Songcrafters.org

Another Songwriting Demo for FAWM 2022

So, here's today's little ditty.

(I don't know whether folks outside the UK would know what a Chelsea Bun is. I love them, they are extremely yum, and they go very well with the mid-morning coffee. Especially if you're at Kew Gardens... except they changed the caterers in the cafes and restaurants there a few years ago and they stopped doing them... boo...)

Chelsea  buns, oh yes, I love their swirly, currenty goodness.  ;D
Very folky this one. Nicely sung, played & recorded.
I love the reverb on the vocals too.

Was this using Studio One?

Yep, Studio One all the way.
A single mic (Rode NT1000), into my STUDIO 68C usb interface.

Recording guitar and vox live in one take on these demos so far. This one was tough, I nearly went for making one from several takes - but that would have added even more time.

I've got the Fat Channel plugin on the inserts on the input channel in Studio One:
Using the High Pass Filter (50Hz) and Gate (using the defaults - it seemed to do the job, the Mrs was in the room on the first demo, and I left it in for all the others)
This gets get baked into the recorded take.

When I've got the take I want, I copy it and perform any edits (cleaning up and applying gain changes to any sections that need it).

I've got the Pro EQ plugin on the track Insert, I adjust this for the song. In this case, another Low Cut (LC) -12db at 50Hz, and a 3.5 dB boost at 200Hz (Q 1.0) for the vocal.

I've got an FX channel with the Room Reverb plugin set to the Concert Hall preset for this song - no fiddling, just the preset. (That's probably the most useful bit to you!)
I also have another Pro EQ after the Reverb in this chain, the idea is you swipe the bottom off the Reverb because it muddies the mix - except there's only one track, not much to muddy, so the EQ's not doing anything.

And that's the mix for these demos.

It does go to mastering. Have you got Studio One Professional?
I've got a Project with all these demos in, they get mastered together.

The only non-PreSonus plugins I'm using are in the Project.
But I could probably get near the same quality with the Studio One stuff (it would be harder to set up the Mid-Side processing, though)

A great song subject..the Chelsea bun. Not as popular in my part of the UK, we'd probably go for an Eccles cake, buttered.
I love the sort of medieval vibe !

Pete

Classy prog folk, that,s a great take on the vocal.Loved a Chelsea bun with coffee too,  enjoyed  it lots well done.

To deny one the bun...your judgments too severe.
Great songs, fabulous recording.
Rock on!

I am an over (or perhaps an under) thinker but the lyrics seem to express something much deeper to me...

having said that...dang dude!!!  (sorry for the slang) This is stupendous!!!  I like this one even more than yesterday.  This one I wouldn't care if I ever heard anything more ever and I am not a guy that often likes leaving just a guitar and vocal...The recording is amazing and the song is great.
I couldn't keep them all straight one day to the next like that.
I met this guy a few months ago (Rockie Lynne , a true Nashville pro, google him sometime) through a crazy coincidence.  He told me he writes a song every single day...then he sang me the one he wrote that morning on a 1938 acoustic (it was either a Taylor or a Martin, can't remember).  He played and sang it perfect.  My mouth was wide open.  Then he tried to hand me the guitar to play one for him.. I just laughed.... I was not going to touch that guitar.  I did play one of my songs off the phone though...ha, he was so nice about it.  His studio is totally pro... it's a big part of what he does now....record anyone and everyone and he does very well... but he knows what he is doing and he knows the business side too.... one thing is for certain I knew he was different the way he looked me in the eye.  I can't explain it...the cat had the goods but was so humble too... man.  what does that have to do with your song?  quite a bit I think...
this reminded me of that quality!  Well done

I was commenting on Avocado's Number, saying "you're a crazy man", and I remembered these comments yesterday:

Quote from: Hook on February 08, 2022, 03:17:10 PMTo deny one the bun...your judgments too severe.

Quote from: StephenM on February 08, 2022, 04:44:14 PMI am an over (or perhaps an under) thinker but the lyrics seem to express something much deeper to me...

OK, I'm a crazy man ;D ;D

Hook - in my mind, there's a dead baby in this song, or at least a missing baby and blood all over the floor... whether the various animals have anything to do with it doesn't really matter, while the singer is observing the scene, he/she doesn't know what's happened, it's just the baby's gone and there's a whole bunch more

So, in my head, if all the singer is gonna do is sit down with his/her coffee and go - but YOU'RE not getting your bun, then there's summat weird going on! ;D

StephenM - that might be all the deeper you were hearing?

Otherwise, I'm VERY happy you're hearing deeper, because it was all observed stuff (apart from the empty cradle!) from our lives/house to put a story together.

My wife loved it and fell about laughing when she heard it when she got home.

An example: I could take a picture of the forest of mousetraps around the bucket with the grass seed in the conservatory (they found the box and bag in the under-stairs cupboard before christmas, so we put them in the bucket in the conservatory until we could deal with it, or spring came, whatever). The grass seed has found it's way out of the box into the bucket, and is mixed with mouse-droppings. Every now and then one or all of the traps gets sprung and the little f&cker gets away!

It's that kinda thing.

But my story in the song is:

OK, I'm leaving you in charge while I get the fruit and something for morning coffee
When I get home... WTF?!?!
Where's the child???
And all this mess?
And all you can say is "guilty as charged, I was busy" (doing some inconsequential arsery I assume)
And you expect me to accept that?
How can I trust you?
OK, no bun for you
;D ;D ;D

If you've got deeper than that, I love it that songs can tell different stories in different heads - WE complete the song when we hear it.
It doesn't matter what I think it's about, it's what the listener thinks.

