thank you! Really appreciate your listening and your comments, that’s a lovely way to end out my Christmas holidays
Thank you @Kutzsche . I commented on volume’s in reply above, so same for here. Re intonation/tuning issue - well, maybe! I just changed the strings on the guitar a couple days ago, and I find the guitar takes a bit to stay in perfect tune after that. However, I tuned it right before we recorded, and we only did I think 4 tries, so I thought it was still in tune. I checked this morning just now and the G and B string are a bit flat, so maybe they were yesterday evening. I hear some weirdish sound on the guitar though, and I think it’s something different than the tuning. The weirdish sound (again - my tech vocabulary!) also seemed to be there without any plugins, so I don’t know how to eliminate it - it actually seemed to be better after Krista put some fx on the guitar track. Thanks for your input, I will watch for this weirdish sound in future.
Thank you Jason You are one of a few with a comment about vocal levels, and this morning I agree with that. Re ‘piezo pickup’ - I had to look up what that even was. Could that be what I am hearing as a weirdish guitar sound, and what Martin is hearing as a tuning/intonation issue? I have thought about recording guitar on 2 tracks with the pickup and a mic, but I haven’t tried that yet. I will try it and see if it makes a difference. If I use a dynamic mic though I’m not sure where I can place the mic close enough to pick up sound but where I can still play. I will have to experiment.
Re suggestions for improvement, that is very much appreciated! I am going to have to add a tag-line something like @DavidP welcoming ‘the good the bad and the ugly’, because I always appreciate any suggestions for improvement. I will need to include a caveat though that if I am the one singing any comments made on the vocals won’t matter, I’m already doing the best I can! (That is why I’m so happy when I can get Krista or someone else to sing - are your ears burning @TheMadman_tobyjenner ??)
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