Share Your Music (it probably sucks but that’s not why we do it)

[ohchaucer 1443]

11 minutes ago, Goredho said:

Real good stuff, Buck.  Grab a chair and help yourself to the beer in the cooler.

I have a request for anyone posting their music with singing/lyrics.  If you don't mind, could you also post the lyrics?  Would help my brain that is being fed by shitty ears that have had too much gunfire and guitar piped into them understand whats being conveyed lyrically.

FORWARD LOOK

VERSE 1
I’m not sure why. 
Maybe Time passed me by. 
Surrounded by screens.
No one says anything. 

It’s getting hard to tell what is true.
What is real and who is who.
A chaotic symphony.
Screaming hey hey look at me.

BRIDGE
Between the truth and what we see.
Is blurring faster, it’s scaring me
 

CHORUS 
I’ve started thinking ahead.
Words and words and nothing said.
Took a forward look.
Took a forward look. 
Going back to just me being me.
What you get is what you see.
 

VERSE 2
Anyone can say anything.
Without saying a thing.
Get noticed no matter the cost.
Most the time, I feel like I’m lost.

But it’s dawned on me now.
Staying always-on is getting me down.
So I’m looking up and looking around.
Logging off and touching the ground.

BRIDGE
Between the truth and what we see.
Is blurring faster, it’s scaring me
 

CHORUS
I’ve started thinking ahead.
Words and words and nothing said.
Took a forward look.
Took a forward look. 
Going back to just me being me.
What you get is what you see.
 

VERSE 3
Clicks and tricks mean nothing at all.
Make it big or keep feeling small.
But I only need attention from you.
I never cared about breaking through.

No one has to keep up the pace.
Walking versus winning the race.
Feet on the ground face to face.
I went from crazy to the quietest place.
 

BRIDGE
Between the truth and what we see.
Is blurring faster, it’s scaring me

CHORUS
I’ve started thinking ahead.
Words and words and nothing said.
Took a forward look.
Took a forward look. 
Going back to just me being me.
What you get is what you see.

[sidis 9822]

2 hours ago, ohchaucer said:

One quick question as a follow up: are any of you guys using an online/ai mastering tool (eMaster, Landr, Bandlab, etc)?  I have SoundCloud Next Pro, but not thrilled so far and their online purchase process is unreliable. 
 

I’m finishing up a new track that I did for the workshop I’m doing - in conjunction with the monthly “email” group, I promised myself I wouldn’t use those tracks for class and vice versa. So I have a new one in the chamber that I’ll share shortly. 

I'm laid up from a back procedure at the moment so since I have the time...

Up front caveat and disclosure: if you want to maximize the quality of your mix and master, then you should hire a professional engineer.  Even with the best tools getting you 95% of the way there, you will not get to 100%.  Working together with them, that will always achieve the best possible results.  That said, if you don't want to invest in going down that road or just want to get better at it yourself...

For mastering, Goredho pointed out Ozone and that's definitely my favorite program by a long shot.  The new one just came out and I personally think it is pretty outstanding.  Isotope also makes some good programs for other steps (Neutron for mixing, Nectar for box, Tonal Balance Control, RX for audio cleaning, among many others).  From my perspective, the best stuff they make is RX (which is first in class in audio cleaning), Ozone, and a cool little free program called Audiolens which gives you the ability to get endless amounts of EQ inputs from whatever songs you want in order to load them into Ozone for automatic EQ matching.  Goredho gave an excellent overview of Ozone.  But you have to remember that it is a tool to give you a starting point.  You can't just set it and forget it.  But it will do an excellent job of providing good guardrails and keeping you from doing anything really stupid.  The one thing I would warn you with Ozone (or ANY mastering tool), is that it imposes significant compression as a default which relates to one of the criticisms that G650 laid out above about loudness.  The problem with it is that it eliminates a lot of dynamic range and that is something you will find is a serious problem amongst a lot of modern and popular music.  Compressors and compression are awesome and can add a lot of quality and color to your track but it can also neuter the sound and dynamic range if you overuse it.  So regardless of anything you use, just keep an eye on that.  

Bottom line, for someone making the type of stuff you are, Ozone can go a long, long way in giving it a more professional veneer and I would recommend it.  Particularly with drum forward sound.  With your drum recording setup, I can't help but also encourage you to look at RX.  A bit more of an investment but it is simply the best.

If you don't want to spend as much on the Izotope stuff (patience is worth a lot there because they have some really deep sales often), the company I love the most is FabFilter.  Pro-C, Pro-Q, and Pro-L will give you the ability to do a lot of improvement with a bit more in terms of flexibility.  The EQ and compression side-chaining in Pro-Q and Pro-C are incredibly easy and are so good.  Again, drums - gotta have that side-chaining.

no shortage of opinions on mic'ing drums out there.  lots of ways to skin that cat.

[Goredho 17394]

18 minutes ago, ohchaucer said:

FORWARD LOOK

VERSE 1
I’m not sure why. 
Maybe Time passed me by. 
Surrounded by screens.
No one says anything. 

It’s getting hard to tell what is true.
What is real and who is who.
A chaotic symphony.
Screaming hey hey look at me.

BRIDGE
Between the truth and what we see.
Is blurring faster, it’s scaring me
 

CHORUS 
I’ve started thinking ahead.
Words and words and nothing said.
Took a forward look.
Took a forward look. 
Going back to just me being me.
What you get is what you see.
 

VERSE 2
Anyone can say anything.
Without saying a thing.
Get noticed no matter the cost.
Most the time, I feel like I’m lost.

But it’s dawned on me now.
Staying always-on is getting me down.
So I’m looking up and looking around.
Logging off and touching the ground.

