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Post by mcarp555 on Sept 28, 2013 7:59:19 GMT
After a great deal of effort, and considerable delays, I've finally finished this new piece. Written in February of this year, recording was an on-again, off-again saga. Drum parts were done with Band-In-A-Box and imported into Cubase, where bass was also added. Various guitar parts (electric and acoustic) were then recorded, along with a piano part. Then the whole project was transferred to the 788 when latency issues in Cubase started to make further progress difficult. Keyboard parts were redone and added to (choir & strings). Then the guitar parts were all scrapped and started anew. School vacations and holidays meant that work would frequently grind to a halt for weeks at a time. I had just finished the guitar solos and added more string parts when my back went out, so another month went by while recuperating. Finally, vocals were done, tweaked and integrated into the existing mix of the backing tracks, with the aid of Melodyne and Audacity. Throughout the recording of this song, I have agonized (if that's not too strong a term to use) about posting it here when it was completed. Some people may not agree with the sentiment of the lyrics, and take exception to them. It's not my intention to cause upset; I strive to listen and critique what I hear in musical terms only, regardless of whether or not I agree with the words. So I hope anyone who listens will treat this recording in a similar fashion. I could easily go on and on about the writing, recording and effort invested in this song, but perhaps I should just shut up and let the music speak for itself. soundclick.com/share.cfm?id=12513958
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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 Sept 30, 2013 3:07:04 GMT
Music was well laid out and performed. I can tell you took your time on this and focused on it's musical quality. I really like the guitar tone.
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Post by mcarp555 on Sept 30, 2013 12:09:18 GMT
Thanks Stan. I tend to gravitate towards the Les Paul for solos for some reason. The guitar at the end is doubled an octave up, BTW.
I've created a video for this song, because I'm told that 'you have to get on You Tube' these days. So yesterday I stuck together some space images and posted it. The only real drawback is I had to use a mono mix, but it gets the point across. All and sundry are welcome to view at
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Post by Girl Friday on Oct 11, 2013 23:22:12 GMT
So nice to hear your original work!!!! I'm so glad that in spite of how crazy busy life gets (I can totally relate!) you are still taking time to create!!!
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Post by latmat on Jun 7, 2014 21:17:49 GMT
Cool song Mike. Sorry I seemed to have missed this track in the forum. Better late than never...
A good mix to be sure. I feel its so clear that the vocal could actually sit a bit lower in the mix. I'd probably add a little bit of air to the lead vocal eq, as the top end feels a touch dull. Possibly the entire mix actually. I added about 4 dB of high shelf eq at 12000 Hz seemed to do the trick and seemed to make song feel more vibrant to my ears.
Lyrically I think this is pretty interesting but I'm left wondering a little bit about what you do believe, which I thought might be a really cool idea for a bridge (Middle 8). As if to say, ya we might not share the same beliefs but here are some things that we probably agree on and it doesn't take faith to see that these are good things. You touch on it in verse three with the words "but my life is still moral". As a listener I wan't to know a bit more about that... A bridge could be seriously simple and be ridiculously effective. Something like
I believe in love I believe in kindness I believe in heart I believe in forgiveness
Then coming back in with I have no faith... would really have a lot of punch.
This is a really well constructed melody, its super singable and extremely catchy. I listened to this last light to get a sense of it before settling for comment and it ran through my head all through the night till morning on first listen so, very catchy indeed. Some cool instrumental hooks from the intro and in the harmonized outro, which is super cool with a strong cadence, love that.
Glad you ended up sharing this Mike
Thanks for the listen
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Post by mcarp555 on Jun 8, 2014 8:25:19 GMT
Interesting. I'll try running the final stereo mix back through the EQ to see how it sounds. When you're mixing and sub-mixing multiple groups of tracks, the potential is always there for a bit of mud to stick. Lyrically, I deliberately avoided a middle eight because I wanted to keep the overall structure simple. The model in my head at the time was "Amazing Grace", which gets its point across without needing to get complicated. Keeping it down to five chords and an A/B layout helps it fit into a "Simple = Popular" mold, like many "classic" songs. Woody Guthrie, 50's rock & roll, 60's protest songs, et al. I also wanted to avoid specifics in favour of general blanket statements; there is a subtle difference between 'belief' and 'faith'. The lyrics clearly reject 'faith' as unsubstantiated belief. Adding things like 'But I believe in love/hope/peace/etc.' would just dilute that message, I feel. However, I greatly appreciate your thoughtful comments, and glad you found the melody so catchy; you're not the first person to remark on that. The harmonized outro is manually double-tracked by me playing the same lick, an octave apart. No studio FX. And, thanks for alerting me to the Soundcloud plugin, which as you can see below, I have installed for all of us to use. Look for this button when creating a post: , then insert the URL of the track you want to display. https%3A//soundcloud.com/mcarp555/have-no-faith
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Post by latmat on Jun 8, 2014 10:02:20 GMT
Gees, would of sworn I heard a harmony line on that guitar, but ya octaves... effective. Ya totally understand the perspective of wanting to keep it traditional and hymn like. Singular in message like a hymn. No worries. Its good to have a clear vision for your art, can't listen to everyones ideas because it won't be cohesive. I respect that... You guys offer me so many ideas I gotta throw some back at y'all , other wise my posts would be very short indeed. Ya that plugin is pretty sweet...
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Post by mcarp555 on Jun 8, 2014 11:04:21 GMT
You might have been surprised to hear that so much thought went into the lyrics, almost before a single word was written down. We talk a lot on this forum about writing, arranging and recording music, but not much about lyrical intent or purpose. So it's good now and then to bounce ideas around and have the chance to explain why something was said, or why it was said the way it was. Discussions like this can offer great insight into the heart of a song.
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