COME BACK TO ME, Kelli Scarr

Community Recordings Audio-Video Of You Playing
1

Hey fellow forum members. I finally got this one done! It took a while. I think when I first opened up the page in Justin’s Acoustic Songbook, it was March. Whew!

I took most of the pointers in the lesson, i.e., playing a main acoustic part and trying out different triad chord grips on my electric.

I tried experimenting with volume swells to emulate the pedal steel heard in the original song, but decided I need a lesson on that. I did try out some sounds in my Yamaha keyboard. I actually made a track and placed it in the song, but because I didn’t think it sounded good or right, I turned it down so low in volume, that I couldn’t hear it. If you can hear it, you’ve got good ears - which isn’t saying much, because mine are not :smirk:. At least, in that part of the process, I learned how to use my keyboard with Reaper.

On the acoustic part, I started out with Justin’s tab for the Verses. I then experimented and created extra Fingerstyle patterns for the Intro, Links and the Choruses. I created more patterns on the electric, also adding a bit of pick strumming with the triad chord grips.

I have practiced this with playing and singing at the same time, but felt it wasn’t up to par by the time I had finished everything else. I also felt, my singing dynamics weren’t as strong while concentrating on the playing; and the timing wasn’t there yet. So I decided to sing separately. These vocals were and are challenging for my vocal range on the high parts. Hopefully, from some tips learned from Chris Liepe, it will sound decent. I also need lessons on stage performance. Need to smile more, not look so serious and RELAX!

In Reaper, just for reference, I placed the original music track in for sound comparisons. On my Vocal tracks, I used CLA Vocals with some Compression and selected the Moody FX. On the other tracks, I used Compression, Reverb and EQ.

As for the video, I used Corel Video Studio 2020 on my old laptop. It kept crashing on me, but I finally got it completed. Next time, I will have the program on my newer laptop and the process will hopefully go more smoothly.

I hope you enjoy the listen and, as always, constructive criticism is welcome.

Pam

26 Likes
2

That was awesome Pam, you certainly put a lot of work into this and it shows in the finished product. Your playing was beautiful but it’s the vocals that did it for me. They were perfect for the song!

3

Congratulations Pam. This is an awesome performance. :slightly_smiling_face: The 2 layers of guitar, the singing, the sound quality and the video editing : everything was great :partying_face::partying_face::partying_face::partying_face::+1::+1::+1:

4

Hi Pam,
This is definitely my favorite of yours, I like ( it in) all layers…
:sunglasses: :clap: :clap: :clap: :bouquet:

What a video job that must have been, as far as we are concerned it is worth all the effort :sunglasses: (my wife is sitting next to me having breakfast) :man_bowing:

Greetings

1 Like
5

Very well produced and performed, Pam. The higher notes sounded great, it didn’t come across as being difficult for you to reach them.

6

Well done, Pam, a great performance: arranging, playing, and producing.:sunglasses:

Thought you did really well on the vocals too. :clap: :clap::clap:

7

Wow Pam, that was quite something. I can’t begin to imagine the time and effort that you’ve put into that one. Super music and production skills on display there. The fact that you created picking patterns for various parts of the song really made the song your own.
Excellent vocal too. Well done.

8

This is great Pam. The playing, vocals, and production were top notch.

9

Great playing and singing! Congrats on managing all the tracks combined to form this beautiful song. What’s very important is that you obviously enjoyed playing the song; after all that’s the point, right?
Regards
Tomasz

10

Pamela

Enchanting and melancholy and yearning. A superb version, well performed. Your belief in the song rings out in every note. Very enjoyable.

Brian

11

That was terrific, Pam! :slight_smile:

That’s an impressive effort you put into that overall great production and it was so well worth it! :clap:

The layering of the guitars was well prepared and put together perfectly, it sounded really sweet to my ears. Your vocal performance was great, too. It was authentic and sung with the right feeling and emotion. I couldn’t hear any struggles with high notes, sounded all relaxed as they should. :slight_smile:

Thanks for sharing that gem with us, a most enjoyable listen! :smiley:

12

Excellent Pamela!

Sorry not to much criticism.

I liked that ‘you’ did this. As in no back track, it was only you doing your thing. I really like that. ‘You’ were making music and imho there is much to be said for that.
I also liked that it appears you were live micing everything, including the elec. guitar amp. Very well done imho.
Your video production is also very well done. Cool that you got them split screens in there to see the various parts.
It was also well mixed I thought. Nothing was to loud, nothing was to soft. Just a good mix.

I only have one negative comment, kinda sorta.
If that’s a window behind you with the blinds. imho, open the blinds and let the sun shine in. :slight_smile:

Very well played and your singing was very good.

Thanks for sharing, I enjoyed that.

13

That was a beautiful all round performance. Thanks so much Pam. When I see the time, thought and professionalism you put into this one offering, it makes happy, yet also shows me that I’m still a guitar dabbler at this point. Better aim higher!