BRIDGE
Between the truth and what we see.
Is blurring faster, it’s scaring me
 

CHORUS
I’ve started thinking ahead.
Words and words and nothing said.
Took a forward look.
Took a forward look. 
Going back to just me being me.
What you get is what you see.
 

VERSE 3
Clicks and tricks mean nothing at all.
Make it big or keep feeling small.
But I only need attention from you.
I never cared about breaking through.

No one has to keep up the pace.
Walking versus winning the race.
Feet on the ground face to face.
I went from crazy to the quietest place.
 

BRIDGE
Between the truth and what we see.
Is blurring faster, it’s scaring me

CHORUS
I’ve started thinking ahead.
Words and words and nothing said.
Took a forward look.
Took a forward look. 
Going back to just me being me.
What you get is what you see.

Cool, got to get some work done, but will listen again while reading this afternoon.

[G650 14229]

23 minutes ago, sidis said:

From my perspective, the best stuff they make is RX (which is first in class in audio cleaning)

Strongly agree on this one.

[Paul Wesley 3278]

If you want to work on your own mix/mastering skills, then sure, buy all the software and put in your hours.

If you want your stuff to sound its very best, then hire a pro.  

Mastering engineers have gotten absurdly inexpensive compared to 10 years ago.

Ozone 11 "advanced" is $299.

For less than that, you can get a true pro like Ryan Smith (Adele, Coldplay, ACDC, Beyonce, Bob Dylan, etc) to master your single, and he'll do it in a couple business days.  That's who I hired for "Boomtown."

There's also an argument to spend more on a mix engineer, and (arguably) then the mastering gets less and less crucial because there's less for them to "fix."

Just putting that out there for perspective.  

[jimmyjazz 45879]

I've had terrific results doing a basic mix to my liking on my simple rig and then letting a local mastering engineer of some renown master it for . . . $70.  It's insane.  Great ears, great gear, super fast.

If I've learned one thing over time, it's that any attempt I make to "self master" a mix falls way short of what a pro can do.

[G650 14229]

Yeah, I would echo Jim and Paul. If you want to play with it yourself, go for it, but if you just want it to sound the best, hire a pro mastering guy. The best mixers I know use mastering guys and give them all the credit for how fast and good they are at it.

[Goredho 17394]

Something about mixing/mastering that should be considered here is the time as well as financial cost.  Even with plugins like Neutron and Ozone, I'm still "paying" a few hours of the time I have for music on mixing and mastering songs.  That's music time I could spend composing, practicing, etc...  So the right answer is probably a choice based on where you are on a time/cost/interest spectrum.

• For no money, you can mix/master yourself with stock plugins (at least in Logic, not sure about other DAWs).  But you are going to be spending maybe a majority of your music time learning to be a better-than-shitty sound/mix/master engineer.  You'll be paying this time cost going forward.  Don't do this unless you want to be an audio/mix/master engineer more than a musician/songwriter.
• For a relatively modest and fixed investment in things like Neutron and Ozone, you can have a pretty good mix/master for any number of songs you produce from this point forward, but you are still going to be spending a few hours of your music time per song tweaking their results.  You'll be paying this time cost going forward.  Do this if you don't like the idea of paying per song and/or have the time to allow for you to spend a bit of it on mixing and mastering while still doing what you want as a musician/songwriter.
• Completely outsource mixing/mastering to a semi-pro/pro, you can have a very good mix and master for a $100 (someone like JJs resource) to $500 per song (Abbey Roads online mix/master service but carried out by one of their human engineers), but you will not be spending any of your music time on mixing/mastering.  You'll be paying this monetary cost going forward.  Do this if you have the disposable income/budget and don't want anything to take away from your musician/songwriter focus.

Edited October 5, 2023 by Goredho

[sidis 9822]

yes, to be clear, as i said in my earlier post, if you want the best results, hire a pro.  most people don't even really understand what mastering is and even with the best tools, the outcome will not be optimal.

however, as someone who really enjoys learning about the production process and as someone who makes a lot more music than i would ever release to streaming services that need a final, polished version, etc..., i want to at least raise the final output past amateurish and there is a lot of utility to the software i discussed above if you take the time to learn how to use it and its limitations.  i have used izotope and fabfilter on probably 100 tracks at this point and so the one-time 299 investment amortized over that is far more efficient than paying engineer for something i'm not all that proud of each time. 

but you can be damned sure that if it is a track i intend to release into the real world past this thread or sharing with a few friends/family, it's getting the pro treatment...particularly on mixing.  mixing is some dark arts shit that can truly drive you up the wall (even though i fucking enjoy it for some perverse reason that is akin to watching the 2003 RRS on loop).  if you get it properly mixed, the effects of mastering become severely less critical.

[sidis 9822]

just a thought but paul, perhaps you could provide the email group (or here if comfortable) some names and contact info of some of your favorite and most trusted mix/master engineers that wouldn't be bothered by and could use some cold call random work.

[ohchaucer 1443]

This is all really, really helpful.  And it's amazing after all these years, how little I know or, tellingly, ever knew when I would be in recording situations.  Very often my role was:  play drums, leave, maybe come back for tracking or overdubs, leave, then come back and listen and have a lot of drinks and smokes (back in the day). 

If I were making anything to put out in the world, I would definitely outsource mixing and mastering - no question.  (Frankly, I find it hard to imagine having a home setup sufficient for recording, much less finishing anything... but one step at a time.)

Sidis, you nailed it.  I'm right there with you.  Generally, I just want some process or tools to take the average tracks I'm laying down and making them sound a little more polished.  Even when I do it at the most amateur level, I end up just cranking it all up (a la, G650 comment above).  So, for now, all of my "sharing" is with a few friends, family, and you knuckleheads.  Oh, and my workshop/class group.  As such, I'm really looking for the easiest way to take a GB or Logic project and run it through a black box and have it come out slightly better for listening to at least - all just to be able to hear what ideas start to sound like in draft form but slightly less shitty.  Secondarily, I'm interested in becoming more familiar with all of it - again just at the "for fun" level - so something like Ozone might be a fun step up. 

