After much deliberation, procrastination, and technical frustration, I've finally "finished" my EP. I won't say too much by way of backing info but basically I was bought a studio experience by my old work mates as a 30th birthday gift which was interesting, though most of what is in this I've done myself, at home. If anybody wants to know I can give some details of what kit I used and what not.
Would love some feedback. The originals are "Sheena is a Monster", " I'm sorry Suarez ", " Wait" and "If". The others are covers - " Pale Blue Eyes" Velvet Underground, "Red Light Blue Light" Harry Connick Junior, "Wild Fire" Laura Marling. All instruments and vocals played, programmed and sang by me (with a few spoken samples from internet).
Without further ado:
Listen to Two Teas, No Sugar by thecolourbox #np on #SoundCloud
Oh and I did an acoustic demo type version of Wild Fire too:
Listen to Wild Fire - Acoustic (Laura Marling Cover) by thecolourbox #np on #SoundCloud
Many thanks in advance for your thoughts
Comments
soundcloud.com/thecolourbox-1
youtube.com/@TheColourboxMusic
Remember, it's easier to criticise than create!
Is it a case of the input needing to improve, do you think, so that I don't have to cover it in compression, reverb and overdrive? If I turn off the fx it just sounds dry and bare and my mistakes or shortcomings show up a lot more.
Another thought that may or may not be valid that somebody else has commented on, and this is in general not specific to the reverb thing, is that the music I listen to and enjoy playing is not reflected in these songs, mainly because my vocals do not lend themselves to those styles. So I have to do more generic styles of music which I'm not so used to listening to in order to pick up styles and ideas.
soundcloud.com/thecolourbox-1
youtube.com/@TheColourboxMusic
Why not post a drier version for us to hear? You can obsess about perfection but plenty of famous tracks have mistakes or imperfections which make them. What might seem a mistake to you could be different to others. Or you might be told to stick with the reverb! But people are friendly and honest here.
And why not try recording what you want to play? You can adapt it to go with your vocals if need be but don't play/sing stuff that's not you.
Remember, it's easier to criticise than create!
@flying_pie I could do alternate less-reverb versions yes, though would probably be next week before I get time. Re perfection & mistakes it's not so much that, "Mistakes" probably isn't the word, more "shortcomings" I think. I'm happy to leave little mistakes in (as evidenced by these recordings haha) as they generally add to the vibe as you say.
My next project may well be to make music I like, though it will have to be instrumental as honestly, my voice would not work for it. That's not self deprecating, it just does not fit. I like listening to and playing White Stripes, Strokes, Yeah Yeah Yeahs. I don't have the vocal range (high or low) to go with that type of guitar playing, and playing up a 5th makes the guitar sound like the smurfs are playing it. Playing up a 5th and doubling down an octave with a POG would become a tedious gimmick after a few songs I think. I don't have any musical friends I could steal to sing for me either, as the few I have play and sing only MoR Dad rock or choral stuff! Cheers for your thoughts though, I appreciate the differing viewpoints.
@fretwired I too use Cubase, I could not understand how to do even the most basic stuff in Reaper or Pro Tools. I did try to use FX tracks on a couple of them but I don't think I fully understood what to do with them as I could not hear any difference with it switched on or off even with two or three tracks sent to it. I've never read any tutorials or watched any videos as my vocab of what things are is so low, I get quite lost very quickly, have to stop and then look up the thing I was confused about so it's a bit of a rabbit hole and as ever, time is the enemy.
soundcloud.com/thecolourbox-1
youtube.com/@TheColourboxMusic
If it’s rubbish no harm done I guess.
I’ll listen to the tracks later and compare them to some obscure sixties band you’ve never heard of...
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Having listened I'd agree with the comments about reverb. You've got some good stuff in there though. Don't shy away from vocals completely
Remember, it's easier to criticise than create!
Anyway! Yes the stems.... I may try to do dry stems this weekend but it takes forever and a day to do them as my version of Cubase (elements) does not have the batch export of each track, but instead you have to go through and solo one track at a time to export it. I generally only have eight tracks max at any one time, however I have about three versions of each eight also there in the background for different takes which are muted so I get rather confused as to which I have done and which I haven't when I try to do that. But, it was only about £70 instead of £400...
soundcloud.com/thecolourbox-1
youtube.com/@TheColourboxMusic
soundcloud.com/thecolourbox-1
youtube.com/@TheColourboxMusic
Remember, it's easier to criticise than create!
soundcloud.com/thecolourbox-1
youtube.com/@TheColourboxMusic
Confidence.
Remember, it's easier to criticise than create!
soundcloud.com/thecolourbox-1
youtube.com/@TheColourboxMusic
soundcloud.com/thecolourbox-1
youtube.com/@TheColourboxMusic