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Post by Girl Friday on Apr 16, 2008 20:55:32 GMT
I posted a new demo on MySpace called "Dona Nobis Pacem" if anyone wants to have a listen. I'm dedicating it to all the mothers who've sent a child off to war..... I'll post the tracks a little later if anyone wants to do a better job at mixing it. :-)
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Post by chrisr on Apr 16, 2008 22:06:56 GMT
Very nice song with lots of potential, GF.
Chris
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sgulley
Superstar
If you really like music and recording it then never stop trying to get better at it.
Posts: 2,994
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Post by sgulley on Apr 17, 2008 3:17:20 GMT
Yes, I thought it was well thought out with the lyrics to back it up. Nice job GF.
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Post by Girl Friday on Apr 17, 2008 4:42:06 GMT
Thank you. It was a song that was really on my heart. The title means Grant Us Peace....guess it shows my roots in the Catholic mass. I even started the song with a little Italian Renaissance chord progressions and "a choir of angels" in my keyboard. :-) I enjoyed crafting this song very much musically and lyrically...maybe more than any of the others I've done, but I'm not going to lie, I still struggle and I mean STRUGGLE getting the "sound" I want. I "hear" things in my head....pieces and parts and dynamics and phrases, and I still struggle to get them to "sound" the way I want them to. I don't know how to make the hardware capture it. It can be a bit frustrating. But it's a happy frustration....if that makes any sense at all. :-)
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Post by Tom on Apr 18, 2008 2:48:48 GMT
Was able to access myspace from home tonight. Very nice song, one that I can relate to on a couple of levels, one being that my Catholic self much prefers the traditional music one hears at Christmas and Easter mass to the more modern folky stuff that seems to dominate at other times. Very interesting to hear it mixed in with the upbeat (rhymically) song that follows. To bad the keyboard choir could be a real one.
Tom
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Post by mcarp555 on Apr 18, 2008 19:52:07 GMT
Sort of a 'neo-80's' sound with the keyboard and percussion. I know what you mean about getting the sound you hear in your head onto the 'tape'. Sometimes you just get as close as you can, call it a demo, and move on. Oddly, it's when you don't try so hard you come closest to capturing it.
I'd bump the vocals up a tad more, and some harmony on the chorus wouldn't go amiss, I think.
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Post by Girl Friday on Apr 18, 2008 21:39:38 GMT
I actually "heard" more harmony parts on this song, but I ran out of tracks. There have been some 3 part harmony songs I've wanted to do, but that just leaves me with one track left for an instrument. Keeping it simple is the way to go, but it's such fun putting all the instruments together! I always have this little orchestra in my head.
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Post by chrisr on Apr 18, 2008 22:54:23 GMT
Hi GF, Since we are talking 4-track here, one does indeed often run out of tracks when it comes to recording harmony vocals. One solution to the problem is to bounce tracks. You could record as many harmony vocals as you like (well..), and each time bounce the tracks to a final 2 vocals tracks (for stereo). You will have some recording quality loss, and you will have to very well plan the recording, of course. Another solution would be to use your Boss RC-20XL sampler/looper to record all the harmony vocals first (you know how to do that), and to then record the result via line (Boss output to PS5 line input). You may have some synchronisation problems, and remember that the Boss sampling (and output) is only mono. But yes indeed, recording with a 4-track means that one has to live with its limitations, even if it may indeed be frustrating to sometimes having to "keep it simple" more than one would like. Anyway, even this "simple" version of your new song is very good, GF, and believe me that we can all imagine how it would be if recorded in a pro 24 track studio. Chris
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Post by mcarp555 on Apr 18, 2008 23:06:34 GMT
Remember that the PS5 is unique in that it allows you to bounce a track to itself. So you could record instruments on all four tracks, then bounce them down to one, leaving you three for vocals. True, having the backing on one track means it's going to be mono, but if the vocals are good, you may be forgiven for having all the backing tracks in the middle of the mix.
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Post by chrisr on Apr 18, 2008 23:51:51 GMT
Yes indeed, Mike.
Now honestly, if the multitrack session is very well planned, it isn't necessary to bounce all the instrument tracks down to just one track (leaving you with mono obviously). You can bounce the instruments tracks to 2 tracks (doing an instruments 'stereo premix', in a way). As long as you are left with 2 tracks for the vocals, it isn't all that difficult to still add at least four vocals takes (of which three different harmony vocals), bounced to 2 tracks, without much quality loss.
Still, I think we all agree that even if the PS5 has an incredible number of possibilities as a digital multitracker, and even if one can indeed do a lot with bouncing, it has the obvious limitations of a (digital) 4-track.
Chris
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Post by Girl Friday on Apr 19, 2008 0:54:15 GMT
I'm definitely going to continue to try to hone my bouncing skills. (That sounds like something Tigger would say!) I know that presently, it's my best bet to maximizing my tracks to the all the little voices I hear in my head. My weakest skill is mixing the sounds together to the bounce, then mixing that to the rest of the tracks. Once the tracks are bounced, there's no more forgiveness in pulling down the fader for just one of the instruments. Of course, I save the original tracks so I can come back to them...just in case. Practice and patience, right? While practice may not make perfect, it sure makes things better. I'm light years ahead of where I was just two months ago with my little appliance thanks to all of your encouragement and instruction. I'm trying to not only hone the recording skills, but my songwriting, playing, and vocal skills, so everyday is a new adventure. Whew! Is anybody else out there exhausted ?
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