Ideas and suggestions welcome…
Hi all. A friend and I have been writing songs for years, and are only now just starting to get them out of our minds and onto (virtual) tape. nTrack has been incredible for us! I’d like to hear any comments on the tracks on this site:
Lucid Dream
All instrumentation is by me. As is drum machine programming. Vocals done by my friend Graham. All done on a limited budget, recorded in my spare room at home. Let me know what you think!
Daz
A great song… - I like the voice of your friend Graham. He might benefit greatly from a little less echo - some of the lyrics are hard to discern. In other respects a very smooth production - I like the minimalistic approach. It really puts focus on the song and the lyrics.
Regarding the song structure the only thing I miss is a bassline of some sort - preferably contrapuntual, supporting the beautiful chord structure you have found. A fretless bass would sound great IMHO (lots of suitable synth presets exist), but just about any type of bass instrument would do - low bass notes of the piano, bowed double bass, even a synth bass would suffice.
Maybe some percussion towards the end (toms, tambourine, finger cymbals, whatever) to emphasize the track more and keep the listener’s attention.
Keep at it!
regards, Nils
Thanks. I guess your’re talking about Same Old Sky there. There are a couple of others there too. Did you give them a listen? I appreciate your comments. May well add some bass to it now! Cheers, Daz
Your recordings sound very stuffy to me… like something copied between cassettes a half dozen times. It really sounds almost mono to me. Describe your signal path a bit as I think you can definately do better from a sound stand point even with modest equipment. Those songs deserve better recordings.
The song has potenttial, and I think the performance is good too. Some suggestions (a bit of repeat of what others have said). Vocals could stand a bit more high frequency. The combination of lack of highs and lots of reverb is sucking the life out of the performance. The instruments are all panned dead center, with the voice just slightly off to one side. Pan the sounds of the different instruments around to fill the auditory space, and I think the nice instrumentation in the last part of the song would really come through. The reverb on the piano makes it sound as if it is at the back of a room with poor acoustics. It would sound better with less reverb, and with a reverb that has a little more intimate sound (e.g. warm room). I’m not a keyboard type so I hesitate to give advice on keyboard sounds…O what the heck, it is just an opinion, so here goes. The piano really has to carry this song. I would consider doubling the piano part and panning the two parts right and left to give it a wide sound. Or maybe just record the bass part and then pan the existing piano part and new bass parts right and left.
T