song to pick at

  • Thread starter Thread starter jeffmaher
  • Start date Start date
I love the music. The lead vocal starts out in the beginning out of tune, then it rushes into the story....with no feeling. The choruses are good...i really like the hook. Reminds me of Gnarls Barley....



Demi
 
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I like it. Lead vocal needs to be dropped in volume and compressed, but music (mix) is solid. (a/b on my different monitors). Nice man... If you don't mind me asking, who did the production/arrangement?? Nice job on it.
 
I did it. Wrote it, recorded it, mastered it. Just me and a piano roll, a guitar, and some state of the art equipment...from 1990. Crappy 16 bit drums and an old Kerzweil K2000. Sonar platform and Ozone mastering software. Shorting-out headphones, a Mackie mixer, a bad recording room, and sucky monitors.

Here's the final [?] version.

http://rcpt.yousendit.com/607151792/7bf010de03de8ba855e6b09b4fb8a749

I got feedback that the vox was too out front from somebody else, too. Second comment that the vox was too ballistic too soon. Gonna pull it up again in a month or two for a remix if I gotta. Some like the vocal, others say I oughtta re-sing. I think I oughtta re-sing....but I'm onto another one right now.

I'm not a hip hop guy...but this one started playing in my head, so I went with it. Ne-Yo was a big influence in the recording. Wish I could sing like him. Gnarls it really good, too. Sort of like Motown meets Dr Dre.

Appreciate the FB. Trying not to suck at this...trying to learn from anybody who'll help.

http://www.yousendit.com/download/bVlDQmtZWlRRR2QzZUE9PQ

This one is too soft, and I buried the vocal, I think Consistencey in mastering is the next thing
 
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I did it. Wrote it, recorded it, mastered it. Just me and a piano roll, a guitar, and some state of the art equipment...from 1990. Crappy 16 bit drums and an old Kerzweil K2000. Sonar platform and Ozone mastering software. Shorting-out headphones, a Mackie mixer, a bad recording room, and sucky monitors.

Man if you going through all that and still getting this type of sound... gee whiz.. i have alot of learning to do....i like the new song as well and i'm a little jealous now... ;o)
 
Well that makes me feel good! Maybe I'm getting the hang of this.

I took a couple private lessons..I wanted more..but the guy told me to record every day for a few years, and I'd know everything I needed to know..then sent me away. Then I met a guy who teaches recording at a tech school. I told him I was interested in going. He said, "Save your money: record every day, and just PLAY with the tools...and LISTEN; that's how you learn." Kinda the same advice.


So that's what I'm doing. Awareness and discipline and patience trump gear. That's what I'm learning. Now if I can remember how to assign MIDI tracks for multi-track, simultaneous recording, I'd be cookin'! I did it by accident, once. :rolleyes:
 
So that's what I'm doing. Awareness and discipline and patience trump gear. That's what I'm learning. Now if I can remember how to assign MIDI tracks for multi-track, simultaneous recording, I'd be cookin'! I did it by accident, once. :rolleyes:

That was to great advise... seems to be the same things everyone i talk to is telling me. I'm impatient... and want instant results... I'm going to have to slow down and fix my reflection problem and use the gear i have to get the sound i am wanting. Keep at it... you've got a really good sound going...


Demi
 
Thanks, Demi

Here's what I got:

My room is 14' by 14' by 7'. Absolutely the WORST possible scenario. There's fiberglass batts in plastic wrap in the corners.....my slightly effective bass traps.
My monitors are 30-year-old Rockits I got on CraigsList for $80
I use a Mackie 1202 VLZ mixer I got used for $150
My synth keyboard was Ebay...old technology, and samples not up to modern standard...I didn't know what the hell bit depth was....$500 A mistake that I keep using.
My Sonar platform is version 3.02. A castoff.....ancient history. Free
My computer is a 2000 Dell pc. I figured out how to boost the RAM to 1GIG recently. Minumum required for the platform. Now I can get up to about 20 tracks at 24-bit recording without the platform hanging on me every ten minutes.
I use an Alesis drum module with pads. Again, a mistake @ $500 new. 16-bit, cardboard samples. And the kit-voices cannot be assigned independent MIDI channels.
I got my headphones free...a premium for buying the drumkit. They're broken.
I sprung for $125 for an ECHO II soundcard.
I have an SM57 and a pair of Shure condensers...my best gear.
I'm half-deaf. I have a low-frequency deficit in one ear; can't hear above 5,000kHz in the other.

I'm listening to my two last tunes. They don't suck too bad.

What I have going for me is a head that can hear music; some skill on instruments, a reasonably ok voice, and a stubborn streak that keeps me moving onto the next record....and faith that I'll get good at it, in time; and that I'll get a real studio one day, when it's the right time.

I realize that if my pocketbook were bottomless, I'd have spent half a million bucks, and been disappointed that all that gear wasn't making pretty sounds for me.

Yeah...use what you got....record every day, something. Anything!

ps...I went to your SoundClick link on the other thread. I can't stream on dialup...but what I heard in the half-second blips between pauses was rockin' in the sound quality department. Reaches right out and grabs ya.
 
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