Praises

dres

New member
Hi People,
this is a first draft version of a song I've had kicking around for over a year. Somehow my pastor got hold of an unfinished version and included it with a powerpoint presentation last week .. without telling me. It was weird listening to it and thinking ... "hey this sounds alright"..."I wonder who it is ?"... then the singing started... "wait a minute that's me !!" :eek: Anyway it prompted me to try and finish the tune.

What you hear in this version is a few experiments into doing a virtual choir. I'm not entirely sure if it works .. but it was fun to do.

As usual if anyone feels they'd like to contribute in a collaboration just pm me. And all comments/constructive critisism is greatly appreciated.

www.nowhereradio.com/dres

look for

"Praises Mk1"
 
Great guitar sound! Nice feel too.

All those voices are you? Pretty cool.

I think you've got a potential Hillsongs hit there. I'd clean up some of the vocs ( a few missed notes, gargled notes, etc.) - but definitely a nice blend - how many lines did you have going at once? For the most part, they didn't seem to walk on each other.

Lyrically, a strong message, but maybe a bit prosaic. Not that it HAS to rhyme, but you don't want to sound like a theology lesson. I thought "by being obedient to You" was kind of a letdown after a big buildup. But I havent been able to write a P&W chorus yet without making it turn into something else - so you're already a step ahead of me.

You mentioned a collab - what were you looking to add/change?

Anyhow, cool song. My old teen choir would've liked it a lot.
 
Overall it sounds good.

I think I see where your trying to go with those backing vocals, and it's cool. However they tend to get a bit too busy note-wise in a few places, and the phrasing needs to be tighter for it to work well.

You need to let the lead vocal be the lead, and keep the backing vocals out of the way.
 
Thanks dafduc for listening. Glad you like the guitar sound ... spent quite a bit of time on that ... it's very difficult to get it sounding really good ... 3 years recording later and I think I'm just getting there. There are 5 vocal tracks in total... 3 main melody and 2 harmonies. Can you be specific about what times you think the vocal is sloppy... I'd like to fix it and it's hard to be objective whith your own music.

The lyrics ... well is almost solely based on John Ch 15 so if it sounds like a theology lesson then bingo .. it is. "by being obediant to you (God)" is exactly the whole point of the passage so I don't think I can change that without changing history. Your response is a text book chistian response ... and one that Jesus intended to address in this passage. Confused ? pm me.

Collaborations ? well maybe it needs drums to rock it up ? maybe it needs different voices in the virtual choir ? maybe it need piano or electric guitar ? you deceide and let me know. ;)
 
M.Brane said:
Overall it sounds good.

You need to let the lead vocal be the lead, and keep the backing vocals out of the way.

Thanks for listening M.Brane. Can you be specific with times in the MP3 where you think the vocals step on each other... I think I know what you mean but it would really help to know exactly which places.

Cheers
 
Cool song...I think it could easily fit into a Hosannah Praise album.....they would rock it up of course with a full drum kit,electric guitars,keys and tons more voices.LOL...this is a really good song...I agree about the line "by being obedient to you".It IS the Central theme of the song and delivers the message that obedience(actions) speak louder than words(Praise with just lip service)....Like Jesus said,"If you love me you'll keep my commandments",BUT, you might wanna try the line "When we're obedient to you" in place of "by being obedient to you"...it's a lot more singable than "By being"..."By being" sounds kinda funny when it's sung....sing it really quick and the 2 words sound like another language.LOL.....if this is gonna be sung in church along with praise and worship it will work i think.......if you do get a chance to sing this at church with a congregation try singing it both ways and see which line flows better.......ok,I'll shut up about YOUR song.:D

I really like it.
 
Really like where this is heading.Backing vocals sound great dres as does your lead. I'll wanna hear this again when you add anything. Good stuff man.
 
Thanks Kramer, I think your lyric suggestion is great .. your right it is a lot easier to sing and doesn't detract from the meaning at all... thanks. Now I'll have to retrack all those vocals .. never mind .. it's a lot of fun (untill your voice gives up :D)

David : Thanks for listening... glad you like it
 
Dres,

Another suggestion regarding that lyric.LOL.....I think the phrase "by OUR Obedience to you" would work just fine.....The 2 words beginning with "B" are what makes it a little weird as far as singability goes.Just a thought.
 
