Me friend Butts

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fritsthegirl

fritsthegirl

Taste of home
Hi,

Thanks for listening first of all. I haven't been doing this for so long (few months) but I'd appreciate your opinion on it. I'm not trying for anything in particular so don't worry if you want to say something harsh, it's all part of the steep learning curve and I'm open to learning. Don't mind the lyrics as well, they're my weakness, amongst other things. Plus rather than plagiarise, I pinched the title of the song from a William Blake poem but made it a bit London-like. I make no apologies for the recorder.

Ta.
 

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I see by your username that you must be a fan of me, huh? :D


I really liked the song and how mellow it is. The solo reminded me of Cat Stevens. The mix sounds a little weird to me. Did you record too hot? :confused:
 
Of course I am a big fan of any other Fritz. Hey, thanks a lot, Cat Stevens is quite an accolade, listened to him a lot when I was a knee high to a grass hopper. Probably the mix is a bit weird, because I don't know at all what I am doing, what does too hot mean? Levels too high?
 
Mhmm. Exactly right. It sounds as though your levels were too high when you recorded, though I can't really say that, as I don't know.


You always want to record at a good volume and then bring it up in the mix stage.
 
Hi Fritz #2

Where to start?

Panning... not just a concept... twist the knobs a bit - everything seems to be coming down the centre.. Get the tin whistle and secondary guitar a bit out to the sides perhaps.

I think you could EQ the main guitar a little better to get a better sound - and get the mic a bit further away, perhaps.

The tin whistly thing... sounds like you think it's a good idea but you're not really sure - for my money there's too much of it - add it as an accent in certain places maybe but I wouldn't have it playing all the way through as it distracts from the singing.

The secondary guitar... lacks confidence and/or something interesting to play. Playing notes that are in the same key as the song doesn't necessarily add anything. Think about what the point of it is. Work out some more interesting fills and add them where needed. And then make them audible..

Turn the main guitar down / voice up a touch...

And I know you're just learning but adopt a professional mindset early on and learn to end mixes gracefully, fade things out properly.. don't just cut things off and I shouldn't be hearing you get up and walk away at the end of the song, or whatever you're doing.

When you record acoustic guitar, after the last note you do not move a muscle for at least 15 seconds until everything dies out ... only then do you go and switch the track off.

Bit of remixing and it will sound a lot better and I'll have some vague idea what the song was about... as I couldn't really hear what you were singing.... not confident in your voice, as recorded, correct, so you've buried it a little too much in the mix?

Nice start... go away and play with some knobs and try again is my advice, but as always YMMV.

And ignore what Fritz #1 said about recording at a good volume - you record at a good LEVEL - which is not the same thing at all. If you don't know what this is, ask...

Cheers - I'll look forward to hearing the next iteration... :D:drunk:
 
Armistice said:
And ignore what Fritz #1 said about recording at a good volume - you record at a good LEVEL - which is not the same thing at all. If you don't know what this is, ask...

Cheers - I'll look forward to hearing the next iteration... :D:drunk:
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Whoops! You're right.



Listen to him. :D
 
What Armistice says above ^^^

Plus a few extra thoughts:

1 recorder is out of tune with guitar, which makes it sound worse than it should.

2 the mix is dry as dry, so not only is it very mono, there is no sense of space. Use reverb and panning to create depth and distance.

but:

3 your guitar sounds good, and

4 so does your voice

So the two most important things are ok
 
The poor/minimal mixing and the vocals reminds me of twee/indie pop of the 80's. I actually like how this sounds a lot. I would widen it a bit at least. But I really like your voice and the instrumentals, throwback to the C86 era for sure! Channeling some Belle and Sebastian as well. Lot of character in this track.

If you were trying to go for that UK based indie pop a la Sarah Records, Slumberland Records, etc then you nailed it right on the head! The flute is brilliant btw. Definitely one of my favorite tracks posted on these forums.

