Here With Me (Update - new 2nd verse, added bridge)

[bfl]

thanks for previous feedback. I've moved down the road a bit based on that.

I updated 2nd verse (suggested by many) and added a bridge which used the idea of the old 2nd verse. I was going to try to a dream in a dream thing in 2nd verse but consensus was it was too confusing, so just went back into the dream (also based on feedback).

song is called "Here With Me (Aug 21, 2010)" on my taxi page

http://www.taximusic.com/download/33563 ... 02010_.mp3

Here With Me (C 2010 BF Lyon)

had a dream, and I woke up crying
I don't know the reason why
and in the dream, a song was playing
I just heard a few lines

it was night and I was driving
you were sittin next to me
we were on the road somewhere
and then I woke up to see

CHORUS:
you, see you
you, see you
here with me


Fell back asleep and we were flying
gliding through the night like a breeze
and that song was playing
you were singing it to me

Up above were a million stars
Down below were swaying trees
Then your song was fading
And I woke up to see

(CHORUS)

BRIDGE

This could all just be a dream
before a never ending dawn
And when I wake up in the sky
I hope I'm singing that song
with you

[bwd]

Hi Brad. Coming back to listen again, I remembered a lot of the melody. I definitely has the flavor of early Paul Simon and CS&N. Just a couple of suggestions. The chorus is still a bit long for me. I'd just tag the "here with me" on to the end of "you see you" in a more throw-away style. Giving it a couple of bars to itself feels a little drawn out. Also, after the new bridge, what about singing "with you with you" on the same tune as the chorus? That might wrap up the song in a cool way? Cheers, Doug

[Len911]

Well Mr. Lyon, I loved it!! Where can I buy it? I was expecting a repeat of the chorus after the bridge, that's the only nit I have. Superb!

[bfl]

thanks Len and bwd.

bwd - I hear you on the length of the chorus - I've gone back and forth in my head about it. I don't want to overdo the I-->III chord change (which I have to watch out for), but I'm getting mixed feedback on that. You're one of the ones that thinks it's too long - you're not the only one. But some folks like that. I like it, but like I said, I have an affection for that chord change.

I did not want to use the "long" version at the end, but it does need a little something to wrap it up (and both of you indicated).

[teleblaster]

Definite Simon and Garfunkle vibe. Great composition, love the vox and the way the lyric sits on the melody. I think the production needs some work. The overall sonics are nice. The vox have a nice warm feel, the guitars have that wooden and jangly sound. But, the noise floor seems to be out of control. It's most noticeable at the intro where just the guitars are playing. A whooshing gurgling sound like a guitar pre-amp that needs a battery or some gain stage issue. Fix that, and bring the overall level up w/o sacrificing dynamics (i.e. don't squish this like a rock track) and you've got a killer period folk/pop piece.

[bfl]

thanks for the info Erich

the main guitars were mic'ed (between 5th and 12th frets), but I left in a track very low that had a direct AND mic'ed near the sound hole, wonder if that's causing part of it.

Is addressing it as simple a "noise" plugin or something, or a cleaner recording overall of everything that was mic'ed (which was basically everything)? Seems like I played with one before for something else and it was flaky, but I was just dinking around at that point.

if you're saying it's in the intro I'll explore that - thanks a ton

[teleblaster]

I'm pretty sure it's in one of the guitar tracks. I'd start by soloing each track in your project and listening carefully until you find the culprit, then deal with it accordingly. I don't think a gate will help. You might be able to add some noise reduction, but I'm not sure. If it's one of the guitar tracks maybe you can do without, or re-track it. I've downloaded the mp3 and I'm listening on my studio monitors. It might just be me, I'm surprised no one else has heard it -- maybe my ears are full of tin .

[bfl]

thanks again for the info Erich. Interesting stuff.

I'm concerned about not knowing exactly what you are talking about, since it makes it harder for me to know when I've gotten it removed (or its an inherent property of this condenser mic), even if I retrack it. I'm trying to really improve recording acoustic stuff, and this is one of the challenges I wasn't even aware of was in my mix!

If you ever get a chance to isolate a few seconds of it I'd owe you big time. Sounds like if I just listen to anything in the first few seconds of the intro I'll hear it. Could it be a flange thing going on from the multiple rhythm tracks?

[bfl]

well, if I turn it way up on headphones I *think* I hear what you're talking about. In the gaps on the vocal track there is a constant almost white noise thing. I might try to filter that out from a second or two sample of it in the vocal track, if I can figure it out in sonar. Goldwave has this cool way to do it, where you copy that bit to the clipboard, and then tell it to remove that using FFT or whatever. Sometimes it introduces artifacts, but sometimes it's amazing what it does.

[bfl]

ok - I was wondering if this effect was being caused by the Cakewalk Delay plugin on the guitar tracks. I was lazily using that to split them 100% left/right, rather than create two sends for left and right. Maybe I had unintentionally set some other thing too on that plugin.

Anyway, I uploaded just the first 10-20 seconds seconds of the track using left/right sends for guitar tracks rather than the delay plugin. If you get a chance to listen, let me know if that same thing you mentioned is there. I think you'll know right away.

Direct link is here:

http://www.taximusic.com/download/33585 ... 0delay.mp3

it's called "Intro Only Here With Me - no delay"

I know there's some background noise before the guitar starts at about 2 seconds - I didn't mess with that for this little test... or readjust vocals, the level of which is really different compared to the guitar using sends.