New song in progress: first day's mix

[kiramdear]

I thought you meant the vocals were off!
The guitar steps down maj-min 7ths all through the middle 8, right. I'm channeling Lennon there, hoping my 320 will give an "alto", chunky "Hard Day's Night era" rhythm sound.

[kiramdear]

Here's with some crash cymbals:

http://www.filefactory.com/file/8c71c3/ ... asic_9_mp3

[lyle_from_minneapolis]

Well now Ms. Hepburn I finally got to listen to this. Wow! I really love it. It's a weird mix of 60's meets post-punk, like PJ Harvey writing a song to the sound of Lennon working on "I Am the Walrus". Just delightful to my ears. I love how you use the stereo field so well, just great mixing. I think your vocals are clipping in some places, and it sounds like the recording level rather than the mix level...not sure of that. And I would work on changing up the drums here and there...not sure how easy that is in Garageband, but it would take away that drum machine feel. Otherwise, I really don't know what to improve. Maybe be a little clearer with diction in places...hard to catch the words at first, but I REALLY enjoy your singing style. I was thinking "Love's Got the Drop on Me" might be the title until the Be Bread section came up. That's VERY San Francisco, that. I miss that town, lived there for two years, first on Hayes & Webster, later up on a hill by McLaren Park on Bowdoin.

Look forward to hearing more! Very cool sounds all around, very tasteful.

-Mark

[kiramdear]

Gosh thanks Mark, your comments are very thoughtful and helpful. If there's one thing I am, it's real San Francisco and real sixties Wait, that's two things. British invasion and psychedelia was my potting soil as a wee thing. I wrote and played quite a bit in the seventies, then went on to another calling for a while until I got the itch to play again a few years ago. Consider me NOS, I guess.
I tried fiddling with the drum options to create a little variation, but it's not really working. I banged out the parts by hand ; I don't know what to do beyond that. I know the vocal recording was flawed and clipping did occur, but also I've got this tuning problem with the room here, it pulses a bit at certain volume. My voice is also a bit unruly. I'd like to find a way to use the clipping/pulsing to advantage if possible, as I don't want to throw out the tracks. Next project I'll solve the problem.
I'm going on refining the mix just a bit more, fixing one problem to uncover the next. Here's a hint if playback bogs down in GB: lock the tracks that you're not working with and GB will write them to disk so it won't have to create them on the fly.
The cavalry arrived tonight, happily: my buddy Marty wants to get involved with wrapping it up. Marty is a whiz with computers and music I hope to finish in a day or two so I don't lose momentum.
Thanks for your attention and wonderful comments, and to all who've been checking in. Please stay tuned, as they say.

[kiramdear]

This is the best mix yet:

http://www.filefactory.com/file/a4535d/ ... sic_11_mp3

Exported at higher quality for your listening pleasure...


Here are the lyrics:

"Be Bread"

Two-trick Pony and the dead zone guy
got to scratching their heads 'bout the future of the empire
Pony said My, it's as easy as pie
rub two big sticks both together make a bonfire

Love, love's got the drop on me

Boomtown Mackie and the Flintstone girls
never really understood tho they never tried to ask it
(what's) happened to the world, what are we doing here
where are we going now in a Gucci handbasket?

Love, love's got the drop on me

If you've not been fed, be bread




copyright 2008, Kira Moon

[lyle_from_minneapolis]

About clipping while recording:

On tape, a high level that went into the red a bit was usually a good thing. A little oversaturation sounded great. In the digital world, anything recorded over 0db sounds like your hard drive is about to crash. John Cage doesn't even like that sound. The good news is you can record vocals at much lower levels, hitting only a little more than halfway up the meter. Then, once the vocal track is recorded, select it all and Normalize to 0 decibels. Viola, it's maximized, and you lose zero sound quality, because unlike tape, digital signals are as clean at -5 as they are at 0. Hope this works for you. -mk

[TheWonders]

I've enjoyed hearing this tune progress - the feel of the basic tracks is very cool. Nice work - keep it up!


p.s. - it seems our basses are almost brothers.

[kiramdear]

Maybe I should record the vocals on my old portastudio 424.

Ruben, thanks for looking in. What year is your 4001?

[TheWonders]

Ruben, thanks for looking in. What year is your 4001?

April 1976

[kiramdear]

Brothers or sisters indeed. My Walnut is from about '76, hard to say as the jackplate was replaced. Best bass I ever had, maybe ever played. What a sound!

[kiramdear]

OK, here's some lead guitar. If nobody complains I'm calling it good, done, finito.

I recorded the lead by miking my modeling amp and recording to tape, then transferring it in. No effects on anything, with one or two small exceptions, the feedback moment and the ending few seconds.

http://www.filefactory.com/file/aec309/ ... ad_MP3_mp3

[antipodean]

Hi Kira!

Love the song, and you've done a great mix in terms of instrument balance, instrument/vocal balance and tone. My only constructive criticism is that the lead was very much left speaker dominant - a bit Beatlesque in fact. Given the nature of the lead, it may be cool to pan it across and back dynamically.

There was a bit of break up on the sound from time to time - I'm not sure if that's a quicktime issue or whether you're getting that on your Mac too. Please lemme know when there's a new mix!

I've definitely got a host of CDs that would be improved by having "Be Bread" included in the playlist! Keep it coming!

[kiramdear]

Cool, thanks, Evan!

I lied in my last posting. I couldn't leave it alone

Sorry I didn't get here quick enough for you with this morning's 4AM mix. I think I solved the clipping problems, but only by re-recording most of the vocal parts this time to tape. They're cleaner, and tighter too, as I got to re-perform them after hearing them a hundred times.
This is a rough mix that I'm really happy with:
http://web.me.com/kiramdear/Galerie_Kiramdear/Song.html

-Oh, sorry, Mel, here's one for you too. Have you updated your QuickTime to the latest version?

http://www.filefactory.com/file/e801c5/n/Be_Bread_mp3

The stereo field is of intense fascination for me. I love the early George Martin productions with the weird stereo because they sound more clear when perceived in mono. If I'd have run the guitar solo down the middle it would have masked some of the other sounds that remain distinct when separated.

I've handed over the files to my friend the mac guru for some refining and improvement of the basic instrument sounds, but I don't expect the song will change too much more. Evan, your panning suggestion has been heard.

Thanks, all!