BaoBou

You know, I know perfectly well my voice is crap, and I used to never put my vocals on a track, but then recently I saw an interview with Dave Grohl and Taylor Hawkins and they were talking about America's next X-Factor Idol or whatever those programs are called, and how the Beatles or the Stones would never have made it there. Or Nirvana or the Foo Fighters.

So now I try to occasionally put my own vocal on a track - sparingly, I don't want to scare anyone, but bit by bit I learn, and I hope that bit by bit I get better.

This song just NEEDED vocals, full stop. I don't have any singers around... so I sang it... and all I can hope is somebody to say "hey, let me try that" :)

Thanks for listening buddy and for your kind words, much love!

Well obviously I'm hoping that Angelus or Jenna or Patricia (or Mayuri?) will drop by and make me an offer I can't refuse ;) but I probably shouldn't say that out loud ;)

Thanks a lot my friend!
Hm... I wasn't really looking for enjoyable, I was hoping for moving... but ok, I'll take it ;) Thanks for listening!

Thanks a lot buddy! Much appreciated :)
I'm trying to match the emotions of the original lyrics... I think I'm getting closer but it still needs some work. It also needs loads of cleanup, which is not my strong point :D

Thank you Luvroxu, much appreciated!!

Thanks buddy!
The "unexpected" change has been replaced by a more smooth transition - I know you phrased it as a compliment but I think it's a bit better now :)
Thank you so much for listening!

Yes sir! I admit it's also frustrating at times - nobody else to blame for everything that isn't good enough :D but ok, that's why we learn:)
Thanks so much for the kind words man!

Thanks a lot man! I'm still very insecure about singing but bit by bit I'm learning. I've also decided to start taking singing lessons - I think that would help both me and my audience:D

Hahaha I am just like you, I don't like obsessing too long over a track, but then I also know that when I come back to it later the false notes in the vocal, the uneven bits in the drums etc, all those will piss me off, so better to fix it now while I still have the energy ;)
Thanks for listening and commenting, very much appreciated my friend!

Thank you man, much appreciated!

Hey man, first of all good to see you're back and being creative. You're practically royalty here :)

Loving your compliments as well as the improvement points. Regarding the placement I usually (I'm lazy) have one rhythm guitar + keys to the left, one guitar + keys to the right, lead in the middle; and then I hope it balances out throughout the song ;) But that's just being lazy and I realise I haven't given that much of a look. In a previous song somebody also complained the balance, so that's a good reminder, thank you :)

I've left the vocals fairly organic, meaning indeed not very in sync. I fixed some of the worst bits (believe me, it was actually worse) but didn't spend too much time as I hope to record better vocals when my throat is sort of ok again :)

The final sentence makes my heart sing. That's super dope. Thank you man!

Thanks a lot man!

Muchas gracias Michael! I was actually considering to bring down the drums a bit :D but maybe I do need to do some processing/mastering on it to make them a bit tighter. It's so hard!!
Thanks as always for your good tips amigo!

Dank je wel voor de complimenten, ik bloos helemaal :) Ja ik denk dat een beetje meer kennis van vocal productions me zeker zou helpen, maar ik leer beetje bij beetje ;)

Wat betreft jouw tracks, ik ken je gevoel heel goed. Je hebt altijd ergens een track in het verleden waarvan je denkt wow, was ik dat, maar reken maar dat ik als toeschouwer van de zijlijn zie hoe je met elke track groeit. Ik vind dat ook superleuk om te zien; de horizon blijft steeds even ver weg, hoe hard je ook werkt, maar dat betekent niet dat je geen vooruitgang boekt. Reken maar dat ik het zelfde heb ;)

Volgens mij is het Chris Hoy die zei "Training never gets easier - you just go faster". Het is het zelfde met muziek: "Creating never gets easier - you just make better tracks"

Thanks a lot Steve! I didn't know Quiet Sun :o band from the 70s right? But I gave them a quick listen and I'll take it as a compliment :)
Thanks as always, you da man!

Haha awesome comment! Well, the funny thing about "fans" is that in a previous version of the vocals, I'd forgotten to turn the fans off - the standing fans keeping the place cool ;)
Great that you enjoy the "live" sound! I'm trying to get it to sound less garage and more pro, but as long as I get the energy across, I'm happy :)

Awesome Paul, thank you!
Haha yes we feel insecure about our vocals, but then I try to remember what Dave Grohl said - Bob Dylan also wouldn't have made it on "America's Got Talent" and he still made a pretty good career out off that ;)

Yep true. And to be honest, this track and the process made me realise more than ever, that my interest is:
- 60% Creating and Composing
- 30% playing and practicing
- 10% engineering, mixing and mastering

Yet the energy I spend now is the other way around. I don't spend enough time on the music, and the mixing and mastering (which I don't get, I'm not that interested in and which frustrates me) takes too much time.

I'll go back to just rushing tracks out the door as soon as I feel they're fun... and not perfect (I can't ever reach perfection anyway).

Thanks for listening Rockoff!

Well, here's the irony. I signed up for a course here in London, and the course asked to submit a song that could be wored on - so I wrote the current song last Sunday.

I think it would be an excellent thing to work with... but now the production course is probably not going to happen :D (facepalm)

So I'm weighing my options. There must be several ones; the teacher I mentioned actually studied at the Berklee you mention, so that's probably a good place to look.
BTW reuploaded an earlier mix. I had made a "cleaner" one yesterday but noticed just now that in fact it sucked (even more), so...

We live and learn :)

Thanks again man!! Much appreciated!

Thanks a lot Tumbleweed, some great tips - also some things I'm not sure where to start :D
I usually have some standard compression on the bass set up and some filters on guitar and vocals, but it's clearly not enough. Things to learn then, and that means growth :)
Thanks a lot for your help!!

Thanks a lot buddy!

Thanks a lot Steven! The Stones and especially SFtD are some of my favourites, so I'll take that :)
You're right about the vocals, both regarding the mix and the confidence, and yes I'll work on both.
I'm very interested in the tools you mention, so I'll give those a try :)
And thank you for offering your help! You bet I will take you up on that, always much appreciate your work and help matey!!

Thank you! ...I think ;)

Yeah got it :) Thanks again! You have my mail I think, and else you'll know where to find me through DM ;)

Hi Ben, that's an awesome offer man. Let me do that, we had the folder for the "guitar battle" right? I'll create some exports over the weekend. You da man!