14

That was lovely.

15

Thank you all for such nice compliments on my recording and for taking the time to listen.

@Eddie_09 I’m happy you liked my playing and vocals. On the vocals, when I first started out, I couldn’t get the highest or the lowest parts. Actually, you may have noticed that I included some harmony to help with the lowest parts.

@math07 Thank you so much. This one, I think, truly was a bit of a challenge. But I just took the tips on Justin’s lesson and followed his suggestions as best as I could.

@roger_holland Hey Roger! Tell the wife Hello and I’m glad you both enjoyed it. Oh, your favorite of mine…I like that! Yes, the video was a challenge. I first had a lot of separate clips in smaller boxes. But it was too busy and the clips were too small, so I cut some out, rearranged and enlarged others.

@Willsie Hey John! Thank you and I’m so happy you enjoyed the production. Yeah, it took some trial and error on how to sing the high parts, but I figured it out. On the low parts, it was hit and miss during the learning process. That’s how the harmonies were used - for assistance.

@Elixir1253 @TheCluelessLuthier (Mark) Thank you to the both of you. I’m happy you each enjoyed my production. Thank you so much for listening and commenting.

@sairfingers Hey Gordon! I finally got this done! I’m happy to read your lovely comments. Thank you! It did take some time and
challenge, but I just looked at it as one thing at a time…one step in front of the other. The tabs were quite simple. Some of the more experienced players, could probably have embellished that so much more. Also, the triads are something new in my learning process. The hardest and most frustrating part was my video program constantly crashing. I intend to solve that issue before my next project!

@coda Hello Tomasz, Thank you for your lovely compliments! Yes, I like the song. The artist was new to me. It was nice to try her song. I get introduced to so many artists that I’ve never heard of through this forum and from Justin’s songbooks. Once again, Thank You.

@beejay56 Hey Brian! Oh, I love your words you used to describe this. Thank You! It truly is a bit of a sad song about a lost love, hopeful that he will come back, but in the end knowing and accepting that he won’t.

3 Likes
16

That’s beautiful thank you and well done Cheers Hec

17

Pam,
Just beautiful! Thanks for all the detail on how you produced this production. Your vocals show more versatility in range than I have ever heard from you. Though I think your low to midrange was perhaps a bit more polished than your high end.

Guitar play was very good and good to see you pull out you electric too!

I think it fair to say you learned a ton on this one! To me, it was well worth your investment in time to produce!

Keep growing as your heading in the right direction!

All the best and be well,
LB

18

@Lisa_S Hey Lisa! Thank you for taking the time to listen and comment. The words you used to describe my production are much appreciated. You are very articulate. I’m so glad you liked it. This was time-consuming and challenging, but fun too. I may even keep it in my Set List. Practice helped me with getting the high vocals acceptable. The low parts were harmonized. I still need to practice more on singing and playing at the same time to improve the timing and dynamics.

@HappyCat Hello, Jim. I liked your comments about the details of building up the song and you were correct. About the electric, I would have hooked it up through the AI and the DAW, but couldn’t figure that out. Is there a way to with the Boss Katana Mark II?

On the video production, thank you on that too. I’m a fairly good photographer (which was my profession for the last eight years of my career) but I have problems getting good video when it comes to lighting. There is a window with a Roman shade there, but it seemed to highlight one side too much. Thank you for suggesting that. I will keep trying to improve my lighting. Also thank you on my singing. :smiling_face:

@mfeeney0110 Michael, Thank You for listening and commenting. I’m happy too that you liked the song.

I think you can do it. Give it a try. No need to do the whole production method. Just need a simple recording. Those are just as good.

@LunaRocket @DeltaTyne Thank you, Rebecca & Hec. I’m so glad you liked it :heart:

@LBro Hey, Hey! Nice to hear from you. Hope you are doing well and Thank You! I’m really happy you enjoyed the song. Re: versatility in my vocal range: I really had
to work on this one. As you are familiar with my range, going high is hard for me. On my guitar playing, this song came at the right time because that’s where I’m at in my practice routines. I have finished the original course’s Fingerstyle lessons and
am still practicing on learning all the triads. So that worked out great with this song.

1 Like
19

Hi Pam!

Very enjoyable package that you’ve put together, wrapped up in pretty paper, tied with a bow & gifted us!!!

Loved your production & all the effort that I’m sure it required was well worth it!!!
Well done & thank you for sharing!!!

Tod

20

Pamela this was so wonderful! The guitars layers sounded very sweet and so did your voice…but your voice was…how do I find the correct word on english? Mesmerising? Enchanting? Soo lovely! I can believe this has required a lot of work! Well done with your experimenting with the fingerpicking patterns too. I can understand you preferred to sing separately, I am myself thinking to do the same in my next recording.