Knocking On Heavens Door

Hi All

This is a basic version of a great song. It is put together my way (I know its not how JG has taught it) as another basic campfire song to add to the repertoire and hopefully to improve on using different techniques as the guitar journey progresses.

Guitar - Via Katana 50 MkII into UMC202 (so I can use my preset fx)
Vocal - Shure SM58 to UMC202
UMC202 - Via Reaper for adding Fx as required and then o/p to OBS using ReaRoute.
Video - Iphone 8 Plus via USB to OBS using Droid Cam.

During working with Reaper on this I managed some backing vocals on the chorus that worked well. But trying to incorporate this along with its associated video and turn it into picture in picture within Reaper was above my Tech Grade currently :rofl: as I couldnā€™t seem to listen to the original track whilst recording the backing in OBS without re-recording the original sound :crazy_face: Anyway thatā€™s just another part of this journey, Iā€™ll work on it :+1:

For now, have a listen and if you feel inclined Iā€™m happy to hear constructive comments.

:+1: :australia:

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Enjoyed that, Craig, nicely played and sung.

Every now and then the low notes sounded a little big. I canā€™t say if maybe they were notes in the chord or maybe low notes that ought to have been skipped/muted.

Maybe in Reaper a high pass filter on the guitar may have helped?

Were you trying to create the picture in picture in OBS live or in Reaper?

Sounded pretty good to me . Great job

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Hi David, Happy New Year.

Thanks, yes, the rogue sounding low note you hear is occasionally catching the 6th string whilst fingering the Am chord I think. I had noticed it but wanted to just run with it as it is because itā€™s something that just needs correcting in technique. At times I have muted the 6th with my thumb but generally just try to strum accurately.

Pic in pic in Reaper. The tutorial made it look easy but the layout was different to mine and also I was applying it differently too. I had recorded the main track to OBS through Reaper then wanted to hear the main track back by playing it in Reaper and hearing it through the cans whilst recording a backing through Reaper to OBS. The issue was that what I was hearing played from Reaper was also being recorded in OBS on the backing track and I couldnā€™t find a way of killing its o/p from Reaper to OBS. (Sorry if that sounds really complicated :thinking:)

Hi Craig,

well done on that one! :clap:

It seems youā€™re doing good on your way of consolidating Grade 1. Playing was good, singing as well and both at the same time. Also starting in the production-territory is a great achievement and for sure, you know more on that already than I do. :sweat_smile:

Over time, youā€™ll get the muting of the low E down, Iā€™m sure. As youā€™ll progress on your guitar journey, you and the song will grow together nicely. :slight_smile:

Well played and sung Craig. And well done on getting to grips with the ā€˜techieā€™ stuff too. Yes the low E did sound out a bit. You mention trying to strum accurately but there is nothing wrong with using your thumb to mute the string too.

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I really enjoyed it Craig. You are venturing beyond Grade One stuff by standing and singing while playing. I also liked the finger lights while playing the Am. Strumming was nice and steady and the vocals were good. :+1:t2::guitar:

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I made a video in Reaper with multiple inserts. It sure can be a bit finicky. It took repeated watching of Kennyā€™s related videos and a fair amount of trial and error.

Perhaps you could try rendering the main track out and playing it back from outside Reaper. Again could take some tinkering to get all the apps routing audio output as you want it. I find OBS is quite flexible at working with multiple audio input sources and output devices.

Nice tempo and great playing. Like it!

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Hi Craig,
Good job on this. The time you put in was evident by what I saw and heard. Guitar play was good and I think the vocals were possibly a tad better.

As a side note, on guitar I am able to strum a few songs. Prior to my thumb going south on me I got to the point I could do the Old Faithful strumming pattern fairly well in practice with Justin. So I took that over to guitar play (not muted strings) and the song I went with was Knocking On Heavenā€™s Door. I never could get it to sound right and my thumb was done. I got that all fixed up and the next task is to rework my path above. I hope to at some point do Knockin as well as you!

You might consider getting a low cost video editing program. @DavidP has one and can share that with you, as for what to get. I use Vegas, but that is pricey. Reaper and video work does work. But the time you spend trying to make it work makes a low cost video editor a welcome step up.

