Time To Get Up

This is a rerecording of an older song of mine (probably my favorite). I hadn't listened to it in a while and was struck by how much fuzz noise there was. I put a capo on, added some stuttering percussion and some very light harmony towards the end, and I would love any thoughts on this new version. There is a discussion on criticism in MeMuTalk, and I would like to let it be known that my songs are always put up for criticism, whether one word or one paragraph. Comments make my day.

It's strange to go back and rerecord songs. I'm also in the middle of rerecording another fuzzy song, The Long Trail. If anything it's an exercise in how the moment really effects the song, you know? I can't, try as I might, make them sound exactly like the original, and I thought I would basically be able to. But maybe that's a good thing.

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posted by Corduroy (11 comments total)

I think you've got a great voice and you play a nice unadorned style on guitar.

If you're looking for criticism, I think that the percussion that you use could use some rejiggering. It could be any combination of the following things: too tonal but not the same key as your guitar, often too much on the beat (1,2,3,4, bong, bong, bong, bong), the stuttering doesn't follow the feel of your strumming -- so I feel a disconnect on several levels.
posted by dobie at 4:19 PM on July 4, 2008

Nice. I like your relaxed, almost sleepy voice too. I really liked the parts where you doubled it, which brought it out in the mix a bit. I would love to hear more doubling and/or harmonies in your songs. Another thing that can be fun to fiddle around with is doubling the vocals while leaving one of the tracks up front, and the other way in the background, so that it just fills out the first without that obvious "I'm doubling the vocals now" sound.

I agree with dobie that the percussion needs work. Otherwise, you might even do better without it this time. It ended up being distracting. The other reaction I had to the song as a whole was that it wouldn't hurt to keep going, even if only to repeat a certain part again. I'm all for short songs, but the ending snuck up on me too soon.
posted by umbú at 5:10 PM on July 4, 2008

I admit to being rhythmically challenged, so when I don't totally rely on 1, 2, 3, 4 it can get pretty shaky. So that's something I'm definitely going to get some more experienced bongo drum playing friends to help me out with this summer so I can get more adventurous with my percussion.

I will certainly go back and work on the drumming. The first version had no percussion (though it does have kind of a base thing going on), and I wasn't really ever satisfied with the second half of the first one. So I thought I would try using percussion to see if that works.

Thanks a lot for the voice compliments - if there is something I'm more self conscious of than my rhythm, it's my voice. So I appreciate that a lot.
posted by Corduroy at 5:38 PM on July 4, 2008

Love the voice, but I have to agree on the percussion. I'd personally nix it altogether, as it feels tacked on here, but at the least it needs some reworking.

Besides that, I have no complaints. Catchy guitar part, nice melody, short without feeling like anything is missing. Good stuff!
posted by danb at 7:05 PM on July 4, 2008

So I've gone back into GarageBand and totally gotten rid of the bongo drum. The only percussion is some foot tapping (which I think works? You can't really hear it in this version, 'cause of the bongo.) and a very light 1, 2, 3, thing in the last part, which I think is okay. I may post the new one, though I feel kind of strange posting three versions of the same song. It's an important song to me though, so I think I will in a few days.

Thank you all.
posted by Corduroy at 10:20 PM on July 4, 2008

I dunno, I like the bongo, when it's hitting just on the 2-3-4. When it gets more complex, it kinda falls out of the pocket.

I also like that squeaky-scrapey sound -- not the fret squeak -- that shows up at :03 on the right side and at :08 on the left side -- what is that? Is it purposeful?

This is a nice song.
posted by Karlos the Jackal at 12:21 AM on July 5, 2008

It's a great song, and I'm a little late here, but the bongo was a bit distracting so it's probably better to take that out. I kept hearing it on the 3 and 4, kinda like the imitation of a horse's clip clop in some Tex Avery cartoon, but that could be because it's late and I've been hearing fireworks all day.
posted by sleepy pete at 12:58 AM on July 5, 2008

I just have to say that I love the off beat clippity cloppity.. fantastic.
posted by xorry at 7:55 PM on July 5, 2008

Karlos, that sound is me accidentally hitting the table with the part of the string that comes out of the tuner stuff. I didn't mean to either time, but they kind of sync up so I just left it as is.
posted by Corduroy at 10:45 AM on July 6, 2008

The echoey double guitar thing at the beginning is nice. Gotta agree with others' comments about the drum - the guitar has plenty of rhythm on its own.
posted by arcanecrowbar at 5:41 PM on July 6, 2008

I really like this song of yours too, and the added harmonies work fine. Here's another vote for bongolessness. It sounds a bit too heavy and woozy. I think it's fine with guitar alone, or maybe tighter and lighter percussion at some point. I could hear spoons working with it -- or even some bells or a xylophone.
posted by melissa may at 10:07 PM on July 6, 2008