New Song - "I Want To Learn"

L

lynx

New member
I wrote this for a friend who broke down when she told me she's had it with trying to find love. Being a guy, I couldn't really express any emotions at the time so I did what I could and wrote this for her. :)

It started out as an acoustic guitar song but as usual I ended up over-producing it and now it has a multitude of instruments in it - probably waaayyy too much. I can never know if the vocal level is right or if the drums are too loud either. Anyway, give it a listen because I use some feedback, this song was a struggle.

"I Want To Learn"
 
Wow

This is right up there in quality as that B Sabbath song I just heard (3 times in a row, I NEVER do that!).

I like this song very much.
I don't know from over-producing, I just know it sounds good and it makes me feel good.
Sometimes I find myself posting nice comments because I've had nice comments on my song or some other reason, but I feel VERY fortunate to be able to pick up on material of this high grade!

You and B Sabbath.............................

Excellent.
 
Really nice relaxing piece. Full but not too crowded instruments, warm mix. Tones were good on all. The snare had a mid freq that kinda stuck out for me that could be balanced out with a lil more kick I thought, but thats jus me. Vocals could could up a tad. I hope you don`t mind me saying it has a "Winwood-Capaldi" flavor to it as well. I could imagine some congas playing simply in it too. This is very good fella..
 
Really cool laid back groove...

What kind of pre are you using? Just asking... because (or "b/c" as harris says) when the instruments come in, it has that "sound" to it.... phat... is this analog, by chance? Are you using a "tape saturation" type plug in?

The o.h. mics (for the drums) sound a bit noisy (and quiet) though....

Mix is mid-heavy... between 500 - 800 Hz... snare and voice are trying to be in the same place. But the basic tracks sound pretty well recorded. Nice PNO. Some things are just going "unmixed" it sounds like, though... the synth is right in the center, too... piano...

There IS one guitar on the left... ok... now some hardpanned vocs.

Cellos are nice, but are getting lost... I'm just hearing "the edge" of them... kind of like just hearing the low-mids on 'em... no hi or low definition on 'em.

Decent singing. The vocs definitely need brought up in the mix... possibly retracked to lose some of the "proximity effect" on 'em ... they sound (to me) a little bottom-heavy... Nice harmonies and doubling, however.

Very involved production... just needs some tweaking (as do we all :D)


Chad
 
lynx

I don't have anything on the mix.. I probably shouldn't even be aloud to listen in here....bwahahahah..(i love that btw)
The song's really good though.
I like the instruments. I don't know if it's too much or not. Not to me.
Good job,
-joe
 
yeah, I for sure hear "stevie winwood" in this. mainly because of the vocals.

great organ sound, and I like the singing, as I love winwood's. I think you'd be fighting comparisions with him down the line.

great marching strings.

things build VERY nicely. Production is well done as far as the arrangement.

Boy...I was really waiting for a minimoog style solo or a sax...

this is a jewel among the rough here on the boards.... a couple little rough areas...especially at the very end.

I might have come up with a different intro other than the drum beat too..

nice job.
 
HevyD47Ca - Thx for the feedback man, it truly makes it all worth it when I read comments like that.

Toki987 - Winwood? Wow, never thought of that. I can hear it now though!

participant - Yeah, it was a complex tune to lay down, I always thought there was too much happening for my own good. I'm trying hard to improve the mix but I think I may be just using inferior stuff.

okobd - Thanks, I have an acoustic version of it that I'll post sometime just to reduce the instruments.

mixmkr - jewel among the rough? thanks! and Winwood again. Feeling good right now!
 
Really nice voice and singing! I see the pro's are already on it so i'll just set my little amateurish ass in the back seat and just *gush* like I do best:D . Yep, I hear the Winwood comparison also...ever hear of "Badfinger" sounds like something they would of done...at least to me it does. Great tune, recording sounds nice..I agree with Toki, up the vox here and there*****
 
I'm listening

First listening :

Techno

Oh, boy, I'm smiling at the organ, I don't know why.