I'm just so blown away - and slightly jealous - at how amazing you guys are at making music that is then shareable and sounds better than in just the playing stage, while I'm still pounding away with my Neanderthal knuckles in GarageBand (and trying not to beat myself up too much).  

[Goredho 17394]

6 minutes ago, ohchaucer said:

This is all really, really helpful.  And it's amazing after all these years, how little I know or, tellingly, ever knew when I would be in recording situations.  Very often my role was:  play drums, leave, maybe come back for tracking or overdubs, leave, then come back and listen and have a lot of drinks and smokes (back in the day). 

If I were making anything to put out in the world, I would definitely outsource mixing and mastering - no question.  (Frankly, I find it hard to imagine having a home setup sufficient for recording, much less finishing anything... but one step at a time.)

Sidis, you nailed it.  I'm right there with you.  Generally, I just want some process or tools to take the average tracks I'm laying down and making them sound a little more polished.  Even when I do it at the most amateur level, I end up just cranking it all up (a la, G650 comment above).  So, for now, all of my "sharing" is with a few friends, family, and you knuckleheads.  Oh, and my workshop/class group.  As such, I'm really looking for the easiest way to take a GB or Logic project and run it through a black box and have it come out slightly better for listening to at least - all just to be able to hear what ideas start to sound like in draft form but slightly less shitty.  Secondarily, I'm interested in becoming more familiar with all of it - again just at the "for fun" level - so something like Ozone might be a fun step up. 

I'm just so blown away - and slightly jealous - at how amazing you guys are at making music that is then shareable and sounds better than in just the playing stage, while I'm still pounding away with my Neanderthal knuckles in GarageBand (and trying not to beat myself up too much).  

Give the Ozone 10 day trial a whirl, I think you'll like it for what you described.

[UncleBuck 6452]

20 hours ago, Goredho said:

Real good stuff, Buck.  Grab a chair and help yourself to the beer in the cooler.

I have a request for anyone posting their music with singing/lyrics.  If you don't mind, could you also post the lyrics?  Would help my brain that is being fed by shitty ears that have had too much gunfire and guitar piped into them understand whats being conveyed lyrically.

Coulda just singled me out, I know my audio was terrible lol. Can't even remember if I used a mic for that recording, and I was singing pretty low.

 

 

I Might Be Home In The Morning (I'm Damned)

V1

I'm headed to town, don't you follow me there,
If my folks stop by, tell 'em I'm anywhere,
I'll be toes up to the bar, deep in my mind,
I might be home in the morning, I might be home tonight

No and it ain't your fault, though you blame yourself,
I guess I should speak up, instead of leaving you in hell,
I ain't always been as selfish as I am today,
I might be home in the morning, tonight I can't say,

CH
Yah and I never thought I'd turn out this way,
All the hands that I've been dealt, now I'm dealing 'em myself,
And I'm damned.

V2
I should reach out to God, reach out to you,
It might make things get better, but do I want them to?
There's nothin' lookin' forward, I stay stuck here behind,
I might be home in the morning, wouldn't count on tonight.

(Chorus)

V3
I'm headed to town, don't you follow me there,
If my folks stop by, tell 'em I'm anywhere,
I'll be toes up to the bar, and in my head, like I've always been
I might be home in the morning, might not come home again. 

[NoRagrets 1125]

Some Mac update has my Mac not connecting to my docking station (large screen and keyboard) not my USB mixer thing (Strindberg).

Help! Can’t record now…

[Goredho 17394]

Username does not check out.

Do you have a Time Machine backup from before the update?

[NoRagrets 1125]

14 hours ago, Goredho said:

Username does not check out.

Do you have a Time Machine backup from before the update?

No idea. It auto updates.  

[sidis 9822]

On 10/12/2023 at 7:20 AM, NoRagrets said:

Some Mac update has my Mac not connecting to my docking station (large screen and keyboard) not my USB mixer thing (Strindberg).

Help! Can’t record now…

you probably just need to check the manufacturer of your mixer to see if they have a driver update for osx sonoma.  

any time you do one of the major osx updates from one name to another, you are usually going to slightly jack with those.  it usually takes all the plugin and hardware companies about a month to update their software to play nice...so it is a good idea to wait for a month or two before updating your mac to new osx version if you are using it heavily for music.

[Goredho 17394]

Sorta not my music, but cool nonetheless.  My step brother used to be a Nashville songwriter in his 20s & early 30s with some success.  He had some tunes recorded by Martina McBride, others.  Anyway, he's almost an empty nester and so he's been getting back involved singing/songwriting.  He entered Mo Bandy's 10th Annual Texas Troubadour Songwriting Classic and was picked as one of 6 finalists invited to compete on November 11th.  Anyway, he is allowed one accompanist and he asked me to join him on electric guitar.  Fuck yeah, lets do it.  Here's a recent practice session of my favorite of his 3 songs.  He's singing and playing acoustic guitar, I'm on the electric guitar.  Mix isn't great as I'm just playing against his recording, but you get the idea.  Wish us luck!

 

Edited October 23, 2023 by Goredho

[G650 14229]

Hell yeah GH. This is right up my alley. It's like The Night the Lights Went Out in Georgia and 18 and Life had a kid.

[jimmyjazz 45879]

That.  Is.  Awesome.

[Goredho 17394]

21 minutes ago, G650 said:

Hell yeah GH. This is right up my alley. It's like The Night the Lights Went Out in Georgia and 18 and Life had a kid.

