I’m still slowly working my way through Grade 3 at a snails pace. I have continued to explore songwriting whilst following the guitar learning path.
This is my latest original that I have recorded that I would like to share with the community. A big thank you to @DavidP for lending me his ears and guiding me through the process of mixing and mastering.
For the virtual instruments in the track I have used EZdrummer 3 and EZbass. For the electric guitar parts I used Guitar Rig 7.
The images for the slideshow were created using https://creator.nightcafe.studio/ After seeing what @DavidP produced for his recent fantastic original I thought I’d give it a go.
As always feedback is appreciated. Hope you enjoy it.
Click Me:
Lyrics
**Soul Shaker **
Verse 1:
I met her on the road to recovery
She said she’d show me how to break free
Wrote her number on the back of my hand
Call me someday and we’ll make a plan
Verse 2:
Well we went out that Friday night
I asked her to dance and she said alright
She showed me her moves on the dance floor
Left me feeling like I wanted more
Chorus:
Hey soul shaker, certified heartbreaker
You know we had a good thing going on
Hey soul shaker, certified heartbreaker
You don’t know what you got until it’s gone
Verse 3:
We went out for a year or two
Held hands like couples do
Picture shows, walks in the park
Made love when it got dark
Verse 4:
We wrote every page in the book
Every scene a photo we took
Memories frozen in time
A world painted where the stars align
Chorus:
Hey soul shaker, certified heartbreaker
You know we had a good thing going on
Hey soul shaker, certified heartbreaker
You don’t know what you got until it’s gone
Bridge:
All my life I’ve been searching for something buried deep inside of my soul
Every day looking for something to make me feel complete and whole
All this time searching for something, something pure and something true
And all the while I was looking for something to make me feel the way that you do
Chorus:
Hey soul shaker, certified heartbreaker
You know we had a good thing going on
Hey soul shaker, certified heartbreaker
You don’t know what you got until it’s gone
You don’t know what you got until it’s gone
You don’t know what you got until it’s gone
You don’t know what you got until it’s gone
You don’t know what you got until it’s gone
You don’t know what you got until it’s gone
You don’t know what you got until it’s gone
Wow James, just W O W…
You really have been getting creative and have clearly developed massively mate, this is a very nice tune. Funky riff, cool bridge transition, something to aspire to.
I wouldn’t have minded the vocals just a tad louder in the mix but I’m obviously no expert!!
Big big bravo from me
Hi James,
Difficult to judge this one…the music style really sounds like something that could be played here on the radio…but the video style is something that “we” (I) are not at all usual and does not fit with the song for me (The styling I mean… not whether the images are correct… they do portray the story). … when I closed the screen a little, the tune made me completely happy and I started to sway along … despite the sad loneliness of the singer of the story…
So the difficulty lies in…nice happy song…sad but still happy song
In any case, I thought it was fantastic to listen to…
Popping out to me is the tension between the rather sad lyrics and the quite happy music. The groove is cool and got me rocking along, definitely danceable. Your arrangement sounds well balanced to my ear, but agree to Mark, I’d like to have the vocal part a little more up. You have nothing to hide there.
The beforementioned tension got kind of nicely resolved in the Bridge where it all comes together and creates a lovely, different flavour which is darker and bringing up a bit of the sadness of the lyrics. Great little twist in here.
I really liked it, had to listen twice immediately. This is definitely something different from mainstream, but would on the other hand fit nicely into today’s pop music streams or radios.
The last frame of the vid gave me shivers. someone must be cutting onions close to me, I guess.
Very nice, the only thing I would think about that would really add to it would be to use a harmoniser with the vocals - not all through, just in a few suitable places, you would have to play around with it until you like it.
The imagery is great, very tasteful and right up to date, Anime has really taken off!
Ahhhh, James, that was very tasty. I loved the groove you have created for this. The lyrics were great and some nice guitar playing in there as well. I liked the video also.
Well done James, another original. Sounds like you’re really getting into writing songs now.
I’m with @roger_holland on the video vs the music, the music was good but the video clashed in my mind - the song sounded very western and didn’t fit the anime IMHO. So I listened with the video in the background.
