Matches

The first track from my forthcoming concept EP. This is a very, very rough demo.

And it might sound too much like "Fake Plastic Trees" for me to really like it after tonight, but oh well.

Hohner-Gruhn acoustic guitar, bathroom acoustics, built-in MacBook microphone, and GarageBand. Sorry 'bout the clipping.

(Get Flash to see the track player.)
posted by Saellys (6 comments total)

I can tell that it's a rough draft but the foundation seems pretty solid to me. You can really belt it out.

Since we hardly ever get to talk about process, what are you going to do from here? Do you listen to it over and over while thinking about arrangements, or do you dive in and start adding things and see what takes? Or is this close to what the final structure will look like?
posted by Karlos the Jackal at 3:20 AM on March 23

For a built in MacBook microphone, which is what I use, this is really good. What is your trick to get rid of that 'chhhh'? I don't think this is similar enough to "Fake Plastic Trees" for you to dislike. What's the concept of the EP?
posted by Corduroy at 8:25 AM on March 23

Thank you!

Karlos, I'm planning on keeping this one pretty minimal... A couple people on a music forum I visit suggested adding light snare and bass drum and glockenspiel parts, and if I buy a bass anytime soon I'll add that. Most of the time I listen to it several times and try to hear the extra parts. By the time I recorded my album last year, I had demoed all the songs and heard them so many times I knew exactly what I wanted to do with the synth bits. I also try to keep my recorded songs close to what I can perform live, since I don't have a band. However, in my side project, demoing is part of the writing process and we go crazy with adding vocal and instrumental parts, and then carve some of it away afterwards.

Corduroy, that was all GarageBand's noise gate. I can't eliminate all the hissing without making my guitar and voice sound like robots, but it's good enough for a first draft. Kind of makes it sound like a tape, actually! The concept is that the girl in the song, who is of course in an asylum, gradually figures out she's actually dead and in Purgatory, and then must decide whether she's really dead or even crazier than she thought, and whether all the people around her are real or figments of her imagination. My fiancé thinks it should be a rock opera. If I could pull that off, I'd totally do it.

Thanks again!
posted by Saellys at 10:25 AM on March 23

ROCK OPERA, ROCK OPERA!!!11!!

Seriously, this is really good. Built in mic? Wow.
posted by snsranch at 4:34 PM on March 24

Loved this. I'm off to listen to your other stuff now. Yes, I'd love it kept spare. It doesn't need much more.
posted by roombythelake at 3:54 PM on March 29

wow, you're voice can really soar. in an exceptionally good way. evocative in the quiet parts too. please don't change any of that.
posted by garfy3 at 5:26 PM on March 30