 

13 minutes ago, jimmyjazz said:

That.  Is.  Awesome.

Thanks guys, gonna be fun.

[sidis 9822]

this month's prompt was start a song with "the liquor store is closed on sundays."

i have been trying to do new styles with each of these and this month i decided to try my hand at something with a latino bend to it.  i have been inundated with tejano for like 12 hours a day every day for the last month and half so i decided to lean into the cultural appropriation.  anyway, not going to share the version with vocals here because i can't sing for shit but here is the instrumental version.  guitars and bass were recorded.  the latin vibe came from a combo of a compressor/overdrive/lots of chorus pedal on a strat and a bit of back end processing.  

 

[Celery Man 20929]

It’s fun hearing you bounce around from style to style every week. This one I was listening to while cleaning up and I wanted to hear Ana Tijoux start dropping bars

Good vibe. Guitar sounds great - honestly it’s easy to underrate your songs because they sound too clean. Normally someone whipping something together like that real quick for something like this is using canned parts, but these are all you. I paused writing that because maybe it sounds like I’m saying your stuff sounds canned, but I just mean it’s professional.

 

The prompt I picked was to write a song about someone you’ve seen but don’t know. There’s a new kid in my neighborhood who is kind of a shithead but also maybe he’s ok/doesn’t know better or has stuff going on or who knows. One time (while I was pushing my toddler on the swing) he told me that he hangs out at the park late at night and it is way different then (and also…. locked. He then demonstrate his gate jumping technique). Bridge was very last second, I still don’t like it but I think it is fixable. Jimmy pointed out that I changed time signatures there and honestly that was the first time I realized that even wrote this in 3. Armed with that understanding I think I can fix it, and also evolve the cheesy lyrics a bit.

https://on.soundcloud.com/7HZxuh3GTVXrUKor6

 

[G650 14229]

Good stuff as always fellas

[sidis 9822]

1 hour ago, Celery Man said:

It’s fun hearing you bounce around from style to style every week. This one I was listening to while cleaning up and I wanted to hear Ana Tijoux start dropping bars

Good vibe. Guitar sounds great - honestly it’s easy to underrate your songs because they sound too clean. Normally someone whipping something together like that real quick for something like this is using canned parts, but these are all you. I paused writing that because maybe it sounds like I’m saying your stuff sounds canned, but I just mean it’s professional.

Thanks, CM.  Enjoying using these exercises to try some new things/styles each time.  

So the issue with me and guitar sounds is that i spend a ton of time getting little individual, single phrases and then way more time going through RX10 and cleaning audio and making it passable than anything.  then i lace them together.  I am not a good guitarist...nowhere near guys like you, goredho, jimmy, and g650.  it takes me so long to get a phrase recorded that i think sounds good and then i will clean it and do some production processing on it to get it to sound exactly like I want, and then I will loop it.  For instance, the first four measures in the latino track...there are two counterpoint guitar phrases that are lined up that I just recorded one bar for each (in like a hundred takes), and then i loop them three straight times, and then the fourth measure is the exact same thing with one note changed.  so it is a total fake out if you will.  a series of phrases that i am very meticulously stringing together.  but it is also why that track is so repetitive and sounds a bit sterile and less organic as well which, as you note, makes it a little less enjoyable.  if you asked me to play it live, i would not be able to.  i can play most anything on the piano live (and quite a bit of bass and a bit of cello), but other than playing some CAGED rhythm chords and like the five solos out there i've practiced for a thousand hours, I can't on the guitar as I don't have y'all's skills. 

have really enjoyed listening to everyone's stuff this month...seems like the quality has been dialed up quite a bit.  and i will reiterate what i said on the email thread, i selfishly hope you decide to let the gold top out of the cage on the next round.

[G650 14229]

11 hours ago, sidis said:

So the issue with me and guitar sounds is that i spend a ton of time getting little individual, single phrases and then way more time going through RX10 and cleaning audio and making it passable than anything.  then i lace them together.  I am not a good guitarist...nowhere near guys like you, goredho, jimmy, and g650.  it takes me so long to get a phrase recorded that i think sounds good and then i will clean it and do some production processing on it to get it to sound exactly like I want, and then I will loop it.  For instance, the first four measures in the latino track...there are two counterpoint guitar phrases that are lined up that I just recorded one bar for each (in like a hundred takes), and then i loop them three straight times, and then the fourth measure is the exact same thing with one note changed.  so it is a total fake out if you will.  a series of phrases that i am very meticulously stringing together.  but it is also why that track is so repetitive and sounds a bit sterile and less organic as well which, as you note, makes it a little less enjoyable.  if you asked me to play it live, i would not be able to.  i can play most anything on the piano live (and quite a bit of bass and a bit of cello), but other than playing some CAGED rhythm chords and like the five solos out there i've practiced for a thousand hours, I can't on the guitar as I don't have y'all's skills. 

 

So one thing I have genuinely found pretty remarkable with your music over the years is how you are able to make it sound not overly sterile or rigid while assembling it all. It's obviously a lot more common now for people to have your sort of workflow with all the awesome tools available, but most of what I hear from others has a more stilted quality. You are able to make it breathe still which I find awesome. I can tell you I flat out cannot do it, I've tried. I chalk it up to being an old dinosaur, but it's also just kind of my nature I guess. When I get to cutting and pasting  and using programmed drums I just get very tight, and I'm never happy with my output. You keep a great flow in all your stuff.

 

I also love the stuff @Goredho does with the loopers, that is so far beyond me.

 

I appreciate the kind words on my guitar playing, I have a few strengths, live performance being one thankfully. Plenty of weaknesses too. Overall if you want a blues solo or someone to plug a LP into a Marshall stack and play some Motorhead, I'm your dude lol. Jazz or Spanish guitar not so much. @Celery Man is a beast on the acoustic picking too, I am a little jealous.

