Folk Song

Stratomaster

Stratomaster

Active member
So this is a short little folk song idea i've had for a while, and finally got to writing some lyrics and recording. It's very short and simple, acoustic and voice with a string part during the bridge. Recorded with an octava mc012 on guitar and a rode nt something on vocals, both through my ua 6176. Probably not much to critique here, i had to re-record the guitars because of click track bleeding into the mic, so i took my time and got them sounding pretty decent i think. The voice...i'd rather have a real singer sing this of course, the thing is to get the idea down while i have it. The rode mic is one of the few mics that i think makes my voice sound better, it doesn't seem to have any artificial high end bump that makes my voice sound worse i'm guessing..So thanks for listening and any comments.


 
This is a very nice song.

I wouldn't change much.

I thought the acoustic guitar was a little boomy. I might notch out something in the low end. Somewhere in the the 80hz-100hz range maybe.

The vocal gets just slightly covered up in the verses. Notching out the guitar might address that. If not, I'd nudge the guitar volume the slightest bit in the verses.

Small things. It was very nice.
 
Thanks for listening and the nice comments. I agree Triple M that there's a few words that are obscured, i did high pass the acoustics a bit, the guitar itself is kind of boomy, a simon and patrick woodland cedar, the bottom end is what i like about the guitar, but the voice is also in a lower range so there is a bit of conflict...

I'll post the lyrics

In the beginning
he knew what to do
life put on hold
gone off to serve
eager and willing
to fight with his brothers
take me now
take me now
take me now

They'll never walk
the land of my fathers
whats a man to do
but stand up and fight
if I don't return
if I don't survive
remember my name
I fought for what was right

He didn't hear me
he knew what to do
wisdom warned fortune
my fears have come true
if you could hear me
i'd trade mine for you
take me now
take me now
take me now

Thanks for your time MarkCaster and andrushkiwt!
 
The guitars feel too "on top of me" in headphones. Double check it in cans. The vocal is a bit dry.
Strings sound surprisingly good. What are you using there?
 
That's a great song. I wanted to hear that change up one more time at the end of the song. That's are real strong point of the song and should be repeated.

Agree that the guitars could blend better.
 
Really nice!

I agree there's probably a little bit of EQ that could be done in the guitars, maybe the left one especially (but I'm listening on cans this early).

In a couple spots the instruments tend to cover a bit, also as mentioned. You can try to tinker with the vocal level or compression (maybe a tiny bit more and just a bit of makeup gain); or something I try with a lot of the open mic stuff I do, is route all the instruments to a separate bus, and try just a little bit of compression, side-chained to the vocal. Just a little bit of compression but a pretty fast attack and usually sharper knee, try auto release first and listen to see if that helps.
 
The vocals and the guitar are fighting for the same mid-range zone. Maybe carve out the some mids in guitars and put a little sheen on the vocals. The dolby cat 22 card trick would be sweet!

The song is really good :) If I was producing this track I would suggest changing up the metrical line so that the listener doesn't lose interest.
 
Unless I hear something blaring, I really only comment on the song. Very nice, it has a Simon/Garfunkel feel. I like your voice. The only thing I'd say about it, you sound a little unsure of your vocal ability. Which you actually put in your post. But, it shows.

Even though I can't sing a lick, when I do my awful vocals, I have the thought process I'm Mick Jagger on a really bad day.
 
Totally getting the Simon and Garfunkel vibe, great harmonies and changes, good vocal... it works well being that short too. To my ears it may be a bit bright? Ever so slightly harsh maybe? But overall I think it sounds great, and I'm not much of a mix critic as I've still never produced anything that didnt sound like it was recorded in a tin can.
 
Great song strat! I agree with everyone else, the guitars just need to come down a hair, or find some low-mid frequency to cut a little, like 3M said probably 80-100hz, but I'd even experiment a little higher, up to 200 and see what it does. A very slight notch even at 300-400 is also worth checking out. You probably won't have to touch the vocal level at all once that's done. I might try de-essing it a tad though. Some S's and T's kind of stood out, but wasn't bad, if you like it don't mess with it.

The left guitar also seemed a little louder than the right in my phones. I'd try lowering the left guitar 2db, the right guitar just 1 (maybe even 3 and 1.5) then eq from there, focusing on cutting some lows and low mids to make more room for your voice. A tad more reverb on your voice is also worth experimenting with.

And yea, those strings sounded really good.

Nice work, bud!
 
I second most of what has been said here: Bring guitars down a tad and/or sweep the EQ to find where it's competing with the vocal.

I kind of wanted to hear the song go on longer too. I certainly think it could.

Your vocal sounds great by the way. I agree with andrushkwit ... you sing the song very well! Your voice reminds me of someone, but I can't quite put my finger on it. Maybe it's Ben Gibbard from Death Cab for Cutie. Listening again, yes I think that's what I'm hearing. In fact, it's not just your voice. The song reminds me of them too. An influence by chance?

Thanks for sharing!
 
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