My Second Recording !

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oneguy

New member
Hello everyone!

So, after much advice from everyone over the last few days I have put together a new recording!

My major changes have been as follows:

1) I found recording with the acoustic was too difficult so I went electric. I just find it much easier to sing while playing and getting everything in one take. Instead, I switched to an electric guitar and hooked that straight to the soundcard (no mic/amp recording). This allowed me to record in stereo and even though there is some bleed from the unplugged electric, I don't think it affected the recording much. Especially because I didn't play with the vocals at all.

2) I also did not make any fx changes to the vocals this time. So this is your first chance to hear me naked :o There are definitely parts that I don't like in the vocals (enunciations, pitch, key, amplitude), but based on advice I got from people on the earlier forum, I decided not to touch them for the time being. (I also didn't pan them like I previously did.)

3) In general I just did less fx. I did several takes for leads etc... Definitely not the best work, but after all the work I've been putting into this stuff I decided to just let it go for now. I did some editing work (erasing parts, copying and pasting lead parts) but really not much. I also played a bit with the panning of the leads a bit.

Please let me know what you think!

In addition, as you will see I think the vocals needs some work. Do you think fx could fix up the flaws or it requires to be retracked?

Thanks in advance!

 
the good news, at least your vocals are clearer if slightly off pitch at parts, the guitar doesnt sound awful but you really need to get an audio interface..is there any kind of amp at all? software? anything?

You still need to track separately...then you can do three or four takes of a song and comp the best parts of your vocals together to make one track..everybody does it, try singing with different focuses in mind..more emotion, more enunciation etc etc with each take

the bad news, that harmonica and the solo...Im saying no more but you really need to erase them , they were awful..sorry :o
 
Do you have just one harmonica or do you have a set? Harmonicas are locked into a single key--and this harmonica's not in the same key as the song. I've got a set of harps in all the different keys--I choose the one that goes with the song. When I only had a couple of harps, I had to do the song in the key of the harp...
 
You are singing in a key that is a bit low for your "best" sound. I'd transpose up a step and get some chest voice in there. I think the guitar might be tuned flat - sounds like it when you play harp. The vocals have to come way up in volume. Add a touch of reverb. Herp and guitar leads are not good. Keep working on it there is potential - you don't want to hear my first recording blehhh
 
Others have said all that needs to be said about the harmonica and the solo. The rest, I have to say, has a really interesting vibe to it. I like your voice, there are little pitch things here and there, but you have a very nice mellow tone. I agree with ido that maybe a whole step higher would put the melody more in the middle of your range and sound better. Fortunately that's really easy. Just slap a CAPO at 2 and sing it again, and mix the vocal a little louder. Trust me, I know how hard it can be to hear your own voice. Remember a couple of things. 1.) your voice is fine, nothing to be worried about, and 2.) it's all just vibrating air anyway. It isn't going to hurt anybody if your off a little bit here and there. I'm still very much a student of singing myself, but one thing I have learned is that if you want to sing... you have to sing out. (Great Cat Stevens song something to that effect). The only way, I think, to learn not to be off here and there is to sing out loud enough for you to really hear it/feel it when you are. It's kind of a catch 22 and you will be off sometimes so don't worry about it. Even really good singers are, they're just less off less often. You should put learning to sing with the track high on your list of things to practice, cause when you get that figured out you'll be able to sing the off parts over again... It'll be as if they never happened in the first place!

The guitar straight in sounds better than I would have expected it would. There are definitely better tones to be had, but in this song it kindof makes for a neat effect. I actually kinda liked it.

The best thing about learning something new is how fast you get better in the beginning! Compared to your first post of only a couple of days ago (ignoring the harp and solo parts here) this is light-years better. I say keep it up!

J
 
Once again, thank you for all of your feedback and comments - even the negative ones :)

It's easy to pretend you have thick skin on the internet 8)

I'm using Audacity and just recording straight. I didn't really think about it, but I guess there is no real amping at all going on. Does this mean I need to use something like Guitar Rig to give it an amp effect?

The solo stuff I put down pretty quickly. I didn't think they were that awful, just simple, but I guess I am biased... I was using a C harmonica as the song was in G. I think I was playing with the right one, just hitting some bad keys I guess.

That's interesting what you said about singing too low for my best sound. I generally consider myself a baritone to a bass with my range basically pretty tight in the E and G range... Need to work on increasing this clearly. The guitar was Capo'ed at the 3rd fret already.

Isn't there a way to make the vocals better with fx? It's been my understanding, based on the pundits, that most pop stars today suck at singing and everything is just fx'ed. What are the limitations to improving a vocals through fx?

Once again, I appreciate everyone taking the time to listen to my first crappy recordings :) I know that it must be a similar experience as me listening to the new saxaphone player upstairs... I figure it's better to annoy random strangers on the internet than my friends and relatives at this stage :)

I am going to take a break from posting any new recordings for two weeks from today. (It will require restraint...) I figure I need some time to work on all this advice I've gotten so far. Hopefully I will be able to get something going that's better by then!
 
kudos for beginning a journey, friend. You have a long and very fun and interesting road ahead of you!