 

11 hours ago, sidis said:

 and i will reiterate what i said on the email thread, i selfishly hope you decide to let the gold top out of the cage on the next round.

 

Cosign.

[Celery Man 20929]

3 minutes ago, G650 said:

 

So one thing I have genuinely found pretty remarkable with your music over the years is how you are able to make it sound not overly sterile or rigid while assembling it all. It's obviously a lot more common now for people to have your sort of workflow with all the awesome tools available, but most of what I hear from others has a more stilted quality. You are able to make it breathe still which I find awesome.

G650's description of how others can sound sterile and rigid is what I didn't want my compliment above to sound like I was saying about your music. More that I can easily listen to your songs and think "this is rad" and hear a guitar part and not do the additional math of "yeah and he tracked/mixed that too".

 

thanks for the props on the guitar playing. I'll see if I can bust out the gold top for something - not a ton windows where I can let the matchless rip without disrupting the household and I don't practice lead stuff all that much. But on Dirt Bike as an example, there's a melodic part that I had a hard time working in with the rhythm guitar, and the vocal melody over the bridge was written as a guitar part. I'll try and actually do a better job getting something done early enough this month that i can go back and set up to lay down something electric, although it may just be my macbook sitting open in front of a katana.

Speaking of procrastination, this has been really fun and has hit home that I'm much more productive when I have some accountability out there in the world somewhere. This is more songwriting than I've done in a decade - I've got a lot of "guitar parts that I've noodled on and then forgotten" over the past ten years but I don't think I had put the metaphorical pen to paper in that whole time.

[Buzzrock 14901]

Looks like there are people who offer pretty cheap mixing services on Fiverr. What format would such a person need in order to do their magic?

https://www.fiverr.com/search/gigs?query=mixing&source=main_banner_semv4&ref_ctx_id=648f332ee03db79652e286decc278bb6&search_in=everywhere&search-autocomplete-original-term=mixing

Edited November 3, 2023 by Buzzrock

[sidis 9822]

1 hour ago, Buzzrock said:

Looks like there are people who offer pretty cheap mixing services on Fiverr. What format would such a person need in order to do their magic?

https://www.fiverr.com/search/gigs?query=mixing&source=main_banner_semv4&ref_ctx_id=648f332ee03db79652e286decc278bb6&search_in=everywhere&search-autocomplete-original-term=mixing

they will likely want each mono stem in a .wav format along with a scratch track in .wav.

Edited November 3, 2023 by sidis

[Goredho 17394]

I dig both your songs, @Celery Man & @sidis.  "Dirt Bike" is fucking cool, and your version of "Encontru Sus Hilo De Plata" with lyrics cracks me up, Sidis.  Very cool.  I've been in Austin and on a hectic schedule getting ready for the Texas troubadour thing tomorrow, so I hadn't had a chance to listen before now. When this is done and I'm back home, I'm gonna be getting back into writing/composing until the live music scene hits up again next May.  I've got some pent up ideas to get out.

[ohchaucer 1443]

So, since the "email group" and this world are colliding, here's the song I had done for last month with a few small edits based on some of y'all's feedback. This song's about finding yourself lost and struggling and having to face reality with failure and addiction and pride all having you wasting your days....  Real light stuff.  I'm hoping to get started on November's soon.  And yeah, Celery and Sidis, the more I listen to both of yours, the more I love 'em.  True for the whole group, really.

 

[Goredho 17394]

 

Joining the fray again with a 4 part big proggy piece in the vein of early-to-mid 70s Genesis, Yes and Pink Floyd.  The song is called "Gemini" and its about the estrangement and dissolution of the twins and what their existence afterwards might be like.  Its meant to be an allegory for what's going on in this country where so many of our constituent citizens are actively working to sever the ties that bind us.

This one is different for me as I wrote lyrics and I'm giving singing a go (I suck).  I've got the lyrics and piano composition done end to end, and things laid out with scratch piano, vocals and drums.  @sidis is going to give me a better piano track throughout (though I imagine some of it shifts to organs or synths) and a drummer friend is going to let me kick the AI drummer to the curb.  I've already laid the bass throughout.  Now I'm going back and fleshing out each part/verse.  I don't know whether I am going to be able to pull off the vocals I want to hear, so I may enlist help there at some point.

Anyway, things are coming together for the first part/verse after adding some acoustic guitar and a solo to close it out, so I figure I'd share.  There is no real mixing done here yet, though I have thrown some EQ and effects on some of the tracks.  @jimmyjazz you might be interested in the vocal recording, as its the first thing I've recorded with your mic recommendation -- the Lauten LA-220.  I don't really know what I am doing as far as working with mics and recording vocals, so if it sucks, that is probably why.

Any thoughts/feedback appreciated.

Full lyrics for the song spoilered below:

Spoiler

Dearest Brother,
How fortunate we are
To have each other
We'll never stray far
United we are
And thus shall we be
Together, forever
We'll always be free

Dearest brother,
What have you done,
I know that we
Are to always be one
But this is too much
You've strayed far from
Where we were born
When we were young

Dearest brother,
Is that you at the door?
I can see your face
But I can recognize you no more
No, no, no
It's not a good time
You shouldn't have come
You should go back to your home
Beyond a distant sun
Far away from me

Dearest brother?
I don't seem to recall
Ever having had
A brother at all
I'm all that I need
A monument of stone
Austere and unmoving
Cold and alone
Forever and ever
Cold and alone
Forever and ever
Cold and alone
(I'm in control)
Forever and ever
Cold and alone
(I'm in control)
Forever and ever
Cold and alone
(I'm in control)

 

Edited November 29, 2023 by Goredho

[G650 14229]

4 minutes ago, Goredho said:

drummer friend is going to let me kick the AI drummer to the curb. 

