Butterfly

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60's guy

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It's been a while since I last posted a tune.

Butterfly is still a work in progress.



Tell me what is right.

Tell me what is wrong.
 
I would suggest something in the area of 2:05-2:20 (organ,maybe?) as there is some assumption that the song is ending when it really isn't. I'd also try and cut out that one big string noise part.

Sounds pretty good so far. What you have so far is balanced pretty well. Cool tune also....
 
Cool song and good job on the recording. I like it a lot. I don't really see anything wrong with that song at all. One thing I might try, would be to let the bass line walk some during the verse and lay down a little bit of groove. The guitars would be still be holding down the beat and it might give an overall feel of extra movement. Just an idea to try....but I really do like what you've done there! :)
 
There's a lot of of middy boxiness. It's mainly with the vocals, but the guitars sound kind of boxy too, but not nearly as bad as the vocals. The bass sounds good. Fix the vocals and maybe add some accent piano or something to fill the holes. Not bad overall, you grumpy old grandpa. :D
 
[Hey, Greg!]

Randy...



The recording is thick. If you stop here, you need transient pluck on the bass....the pulse is hard to detect.....and the guitar chords take too long to find the frets, and the sustain is cut to find the next chord...along with the bass part...so you get holes where there might be more flow.

Then you play diatonic stacks of chords in an un-erring assembly.....where the bass follows the root up the scale. It's a very weak sounding progression...right if you want that, but it's uncomfortably weak...the bass playing the V note somewhere..every other chord, for example...on a straight 8/4 to give a little time-contrast [ricochet..and pulse] would feel much stronger and flowing. A figure [melody] in the bass that repeats would be nice. And maybe thin some of the notage in the chords...a couple moving voices would do, in between fuller chords, to give space, while still more that adequately suggesting the changes. There's nothing left the the earmagination. And you gotta make the changes a little quicker and cleaner...and dispense with about half of the pick-strokes...a little sustain and contrast...if you don't intend to add something to fill the gaps on the "2 & 4 " in the pulse. {the snare hit spots...essential for grabbing pulse] Think chordal fairy dust. {Fingerpicked...or articulated plectrum??] It's a light composition, played with a garage rock attack. Non-sequetor in my brain.


What I can't figure out is how and why the guitars [too wide and full if you're gonna add drums and keys and stuff] seems to be, spacially, BENEATH the bass!!?? Not wrong...just interesting to me.

Then there's a couple ending word phrases that kinda sound too improvised and loose. Joni Mitchell could do it; but your vocal melody is carrying the day, and it sounds like your unsure of the phrasing...hesitant. Maybe try to fit a little tighter verbage to deliver it cleanly and impactfully???

I would also suggest finding a more hookey set of notes in the vocal melody...a leap or two in a couple places that jump a fourth or fifth...to give it texture and counter-point to the diatonic chords moving in seconds....which much of the vox melody, right now , also does. [think some slow pentatonic blues likkage...a watered-down Ella scat..that repeats and and hooks]

The bass is woofy and has no pluck or decay....it eats everything in its path. It sounds like an organ pedal. The tune is light...I'm thing a natural, upright bass sound would be wicked right for it.

I think the tune is fine....but it's all made outta bricks....even the doors and windows....all the same size bricks. The task is to find contrast, counterpoint, and ear-interest......too predictable as it stands, now. As bad as too unpredictable. Try to find the middle place.

That's my best advice...nothing wrong with it...it's what you hear; but there are things you can do to make it more intresting for others to hear.

What's most right, is that you're doing recordings! Every one better than the last one. Can't beat that!
 
I would suggest something in the area of 2:05-2:20 (organ,maybe?) as there is some assumption that the song is ending when it really isn't. I'd also try and cut out that one big string noise part.
There's a dobro guitar part that is supposed to be present in that time frame. I haven't recorded it yet.

Thanks for listening and your feedback.
 
One thing I might try, would be to let the bass line walk some during the verse and lay down a little bit of groove. The guitars would be still be holding down the beat and it might give an overall feel of extra movement.
Good thought. I did realize that I my bass was a bit too behind mostly because I was confident.
 
There's a lot of of middy boxiness. It's mainly with the vocals, but the guitars sound kind of boxy too, but not nearly as bad as the vocals. The bass sounds good. Fix the vocals and maybe add some accent piano or something to fill the holes. Not bad overall, you grumpy old grandpa. :D
:D:D:D;)

I hear ya, Greg!

Hey!

I totally forgot to mention that I'm recording a cover version of Butterfly which was originally written and recorded by Donavan Frankenreiter.

I'm surprised that no one picked up on that. DF has recorded some great tunes.

Anyways, I'm just recording this tune for fun because I really like the song. It's a shame that I can't sing like I did 30 years ago. eh? :D

:confused:It's probably a bigger shame that I can't play guitar guitar too. :o

Thanks
 
[Hey, Greg!]

Randy...



