But I'm Crying

Wrote this one after buying myself a shiny new midi controller. Tapped out a beat and played some chords over it and realised it sounded a bit like Duke Special, which is no bad thing so I ran with it. This is a rough mix/version so any comments or suggestions greatly appreciated!

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posted by TwoWordReview (7 comments total)

any comments or suggestions greatly appreciated!

Okay. I think double-tracking your voice like that is not the greatest idea. IMO, double-tracking can occasionally be a good thing (as in early Beatles records, or early rock'n'roll in general), but the performances need to be really tight in order for this technique to work. Also I think the double-tracking subtracts from any sense of immediacy or intimacy of the vocal, and therefore acts as a kind of distancer between you and your listener. I'd suggest working hard on getting one really good vocal take, and then try different reverbs and maybe a hint of very short delay if you feel like your vocal sound isn't "thick" enough.
posted by flapjax at midnite at 8:16 PM on January 18, 2007

I think the composition is quite good, the performance is not quite there, but you already said it was a rough version. I second flapjax with his comment about the double voice and also I think this voice would sound better with more than one voice track, but singing a harmony, not repeating the first track.

I know, harmonies are a bitch, but I think it will be good for the song. There is, towards the 3/4 of the song a bit where you make a break with the piano and the violin. (the tururu tuntuntun, tururu tuntuntun after the guitar solo) I think you could use more instruments there, all doing the tururu tuntuntun and it would sound great.

So, summing up, cool song, lots of potential, spend some time producing it and I think you will come up with something memorable.

One last thing I would suggest is that you play this song over a few times, do a run with the piano on top of the beatbox and then do a run with the other instruments, sort of like rehearsing. This is because sometimes we, who compose and record by ourselves just write the songs and record them straight, but if you give it some time before recording it and you "rehearse" it, it may sound more natural.

Cheers, good luck with it.
posted by micayetoca at 4:40 AM on January 19, 2007

Cheers guys! 'Rehearsal' is definitely a great idea for me, I'm an awful divil for trying to fix things in the mix when a tighter performance would do a far better job, which is how the double tracking came about. I had originally envisioned it to have a single lead vocal and an 'aaah' type harmony in the second half of each verse so will definitely give that another go. Will try layering up the break section also (think it needs a change in the drum pattern there too).
posted by TwoWordReview at 6:44 AM on January 19, 2007

You know, I think the aaah type harmony would go really well with it.

I was originally going to suggest that you replaced the "violas" (or bass violins) with your voice doing "ooohhmm" "ooohhhmmm" and so on, but I thought it might have been more than you asked for, so I kept it for myself. Now that you mentioned it, well, there is another idea.

As for the drum pattern in the break. Just an opinion: I quite like it as it is. The sound of the drumbeat you used is very 70s (to me, anyway) and the way it kept playing underneath the tururu tuntuntun fit really well, I thought.
posted by micayetoca at 8:28 AM on January 19, 2007

If you do double the vocal, then you need to gate the second track using the first, perhaps even using a vocoder on it.
posted by kindall at 1:50 PM on January 19, 2007

BTW, I think mica's "rehearsing" point is an excellent one: self-producing, self-recording folks like us definitley need to do more rehearsing, as if it was a band. Good point, mica!
posted by flapjax at midnite at 3:44 AM on January 20, 2007

Thx, man. I've made a point of it with my own songs lately. Sometimes it kinda kills the first-minute emotion when one is doing the song and just want to record it right away, but I've found it's better for the songs.
posted by micayetoca at 7:51 AM on January 20, 2007