[G650 14229]

7 minutes ago, Goredho said:

 

Joining the fray again with a 4 part big proggy piece in the vein of early-to-mid 70s Genesis, Yes and Pink Floyd.  The song is called "Gemini" and its about the estrangement and dissolution of the twins and what their existence afterwards might be like.  Its meant to be an allegory for what's going on in this country where so many of our constituent citizens are actively working to sever the ties that bind us.

This one is different for me as I wrote lyrics and I'm giving singing a go (I suck).  I've got the lyrics and piano composition done end to end, and things laid out with scratch piano, vocals and drums.  @sidis is going to give me a better piano track throughout (though I imagine some of it shifts to organs or synths) and a drummer friend is going to let me kick the AI drummer to the curb.  I've already laid the bass throughout.  Now I'm going back and fleshing out each part/verse.  I don't know whether I am going to be able to pull off the vocals I want to hear, so I may enlist help there at some point.

Anyway, things are coming together for the first part/verse after adding some acoustic guitar and a solo to close it out, so I figure I'd share.  There is no real mixing done here yet, though I have thrown some EQ and effects on some of the tracks.  @jimmyjazz you might be interested in the vocal recording, as its the first thing I've recorded with your mic recommendation -- the Lauten LA-220.  I don't really know what I am doing as far as working with mics and recording vocals, so if it sucks, that is probably why.

Any thoughts/feedback appreciated.

Full lyrics for the song spoilered below:

  Reveal hidden contents

Dearest Brother,
How fortunate we are
To have each other
We'll never stray far
United we are
And thus shall we be
Together, forever
We'll always be free

Dearest brother,
What have you done,
I know that we
Are to always be one
But this is too much
You've strayed far from
Where we were born
When we were young

Dearest brother,
Is that you at the door?
I can see your face
But I can recognize you no more
No, no, no
It's not a good time
You shouldn't have come
You should go back to your home
Beyond a distant sun
Far away from me

Dearest brother?
I don't seem to recall
Ever having had
A brother at all
I'm all that I need
A monument of stone
Austere and unmoving
Cold and alone
Forever and ever
Cold and alone
Forever and ever
Cold and alone
(I'm in control)
Forever and ever
Cold and alone
(I'm in control)
Forever and ever
Cold and alone
(I'm in control)

 

 

So that is awesome man. When the piano started tinkling I really thought if In The Flesh almost instantly. Very cool track.

 

One thing you may try on the vocal is playing with the reverb to sit it in the mix. I am not sure what you are using as a DAW, but you can do a short verb (.8 - 1 sec) with some predelay (20-40ms), and a long verb (2-4 sec) stacked that would probably help it blend. Long verb a bit quieter than the short. I think your voice is perfect for this type of tune.

[Goredho 17394]

9 minutes ago, G650 said:

 

So that is awesome man. When the piano started tinkling I really thought if In The Flesh almost instantly. Very cool track.

 

One thing you may try on the vocal is playing with the reverb to sit it in the mix. I am not sure what you are using as a DAW, but you can do a short verb (.8 - 1 sec) with some predelay (20-40ms), and a long verb (2-4 sec) stacked that would probably help it blend. Long verb a bit quieter than the short. I think your voice is perfect for this type of tune.

Thanks, appreciate the feedback and ideas on the vox!

[Goredho 17394]

On 11/29/2023 at 10:28 AM, Goredho said:

 

Joining the fray again with a 4 part big proggy piece in the vein of early-to-mid 70s Genesis, Yes and Pink Floyd.  The song is called "Gemini" and its about the estrangement and dissolution of the twins and what their existence afterwards might be like.  Its meant to be an allegory for what's going on in this country where so many of our constituent citizens are actively working to sever the ties that bind us.

This one is different for me as I wrote lyrics and I'm giving singing a go (I suck).  I've got the lyrics and piano composition done end to end, and things laid out with scratch piano, vocals and drums.  @sidis is going to give me a better piano track throughout (though I imagine some of it shifts to organs or synths) and a drummer friend is going to let me kick the AI drummer to the curb.  I've already laid the bass throughout.  Now I'm going back and fleshing out each part/verse.  I don't know whether I am going to be able to pull off the vocals I want to hear, so I may enlist help there at some point.

Anyway, things are coming together for the first part/verse after adding some acoustic guitar and a solo to close it out, so I figure I'd share.  There is no real mixing done here yet, though I have thrown some EQ and effects on some of the tracks.  @jimmyjazz you might be interested in the vocal recording, as its the first thing I've recorded with your mic recommendation -- the Lauten LA-220.  I don't really know what I am doing as far as working with mics and recording vocals, so if it sucks, that is probably why.

Any thoughts/feedback appreciated.

Full lyrics for the song spoilered below:

  Hide contents

Dearest Brother,
How fortunate we are
To have each other
We'll never stray far
United we are
And thus shall we be
Together, forever
We'll always be free

Dearest brother,
What have you done,
I know that we
Are to always be one
But this is too much
You've strayed far from
Where we were born
When we were young

Dearest brother,
Is that you at the door?
I can see your face
But I can recognize you no more
No, no, no
It's not a good time
You shouldn't have come
You should go back to your home
Beyond a distant sun
Far away from me

Dearest brother?
I don't seem to recall
Ever having had
A brother at all
I'm all that I need
A monument of stone
Austere and unmoving
Cold and alone
Forever and ever
Cold and alone
Forever and ever
Cold and alone
(I'm in control)
Forever and ever
Cold and alone
(I'm in control)
Forever and ever
Cold and alone
(I'm in control)

 

So I think I got verse 2 wrapped up as far as the tracking I am going to personally do (piano and drums to be performed by @sidis and a drummer friend later) except for vocals which I'm gonna be working on for some time as I'm not a well trained/exercised singer and I am learning as I go about how to record and mix vocals.  @G650 I played with your reverb suggestions and I have applying globally to the vocals throughout the song.  Otherwise, the mix is still rough. Thoughts/feedback welcome.

