All Your Best...a new song

BuzzHaze

BuzzHaze

New member
Just trying out some slide guitar accents, wondering if they will fit the song. I will clean them up of course but this will give you an idea.

I do these recordings alone, so it's hard to know what works sometimes. lol thanks for any input.

http://soundclick.com/share?songid=9043046
 
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anyone?.....oh well, I've got to finish this off and move on to the next. I guess I'll stick to riffing and forget using the slide parts. I should have known this song wasn't for everyone lol kind of loungey :)

Thanks for listening anyway.
 
That's a good thing y' got goin'. Vox up! Feature guits, up! verb down.

My nit is with some of your chord choices. There ain't a diminished ot half-diminished, augmented chord anywhere in it IIRC. The Fmaj7 [bVIImaj] is a real welcome changeup. I think you could use a little more non diatonic action. Like the chorus...rundown from the Cmaj7....B-7; then a change to , say a Bb6 followed by A+ and cycling back the the Cmaj7, would add song zest and zing...and , for the genre, it's kind of anticipated ....and the diatonic sameness is kind of a let down.

It's nice music...but it needs a little sonic danger, IMHO.

And some more slop and inventiveness , say in the piano comping....lines and rythmic surprises...... would do a lot: the music is so tightly structured that it tends to sterility.

Gino Vanelli's stuff from 1979&80 is prolly some of the best schooling for composing in this sort of scheme. Stock ballad fancy-feast. It could be really worthwhile to listen to some of his records...study the changes and substitutions....to get a handle on it. It'll bring your composition out of the Hamilton, Joe, Frank and Reynolds mold, and into much hipper territory!
 
Wow....thanks Jeff. You have some very good advice here. I'm really an old school guitarist (51yrs) with some toys, so the piano, drum and bass parts are me winging it. I play the tracks start to finish, no punchins or fixs. I dont use software. I just plug the instrument into my board and hit record. (AW2400) If I don't like it, I just do it again so it lends to the diatonic sameness you spoke of, as I struggle to not make a mistake and have to do the entire track over. I'm hoping that within a year, I will be more confident in my keyboard and drum playing and will be able to let loose and take some chances. I know it sounds crazy to re-do entire tracks but I also need the practice. Every takes seems to get a little better than the last.....endless lol plus I dont really know how to use this board. I don't know how to set compression or even EQ for that matter. Im a musician, not a tech. You need to be both now-a-days.

I may spend more time on this one. I usually finish a song up within a day or 2 and move on but I want to mess around with some of your ideas and see what happens. I am learning as I go

thanks and I will post a re-mix.
 
Well, I'm 51, too. I'm a guitar player. There ain't enough time left for me to get chops on drums or keys or fiddles. I un-ashamedly punch, edit, midi, slide and cheat on whatever I'm working on!! The thing I try to do is make the parts sound the way they sound in my head....by whatever means necessary!

My piano parts are played a chord, a measure, or several bars at a time. I listen to what plays in my head, and make it happen. Stop. Record. Stop. Delete. Record....... :eek:

No big whoop. Who cares? The platform is a composer's friend. Beetoven prolly couldn't fiddle...but he's get the string boys together, listen, and make revisions as he went. Not unlike doing it on software....just easier and quicker...and a lot cheaper than paying session guys!

The art is in the ears and editing and efficient use of the tools.
If no one can tell it's knit together like Frankenstein, baddabing! It's still the music that plays in your head.
 
:cool:Well, there hasn't been much response as there should be on this ! (I'm just as guilty as the rest - I've been lax in commenting lately....

I loved it! The piano and strings work perfectly in this and the guitar leads are an excellent touch. The whole song is relaxing and easy to listen to. I guess you could add to it but I don't know if it's necessary unless it's a songwriting challenge you feel like doing. Love the reverb on the vocals and the whole thing sounds radio worthy to me! :cool:

You sound like me one way.... once I've written a song and have the structure done (couple days) it's pretty much done and I seldom change anything. I have added to it (keys, drums) but the lyrics, melody, chords are pretty much fixed. I like to feel like I've completed a song rather than plod away at it forever.... :eek:
 
Thanks for all the comments guys. I have redone a few things and tried to smooth out the song. I still think I'll put some riffs in the last chorus just to break it up, there's a dropout right at the end of the song....I did that by mistake in this mixdown, it won't be there once I add the final solo parts.

I mainly wanted to see if I have managed to keep it interesting enough, and if the solos are too hokey and if the drums sound any better. Any comments on the hammond in the background?

New Version
http://soundclick.com/share?songid=9043046

thanks!!!!
 
Good lead guitar playing in the intro.

In general I thought the mix was a bit narrow and distant. It seemed to be missing a bit on the higher end.

Watch your mic technique when singing. Lots of words at the end of phrases are getting lost. Not sure compression is going to help on that - the drop off is, I think, just to much.
 
Hey thanks for the comments. I noticed the high end took a big hit when posted to soundclick. I will ask a tech friend about the narrow distant sound, I agree. I was listening to Alan Parsons and talk about spread out sound...SWEET!! I want to sound like them...or Steeley Dan. I love dry, crisp real sounds.

The vocals drift off....not a sound issue, that's a singer issue :) lol I need more practise.
 
A very good advancement!

I'd like to offer some suggestions to bump it up another couple levels:

Texture:

The strings behind the piano comping are consistant....not varying from laying on the chords of the progression.

Try experiments:

No strings on the first cycle...allow for build and interest as the tune progresses; or eliminate them in cycle two....an unexpected change. Sometimes...especially in a long ballad like this..it's a good textural device to lay a verse or two to bare-bone instrumentation...a vapor of the song...that can give impact to thicker arrangements unfolding later.

Lines in the strings:

Check out some string arrangements on similar works...listen for melody, harmony, and counterpoint and tweenie voice leading through dissonant notes. Nelson Riddle...or the strings on , say, Sinatra'a "All the Things you Are". [masterwerks!]: the melodic devices that make those strings interesting...and meaningful...are that same in whatever kind of song strings accompany. Invent musical motion that compliments, but does not steal from, the features.

There is a place for some additional melodic 'hook' on the little 2-bar figure that sets up verses following. Do you remember the opening...and re-occurring.... synth line from Teena Turner's "What's Love Got to Do With It" . That kind of signature melodic hook...counterpointing the figure rhythmically and musically would perk things way up, interest-wise.

There are two lead 'vocals' on the cut: the vocal...and the guitar!

The guitar sings first...then goes on holliday for way too long. In between stanzas of the lead vocal, there are these dead spots crying out for a little guitar lineage. Subtle, bluesy improv, or a repeating signature line....beginning in the second cycle.

Those are the things that lept out as I listened.

Just a little artsy addition, and some editing!
MHO
Nice job!
 
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