A second song for you benign souls

[GhostOfMe]

Hey everyone,

I posted the song "Leave" a bit back, and here's another. The difference with this song is that it is only me. The last song was my friend singing lead.

"It's Okay":
http://lskblvz.linuxclass.marist.edu...ic/itsokay.mp3

Here's some details:

Recorded with CEP2

The drums are my first attempt at using Fruity Loops to create a drum track

I recorded the melody with both electric and acoustic (both direct)

The lead is recorded electric, direct

The vocals were recorded with a cheap dynamic mic

Let me know what you think of the singing as well. I've only recently started singing (about a year now), and advice on that would appreciated. Thanks again everyone, when I start getting annoying with my constant posts, just hit me.

[GhostOfMe]

hmmm...anyone?

[chrisharris]

Hey man...this clinic is getting busier every day...which is probably to blame for the lack of responses.

Okay, here are my initial impressions. There's an out of tune guitar, and it sounds like an acoustic that's DI'd. I think the DI sound could work on this tune, but you gotta' tune it, lol.

Your vocal - it's too low in some parts, and it's too loud in others...both of these problems can usually be fixed in CoolEdit with one of the vocal compressor presets...Which version of CEP are you using? 1.2 or 2.0? If I were you though, I'd take another run at it b/c I'm hearing some pitch problems...not bad ones, pretty minor...it almost sounds like you need to sing OUT a little more to get on pitch...you've got a pretty laid back vocal style not unlike one of my favorites here ("Powderfinger").

Drums - I'm honestly not liking the drum sounds, but I'm interested to know something since you're using "Fruity Loops"...is that a midi thing? How exactly does it work? On the drums, I think the kick is okay for this song, but the snare...Aw, what do I know. I'm predicting that the REAL drum nazi's are gonna' yell at you, lol.

I like the tune. Just tune that damned guitar, LOL

Post lots,
Chris

[GhostOfMe]

I appreciate you taking time out

as for the out of tune guitar, I can't explain for that, I would guess it would be the electric that's out, not the acoustic.....but it's probably both....everything I record is direct, I don't have a good enough mic to mic the guitars/amps yet.

Anyways, yea, I'm not the best singer in the world....and i appreciate the feedback on that. I'm using CEP2, so I will work the the compressing. Any suggestions for vocal ratios?

As for the drums, I just wanted to start practicing with them, I'm in no way a drummer or have a feel for drums at all. I just sampled drums from certain songs, then used them in loops. I hope to get a lot better with drum sounds.

Thanks a whole bunch

[auburncatfish]

Yeah, I think the drum beat is the wrong beat for this song. You can tell, cause it sounds like you're having a hard time keeping beat with the drum track.

The vocals have potential I think. You need to keep retracking. Keep recording this song. But I'd start again, with a fresh drum track, and fresh guitars. You're voice will come along, It has good tone. I'd just keep recording tracks until your fingers bleed and you cough up a lung and everyone around you is alienated. Ah the beauty of home-recording.

A

[chrisharris]

Originally posted by GhostOfMe
I would guess it would be the electric that's out, not the acoustic.....but it's probably both...

It's definitely the acoustic. You know, auburncatfish makes some good sense. I know when you start, it takes FOREVER to do a single song, but I also know that it goes a lot quicker the 2nd time you record it. Now might be a good time to try re-recording the whole thing... Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying that this mix is horrible, b/c it's not, but it'll be a LOT better if you take another run at it while it's still fresh.