Thirteenth Song Recorded On My DP24SD

Gary24

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Tascam DP24SD
Please if several of you wouldn’t mind give me an honest critique on my singing, playing, and recording. Good or bad I just want to know what you think, I feel it will allow me to improve what needs improving, and allow me to grow. Thank you all so much for any and all feedback, Gary.

Song Title: (Alright)

http://sclk.co/r/s88gqv
 
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Sounds pretty good sir! Mix is nice and clean and clear. Everything sounds distinct. Performances are pretty good.

One thing that was just a little distracting to me was the delay on the pre chorus part: "everything you say..."

I would either nix the delay altogether - or what might make it work better (of course this is strictly my opinion) is if you delay just the last word in those lines rather than delaying the entire line(s).

Using the DP-32SD - I did something like this years ago for *one note* of a guitar solo.... by sending the guitar solo track to the send bus and out through a guitar delay floor pedal (Boss DD-6) that I set on my desk in front of me - and patched that back to an available input/track. While recording the track back in.... I simply engaged the delay briefly for that one note and then turned it right back off. Worked *perfectly*.

Anyway... Just a thought. Sounds like you were looking for honest critique - so there you have it. There are folks here much more experienced than I with mixing and that sort of thing. Perhaps they might chime in.

But yeah - nice job. Keep at it!
 
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Thanks David, very much appreciated. I had wondered about the delay, I like your idea about it being on just the last word, when I listened to before I couldn’t quite put my finger on it.
 
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I agree with David's comments.

Instruments sound good (drums and bass are tight; guitars balanced and well placed on the sound stage). Nice lead-in and fade out. Keep in mind that if you're mixing with headphones, there will be a tendency to push the vocals too far forward on the sound stage.

Putting on my producer hat (and keeping in mind this is a very subjective thing), you might want to:
  • Experiment with bringing the vocal down about 2-3dB in the mix.
  • Experiment with speeding up the tempo - maybe as high as 130BPM;
  • Experiment with raising the key from Bb to B or maybe even C (if that's in your vocal range);
  • If you speed up the tempo/change the key, consider experimenting with some syncopation or change up of the vocal delivery.
You might also want to try using an upper 5th vocal harmony instead (if that's in your range) on the repeats of "every little thing is alright", and/or doubling the main vocal adding slight stereo delay (start with about 4-6 ms perhaps; try various delay settings) and then make the vocal double/delay barely audible in the mix.

Good work making your song a reality.
 
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Hi @Gary24. It's morning here in Taiwan and its going to be a busy day. But I'll have a chance to take a listen this evening, hopefully.

Reading your post, I had an interesting idea: If you (or anyone interested in such) could take the time to upload an entire song folder to a cloud service, that would allow others to download and do their own mix of your song (Edit: I mean to say, exported tracks, not the song folder). Of course, others could add tracks too. There are collab sites that do similar things. It would be fun to use some of my submixing and processing techniques on some other material.
 
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I agree Mark, to bring the vocals down a little in the mix, was listening last night, and you’re right, they do tower over a little to much. I like your idea of doubling on vocals, definitely gonna try this. I thought about the speed, and key as well. Thanks so much for all your input, I really appreciate it.
 
Hi -mjk-, your idea about collaborating sounds good to me, like to try it out. I agree it would be fun to hear what you can do with sub mixing , and processing on mine and others material. I’ll look into some collaboration sites, and see what we can come up with. :)
 
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Gary, you could just upload exported files to a Google or Dropbox folder and share the link.
 
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Gary, there is a point I'd like to make about your song. Rather that get too specific, I want to mention mostly concepts and let you figure out how to implement them, but a small suggestion to point you in that direction.

Section differentiation: Not meant as a criticism, but without the lyrics I wouldn't be able to tell the verse from the pre-chorus, from the chorus, because you use the same drum and guitar sounds for all the sections. I realize that you're not gonna change drum patches but for example, most choruses use a ride cymbal versus a high hat for the verse. What you want is a scene change. On the pre-chorus I kept wanting to hear a clean guitar doing an arpeggiated walk down but with that section ending on a 5 so you could go back to 1 for the chorus. Ending the pre-chorus on 1, and then going to the chorus on the same chord seems to not go anywhere, if you see what I mean.

Feel free to disagree, or ask questions. You made a good effort and a very clean recording.
 
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Moving to correct section. Guys there's a forum topic for sharing and critiquing recordings.
 
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-mjk-, thanks for the feedback, I understand what you’re saying. I try to differentiate between each part of the song when writing, and use proper chords in certain places to push the song forward. But at the same time I’m trying to stay as true as possible to what I’m hearing in my head. Thanks for helping me to understand that I need to put a little more thought, and emphasis on these things.
 
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Gary, when you listen to your favorite songs, try to analyze why you like them. Think of both "musical devices" and "production devices" that change scenes and define sections. Also, I recommend that you read what producers say about creating hooks. But by all means, keep writing and recording!
 
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Hi Gary. I like it. It's good, but, it could be great. I like the hooks very much, and the scene change on the solo. I'm taking a few days off at a hot springs resort in the mountains (one of the benefits of living in Taiwan), but when I get back I will give you some real-world suggestions, and I might even try an actual edit.
 
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Thanks Gary. My back pain has subsided and when I return home I'll be ready to cut tracks!
 

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@Gary24 if you're agreeable, please use the Audio Depot and export all the tracks of that song. Take those tracks and if you also have a MIDI drum track .smf file, please place all those files together into a Google Drive folder and give me link access. I have some ideas.... Thanks.
 
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