[starsailor]

This song is an interpretation of lyrics written by Alawiggle on this thread http://www.guitarfor...rics-critiqued/

With Alawiggles permission I did a rewrite but Alawiggle decided not to continue with the lyrics, I liked the ideas in the lyrics so tidied my rewrite and did a take on it, it's a pretty sad song about a poor soul that can't move on but I enjoyed doing it, wasn't too sure if I should post this had it sitting here for a Month, tried to contact Alawiggle but haven't managed to, hope he doesn't mind me doing a take but it can be removed if you aren't happy Alawiggle.

Music - Chris Goode (Starsailor)

Lyrics - Chris Goode/ Jeff Bowens (Alawiggle)

Apologies for such a long winded intro:winkthumb:

I've also had a go at Carol M's recording guide but this is a pretty basic recording, pretty much warts an' all (lol)



What type of guitar - 12 string strung as a 6 String

What brand of guitar - Yamaha FG312. set up low, brass bridge pins

Playing Accessories - Strings, 11s from Dangleberry music, try different strings also use Martins and D' Addorios


Playing Style - Debatable


What Microphones -

Cheap electret condenser Mic, setup above soundhole as singing vocal too and I'm not a contortionist, not ideal to be honest. also used pop shield for vocal.


What Soundcard or PCI Interface and are you happy with it ? -

Creative Soundblaster external soundcard, USB, through Toshiba Satellite Pro 4600, 256 MB laptop, to be honest recording quality isn't that good.


What DAW (recording software) did you use -

Mixcraft 3

Making the Recording -

* Did you do one track for vocals and guitar or separate tracks?

One track, guitar and vocals just sat down and played.

* How many vocal and guitar tracks did you use?

One

* What FX (effects) - the brand, and what you used eg chorus, reverb, compression etc and roughly how much.

Just mixcraft standard reverb which just lifts the track a little

* It's also useful for beginners to know which loops you used, or other tips about putting it all together.

Don't panic when the record starts, just take your time, you can cut out any rough stuff at the beginning and tidy the track up when you've finished, if you're doing a one take, give it your best shot, if it goes wrong have a break and go again, you can do a bit at a time and join tracks together but this does take a lot longer, sometimes it's just more fun to do a one take.

All the Best

Chris

Attached File(s)

•  SHALLOW GRAVE (basic take).mp3 (5.37MB)
  Number of downloads: 29

[carol m]

Hey Chris! Some nice smooth picking there! Your voice is perfect for this sort of song (any song really, damn it) how you managed to avoid having a professional music career and earn a fortune is one of life's mysteries.

I luuuurve this - but I don't find sad and miserable songs depressing at all, although I know some do - another of life's little mysteries.

Excellent, and I can hear how your practising has paid off. Well done.

And well done you on using the What is Your Set Up? template - that was Steve's idea (solidwalnut) so he's the one to get the credit for that idea.

Can I mention that you have a bit of hiss that can be heard at the beginning before you start to play? Have you changed something? You don't usually have that on your recordings.

[starsailor]

Thanks Carol and thanks to Steve for the Template, I thought I'd give it a go but I didn't have much to put in, Steve's In The Garden Template made me think about doing it as it was interesting to read and very helpful, I've been chasing the hiss, the Mic. didn't pick up the guitar so well, I didn't have it in the best position, also noticed on the next song I did that my voice didn't record so well, the battery was low on the mic and it sounds better now, I actually moved during playing this to get closer to the mic but managed to nearly keep time (don't advise moving during a recording), I played another song today with the Mic repositioned and the hiss had pretty much disappeared, I do still get a little bit of noise on my recordings, really need to upgrade my soundcard, I have some more microphones so I'm going to try two seperate ones or a pick up. I haven't really messed with my set up for a while so it will be interesting to see what happens., thanks for having a listen Carol and for your comments, I hope Alawiggle likes it, be good to see him around again, I really enjoyed having a go at this.

Best Wishes

Chris

[X4StringDrive]

Nice job Chris, maybe this will inspire Alawiggle to dive back into this again, he had what I thought was a really cool start with the tune he posted. I like where you took it Chris, very nice feel you layed out, well done.

[eddiez152]

Chris,
That was very good. Nicely played and sung. Well arranged with great vibe:winkthumb
I think alawiggle will very much like this.

