Original Dark Folk Song : "I Won't Change"

Lyrics:
Who am I supposed to be
What am I supposed to do
Please don’t live my life for me
I won’t change my life for you

I don’t want to shave today
I don’t care what you say ma’am
Why don’t you just go away
Just leave me as I am

The world was sweeter when I didn’t know you
Wish we could go back so I could show you
There was once a time when I was happy
 
I love dark sounding songs,the only thing I would suggest is just because it is a dark song,that doesnt mean your guitar tone has to be that dark.You could brighten the guitar up a bit and maybe widen it a little.A little reverb on the vocals maybe?Cool song though.I could here this in a movie.
 
Think this is definitely an improvement on previous postings oneguy. Feels very intimate and the lo-fi sound gives it a good warmth. How are you recording though - it sounds like it's all through one microphone? Even if you're playing it live, I'd still track the vocals and guitar separately through two mikes. Even though you'll get bleed between the two, it will give you a bit more control over balancing the levels.

Are you familiar with Damien Jurado at all? He's just incredible for writing these really haunting, dark, intimate folk tunes and I think if you don't already know his work it would be a great indication of what you can achieve on a really simple 'live' type setup. 'Medication', 'Night Out for the Downer' and 'Rachel & Cali' are great tunes to look out for - I reckon they might be a bit of an inspiration for you.
 
Weekly - Thanks for your comments! I think I like the tone of the guitar as it makes it darker i think. I actually just added a bit of bass to it.

Steven- Thanks for your comments! Yeah, I did some reverb on it already, but I'm still learning how to do use it better. I hear the pitch issues on the vocals. I think I am going to consider this a first draft and maybe re-record it again in the future. Inspiration just struck for the song so I laid it down as I felt and didn't want to try and resing it at the moment.

Rob- Thank you again for your helpful comments! I really appreciate you taking the time to listen to my stuff.

I'm actually doing separate tracking this time. Do you think the vocals should be louder? I was trying to keep them a bit balanced with the guitar.

I checked out Damien last time when you mentioned him. I agree that I am trying to do something similar to him. I definitely notice that his vocals are much crisper than mine. I think I have to work on the enunciation a bit.

I was just listening to : YouTube - Medication - Damien Jurado . It's interesting the way this is mixed with all the guitar on the L and the vocals on the R. Pretty unusual and slightly uncomfortable listening.

I also Youtube'ed my vid : YouTube - "I Won't Change" - Original Sad Song . I find that people that are into lyrics (myself included) enjoy the song more when they read the lyrics too. Hard to always understand what is being sung when not reading along. (Maybe also has to do with enunciation or volume level on the vocals.)

I also agree that this is a big improvement on my previous stuff. I really feel that I am growing a lot and a good part of that has been from the helpful comments on these boards. So thank you all once again.
 
Too much of a correction there! Take the vocals back down a notch. Having more vocals does definitely improve things (and it brings out the life and reverb in the vox), but I you overcorrected.

I'm not so enthusiastic about the harmonica parts. It just sounds kind of random.

Guitar sounds good.

The finger snaps are an interesting changeup.
 
I like the lower vocal version better. It's definitely got a dark, lo-fi, guy-in-a-room-with-a-mic quality to it. I don't know if that's good or bad, but it is what it is. The harmonica aint good.
 
Thanks a bunch for all of your opinions. The more the better.

It seems that there are always going to be conflicting issues on things.

I am going to have to record this one again in the future. I do like the song. Maybe I'll add another verse/ chorus.

My friends told me that song was too depressing so I made this one just now:
YouTube - Magic - Original Song

I think it's gold.
 
oneguy said:


Why do you hate Youtube so much? I like it because then you can read the lyrics with it.
Click to expand...

I hate youtube for two reasons:
1) youtube users are predominantly click/view seeking attention whores. They just want page views like it equals money.
2) the sound quality usually sucks and isn't a good choice for critical listening. People that want legit critiques don't typically use youtube links. See #1 above....

I'm not accusing you of either scenario. You asked.
 
The guitar sounds better. The vocals are too loud and the double tracking is distracting and too sloppy to be that out front.
 
well youre certainly improving...its good you are churning them out as its all good practice

Im on the first track


vocals are a little pitchy, not too bad...guitar need more of the high frequencies brought to the fore, maybe make some cuts in the lower mids...harmonic should either play a part or go, even if you just repeated the couple of notes into more of a crescendo??


glad your improving, it all gets better quite quickly at the beginning....
 
Greg - I thought the double tracking was cool sounding.

This is without the double tracking...



I thought the double was much cooler though.
 
Thanks KC. Nice to hear from you again.

For the guitar, you mean when picking to pick more of the B and E string? Or do you mean something in the mixing process? What do you mean by "cuts in the lower mids"?

The problem I'm facing with the Harmonica currently is that I can only use it for small bridges essentially. I'm not really skilled enough yet to do a full solo.
 
oneguy said:
Greg - I thought the double tracking was cool sounding.

This is without the double tracking...



I thought the double was much cooler though.
Click to expand...
Well by all means do whatever you want. Seriously. It's your song. If you like it doubled, definitely keep it that way. I don't even listen to this kind of music, so don't make any changes based on my opinion. But if you ever get into writing really dumb punk/hard rock tunes, I'm your guy. :D
 
LOL!

Greg - You are a tough critic - but I appreciate anyone taking a chance to listen :)

Maybe I'll give punk a try next....

I just listened to some of your tracks. I really did not expect you to be a hard rock guy. You know, based on your picture...
 
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