After a long break I finally have some new stuff to share. It took a little longer than I had hoped, but I'm pretty happy with the way these songs came out. I wanted to get some new music on here for people to listen to that would be fairly impressive. The first songs I posted got a luke warm response from those of you that did visit this blog, which wasn't a lot of people (thanks to those of you that did) but since the quality was so low I dind't really push people to check it out. Now I think learned and improved on that first effort enough that I've found a pretty decent sound. (When you listen please remember this isn't professionally produced, just the best I can do right now with the best equipment that I can afford) So without further ado, here is the first song:
Fake it (Cover of the Seether song)
This isn't my strongest vocal performance but I don't think it came out too bad overall. I still haven't found the ideal eq and mix settings for the vocals. I'm still working on it. I think you'll agree when you compare this second post...
Good (Cover of the Better Than Ezra song, Ver 2)
...With the version I originally posted on my Facebook wall and re-posted to this blog (which you can link to in the gadget over on the right, "direct links to songs I've posted", "Good Cover"
This comparison will really show something that was really slowing me down with this project for a while, the drum sounds. That was a tough hurdle for me. I had a hard time getting the DAW to use plug ins that had good drum sounds. But after a large number of tantrums set off by some new problem that each step towards good drum sounds brought, I think I have something acceptable. Now, for this third post I had a different problem altogether...
Like a Stone (cover of the Audioslave song)
I had 2 problems with this song. The first was learning how to play it. This is one of my favorite songs and I thought it was simple enough that I could come up with a decent version of it if I am going to be worth anything as a musician. So I checked the guitar tabs, listened, played along with it and got the basics of it. When I started to lay down the bass, I noticed there was something wrong. To try to make a long story short I'll just say this, Tom Morello and Chris Cornell are obviously skilled musicians and I picked up some good knowledge learning to play this song. I'm especially proud of the solo. I was very intimidated by the prospect of trying to do justice to a Morello solo and although it is obvious that it isn't him playing, I'm not ashamed of what I was able to do with it.
The second problem was getting passable vocals. This is a tough song. If you're familiar with the song you'll notice that there are 2 notes in the last chorus that I had to back off on. That's where the problem was; If I'm driving down the street and listening to this song, I'm all over it. But, when I get in front of that mic, with my house as quiet as I can get it, I start thinking about it and don't sing "relaxed". I try, but I still need to improve on that. With that said though, I don't think I did too badly. I guess that's why I'm posting it.
Now for the last song...
Jam D
This is an original work that is the result of working with my brother Jamie (aka Jam D) when he recently visited for Thanksgiving. We were playing around with my studio setup and he found the 808 kit in my drum module. He came up with the 8 bar beat that runs for most of it and then we mutually arrived at the 4 bar bassline. The next day we were planning to visit our cousin Lorie. So I wanted to come up with something to show off what we had created the night before. So I created a drum loop and played some bass with some variations of the basic line and started playing my guitar along with it to see what I could come up with. I know I'm not breaking any new ground with it, but I think it sounds pretty cool. Especially in that I played it one take after about 2 practice takes.
So there you have it. It's basically an EP to showcase where I am with this music thing. If this is your first visit to my blog then you may be wondering if this wasn't professionally produced, how did I record this? Well, check out some of the earlier posts, I get into some of those details. This is me performing everything in real time, with very minimal editing (just some minor clean-ups). I hope you enjoy. Please leave comments and let me know what you think.
Fake it (Cover of the Seether song)
This isn't my strongest vocal performance but I don't think it came out too bad overall. I still haven't found the ideal eq and mix settings for the vocals. I'm still working on it. I think you'll agree when you compare this second post...
Good (Cover of the Better Than Ezra song, Ver 2)
...With the version I originally posted on my Facebook wall and re-posted to this blog (which you can link to in the gadget over on the right, "direct links to songs I've posted", "Good Cover"
This comparison will really show something that was really slowing me down with this project for a while, the drum sounds. That was a tough hurdle for me. I had a hard time getting the DAW to use plug ins that had good drum sounds. But after a large number of tantrums set off by some new problem that each step towards good drum sounds brought, I think I have something acceptable. Now, for this third post I had a different problem altogether...
Like a Stone (cover of the Audioslave song)
I had 2 problems with this song. The first was learning how to play it. This is one of my favorite songs and I thought it was simple enough that I could come up with a decent version of it if I am going to be worth anything as a musician. So I checked the guitar tabs, listened, played along with it and got the basics of it. When I started to lay down the bass, I noticed there was something wrong. To try to make a long story short I'll just say this, Tom Morello and Chris Cornell are obviously skilled musicians and I picked up some good knowledge learning to play this song. I'm especially proud of the solo. I was very intimidated by the prospect of trying to do justice to a Morello solo and although it is obvious that it isn't him playing, I'm not ashamed of what I was able to do with it.
The second problem was getting passable vocals. This is a tough song. If you're familiar with the song you'll notice that there are 2 notes in the last chorus that I had to back off on. That's where the problem was; If I'm driving down the street and listening to this song, I'm all over it. But, when I get in front of that mic, with my house as quiet as I can get it, I start thinking about it and don't sing "relaxed". I try, but I still need to improve on that. With that said though, I don't think I did too badly. I guess that's why I'm posting it.
Now for the last song...
Jam D
This is an original work that is the result of working with my brother Jamie (aka Jam D) when he recently visited for Thanksgiving. We were playing around with my studio setup and he found the 808 kit in my drum module. He came up with the 8 bar beat that runs for most of it and then we mutually arrived at the 4 bar bassline. The next day we were planning to visit our cousin Lorie. So I wanted to come up with something to show off what we had created the night before. So I created a drum loop and played some bass with some variations of the basic line and started playing my guitar along with it to see what I could come up with. I know I'm not breaking any new ground with it, but I think it sounds pretty cool. Especially in that I played it one take after about 2 practice takes.
So there you have it. It's basically an EP to showcase where I am with this music thing. If this is your first visit to my blog then you may be wondering if this wasn't professionally produced, how did I record this? Well, check out some of the earlier posts, I get into some of those details. This is me performing everything in real time, with very minimal editing (just some minor clean-ups). I hope you enjoy. Please leave comments and let me know what you think.
