no verse, no chorus, no nothin'!

  • Thread starter Thread starter groucho
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groucho

groucho

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Okay, I haven't posted an original in a long time. Here's a kind of surrealistic blues, um... *thing*.



I've given up trying to write songs with verse and choruses and bridges, that tell stories and entertain people and make them actually want to hear the song... I just can't do it.

But I can, using reverb and my hands clapping, simulate a man tap dancing in a parking garage...

Seriously, any mix comments would be very appreciated.

tanks,
Chris
 
Yeah!

Damn cool.

This has a really cool almost freestyle sung phrasing and a very live feel in a sense.

Lovin it!
 
Very nice- Great singing, playing and mix. The song had a nice loose feel to it-liked the guitar tone--It really was perfect to me-I can't imagine how this could be much better-It went well with my bagel and coffee. Do you play live Mr. Groucho? Where you from??
Listened to this 5 times-I don't hear a darn thing that should be changed---well how bout a chorus with some "Oooooh's" and "Aaaaaah's" and maybe modulate up a key at the end for the big finale to this extravaganza???










J/K--this is "perfecto"
 
love the vocals, both the recording and the gruff timbre.

Any song that features a train sound gets bonus points right off the top!

Maybe the lead electric has too much reverb? The twang and spring reverb effect is very good, and the sound fits the song very well, but overall the whole sound is perhaps to distant sounding for my tastes.

And I am listening on headphones, but perhaps the panning of the harp and the lead is a bit too much. Okay, tried it on speakers, and I still think that a little less panning would be my preference.

Is there a touch of chorus or something on the harp? A little Timbuk 3 sound there!

Like the super-reverbed percussion. Gives the whole track a nice space to be in. The song gives a very nice impression of being recorded in an empty railway warehouse.

Very good song that I enjoy muchly, and although it does sound a little Tom Waits influenced, does NOT sound like you're copying him.
 
Great sound. Super harp and guitar. I wouldn't change anything.

Kinda made me think of Dire Straits. I really liked it!
 
Geez, I can never tell what you guys are gonna like. I thought for sure I'd get taunted for this one.

jake - I shoulda known you'd go for this - a "no chorus" man like yerself...:) Thanks for the listen.

Strat - "Ooohs" and "Ahhhs" being tracked today ("and the colored girls sing...") Not playing live right now. Moved a year ago to Sonoma, California. Paradise here in the wine country, but no music scene to speak of in the San Fran Bay Area.

Eric & kjam: thanks much, guys. No chorus on the harp actually - just a little reverb. I was really concentrating on having things in their own "space" on this one. I may have gotten a little extreme with the panning, but I wanted the stereo image to be a little unusual.

thanks all,
Chris
 
Okay, first off...that bitrate totally KICKS ASS!!!! ... lmao :D

2nd, Anybody named "chris" can't be all bad, lmao.

Man, I'm loving the crystal clean presentation...I don't know if it's the 320 file or what, but I think it's a great recording. My crap sounds about the same to me at 128 as it does as a .wav file, lol...('cept for the cymbals), and neither of them sound anywhere close to this...nice job.

Real Men use CEP!
 
groucho said:

jake - I shoulda known you'd go for this - a "no chorus" man like yerself...:) Thanks for the listen.


Chris
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Awww c'mon now, that has nothing to do with it. I think the song stands on it's own very nicely. I'm all about feel and this has a very defined one. I put it right into rotation, thanks.

BTW, I have songs with choruses and stuff, I'm not a chorus hating nazi.
 
BTW, I have songs with choruses and stuff, I'm not a chorus hating nazi. [/B]
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Alright then, I'll have to take you off my "chorus-hating nazi" mixed tape...

Actually, I'm not kidding. I made a mixed CD for a friend of "distinctly uncommercial shit" (her words when she requested the compilation) and "in transit" was on there.

Chris: I really think Cool Edit's 320 mp3s sound great - I'm not gonna go so far as to say they're as good as wav files (I'm not insane) but they really make *any* 128 file sound like the dog barf that they are.

It *is* a bit of a download, but I finally decided I'd rather someone not even hear the song than hear it at 128 and think *that's* how it sounds.

And we'll add that to the list of reasons why I'll never get anywhere with music...:)

Chris
 
Very cool! Love the lack of structure although I wouldn't have noticed if you didn't point it out because the song just flows. Ever heard Rube Waddell? Similar mix of old and new.

Some of those reverb tails bug me, but other than that very cool tune, performance and mix.
 
Hey man... don't you give up on writing "normal" songs... :p you can do it... I still have "Whatever you take away" in regular rotation on my HR.com playlist... and it's one of my favorites.

This song is cool too... and I agree with fprod... I wouldn't have really thought of it as "abnormal" if you hadn't said anything. It flows really well.

I agree that the lead git is a little too "reverbed". I keep wishing that the tone would come "up front" a little more.

But overall.. the mix is great... very clean sound.. especially on the harp... and dang, does that ever sound good. I dig a nice clean harmonica used at just the right times. :p

As for your bit-rate... I can get 320-450 by using VBR through a program called CDex, and still keep the file size around 5MB. You should try it. I guess I'm a little spoiled, though. I have crazy fast DSL, so I don't even pay attention to file sizes any more.... (not even SLuiCe's... :p) So don't let that stop you from posting stuff... you'll always have at least one guy listenin' to it. :p


WATYF
 
fprod: That's the 3rd time in the last couple of months someone's mentioned Rube Waddell to me. I just looked them up at allmusic.com & they look like a band I should have heard by now.:)

WATYF: thanks much for the comments. You know, I'm starting to agree with the "too much verb on the lead guitar" remarks. I think I'd like it to jump out at me a little more too. Trouble is, I *played* it as if it would be kind of quietly sneaking along in the background, so, I dunno... I might just have to leave it because I hate re-tracking, because... I just hate it:). I always come up shorter than the first time for some reason.

thanks guys,

Chris
 
groucho said:
... I might just have to leave it because I hate re-tracking, because... I just hate it:). I always come up shorter than the first time for some reason.

Chris
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I thought I was alone there. I always end up chasing that dang dream take into the land of sound hell.
 
jake-owa said:
I thought I was alone there. I always end up chasing that dang dream take into the land of sound hell.
Click to expand...

Yeah, that's one of those things I really wish I had more control over. At a certain point in the recording process, I can just *feel* "the moment" slipping away, and I know that from here on, it's just gonna get worse. It's like I can feel my sense of what's good or bad, or what the hell I'm going for, just... blurring. By far, my best results are when I can nail it in the first few tries.

This does not, however, apply to *mixing* which takes me at least a year every damn time.

Chris
 
I wouldn't sweat it, lot's of us love this kind of stuff.
...it had a turn around. :)

Nice tones.
 
No verse, no chorus, no problem!

This song is cool, and other than the 'verb/delay/space issue already mentioned it sounds great.

Into the iTunes music folder it goes.:cool:
 
I really took interest in your phrasing. I especially liked the two slides upward, the second a half step higher than the first.

Your voice is nicely deep and raspy, perfect for this type of music. Overall I didn't hear any negatives, nothing but nice things to say.

Choooo ! Choooo !
 
Woops, I just noticed I had a couple more responses here. Just wanted to say thanks to MBrane, Doug & Khomp for the good words. I appreciated it much.

Chris
 
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