Is Paris Burning?

Ferryman · February 07, 2009, 12:14:31 PM

Here's a simple little pop song I wrote nearly 30 years ago (ulp, hence the 80s feel, it was actually written in 1980 so it was ahead of its time then). I never recorded it with the band that used to play it, so I thought I'd try this as a project for the MBR. I had to get guitars and bass down quick before my carpal tunnel op, so I couldn't (and still can't) change them, I think I would add a bit more variety now as it's a turned into a bit of a "strumfest".

Nothing complex, but I learned a lot doing this. Like I should practice singing a bit more

.

Cheers,

Nigel

The Reverend 48 · February 07, 2009, 01:55:32 PM

Quote from: Ferryman_1957 on February 07, 2009, 12:14:31 PMHere's a simple little pop song I wrote nearly 30 years ago (ulp, hence the 80s feel, it was actually written in 1980 so it was ahead of its time then).
Nothing complex, but I learned a lot doing this. Like I should practice singing a bit more .
Cheers,
Nigel[

there's nothing simple about this.......It's excellent it reminds me of the 60's Mersey Beat vibe
Lets hear more

Ferryman · February 07, 2009, 02:44:59 PM

Thanks! You're right about the sound, the guitars have a Rickenbackerish feel. There's a total of five guitar tracks and as four of them are variants of clean sounds, it's ended up quite jangly. Janglier than I intended but it's ok that way I think.

Cheers,

Nigel

Wiley · February 07, 2009, 03:20:34 PM

I really like this. Brings back memories. I like the jangley sound. Of course. I am stuck on the oldies and classic rock. Can't beat that stuff. Bring on more.
P.J.

Bluesberry · February 07, 2009, 03:38:37 PM

Excellent. An original song, layered instrumentation, wonderful lyrics sung in a really great heartfelt way. Nice bass line there. Now this is what this little box of wonders is all about. You have a great sounding complete original song there. And it sounds really great, the mix is pretty perfect. Your singing sounds really good. I am curious how you recorded the singing, I am also a struggling singer (I love to do it but I struggle to make it sound good). I like what you did with the harmonies and all. It really sounds awsome.

Ferryman · February 07, 2009, 04:37:22 PM

Thanks for the feedback everyone. This is an old song but it's always stuck in my mind so I wanted to see how much I could do on the MBR. I've been saying for years I would go into a studio and record some of my old stuff but never got round to it. The MBR and this site have changed all that, the advice and inspiration from everyone else has spurred me on.

Bluesberry, the vocals were a real voyage of discovery. Encouraged by ORH I tried the onboard mike but my first efforts were terrible, a real disappointment. ORH and 64Guitars gave me more good advice, so here's a summary of what I found and did:

- record the vocals with an effect on. If you are going to do more than one vocal track, it's complicated to add effects afterwards.

- At ORHs suggestion I used ForNylon, that worked well. I turned on the enhancer and in future might take the delay down a bit.

- the onboard mike works well, don't turn the input sensitivity down too much though (I had -2db but I have quite a loud voice).

- I recorded two lead vox, both sung in the same way (recorded one, then sang the other to that while the first played back). Lots of people put a doubled vocal dead centre (ie both tracks at C00) but I panned them L25 and R25 to give a bit of a chorus-y feel.

- I bounced all four vocals (two lead, two backing) onto a stereo pair. When I did that I applied a mastering effect (Mix Down IIRC) to the two lead vocal tracks using the LOC feature and used the EQ to bring up the low and mid a little to thicken the lead vocal. That really helped give them some body. I also added some reverb to the backing vox to bury them a little.

I was much happier with the second effort. So persevere and try some of the techniques above, this box of tricks really works well.

BTW, I found singing into the MBR itself weird at first, takes a bit of getting used to.

Cheers,

Nigel

Kody · February 07, 2009, 05:28:27 PM

Great song man! You get such a full from that little box. I agree with you that it's ahead of it's time. Hah, I was born in 1981- so it was actually written before I was even alive, and it sounds better than alot of stuff I remember hearing in the early eighties. Very inspiring piece!

Oldrottenhead · February 08, 2009, 05:46:47 AM

love this gonna stick it on my mp3 player cos my pc speakers are shit, by the way there is nothing wrong with your voice, great post, looking forward to hearing more from you.