General feedback on new acoustic tune

[beesea]

Thanks for the feedback everyone! Here's round 3, if anyone wants to hear it.

https://soundcloud.com/bobcrow/build-a-bigger-fire

Pretty happy with this mix. Andy - great tips, thanks a bunch! EQing out the sibilant frequencies of the reverb helped quite a bit. I did also end up manually turning down some of the sibilants and plosives as well. Took some time, but now I know what a "B" looks like in wave form versus a "T" or an "S"...

I missed the deadline for the listing that I was going to submit this one for (last Friday), but I've been seeing a fair amount of stripped-down acoustic-y folk-y listings lately. I'm sure I'll find some more.

[andygabrys]

hey Bob,

sound better i think. hard to compare 100% without having both side by side. Its interesting how the sibilant syllables look different huh?

I think the noise reduction on the guitar disappeared? seems to be noisier again.

check this out - a wet vocal, but virtually no sibilance - they might have filtered off the top end of the reverb or it might be a chamber without a lot of high response. a bunch of plosives that they didn't deal with, but classic.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=87FjkqtK ... e=youtu.be

sometimes if you aren't getting the reverb performance you want, you can change to a different shape / size, eq the top or bottom or both out of the reverb, or switch to a different reverb plugin (assuming you are using a plugin).

And just for reference - the classic way of setting up a reverb is to use an Aux and send some lead vocal to that rather than inserting it on the lead vocal channel.

Its a question of gear - if you only have one hardware reverb, that's all you got. This makes sense in a DAW too, cause you can save on CPU by using only a couple verbs and sending to them on Auxes - convolution reverbs are often hungry beasts. And it also means that you can radically effect the reverb Auxs with eq, or compression, de-essing, whatever and you never modify the tone of the vocal itself - automating reverb level is often easier too (depending on the kind of verb plugin you are using and the particular controls).

anyways, like the tune!

[beesea]

I think the noise reduction on the guitar disappeared? seems to be noisier again.

Yep, had to make a judgement call there; the noise reduction was causing some weird artifacts from one of the two guitar mics, so I turned it off on that mic. And, of course, I don't like the sound of the "non-atrifacted" mic on it's own - that would make life easy. I will probably will just re-record the guitar when I get a chance. Think I'm gonna spend some time putting another tune or two together first though, just to get away from this one and come back later with fresh ears.

check this out - a wet vocal, but virtually no sibilance - they might have filtered off the top end of the reverb or it might be a chamber without a lot of high response. a bunch of plosives that they didn't deal with, but classic.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=87FjkqtK ... e=youtu.be

Cool! Hadn't heard that one before; just the isolated vocals on What's Goin On. Crazy how much verb is there when you strip the rest away!
You've given me lots to work with - next tune I'm gonna try more "sending" and less "inserting" - never really understood the advantage before, but I like the idea of shaping the eq of the reverb.
Thanks again - cheers!

[andygabrys]

nice Bob - looking forward to hearing them.

[DanLuedke]

Nice song. I like how the verse stanzas go in threes. I think it's more singer-songwriter than folk.

[LittleRedChurch]

ahhhh music is a beautiful thing...

Lovely. (Love your picture, btw. heartfelt and honest) Song's as sweet as anything. Listen to Andy, Bob. Andy knows best. In it's current state everything sounds wonderful. LOVE the guitar! What listing were you shooting for?

All the best

Graham

[beesea]

In it's current state everything sounds wonderful. LOVE the guitar! What listing were you shooting for?
Graham

Thanks Graham! Here's the listing I had in mind:


RAW, FOLK-INSPIRED SINGER/SONGWRITER SONGS with MALE VOCALS that you'd hear on the same playlist as The White Buffalo, Joshua James, Levi Lowrey, etc., are needed by an excellent Film/TV Music Publishing/Licensing Company with a long list of incredible placements. They're looking for earthy and intimate songs that have a reflective and warm vibe. Vocal performances must be extremely believable, as this company only wants songs that sound like a real artist. Lyric themes are open, but should be universal, avoiding specific names, places, dates, times, brand names, and profanity. Your production needs to be acoustic-based with NO MIDI elements. Keep it simple! This company offers an exclusive, three-year deal. Please be sure that any songs you submit are not already signed with any other publisher or library. You must own or control 100% of your master and copyright to submit for this request. Please submit one to three songs online or per CD, include lyrics. All submissions will be screened and critiqued by TAXI and must be received no later than Friday, July 19, 2013.
TAXI # S130719SS

[LittleRedChurch]

Thanks for posting the listing!!

So, my first thought is, the White Buffalo song has a certain... straight aheadness. I mean, it's sad, but he's strong through it. Melodically, he stays away from anything too...pulling at the heart stringy. Ya know? Melodically it's a straight ahead story. Kinda country music based. Not overly dramatic. Your's, like my stuff, is more rock derived 'sad'.

IMO IMO IMO!!!

there you have it.

Love to hear more of your stuff, Bob!

Graham

[nick.moxsom]

Great song, Bob, and refreshing to hear something so traditional-sounding these days. To my ears it's all a little hot for the genre. Nothing wrong with that, just feels slightly between camps - not quite folk, not quite indie. Maybe just me...

Personally I would have preferred to hear a cello come in at 1:41 rather than a piano. Feels like it might work better sonically with your vocal timbre. But again, just my opinion.

I know from your comments on my song (thanks, btw, very astute and helpful) that lyrics are your thing, and I have one nit here, at 0:41: can scars grow cold? Pedantic maybe, but it jumped out at me. But if you're cool with it, that's fine.

Nice work.
Nick

[beesea]

Great song, Bob, and refreshing to hear something so traditional-sounding these days. To my ears it's all a little hot for the genre. Nothing wrong with that, just feels slightly between camps - not quite folk, not quite indie. Maybe just me...

Personally I would have preferred to hear a cello come in at 1:41 rather than a piano. Feels like it might work better sonically with your vocal timbre. But again, just my opinion.

I know from your comments on my song (thanks, btw, very astute and helpful) that lyrics are your thing, and I have one nit here, at 0:41: can scars grow cold? Pedantic maybe, but it jumped out at me. But if you're cool with it, that's fine.

Nice work.
Nick

Thanks for the feedback Nick! Yeah, I agree with you on the cello, that would sound cool. That may happen at some point, although I'd have to find someone else to play it. Scars growing cold lyric - a bit of a stretch I suppose. Was thinking along the lines of what "burned you before", and that the person I'm singing to has iced those scars to numb the pain, etc. I'll give that one some thought and see if I can tie it together a little better... Thanks again, cheers!