the apogee of my recording capabilities

T

trdn1

New member
...so far. These three songs represent the best stuff I've done so far. Written, recorded all instruments (including vocals - except for 'love') by me.

click here for my mp3.com page

Drinking song - written after listening to alt country, sober-ishly funny song about not having a beer to drink after losing a girl.

What I learned - originally intended to be a tribute to Mr. Rodgers, turned out alot darker than first planned. (NIN-ish???)

Love - Lyrics I'm most proud of, a friend sang for this song, I most definately couldn't have pulled this off without her singing.

These three songs sum up a span of three years of recording as a hobby. Besides singing lessons for me, let me know what you think as far as songwriting and recording quality.

What I used:
Studio Projects C-1 mic, Shure sm-57, yamaha pacifica guitar, crate amp, fender bassman 100 amp, random basses, roland rs-5, pentium III 700mhz pc with cool edit studio, and monster cables.

Thanks for listening.
 
Thumbs up

I just listened to your songs on lo-fi and I am downloading them right now. I think that you hobby has proven productive. I have no complaints at all about any of these songs. I not even sure which one i liked better. They all had something unique and personnal about them. Very creative. You did a great job on all of your intruments. I love the keyboard on What I learned as well ast the drumming. And the radio/tv in the background was cool. Great on guitar in drinking song. And the lyrics were rather amusing. Love was really great. Your friend is a very talented singer. Good job on the effects on her voice. I hope to hear more from you in the future. Keep working!
:D
 
I think "What I learned" is the best of the bunch. BTW, what hidden backwards demonic message is there ? :) The part instantly reminded of Empty Spaces by Pink Floyd. I love the drums on the track too.

"Drinking song" is nice in its laidback feel. The downsides are indeed the singer and in about 1 minute into the song, there's this detuned acoustic guitar part. I don't know if it's intentional. Also, the vocals are a bit too loud on some points. I'm really searching hard for the problems here, so that tells you that there really ain't that many. :)

"Love" is also a good mix. Nice voice that chick has got there. I like the organs too. Melodically pretty simple, but nice in a mellow way.

You're pretty good at this, you know.
 
the backwards talking on 'what i learned' - among other things, there's alot of post sept 11 anger on there. originally it was going to be one of those music with radio/tv clips of the tragedy as a tribute. i figgered that there were better ones out there, and that it has already been done, and done well. if you reverse it, you should be able to make out what is on there. if not, i'll go back and dig it up for you guys.
 
Weird you mentioned it, because I DID think of 9/11, when I heard the backwards talks. Maybe it's because I've heard a few 9/11 songs and they pretty much all had some talking recorded from TV, so it had that similar thing, and I instantly picked on it...
 
I must admit I wasn't too keen on "What I Learned." I didn't care much for the piano part nor the vocals and lyrics, although I did like the effects on the vocals.

I liked "love" better, a nice vocal performance and a decent song...

But "drinking song" is FANTASTIC. Very pretty and *clever* guitar parts....great recorded sound on the leads. Nice vocal line and cool lyrics...I especially like the background vocals starting at 1:48...almost sounds like tommy chong! :) The overall mix is pretty good, except maybe that I lost the drums & bass from time to time.

Slackmaster 2000
 
I've listened to drinking song four times now. It's rare for me to listen to anything more than once. I can't quite put my finger on exactly what it is I like so much about this song. There's that really nice chord at the end of the guitar progression that's super catchy. The lead guitar is very catchy. The vocals aren't like superstar quality but they're very natural which is why I think it works. And then those backing vocals just make me smile. This song reminds me a lot of my drunken days....walking into the molly brown in the summertime...light up a smoke...grab a beer...ahh...funny how that can turn into a bad thing.

Slackmaster 2000
 
slack, thanks again for listening. drinking song is just one of those songs where the lyrics, music and vibe just all seemed to work together. I am seriously debating whether to re-record it coz I am a little unhappy with the way the vocals sound some days, yet they really work for me others. the backing vocal was my roommate at school, he was singing along once and inspiration struck. he was so off key, and with his southern drawl, it worked perfectly.

What I imagine doing differently, if I do it, is to get a bunch of guys to sing the chorus at the end, maybe "I've got friends in low places" garth brooks kinda thing with cans of beer opening and mugs clanking. but the dilemma is how to get the singing without bleed from the monitors, since I don't have a headphone splitter. Any ideas?
 
You could try using a single mono monitor and position a cardoid microphone such that it's pointing directly away from the monitor, and of course have your singers in front of the microphone. With maybe some dampening behind the singers, you'll still be left with bleed but it should be managable. Some amount of bleed isn't that big of a problem as long as the level of the source you're trying to record is loud enough in relation.

Slackmaster 2000
 
oh, and that chord that you like, i think its where i slide a regular C chord formation up 4 frets or so - I am an 'by ear' player, don't know too much about the names of chords.

...sounds like a plan of attack for the remake. another thing i'd love to re-do is the bass. the bass line was actually done on guitar, just resampled an octave lower.
 
I too enjoyed the drinking song the best. Love your guitar playing. It's unique. Bring those vocals out more. The lyric is good.
 
I'm working on (have 5 or so songs in my head right now) an EP of songs more in the vein of drinking song. I have decided here and now that I will re-do drinking song. Remember my name in a few months when I'll put it out on the web, you'll be sure to enjoy.

I gotta head to Florida for a month to do an investigation on a chopper that went down. Don't be jealous since I'll probably be too busy to check out any spring breakers while I'm down there, but if you don't hear from me for awhile, thats why.

Thanks everyone for listening, its a great feeling to produce something from your brain, go through the headache/joy of recording it, and eventually come away with something that other people enjoy.

I'll be back...
 
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