I Am A Clown

  • Thread starter Thread starter Mr Clean
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OK, I couldn't wait for tomorrow and I had a couple of hours to kill. I tried a different approach and recorded the vocals to the organ rather than the full backing track as I have been doing. Hopefully this is better, it's sounds better to me. But I'm deaf, what do I know :laughings:

Same mix as the last, new vocals and a touch more organ in a couple of places.

 
the last two mixes sound good. In the mix on page 3, I seem to notice a little harshness in the vocal. Only happens to a word here and there. I didn't notice that on the mix on page 2.

My only other nit right is sometimes the "oom-pa-pa" organ that's playing throughout the song (just doing that continual pumping thing). It gets lost in spots.
 
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I think the guitars are much improved, seems like the organ is a little buried as TripleM stated....I really like this song....well worth the effort your putting in on improving it, good job!
 
Cheers Trip & queepy. Appreciate the time you're giving me. I'll sort the Organ out. I think when I changed the panning I turned it down a little too much trying to compensate.

I can't win with the vocals at the minute. Either they're pitchy or harsh. I'll look into the harshness later. I did try to reduce all the peaks a bit. Maybe I missed a couple.

Thank god this songs sister is an instrumental as I'm planning on doing that next. More 'clowning around' for me yet to come!

queepy said:
I really like this song....well worth the effort your putting in on improving it, good job!
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Cheers mate. I'll get there eventually. I always do in the end :D
 
Greg_L said:
Yes, this. I find many of the notes to slide in flat, and stay there. While listening I had a sort of uneasy feeling like I'm wanting to hear it in pitch, but it didn't quite get there. I know this feeling well from being off pitch all the time with my own stuff. :D
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If you listen to Greg's stuff, you know to take his advice on drums but maybe not on the whole "singing well" thing! :D

The latest mix sounds a bit better pitch-wise. It's still a bit wonky though.
 
Interesting reading the development of this tune over a few iterations Mr Clean. I think most of the things I would have picked up have been addressed here and there. The organ and guitar parts are really cool, though I'm sure the pumpy organ line is starting to drive you a bit mad now after prolonged exposure to it - a sound to track your mental deterioration to ;)

Everything's good about it, the only thing I pick up is that it's very similar throughout. I agree with others that either a change of pace/key/tone or dropping a verse somewhere would give it a lift. Or not, it works as is.
 
robgreen said:
The organ and guitar parts are really cool, though I'm sure the pumpy organ line is starting to drive you a bit mad now after prolonged exposure to it - a sound to track your mental deterioration to ;)
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:laughings: I've been bonkers for years, I stopped worrying when I started answering myself :D

Cheers for the feedback. I've left it for a few days now to get a fresh perspective on it next week.
 
The first thing that caught my attention was the drums - the snare's boxy and the part's very repetitive. The number one plague of homerecording: lack of good drumming. Also, if it was me, I'd re-sing it and make sure I was a little drunk when I did it. Serious. Singing and drinking's useful sometimes, as long as you pay attention to intonation.
 
I liked the song and the lyrics are good but the umm pa pa rythum and the melody gets monotonous. The vocals were pitchy but not real bad and it kind of fit the song. The instruments had a low fi sound to them...which was perfect for the organ. The low fi organ sound and snare gave it a carnival tone that worked but the guitars, bass, cymbals, and bass drum needs some work tone wise. I enjoyed the song bro good job.
 
Well...first of all I think you have an interesting song, but not the right singer. That being said, I think you should bring in at least three other people to sing unison with you, add some more tracks of you, all of you singing wacky out of tunish barroom drunk whiskey splashing bonkers. Let your original vocal ride on top enough to guarantee the other stuff won't mess it up. Now when all that is finished, go back and this time sing it with a whiskey cigarette kind of voice. (ala Tom Waites)Then pull the original vocal back a bit and let that one stand out. It should sound almost like you're throwing the clown comments back in her face. If you have a thumbtack piano sound on your keyboard add that in too. This is a great drunken bar song. Good Luck
Rod Norman
 
Rod Norman said:
Well...first of all I think you have an interesting song, but not the right singer. That being said, I think you should bring in at least three other people to sing unison with you, add some more tracks of you, all of you singing wacky out of tunish barroom drunk whiskey splashing bonkers. Let your original vocal ride on top enough to guarantee the other stuff won't mess it up. Now when all that is finished, go back and this time sing it with a whiskey cigarette kind of voice. (ala Tom Waites)Then pull the original vocal back a bit and let that one stand out. It should sound almost like you're throwing the clown comments back in her face. If you have a thumbtack piano sound on your keyboard add that in too. This is a great drunken bar song. Good Luck
Rod Norman
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Some really good ideas in there Rod. I'll have a think about them until I get a chance the record again. I'll be retracking some bits next week. Got a new Electric being delivered which will sound 100% better than my acoustic I'm using at present. It was written on an out of tune piano, almost sounded like a honkytonk piano, so nail pin is a real good idea. I think I'll keep what I've got and have play around with new sounds and ideas on a whole new mix. Everything is worth a try.

Thank again for the feedback.
 
dobro said:
The first thing that caught my attention was the drums - the snare's boxy and the part's very repetitive. The number one plague of homerecording: lack of good drumming. Also, if it was me, I'd re-sing it and make sure I was a little drunk when I did it. Serious. Singing and drinking's useful sometimes, as long as you pay attention to intonation.
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Cheers for the feedback mate. I know the drums sound bad. I can't play the drums for coffee sadly but I'll definitely be having a play around with whole new backbeat in the coming days.
 
jimistone said:
I liked the song and the lyrics are good but the umm pa pa rythum and the melody gets monotonous. The vocals were pitchy but not real bad and it kind of fit the song. The instruments had a low fi sound to them...which was perfect for the organ. The low fi organ sound and snare gave it a carnival tone that worked but the guitars, bass, cymbals, and bass drum needs some work tone wise. I enjoyed the song bro good job.
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Cheers Jimi. I know it's a bit monotonous. One of the reasons for me posting it here, to get some others takes on the possibilities for the sound. Thanks for your feedback. Appreciated :D
 
Each mix in this thread is a big improvement IMO. Nicely done by you and the people who responded to this thread. IMO, the snare could use some eq. It's all low mids and sounds kind of dark and thuddy. Did you muffle it with tape or set your wallet on it or something? If so, that's a natural tendency but on recordings sometimes it's better to let the drums ring and understand that the ringing isn't going to be in the front of your mix anyway so don't worry about it too much.
 
I've listened to each of the new mixes and I think each one is better. It's true that the snare is a bit monotonous and perhaps you do slide up to the notes in your vocal at times, but I think it fits the song. But I don't find it particularly pitchy, but enough "pitchy" to fit the song if that makes sense. It is very reminiscient of the the Kinks and Beatles to me, as I'm sure it is to everyone, but I really like the song. All in all, I think it all fits well with what I perceive as one of the "subthemes" of "sameness/fatigue/non change" - I think all the components of the song on many levels have blended well...kudos.....
 
Cheers fire. I wrote the song with sloppy vocals like that and have been singing the song that way for the past 10 years or so, so I guess I don't notice the pitchy parts as much as it's how the song is. For others new to it, I can see it being a niggle. For me it's just how I do it.

I appreciate the feedback. Glad you liked it :D
 
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