[Doug]

Hey Chris, this is very good. As Eddies says - great vibe.

[starsailor]

X4StringDrive said:

Nice job Chris, maybe this will inspire Alawiggle to dive back into this again, he had what I thought was a really cool start with the tune he posted. I like where you took it Chris, very nice feel you layed out, well done.

Thanks Kenny, I was hoping Alawiggle would come back, liked his tune a lot, would've had a go with it but thought he'd want it for another song so I did this instead, I couldn't get the song out of my head so it had to be done, Alawiggle's lyrics made this possible, I throw lyrics away all the time, I wanted to tell Jeff that it's about getting the ideas down and go from there but never got the chance, I'd like him to hear this so I hope he comes back, wouldn't have thought of the song without his lyrics. Hope you and yours are well Kenny:winkthumb:

eddiez152 said:

Chris,
That was very good. Nicely played and sung. Well arranged with great vibe:winkthumb
I think alawiggle will very much like this.

Thanks Eddie, I really enjoyed doing this, had it done for a while but I wasn't too sure about posting it, it's very hard to find a Member when they take time off from the forum, there are some nice songs over in Songwriting by Members who don't come around anymore but Copyright pretty much prevents them being done, hopefully the writers brought them to life, I hope Alawiggle likes it, be good to see him around again, I also liked his song Happy Little Trees, he writes some interesting lyrics. All the best to you and your Family Eddie:winkthumb:

Doug said:

Hey Chris, this is very good. As Eddies says - great vibe.

Thanks Doug, still playing your latest piece, excellent, think this is the most stress free song I've done, I felt very relaxed singing it, it was a real pleasure to do. All the best to you and yours Doug:winkthumb:

Best Wishes

Chris

[johnnydoxx]

Nice one - good picking and singing there. Gets the mood of the lyrics across.

[starsailor]

Thanks for having a listen Johnny and for your comments, hope you're well

Best Wishes

Chris

[skinnybloke]

That was really enjoyable Chris, the playing the singing and the production married nicely.

[solidwalnut]

Chris--

Excellent job. Great tune. My first impression was how much I liked your vocal. I mean, yes, you have a good voice but I mean how much I liked how your vocal turned out in the recording despite using the electret condensor. I like how the natural part of your voice was captured. You have a very pleasant sounding midrange.

The guitar recording wasn't bad either. The noise floor and self-noise of the mic recorded with the track kinda covers it up, though. I know that you prefer to do one take, but if you're going to use that mic and want to less noise in recording you might think about doing a separate track for the guitar.

But I read above where the hiss has been in and out and you changed batteries and are going to try other microphones, etc. Even though upgrading the soundcard is always good, any noise in recordings like hissing are going to come from the self-noise of the mic and the mic pre-amp and how much you have the pre-amp cranked up. I was trying to find out but couldn't see from any research: are you plugging the mics directly into the SB external? If you're ever thinking about upgrading, getting a separate mic pre-amp would be a great thing to think about.

Great use of the template, too! A really enjoyable song Chris. Nicely done.

[starsailor]

skinnybloke said:

That was really enjoyable Chris, the playing the singing and the production married nicely.

Thanks for having a listen Skinny and for your comments, hope you're well, just checked your guitar project out, looks brilliant:winkthumb:

solidwalnut said:

Chris--

Excellent job. Great tune. My first impression was how much I liked your vocal. I mean, yes, you have a good voice but I mean how much I liked how your vocal turned out in the recording despite using the electret condensor. I like how the natural part of your voice was captured. You have a very pleasant sounding midrange.

The guitar recording wasn't bad either. The noise floor and self-noise of the mic recorded with the track kinda covers it up, though. I know that you prefer to do one take, but if you're going to use that mic and want to less noise in recording you might think about doing a separate track for the guitar.

But I read above where the hiss has been in and out and you changed batteries and are going to try other microphones, etc. Even though upgrading the soundcard is always good, any noise in recordings like hissing are going to come from the self-noise of the mic and the mic pre-amp and how much you have the pre-amp cranked up. I was trying to find out but couldn't see from any research: are you plugging the mics directly into the SB external? If you're ever thinking about upgrading, getting a separate mic pre-amp would be a great thing to think about.

Great use of the template, too! A really enjoyable song Chris. Nicely done.