General rule: FX can't do much, what they do is very important, but most of the time its the quality and content of what you record that counts.

Keep working on getting the acoustic to sound right, for the style you are playing it would fill things out for you a bit.

Just remember that it doesnt really matter where you are on the road as long as you keep walking in the right direction ;)



Edit: vocal effects... you can tune it with them, you can fill it out... but the timbre of your voice really needs to be right going in. I would not worry about effects at all at this point, if you get things sounding good "naked" they might sound really good with effects!
 
Yeah just a touch of reverb is all you need for now. Just add it until you can hear it then turn it down a notch.
 
oneguy said:
Once again, thank you for all of your feedback and comments - even the negative ones :)

It's easy to pretend you have thick skin on the internet 8)

I'm using Audacity and just recording straight. I didn't really think about it, but I guess there is no real amping at all going on. Does this mean I need to use something like Guitar Rig to give it an amp effect?

The solo stuff I put down pretty quickly. I didn't think they were that awful, just simple, but I guess I am biased... I was using a C harmonica as the song was in G. I think I was playing with the right one, just hitting some bad keys I guess.

That's interesting what you said about singing too low for my best sound. I generally consider myself a baritone to a bass with my range basically pretty tight in the E and G range... Need to work on increasing this clearly. The guitar was Capo'ed at the 3rd fret already.

Isn't there a way to make the vocals better with fx? It's been my understanding, based on the pundits, that most pop stars today suck at singing and everything is just fx'ed. What are the limitations to improving a vocals through fx?

Once again, I appreciate everyone taking the time to listen to my first crappy recordings :) I know that it must be a similar experience as me listening to the new saxaphone player upstairs... I figure it's better to annoy random strangers on the internet than my friends and relatives at this stage :)

I am going to take a break from posting any new recordings for two weeks from today. (It will require restraint...) I figure I need some time to work on all this advice I've gotten so far. Hopefully I will be able to get something going that's better by then!
Click to expand...

Nothings crappy.....its just the beginning for you and we've all been there...the best thing is youre posting and sharing, that'll help you improve no end

but do take heed to what folks say, I did and it moved me on more than any book or tutorial could


try this for free amp stuff for guitars, Id also suggest dropping audacity and downloading Reaper...in the end its a far better program, arguably the best in many respects and very beginner friendly

AcmeBarGig - Affordable and Freeware VSTs

REAPER | Audio Production Without Limits


and remember..keep it simple at first :)
 
oneguy said:
Once again, thank you for all of your feedback and comments - even the negative ones :)

It's easy to pretend you have thick skin on the internet 8)

I'm using Audacity and just recording straight. I didn't really think about it, but I guess there is no real amping at all going on. Does this mean I need to use something like Guitar Rig to give it an amp effect?

The solo stuff I put down pretty quickly. I didn't think they were that awful, just simple, but I guess I am biased... I was using a C harmonica as the song was in G. I think I was playing with the right one, just hitting some bad keys I guess.

That's interesting what you said about singing too low for my best sound. I generally consider myself a baritone to a bass with my range basically pretty tight in the E and G range... Need to work on increasing this clearly. The guitar was Capo'ed at the 3rd fret already.

Isn't there a way to make the vocals better with fx? It's been my understanding, based on the pundits, that most pop stars today suck at singing and everything is just fx'ed. What are the limitations to improving a vocals through fx?

Once again, I appreciate everyone taking the time to listen to my first crappy recordings :) I know that it must be a similar experience as me listening to the new saxaphone player upstairs... I figure it's better to annoy random strangers on the internet than my friends and relatives at this stage :)

I am going to take a break from posting any new recordings for two weeks from today. (It will require restraint...) I figure I need some time to work on all this advice I've gotten so far. Hopefully I will be able to get something going that's better by then!
Click to expand...

There could be two reasons why your harmonica is out I think:

1. Your guitar isn't in tune
2. If you are using a C key harmonica to play a song in G, you need to be playing in the 2nd position, otherwise you're going to have F coming in and jarring when you need to be playing F#. Only had a very brief listen so far on some speakers at work, but you're playing a more Dylan style than Blues harmonica in that song, so you would find it easier using a G harmonica for a song in the key of G or transposing the tune to C for that harmonica - at least initially. There shouldn't be any bad notes to hit that way.

With the vocals, I think it's a bit of a misnomer that popstars today can't sing and just get fx-ed up - they generally need to be competent enough for someone to think they're worth investing in in the first place. In terms of what you can use to improve the vocals, compression, EQ and reverb are probably the best starting points. Compression to level out the volume a little, EQ to adjust the frequencies and a little reverb to help them sit better in the mix. Autotune may be ok to tweak the odd bumnote, but it generally creates a fairly unpleasant sound if you rely on it or throw it over everything.

As jjjtttggg says, the guitar sounds good considering it's just plugged straight in without an amp etc.
 
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