Songwriting Dream

[kiramdear]

Bump. How's the song going, Mel?

JL wrote #9 Dream the same way. "Ah, Bawakawa Pousee Pousee" means nothing; he was so good at writing colorful nonsense

[melibreits]

Ah, funny you should ask, Kira!

I have recorded the song, but didn't like how muddy the bass sounded (it was my first ever attempt to play my own bass and record it) so in the last week I have re-recorded the bass again, but I think I need to do another few takes on it before I'm happy with it. Also, my vocals were less than perfect in my original recording, so I'm thinking I might redo them too, especially since the first time around I used a performance mic that really wasn't designed for recording--the last few nights I've been working on some vocal and acoustic tracks for some new songs with a condenser mic and the sound quality just blows away everything I've ever recorded with the old mic.... (however, the only time I can record with it is after 10pm when the kids are sleeping, and my husband is confined to the home office with several doors closed between us--our house is normally a pretty noisy environment, LOL!) But anyway, I'm thinking I might just redo the whole song again, because I know how much better the acoustic tracks will sound with the new mic, too! And when I am done recording my parts on that, I plan to send it to another good Forumite friend, who is willing to contribute a little something to the recording.... After that, we will submit it for the second RRF CD.

I wish I had the ability to submit my song here for step-by-step review and suggestions as you have done, Kira, but I just don't have the technological wherewithal to do that....

[jdogric12]

I record a Rick bass straight into the board/computer all the time. Let me know if you want some specific EQ settings that will help. We can post them here for everyone's benefit, too!

[melibreits]

Sure, J Dog.... Any tips and helpful hints would be appreciated!

[kiramdear]

I know it can be daunting, especially for an analog girl like me.

If you visit FileFactory on line and set up an account they will host your files for free. You click your upload button and navigate to your song file, then hit return, and the file goes up online. Look in the new uploads folder on the left for your file and click the link button. Then you'll be taken to the address of your file, which you can copy out of your browser's address field. Then you simply paste the address into your posting.

It would be great if you can break through the techie barrier a little so we can enjoy your progress (and help out, if needed). In any case I look forward to hearing from you on the next forum production

[melibreits]

Thanks, Kira.... The problem isn't in having a place to upload to, it's the fact that if I want to share anything that comes off of my recording unit I have to mix it all down and burn it onto a CD before I can share it, and in the process would end up burning up a whole lot of CD's.... My unit is self-contained so I can't just copy tracks from my unit and send them to my computer and convert them--I have to play the hard CD on my computer and then convert the tracks to MP3's via iTunes. I use a Korg D-1200, which is the same machine Todd Bradshaw uses, and he has posted his progress on songs here with amazing results, so maybe I'm just whining, LOL! Someday I hope to become that proficient with my recording unit.... it's just that right now I don't have a whole lot of extra blank CD's lying around.

As a side line, my friend Billy D was here tonight, and we worked on recording keyboard tracks for one of our songs--I had recorded my vocal and guitar tracks for it a few days ago. Anyway, he gave me a few pointers for recording my bass that I think will be helpful.

[kiramdear]

Hmmm, seems a bit cumbersome at that. Let me know if there's any way I can help, but it sounds like we won't have long to wait

[jdogric12]

One of my "secret recipes".... can't believe I'm putting this on the web, but for you all I'm happy to. This EQ setting is a custom thing a friend and I cooked up a few years ago, using a 4003 with both pickups on, the bass volume and tone knobs at 9, the treble volume and tone knobs at 10. No vintage tone selector, as it was an '85 4003.

LF: Notch at 127 Hz, +5 dB, Q=1.62
MF: Notch at 464 Hz, -6.1 dB, Q=1.00
HMF: Notch at 2.00 kHz, +8.4 dB, Q=1.00
HF: Notch at 6.53 kHz, +7.1 dB, Q=1.00

It really brings out the clank without killing the low end. Of course, YMMV!!!!! Cheers, let me know if this helps or hurts. Thanks and Cheers, J

[paologregorio]

I've dreamt up a few songs. Weird how that works.

[jdogric12]

It worked on Yesterday, didn't it?

[melibreits]

A belated thanks, J Dog.... I've been kinda waylaid with some other projects for the last few weeks so have had to put The Song of My Dreams on hold....again....! But my hubby just went on an errand that should take a couple of hours, so I'm going to do that new vocal track right now, LOL! I plan to try your bass settings this weekend, and will hopefully have something concrete to work with when Billy D. comes over again on Saturday night. We worked on another song last weekend, in which I got rid of the cheesy drum track from my recording unit and he added a much better-sounding drum track from the keyboard, with some embellishments that made the song sound a hundred times better.... I think the Song Of My Dreams will really shine once it gets the same treatment! Hopefully by next week I can get it mixed down and burned to a CD so it can go to its next stop to get a dreamy jangly 12-string track to make it even better.... I do think this song deserves to be heard here, especially since you all were with me on this from its very beginning!

[jdogric12]

Cool! Can't wait to hear it!

[melibreits]

I seem to have run into a snag.... See my post in Rampant Recording Techniques...!

Sometimes I just hate technology....

[melibreits]

Okay.... my troubles with my unit have set me back a couple of days, but the project is up and running again! We're getting close now!

[melibreits]

The mix is done on my end, and I have sent the song along for some additional Rickenmagic....

I wish I could post my progress so far, but my hubby is away on business, and I don't know how to load the song on our websites's server space--that is how I've shared some of my songs here in the past.... I guess you all will have to wait a couple more weeks...!