Last edited:
I loved it, dres!! I have nothing to add, i am really diggin the vocal work! sound's real BIG! guitar is nice and spacious, i would love to hear some drum's in there. Or maybe even something as simple as conga's of bongo's, keep the shaker, i liked it!



Thank's man!

Peace

Rick
 
fenderlikingood said:
keep the shaker, i liked it!

Thanks for your kind word Rick. The funny thing about the shaker is it's one of those that's the shape of a pear. I was looking at it when as I sang "Change us and our fruitless ways" well it cracked me up LOL I guess you had to be there.

Then I kept thinking obediant sounded like " a beady ant" LOL ... OK I know... I've got problems :D
 
Yeah, Kramer's getting at what I was getting at - nothing wrong with the message, it just doesn't quite SING to me...

A very wise man (Erik Routley, maybe?) once said "Never get your theology from hymns". Doesn't mean we can't put theology in, but it's gotta be something that touches the heart, too, or you won't make much impact.

Over in the Catholic Church, we've got some hymnals that are chock full of hymns only a theologian could love...

Anyhow, let the Spirit lead you - sounds like He already has!:)
 
As a Christian and a musician, I really enjoyed this. I like the vocal stacking. I posted a Christian tune as well at nowhere radio but noticed that they don't have a category for Christian music. I posted mine in country cause that's which direction most of my stuff runs. Anyway, keep up the good work and let the spirit speak through you.
God Bless,
Steven Stallings
Bremond, Texas
 
Maybe if we let Waldo know we'd really like a category?

I posted one under rock/pop, and the latest under world/folk. But if Christian was available, that's definitely where my stuff would go.

I know it doesn't really fit Waldo's cosmology (cf: the Cave) , but the market treats it like a genre, maybe he will, too.
 
I must admit I'm always surprised at the number of people "claiming" to be christian on this forum.. it wouldn't be such a high percentage in Australia. The Cave really brings out the truth though .. I've been horrified at what filth "christians" are capable of posting in there .. serves me right for looking I spose.

I agree though.. waldo should get with the program and include a christian genre .. a lot of other American music sites do.
 
sounds great.. nice hook.. vocals are very upfront which I'm sure is appropriate.. I would have liked the harmonies blended a bit better.. not the overall volume, but just the volume of each vocal in relation to each other.. I don't know.. it sounds good though! drums would be cool too!
 
Nice tune dres... and yeah...I'm one of you too ;) :D

The guitar sounds great as someone mentioned above. The recording sounded good as well. My only beef is tha some of the BG vocals were a little loose sounding pitch wise. I think I noticed it most toward the end of phrases where maybe the energy level may have gone down and they seemed to go a little flat. I think it was highlighted as well since they are panned pretty far off center (which I actaually liked but I think that made them stand out more).

It's looping again... yeah...I like that guitar sound :D
 
Jagular: Thanks for listening brother ;)... off pitch notes ? .. can't say I ever noticed this before .. I'll check it out.

B.Sabbath : Glad you liked it. I'm definately going to add drums.. might not be till the weekend though.

A lot of people have commented on the good acoustic tone.. I'm quite pleased with it too. For those interested it was 2 omni's set up as a stereo pair about 3 feet apart + NTK over the neck + AST B-Band pickup. Guitar is a Taylor 310. The trick I find is to keep all the mics well away from the sound hole to avoid boom and to roll off the low frequencies on the NTK. It's taken a number of years to work this out .. acoustics are a pig to record :rolleyes: :D
 
Jagular said:
My only beef is tha some of the BG vocals were a little loose sounding pitch wise. I think I noticed it most toward the end of phrases where maybe the energy level may have gone down and they seemed to go a little flat. I think it was highlighted as well since they are panned pretty far off center (which I actaually liked but I think that made them stand out more).

I just listened again and I know exactly what you talking about ... it's not just the voices .. it's partly the echo. I've used a fairly severe ping-pong echo and it A) hard pans the echo's B) delays the signal enough so some bad notes pop out (esp 2:48) . To be honest this was an experiment and I need to be careful with this toy. Well spotted.
 
Back
Top