Dearest brother,
What have you done,
I know that we
Are to always be one
But this is too much
You've strayed far from
Where we were born
When we were young

 

 

Edited December 4, 2023 by Goredho

[Goredho 17394]

On 11/29/2023 at 10:28 AM, Goredho said:

 

Joining the fray again with a 4 part big proggy piece in the vein of early-to-mid 70s Genesis, Yes and Pink Floyd.  The song is called "Gemini" and its about the estrangement and dissolution of the twins and what their existence afterwards might be like.  Its meant to be an allegory for what's going on in this country where so many of our constituent citizens are actively working to sever the ties that bind us.

This one is different for me as I wrote lyrics and I'm giving singing a go (I suck).  I've got the lyrics and piano composition done end to end, and things laid out with scratch piano, vocals and drums.  @sidis is going to give me a better piano track throughout (though I imagine some of it shifts to organs or synths) and a drummer friend is going to let me kick the AI drummer to the curb.  I've already laid the bass throughout.  Now I'm going back and fleshing out each part/verse.  I don't know whether I am going to be able to pull off the vocals I want to hear, so I may enlist help there at some point.

Anyway, things are coming together for the first part/verse after adding some acoustic guitar and a solo to close it out, so I figure I'd share.  There is no real mixing done here yet, though I have thrown some EQ and effects on some of the tracks.  @jimmyjazz you might be interested in the vocal recording, as its the first thing I've recorded with your mic recommendation -- the Lauten LA-220.  I don't really know what I am doing as far as working with mics and recording vocals, so if it sucks, that is probably why.

Any thoughts/feedback appreciated.

Full lyrics for the song spoilered below:

  Hide contents

Dearest Brother,
How fortunate we are
To have each other
We'll never stray far
United we are
And thus shall we be
Together, forever
We'll always be free

Dearest brother,
What have you done,
I know that we
Are to always be one
But this is too much
You've strayed far from
Where we were born
When we were young

Dearest brother,
Is that you at the door?
I can see your face
But I can recognize you no more
No, no, no
It's not a good time
You shouldn't have come
You should go back to your home
Beyond a distant sun
Far away from me

Dearest brother?
I don't seem to recall
Ever having had
A brother at all
I'm all that I need
A monument of stone
Austere and unmoving
Cold and alone
Forever and ever
Cold and alone
Forever and ever
Cold and alone
(I'm in control)
Forever and ever
Cold and alone
(I'm in control)
Forever and ever
Cold and alone
(I'm in control)

 

Alright, spent the past week working on verse/part 3 and I'm digging it, so gonna share now.  Again, no Sidis piano or real drummer yet, and the vocals are a work in progress.  This has an extended instrumental section in it, and is the longest of the 4 parts at 3:22.  I am not 100% certain I like how this wraps up, I am going to let it sit for a day or two then I may play with the end a bit more, but its good for a first pass and check in if anyone wants to listen and critique.

Dearest brother,
Is that you at the door?
I can see your face
But I can recognize you no more
No, no, no
It's not a good time
You shouldn't have come
You should go back to your home
Beyond a distant sun
Far away from me

[texasdago 7563]

Not my music but my friend's new single...

 

[G650 14229]

53 minutes ago, Goredho said:

Alright, spent the past week working on verse/part 3 and I'm digging it, so gonna share now.  Again, no Sidis piano or real drummer yet, and the vocals are a work in progress.  This has an extended instrumental section in it, and is the longest of the 4 parts at 3:22.  I am not 100% certain I like how this wraps up, I am going to let it sit for a day or two then I may play with the end a bit more, but its good for a first pass and check in if anyone wants to listen and critique.

Dearest brother,
Is that you at the door?
I can see your face
But I can recognize you no more
No, no, no
It's not a good time
You shouldn't have come
You should go back to your home
Beyond a distant sun
Far away from me

That's super cool man. There is noticeable improvement in vocal delivery and production. I love all the movement in the instrumental passages as well. I would maybe think about a snare sound that had not as much of the snares in it, but that's a quibble at most. Guitar right before the end is rad as hell.

[G650 14229]

1 minute ago, texasdago said:

Not my music but my friend's new single...

 

Shit yeah. I could hear Rodney Crowell doing this.

 

Who's the steel player?

[Goredho 17394]

1 minute ago, G650 said:

That's super cool man. There is noticeable improvement in vocal delivery and production. I love all the movement in the instrumental passages as well. I would maybe think about a snare sound that had not as much of the snares in it, but that's a quibble at most. Guitar right before the end is rad as hell.

Cool, thanks.  Yeah, I’m probably going to pick up superior drummer for drum samples when it’s time to do the drum track with a real drummer.

[texasdago 7563]

8 minutes ago, G650 said:

Shit yeah. I could hear Rodney Crowell doing this.

 

Who's the steel player?

I can find out. Pretty sure Graham Wilkinson is on rhythm guitar.

[texasdago 7563]

12 hours ago, G650 said:

Shit yeah. I could hear Rodney Crowell doing this.

 

Who's the steel player?

Nicklaus Hamburg

[AbeFroman 2154]

no idea what thread or what, but this was a really good rendition at Shane's funeral rip

 

 

[Goredho 17394]

On 11/29/2023 at 10:28 AM, Goredho said:

 

Joining the fray again with a 4 part big proggy piece in the vein of early-to-mid 70s Genesis, Yes and Pink Floyd.  The song is called "Gemini" and its about the estrangement and dissolution of the twins and what their existence afterwards might be like.  Its meant to be an allegory for what's going on in this country where so many of our constituent citizens are actively working to sever the ties that bind us.