I have some thoughts and suggestions on the drums, groove, lyrics, etc… but frankly, it’s an original piece, and you’re continuing to do them so I reckon you just deserve a round of applause because it’s a continual movement forwards with you and it’s great you finished another - and produced/mixed it too, which is something I’ve never done (probably many of us have never done).
That was great James!
An easy going tune with a catchy groove that really worked.
I am very impressed with youre songwriter skills!
I really liked the anime/manga theme, i think it fitted the story nicely.
Thank you all for given this song a listen and taken the time to provide feedback. It’s interesting how the video split opinions in a way. To be honest putting a video together felt like another step out of my comfort zone, I wasn’t exactly sure where to begin. Video aside, I’m pleased to hear that you enjoyed the song.
I was actually going to adjust the mix slightly and raise the vocals a bit but when it came to rendering I was having computer/software issues, so I decided to just go with the last render.
That’s a really good suggestion, something for me to play around with to see what works.
Glad you see it that way mate. I just need to get back to moving forwards with my guitar learning which seems to have hit stall for a wee while. I found mixing and producing to be challenging. It has really helped having David giving me some guidance along the way.
You can do it mate. It’s a good way to get to know your DAW. If you’re using Reaper spend a little time watching Kenny’s tutorials to familiarise yourself with the software.
I really like that , it’s catchy from the off. If you alter the playback speed to x1.25 it sounds like something Squeeze might have done back in the day
Really good stuff James. Hats off to you for another original.
I got a 60s Troggs vibe from your lyrics and melody.
I’ve never written anything so hesitate to comment but I felt the bridge melody could have been a bit more defined and different to the rest of the song.
All in all a great production and you’ve clearly put a lot of work into the mixing etc.
I didn’t have an issue with your video apart from the last ‘“you don’t know what you’ve got until it’s gone”. Wasn’t expecting that.
@DavidP Thank you, David. Yes, I feel it turned out better than I was expecting at the start of the project. Increasing the level of the guitars in the mix worked out well, that was a good call my friend. I would have liked to have tweaked the vocals up a tad but as you know I was having some issues with the rendering so felt the last render was suffice to post. Once again thank you for your support and guidance on this project. Another great learning experience.
@sairfingers Thank you for listening and taking the time to provide feedback, Gordon. It really helps with developing the craft of songwriting. It wasn’t something I thought about doing when I started the JG Beginners Course but in a way it’s helped with the learning process. Pleased to hear that you enjoyed that last frame of the video
Hi James…this sounds great! The bass line caught my ear - I guess it’s the guitar? I love the Lyrics as well, you’re so creative! Bravo!!! No…bravissimo!!!
Morning James,
Woah, déjà vu… but on steroids!
I’ll quote myself from a previous thread
“Great to see you grabbing the ‘full production’ by the horns. And woah… You killed it! I got a strong Lloyd Cole & The Commotions vibe off it. Cool Here’s the list of minor niggles that would make the song work better for me…”
Anime is Marmite (like it or loath it), but it’s legit, so no probs there. I am not a fan of imagery depicting the words that are being sung (unless I don’t understand the language), but it was well done. It’s very tempting to go down that path (and is exactly what I’m working on at the moment).
There were a couple of places, I would have liked slightly different phrasing but that’s personal preference.
It will come as no surprise that I enjoy chirpy tunes to sad lyrics, but I felt there was a discrepancy between the verses mainly telling the story of a wonderful relationship developing and the chorus telling us she’s a heartbreaker and gone.
I want to know why you shot her!
9/10 for progress/pushing your boundaries and sharing original material
8/10 for ‘objective’ final product.
You da man!
@Silvia80 Thanks for the listen and feedback, Silvia. I’m pleased that you enjoyed it. The main riff through the verses is guitar. It’s mainly a mix of single string picking and strumming.
@brianlarsen Thanks for the listen and feedback, Brian. I was thinking about your feedback on the previous thread when I was putting this one together. When it came to the video I wasn’t really sure where to start. I actually thought about a previous post you made about the imagery no depicting the word but I found that to make it even more challenging.
Not guilty your honor! I was thinking along the lines of someone recounting the story of meeting that special someone after they’ve lost them. Where the verses are like the person recounting the story of the blossoming relationship and the chorus their telling that someone that they were always destined to break their heart as the time they shared together was so special but they are only just realising it now.
I’ll continue to push boundaries and share if you keep listening