Just start right up with the organ, get rid of the little toys at the beginning.

Take the instruments DOWN, don't raise the vocal level. Take the organ down about 3db at least when the vocal comes in.

I can barely understand some of the words. The vocal needs to ride on top of the mix, and it deserves to.

I love the carousel sounding organ.

Too much bass bandwidth for this style.

Good Harmony vocals are GOLDEN, don't bury them with the instrument levels, consult your METERS.

Meters are your friends, ears are just ears.

Nice melodic material.

Take a bigger preparatory breath before you begin your phrase, not huge, just get a little more air into your body, release your shoulders, make little tiny shoulder movement to release tension.

I like what sounds like off the string cello on the 8th note as a rythmic device, I love that technique and that is well mixed.

Effective legato cello intrance.

Beatle like cello walkup.

NICE FINISH, NICE.

Second listening :

Get rid of this stuff in the beginning, just let the organ start the tune.

Bring the instruments down when the harmony vocal comes out.

Drum is a little loud, IMHO i want to hear that really neat carosel keyboard.

I'm liking your use of cello, nice samples, or great playing if it's real.

Keep a glass of room temp water when recording vocals, and take a tiny sip of that, breath in and out measured slow full gentle breaths to wet your passages and GENTLY clear your throat. Resist the temptation to swallow the water, let your tissues absorb that water.

You have a very nice voice under those burrs and flim, treat it better ?

Gargle VERY VERY gently before each take. And clear your throat GENTLY. Clearing your throat harshly tenses the vocal chords up, it shocks them.

I could listen a third time, and I will while I do other stuff, it's a nice tune.

Run the vocal through the enhance, one degree in Soundforge.

Use the water technique.
 
freshears - Thx. Badfinger - signed by the Beatles, cool band actually, I think a lot of people gave them slack for riding on McCartney's coat tails but I thought they were talented. I agree, the vox do need to come up a bit, I changed them about 10 minutes before posting because they were coming in loud to me for some reason.

studioviols - Thx for listening, that's a lot of great feedback right there. I never thought of taking the instruments down and I'm glad you said that about the drums, they seem too loud to me as well.

AND, I actually laid down the vocal track when I was in the middle of a serious cold. I thought it made the vocal sound a bit more "real", based on the lyric. Glad you picked up on it! That was really cool.
 
I hear Badfinger too, maybe a touch of Colin Moulding from XTC. Pete Ham was one of Lennon's favorite vocalists at the time. Very, very good song - simple, direct and you stick to your guns. The orchestrations were well handled, one thing I hope to get into someday.

I went back and added an extra very to my comment above after a second listen.
 
ashulman - I thank you very, very much. :) Are you talking John Lennon? Who is Pete Ham? Badfinger leadsinger?
 
Yeah, John Lennon really liked Pete Ham, who was the lead singer (and writer I think) of many of Badfinger's best tunes, including Day after Day and Baby Blue. I believe he was killed in the 70s.
 
Guernica - no problem, nowhere seems to be down at the moment as I'm trying to get that live tune from CH's daughter.

ashulman - Interesting. I know McCartney brought them in, I had no idea Lennon was fan.
 
Yeah, they played on Imagine, Bangla Desh and Ringo's "It Don't Come Easy", so they were close with all the guys.
 
I really enjoyed those organ and piano sounds. The cello was very nice. The arrangement is very good. Nice build. Bring that snare down. Bring the vocs up or everything down. Everyhting seems a little mid heavy. Maybe cut some lows/low-mids on some of the instruments. Maybe your vocs too. You may have the snare louder because it is competing with the vocs and mabe and instrument. Pull it down and see/hear if it dissapears. If so som EQ cuts are in order.

Very nice song. It's a pleaser for sure. I really like that reverbed drum start into the organ.
 
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