This one is different for me as I wrote lyrics and I'm giving singing a go (I suck).  I've got the lyrics and piano composition done end to end, and things laid out with scratch piano, vocals and drums.  @sidis is going to give me a better piano track throughout (though I imagine some of it shifts to organs or synths) and a drummer friend is going to let me kick the AI drummer to the curb.  I've already laid the bass throughout.  Now I'm going back and fleshing out each part/verse.  I don't know whether I am going to be able to pull off the vocals I want to hear, so I may enlist help there at some point.

Anyway, things are coming together for the first part/verse after adding some acoustic guitar and a solo to close it out, so I figure I'd share.  There is no real mixing done here yet, though I have thrown some EQ and effects on some of the tracks.  @jimmyjazz you might be interested in the vocal recording, as its the first thing I've recorded with your mic recommendation -- the Lauten LA-220.  I don't really know what I am doing as far as working with mics and recording vocals, so if it sucks, that is probably why.

Any thoughts/feedback appreciated.

Full lyrics for the song spoilered below:

  Reveal hidden contents

Dearest Brother,
How fortunate we are
To have each other
We'll never stray far
United we are
And thus shall we be
Together, forever
We'll always be free

Dearest brother,
What have you done,
I know that we
Are to always be one
But this is too much
You've strayed far from
Where we were born
When we were young

Dearest brother,
Is that you at the door?
I can see your face
But I can recognize you no more
No, no, no
It's not a good time
You shouldn't have come
You should go back to your home
Beyond a distant sun
Far away from me

Dearest brother?
I don't seem to recall
Ever having had
A brother at all
I'm all that I need
A monument of stone
Austere and unmoving
Cold and alone
Forever and ever
Cold and alone
Forever and ever
Cold and alone
(I'm in control)
Forever and ever
Cold and alone
(I'm in control)
Forever and ever
Cold and alone
(I'm in control)

 

Have been riding a creative wave, so verse 4 is mostly wrapped up.  This pretty much completes the song minus the tracks to be done by others and forever-in-progress vocals as mentioned previously.  Then I guess a final mix and master, which I may do myself or outsource.  I'll post the full song end-to-end once I get everyone else's tracks in place. Feedback/thoughts appreciated.

 

Edited December 10, 2023 by Goredho

[Celery Man 20929]

I’m unlikely to finish a song this month - we had a baby in the 10th and I haven’t taken an acoustic off the wall since. I may have some toys after Christmas but very little time at the moment.

 

I didn’t have time last month either - i thought about it a lot but then wrote and recorded something really fast, just using the voice recorder on my phone. I just went back to remember what it was and i actually like this chorus a lot. Words too fast in the verse, i can never get myself to slow down. This is a different take on “I Remember Everything” - instead of a relationship broken apart by alcoholism, it’s a relationship starting in recovery and going through the standard set of challenges relationships face in marriage and middle age. Somewhat autobiographical although not until I put a third verse with a cheerier outlook on it.

https://on.soundcloud.com/LZe8uQtVRhADPMcw9
 

Quote

Hot black coffee’s gonna fill my hand
bum another smoke i'll hit you when I can
hanging off the railing this is high school for fuck ups
numb to everything that got me so fucked up

you float in like an empty bottle adrift
Worry to your dad about the christmas gifts
staring into nothing, etched in my mind
the way i saw you looking for the very first time

i don't remember anything
it's not a blur,  it's just waking up
and i'm right there next to you
out of some strange dream
i don't remember anything

Telling me all about every dream
used to be excitement out of every seam
now it's just stuff you wish i wouldn't do
any time i get a couple words from you

dunno why i thought you'd have something to say
guess you never celebrated mother's day
you live inside your head and you're up there alone
staring into nothing while you scroll through your phone

i don't remember anything
it's all a blur i keep waking up
and i'm right there next to you
out of some strange dream i don't remember anything
 

 

[G650 14229]

12 hours ago, Celery Man said:

we had a baby in the 10th

Congrats brosef!

[jimmyjazz 45879]

23 minutes ago, G650 said:

Congrats brosef!

Yeah, for sure!  I missed that.

Babies, man.

[sidis 9822]

19 hours ago, Celery Man said:

I’m unlikely to finish a song this month - we had a baby in the 10th and I haven’t taken an acoustic off the wall since. I may have some toys after Christmas but very little time at the moment.

 

I didn’t have time last month either - i thought about it a lot but then wrote and recorded something really fast, just using the voice recorder on my phone. I just went back to remember what it was and i actually like this chorus a lot. Words too fast in the verse, i can never get myself to slow down. This is a different take on “I Remember Everything” - instead of a relationship broken apart by alcoholism, it’s a relationship starting in recovery and going through the standard set of challenges relationships face in marriage and middle age. Somewhat autobiographical although not until I put a third verse with a cheerier outlook on it.

https://on.soundcloud.com/LZe8uQtVRhADPMcw9
 

 

Congratulations, Celery Man.  Very happy for you.  Hope all is going well so far...

[Goredho 17394]

Here's a first mix attempt of that last track.  Just the intro and first verse with @sidis on piano, a real drummer playing a virtual kit from Toontrack's ezdrummer 3, and best of all... a real, no shit singer.  I shared the song with a former high school band mate, he loved it and gave me some constructive criticism about my vocal performance.  I took that to mean he was volunteering to provide the vocals and handed him the mic.  I think he provides a great performance here and throughout the rest of the song.  All of that is combining to make this my best and most polished work yet.  Any feedback is appreciated.