All the best and be well,
LB

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Sounds great Craig!
Guitar sounded great, nice mellow sound to it. Vocal is also great!
I read and hear a lot that Knocking on heavens door is so easy to playā€¦ i find that a bit funny, i find this to be a little bit Ā«under ratedĀ» i do not think this song is very easy to play and sing. It is not as easy as it looks on Ā«paperĀ»

Think you did a great job there Craig!

Well done :+1:

I use Corel Video Studio, which I purchased for a discount at some point. It works fine but I do find it a bit finicky at times. Itā€™s auto-sync of multiple audio sources is not a winner (or Iā€™ve not figured it out yet).

In the Community several people have adopted DaVinci Resolve, the free version, and reported it to work well and be (relatively) easy to use. They have mentioned finding syncing audio recorded in a DAW with a video to be effectively automated. This is provided the video has matching audio, typically recorded via a phone or webcam mic during recording while concurrently recording the audio in the DAW.

I have been tempted to try it based on all the comments and move from Corel.

Thanks for the input David I hadnā€™t thought of that. I need to sit and just work on the tech stuff, its just that it becomes a massive :rabbit2: hole and before you know it youā€™ve spent a day just messing around with tech things. I also need to get myself set up for an OM I havenā€™t even looked at that yet, I want to solve this piece of the puzzle first. Iā€™ll try the rendering out, itā€™ll get there just needs a bit of work :+1:

:rofl: thanks, thats too kind. As usual we are our worst critics and I can see the errors that I shouldnā€™t have made but its a WIP. :+1:

Yes, thatā€™s also an option. I have previously used Windows Movie Maker to put together reasonable movies with some added sound tracks but its a pretty basic program. I was hoping that I could achieve this using only either Reaper or OBS alone to save messing around with more programs.

Thanks Trond, much appreciated. One day Iā€™ll try a heavier sound like some of yours but I need to concentrate on walking before running :smiley:

Thanks again David. My main aim is to try to make this work with just Reaper and OBS just to simplify things but if Iā€™ll check that out if I start looking at another application. :+1:

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Hi Graig,
That was a good start of my morning ā€¦great singing and fine/smooth strumming with the pick :sunglasses: :clap: :clap: :clap:
Iā€™m just a little worried because I havenā€™t noticed the sometimes low, unintentional tone that other people hear, so Iā€™ll listen again this afternoon when Iā€™m a little more awake/freshā€¦ my ears sometimes have some ā€œnoiseā€ of their own ,like now :grimacing:

Greetings

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Hey Craig, that was really good. I think Iā€™ve said before that you seem plenty beyond Grade 1 and this is another of those performances that far surpasses that.

Great strumming, good singing, I just sat back and enjoyed the song. I didnā€™t hear the stray bass note but I was listening on my iPhone which really doesnā€™t have much bass :roll_eyes:

Youā€™re pretty tech heavy already so just do youā€¦ Others mentioned video editing programs. If you go that path, DaVinci Resolve is powerful, easy to use and free.

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Edit after Jk above brings to my attention what I had clearly missed in the video thumbnailā€¦ Consolidate grade 1 this??? :scream:

on it and very far over itā€¦Thatā€™s what we say here if you surpassed that level a long time ago,
Now go to the next level where you belong :sunglasses:
Greetings

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Well played and sung. I didnā€™t hear any stray bass notes.

I thought that was brilliant and I canā€™t believe you are just at grade 1. You got the singing and playing down so well! I did not hear any wrong notes. Super impressive. Susan

Nice one Craig.
Smooth, melodic, and good vocals to boot.

Cheers, Shane

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Thanks for the DaVinci heads up JK and for the comments. Yes, I will be trying to avoid too much more tech programs, if I can get there with what I have then it will save adding yet another step to the process :+1:

Thanks Rogier & Susan much appreciated. I have started with Grade 2 but working on more basic campfire songs to add to the repertoire is enjoyable and can only improve fingering accuracy, strumming techniques etc etc hence I continue to add them.
I have spent a lonnnggg time in Grade 1 @SusanW as I wanted to feel that I had really dragged as much out of it as possible. In addition I wasnā€™t a complete beginner as I had knowledge of some basic chords and dabbled on and off over many years . However I could never complete a song or strum overly successfully, let alone play and sing my way through something.

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