Totally brother, I found the ending quite funny. I was getting a Violent Femmes , Country Death Song vibe until the end when it went all funny. Well done brother.

yes, I suppose that in a tragedy, which this is about, at the very least the house is a mess and the baby is missing...at the worse I shudder to think. 
It's totally cool that your wife helped write this?  That is awesome...

My son (17) actually likes a few of mine and the Avocado's Number he thought was really funny, especially a couple lines where it cusses a bit. 

Looking forward to todays offering although after these last 2 I can't imagine you have any more rabbits up your sleeves! 
btw I signed up for RPM as Trevor was talking about it but I committed to 5 songs. 

Ok....I read the reviews and your comments. Having gotten that insight after listening, I did wander into different areas of its meaning. I did get a violent and lack of responsibility interpretation, but it wasn't my ending thought. Unfortunately, living in this politically charged world, I fell in that trap.
You had a nice innocent day of shopping planned.
Upon your return home, everything had been disrupted.
We go about our lives, believing our government cares about and protects us. Realization hits and we find, they're only out to hurt us. Your life is destroyed, you are blamed, and then punished...all for an innocent day out. You're right, I have no idea what a "Chelsea Bun" is, but it's definitely a punishment to have it taken from you????
Bottom line... I enjoyed the song, the lyrics, and your performance????

Very good song. I like the acoustic guitar and the folk style, also reminds me of those olde mediaeval tunes. Love the lyrics and your vocals sound great.

Darren

Quote from: StephenM on February 09, 2022, 04:20:02 AMIt's totally cool that your wife helped write this?  That is awesome...

NAH! She's getting NO credit on this one, she's party to the mundane meanings behind stuff like the foxes and next door's cat, but the song was written recorded and posted before she got home.

Which leads us nicely to...

Quote from: StephenM on February 09, 2022, 04:20:02 AMLooking forward to todays offering although after these last 2 I can't imagine you have any more rabbits up your sleeves! 

Yep that's how yesterday's got written, I'd run out of steam and was stuck...
So during a work coffee break I got the guitar and strummed some chords and got the major/minor thing.
I then started wondering how to do an interesting melody. I decided to consciously start on the 1 rather than the singer-songwriter "strum then sing". This gave me a melody that started on the Major 3rd and had to hit the Minor 3rd after a few beats but I wanted some up and down...
That caused HUGE problems for recording - a single take performing a new song, that you hardly know, with a melody that isn't natural to you, while playing a guitar part you don't know... and the time signature changed to threes while I was writing the lyrics...
Basically, I was pulling stuff out of nothing, hence the look around the place and add the observations in approach.

Today there's even less in the tank. I'm just about to finish work. By this time yesterday, all I had to do was tie up the front and back of the song lyrically from various options I had... then learn and record it.
Today - nothing has started yet....

Mind you, I was VERY surprised and impressed by the "something from nothing" result. So who knows what might happen?

Whatever it is, I intend it to be easier to sing and record this time!!!

Quote from: StephenM on February 09, 2022, 04:20:02 AMbtw I signed up for RPM as Trevor was talking about it but I committed to 5 songs.

Go for it! Good luck.
The pressurised deadline thing (and the exhaustion that ensues) does help loosen up the creative thing and make more interesting stuff happen. And once an idea starts, you are all warmed up and ready to finish it already, because of the previous day.

I gotta admit that these last 3 posts of yours, especially this last one had me up last night with acoustic in hand (had to borrow my sons, mine is at band practice site) and just an open condenser mic trying to write, play, and sing a brand new song as well... Today I am back at it... just guitar (electric unplugged this time (wife sleeping she works late)) and me singing it quietly and writing all the words down and then practicing over and over again... I don't know we'll see.  This ain't usually how I operate.  It would be a real challenge to just stand sing and play all at once with an acoustic on an original... But I think I need to and it will make me a better musician.  Don't get me wrong I played bass and sang for years in an acoustic trio where i sang most of the leads.  I find to sing and play I must know the words (or at least be able to read and sing them from page) and the music parts where I don't have to think about it consciously at all.  It has to be total right brain stuff.  Each song I ever do has to be that way when played live (totally different than recording right?)
Currently I play with 2 other musicians and anywhere from 3 to 5 singers (all ladies but one).  We play twice a week in a church setting for an audience of 50 to 200 people.  So I don't have to sing at all unless I want to and it is sparingly because I can concentrate on adding much more musically that way. 

Love the medieval feel of this I think it is good just as it is Ok maybe a little LUTE playing in the background LOL. There you go new toy to learn how to play
Tim

Medieval is the first thought on this one I can image the entertainment at court ....loving the sound of that guitar...your vocal crisp and beautiful ....as always an excellent recording ...I worked as a driver once upon a time for the Drs on call and we had a call for a Miss Chelsea Bunn ... 2 down 2 to go

Yes I'm getting the renaissance period vibe to it.  Maybe add some crumhorn, sackbutt and hurdy gurdy!  ;)  As an aside - I contributed some music to a folk album last year and I understand that Robert Plant's hurdy gurdy player also added some tracks. 

Another great song. Super impressed.

Paul