Looking For Input On Demo Songs

A

AaronChapman

New member
Just some very lightly edited songs I like to experiment with on my off time. TBH, I haven't put enough time into mixing these things- just trying to polish my writing/compositions mostly. Not implying I would have improved anything if I did lol. I don't know all that much about mixing yet, I just enjoy writing and getting it out there. I tried to keep the overall feeling of the demo album consistent; however, there may be a few songs that stand out from others.

What are your initial thoughts on the songs, things that sound awkward, what you like and don't like, etc? I may have shared a few of the songs in the album here before, but it's the overall album, piece to piece, that I'm curious about.

I Promise Not To Take Much Of Your Time (Sample from Demo Album) by Aaron Chap | Free Listening on SoundCloud

Was going for a mixture of John Martyn, Arthur Russell, and some other obscure artists. Not sure what I produced- a hodgepodge of sorts.
Thanks
 
Wow, these are great man. I know my dad would love these—with one caveat. The weird background stuff going on in the White Room demo. Why? The song is totally beautiful and haunting without it.


How old are you?
 
The vocal sounds pretty far out front of the guitar. I'd balance those levels a little better. I couldn't make out what was going on in the background in the first verse. Some kind of tremelo thing. To me it didn't fit. To me, I would stick with just the vocal and guitar.

I'd keep the mix fairly dry. It sort of sounds like you're playing alone in a high school gym.

The lead vocal is nice and clear. The backing vocals near the end are pretty pitchy.
 
I like the songs, too, but there is something weird going on in the vocal delivery at times. You kind of trail off and sound like you're dying or having a seizure at times. It has a Nick Drake vibe that is cool. To me these recordings are about the songs and the vibe rather than the recordings themselves.
 
Thanks for checking out the songs, everyone. Awesome to hear that the songs elicit nostalgic vibes. That is what I have been going for.

I definitely hear you, Crow, on the "white room song". Initially, with the "white room" song I was trying to create a somewhat neurotic atmosphere to the song by adding these intrusive voices that kind of conflict with the song. Wanted the song to capture this feeling of everything imploding. In hindsight, I realize I was letting some external things influence the song in an unattractive way. If that makes any sense. Yeah, that probably didn't make any sense haha. I wrote in the song discription "sparse manic heckling" which is true unfortunately. You're right, the song doesn't need it and it really doesn't serve anything than being a distraction. I'm going to try to find the source audio on my computer and remove all that noise (I've done a horrible job at organizing my files over the time spent recording all this). Oh, yeah, I'm currently 21. I know...I have a baby face...geesh

TripleM, thanks for the input. Yeah, there's some weird experimental stuff going on since I'm a little limited in what I can do and my equipment. I had my nice Martin guitar for a few of the demo songs but I don't currently have the beauty anymore and had to record the rest of the songs with a really cheap guitar instead. So, no offense to the guitar but it's overly quite. To get any real volume from it I have to be aggressive which just doesn't sound nice. Of course, there's a lot I can probably do to bring the guitar forward more into the mix. I'll spend more time doing just that to make things more balanced. Yeah, I'm noticing that the guitar is whisper quiet in some songs which is a shame. I'm guilty of applying wayyyyyy to much reverb, delay, and all that jam. I'm a sucker for that lo-fi stuff so it's probably corrupted my taste. I'll have to play the songs through some better speakers when editing because half the time I don't even realize how narrow the sounds is. Which song is it exactly that the backing vocals are pitchy in, I'm guessing "little feelings"?

Nola, you always hit me those Nick Drake compliments. too nice. I'm trying to find my own niche sound now. Yeah, that whole trailing off thing was something I was trying out. Been listening to John Martyn and I really like his mush mouth style of singing. It's like a drunk langour that just becomes it's own special thing. I admit, I don't think I do it well at all. Wanted to give it a shot though and see what people think. HAha, now I know it sounds like I'm dying...I guess I learned my lesson. One person told me before that my voice in the "white room" song sounds like a kid having an asthma attack. I laughed because I didn't even realize how airy the track really is. Thanks, for the words.
All these are good pointers to direct me towards what works and what doesn't. Thanks, peeps.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top