The recording is thick. If you stop here, you need transient pluck on the bass....the pulse is hard to detect.....and the guitar chords take too long to find the frets, and the sustain is cut to find the next chord...along with the bass part...so you get holes where there might be more flow.

Then you play diatonic stacks of chords in an un-erring assembly.....where the bass follows the root up the scale. It's a very weak sounding progression...right if you want that, but it's uncomfortably weak...the bass playing the V note somewhere..every other chord, for example...on a straight 8/4 to give a little time-contrast [ricochet..and pulse] would feel much stronger and flowing. A figure [melody] in the bass that repeats would be nice. And maybe thin some of the notage in the chords...a couple moving voices would do, in between fuller chords, to give space, while still more that adequately suggesting the changes. There's nothing left the the earmagination. And you gotta make the changes a little quicker and cleaner...and dispense with about half of the pick-strokes...a little sustain and contrast...if you don't intend to add something to fill the gaps on the "2 & 4 " in the pulse. {the snare hit spots...essential for grabbing pulse] Think chordal fairy dust. {Fingerpicked...or articulated plectrum??] It's a light composition, played with a garage rock attack. Non-sequetor in my brain.


What I can't figure out is how and why the guitars [too wide and full if you're gonna add drums and keys and stuff] seems to be, spacially, BENEATH the bass!!?? Not wrong...just interesting to me.

Then there's a couple ending word phrases that kinda sound too improvised and loose. Joni Mitchell could do it; but your vocal melody is carrying the day, and it sounds like your unsure of the phrasing...hesitant. Maybe try to fit a little tighter verbage to deliver it cleanly and impactfully???

I would also suggest finding a more hookey set of notes in the vocal melody...a leap or two in a couple places that jump a fourth or fifth...to give it texture and counter-point to the diatonic chords moving in seconds....which much of the vox melody, right now , also does. [think some slow pentatonic blues likkage...a watered-down Ella scat..that repeats and and hooks]

The bass is woofy and has no pluck or decay....it eats everything in its path. It sounds like an organ pedal. The tune is light...I'm thing a natural, upright bass sound would be wicked right for it.

I think the tune is fine....but it's all made outta bricks....even the doors and windows....all the same size bricks. The task is to find contrast, counterpoint, and ear-interest......too predictable as it stands, now. As bad as too unpredictable. Try to find the middle place.

That's my best advice...nothing wrong with it...it's what you hear; but there are things you can do to make it more intresting for others to hear.

What's most right, is that you're doing recordings! Every one better than the last one. Can't beat that!
icon14.gif
 
The vocals aren't as clear as some of your other tunes...they sound boxxy or phasey...I don't think it's a performance thing, something in the mix, or how they were processed. Guitar seems to have some of that boxxiness to me...maybe too much highs on the whole mix brought this out? Sounds like the lows are still there, just the highs got boosted a bit too much.

Song its self is decent...tweak the mix some, and it should be fine....
 
There's an austrlian song by Billy Thorpe called almost summer that has the 1st progression in it but with a lighter, jazzier lilt to it - the same would great lift the verses.
I like the vocal!
The bass does seem uncertain.
 
The vocals aren't as clear as some of your other tunes...they sound boxxy or phasey...I don't think it's a performance thing, something in the mix, or how they were processed. Guitar seems to have some of that boxxiness to me...maybe too much highs on the whole mix brought this out? Sounds like the lows are still there, just the highs got boosted a bit too much.

Song its self is decent...tweak the mix some, and it should be fine....
Ed,

This mix might be slightly better.

I haven't added the Dobro guitar and another intended guitar part yet.

This mix might be better......maybe not. :confused:

Butterfly
 
Better...vocals still seem like they aren't as clear as they could be. Maybe it's in the way they were recorded? Has a low fi, or 60's sort of vibe going on....and if that's teh intent, maybe drop the highs just a tad to make them sound a bit thinner in the mix...sorta dated or am radio-ish.

Anyways, small nits, just takes more tweaking....:D
 
Hi, Randy!

I like the overall balance/eq of this song.I prefer the first version, the louder bass is better IMO, altough I think bass could help a little more with the groove (not only the bass frequencies).I can identify the "line" ac guitars (intro), and I like the tone of left channel guitar (jazzy,sometimes seems an eletric hollow / amp, but is a miked ac guitar, no?)

I´m curious about the effect on vox too.


Ciro
 
Hi, Randy!

I like the overall balance/eq of this song.I prefer the first version, the louder bass is better IMO, altough I think bass could help a little more with the groove (not only the bass frequencies).I can identify the "line" ac guitars (intro), and I like the tone of left channel guitar (jazzy,sometimes seems an eletric hollow / amp, but is a miked ac guitar, no?)

I´m curious about the effect on vox too.


Ciro
Hi Ciro,

I can't tell you much about the vocal effect other than to say that I used the 8th level preset on the TC Helicon Voiceworks. It was a shot in the dark.
 
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