I just listened to your other track you posted here before. I would invest in a glockenspiel and a piano or something, I think that would definitely help the production of your music. I see a lot of potential. If you have the right production, you could put out some great tracks. If you want to collaborate sometime maybe we can work something out. Like if you ever want to send over a vocal take and an acoustic take I would love to try to flesh things out a bit more for you.
 
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Sound feedback (love saying that on here). A lot of new stuff for me to look at and work on which is just what I wanted. Thanks for taking the time to explain/point all these things out.

The recorder, yes out of tune - feel a bit embarrassed now and like I SHOULD apologise. I might try the flute instead, and remember that less is more. Secondary guitar - also agree, now that I listen back it does lack confidence and purpose as it stands. I'll probably dump that and try something else.

Totally with you on the going pro from the start and heed the advice to record more carefully to avoid unwanted sounds and clean things up a bit.

I'm going to ask about levels, because I don't know too much what I should be doing here. I read something about 8db being a good recording volume. How can I easily tell if I'm recording at the right level in Reaper? I figure I should be avoiding going into the red zone of the meter and generally adjust the recording volume/gain or my distance from the mic depending on what I'm singing/playing. I notice the number range does, and can be changed. I think it is fairly clear from the above that I have no idea which of these things really does what. Note to self to find out.

My voice needs a bit of practice, it's been years since I sang. I feel a bit weird about recording it, which is probably why I push it as far back as I can into the track. Subconsciously mind!

Anyway, this'll keep me busy for a few days. But I'd like to come back and load a new version when I've worked on some of these things to see if I'm on the right track.
 
Wow, thanks heaps. I'd really love to collaborate sometime. I have in my head a stream of what I want it to sound like but executing it is going to be a long process being that I've only just started so help with this would be fantastic. Belle and Sebastian is one of my favourite bands BTW. I can't say I had really given a lot of thought about what style I am going for but I it's real nice to hear you think I have one. I know for sure it is heavily influenced by a lot of sweet sounds I have heard over, and over, and over the years. The velvet underground, luna, kinks, townes van Zandt, Donovan but to name a few.

Glockenspiel would be great, I have a melodica here which I love the sound of but I've not been able to fit it in with anything so far.

Thanks again!
 
Charming. I like the lazy melody and I guess the accent just kind of works for me. Looks like you've already gotten a bunch of mixing advice, and not sure I can add much as I'm on small speakers with my son yelling at a video game in the background.

I like it though and think it has potential. The recording is just kind of flat and minimalistic, which to some degree can be nice, but I think you could polish it up some and still retain whatever folkie/indie flavor you may (or may not?) be going for.
 
Thanks heatmiser. I like that you said it's a lazy melody - I'm content that my true nature is reflected. No flavour in particular that I was going for, but you're not the first to label it as indie. I guess I have listened to a lot of it over the years and well, they're simple chords so easy for me to play on the guitar. I agree the recording could be better in more than many ways - so I'm going to start from scratch this weekend, just for practice. Listening back and bearing in mind the comments, I can hear the problems too.
 
The fruits of today's labour, I'm proper addicted and would do this all day long if I didn't have to eat or pay rent. I'm kind of happy with how it sounds I think, I can still see a lot of room for improvement though. But when I compare it to what I posted a couple of weeks ago I think it's an improvement.

Anyway, it has a LOT of your advice stamped all over it, esp the recent advice for guitar recording. And I can't thank you enough for the inspiration and help you've given generally.

If you get that far, the bridgey lyric is a bit violent. Something like this always creeps in.

I did manage to double track the guitar track and panned them left and right but think the timing and production of the vocals could be better.

I'll sort out soundcloud for the next one, I think I can do external linking now.

As always thanks for listening!
 

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dobro said:
Lose the flute.
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Not a fan of my Moeck maple wood recorder? :D I wasn't sure if I should upload the original in my first post, but the one above is sans 'flute'. I think it's better without too.
 
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