Thanks for listening to this song Steve, really appreciate your comments, my first choice these days is to just sit down and do a take, it takes me a long time to get takes down doing seperate tracks but I do sacrifice some sound quality doing one takes, the Mic I use is very cheap, records vocals ok but it's not so hot on the guitar recording, I did a recording a few days ago though with just a guitar track and repositioned the Mic. and that came out a lot clearer, I do run the Mic straight through the Soundcard at the moment, I did have an art series preamp but had trouble with that one so went the soundcard route instead, I had some other equipment too which I sold on as I needed the money so I am pretty much back to basics now but I am keen to upgrade again, don't have a lot of cash but could you recommend a reasonable mic preamp that would do the job for me, I have two other Microphones and a Shure SM57 that I can use for recordings, I might switch to the SM57 to do the guitar tracks, I am working on a song at the moment that I've just finished practicing so I'll do seperate tracks for it and see how it comes out.
Thanks for the template, I didn't have a lot to put in but it is good to see how recordings are done and what people use, and the use of the template should encourage beginners to have a go at recording so hope more members use it, it is interesting to see what goes on behind the songs.


Best Wishes

Chris

[mantablueraider]

liked this chris! nice voice too, kinda caught me by suprise!

[starsailor]

Thanks for having a listen Mantablueraider, glad you liked it, even though it's a sad song I enjoy singing it, I was in my element with this one, hope you're well

Best Wishes

Chris

[eddiez152]

[QUOTE=starsailor;I enjoy singing it, I was in my element with this one

Chris,
THis is probably the most important statement that makes some things better than others. You did great on this tune.

[Nutty]

Hi Chris,

Don't know how I missed this one! What an outstanding job! You have done a marvelous job on this...vocals, tune. You've really captured the lyrics.

Annette

[starsailor]

eddiez152 said:

[QUOTE=starsailor;I enjoy singing it, I was in my element with this one

Chris,
THis is probably the most important statement that makes some things better than others. You did great on this tune.

Thanks for your support and encouragement Eddie, really do appreciate it:winkthumb:

Nutty said:

Hi Chris,

Don't know how I missed this one! What an outstanding job! You have done a marvelous job on this...vocals, tune. You've really captured the lyrics.

Annette

Hi Annette, thanks for having a listen Annette and for those comments, the death toll in my songs continues to mount (lol) felt comfortable with this one in spite of the subject, I seem to feel more comfortable with sadder songs but I enjoy singing funny ones too maybe I have a split personality:yes:

[Jomi]

Hello Chris, hope you and your familly are well.
Very sad lyrics. Really well sang, you sing this like you mean it, you have a great voice. The downside is that hiss! I downloaded the mp3 and removed the hiss in adobe auditions and it's sounds a lot better, unfortunately the quiet guitar at the start is almost lost, still, see what you think.

Attached File(s)

•  SHALLOW GRAVE (basic take).mp3 (5.38MB)
  Number of downloads: 3

[starsailor]

Jomi said:

Hello Chris, hope you and your familly are well.
Very sad lyrics. Really well sang, you sing this like you mean it, you have a great voice. The downside is that hiss! I downloaded the mp3 and removed the hiss in adobe auditions and it's sounds a lot better, unfortunately the quiet guitar at the start is almost lost, still, see what you think.

Hi John, Great to see you around, hope everything's going well for you, thanks for those comments, I played around with this a lot and did a few little rewrites so kind of got to know the character, the hiss did let it down, think I've managed to sort it out this end a bit for other songs but it took away from this one so thanks for taking the time to work on it for me, the guitar track is quieter at the beginning but it was low when I did it, so no worries there, sounds really good this end John, I didn't realise the hiss reduction worked that well, the guitar track is clear and the vocal's clear too, thanks a million for doing this, it's improved it big time, I do like this song and was a bit disappointed with the guitar track so this has cheered me up no end, really good to see you around and this is great, I'm over the moon.

Best Wishes

Your Friend

Chris

[Jomi]

Very happy to help Chris.
I should just point out that I didn't use hiss reduction, I used noise reduction. The difference is that I used the little bit of silence at the beginning of your recording, Auditions can take a profile of this little piece which contains the hiss and any other background noise, once that's done it can remove all of that noise from the rest of the recording. When I record I deliberately stay quiet for a second or two just for this purpose.