Shadows of our Former Selves - 2024 Version

@roger_holland
Hi Rogier, thank you for the listen and feedback. I’m glad to hear that you thought it sounded fantastic and was worth making this version. I completely agree with you though that the original acoustic version is more personal and holds more charm. The good thing is that while I was developing this version I got to improve the unplugged version along the way and it gives me joy playing it :slight_smile:

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That’s what I was waiting to hear you say before commenting :slightly_smiling_face: Don’t get me wrong, I greatly admire all the hard work you put into this and I greatly appreciate your musicality and I do think the musical skills you developed along your journey are fantastic. I really do, no doubt about it :slightly_smiling_face:

But… And here I do agree with Rogier and Nicole… Personally I prefer the style of the guitar driven style of the first version. It’s hard to explain why. Maybe because it sounded warmer and more unique, a bit quirkier somehow :slightly_smiling_face:

I would be very interested however how your “produced version” would sound if you would perform it in a real band setting. I guess, it could be easy to preserve the charme of your song when working on it together in a " real band"… Maybe just use the piano a bit more sparsely, make the guitar and your voice more prominent… As usual, my imagination is running away with me :slightly_smiling_face:

Any chance of you sharing the improved version of your song in unplugged mode, btw? :smiley:

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Ahhh, right, cool! Yeah, I just checked and you’re 100% right, it’s not a free version but a 10 day free trial, enough time for sorting out one song I guess, might give it a whirl myself next time :wink: Thanks again mate! :smiley: :+1:

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@Alan_1970
Hi Alan, thanks for the listen and feedback. Pleased to hear you enjoyed the production. Yes, the vocals could have been raised in the mix where there were dips and also made to cut through the mix better. That’s something I’ll definitely be exploring. The good thing is I can always go back and remix in the future :wink:

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I wonder if they have a free trial for the Superior Drummer 3. That would be fun to give a spin.

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@tRONd
Thanks for the listen and feedback, Trond. All the tracks are laid out in Reaper. Plug Ins are used to generate the drums, bass and piano. Guitar and vocals recorded. Plug In used for guitar tone. The tracks are then mixed and mastered in Reaper using a variety of plug ins. The software is quite intuitive and there are lots of reference videos on YouTube.

@jkahn
Thanks for the listen, feedback and kudos, JK. I think the hardest bit was getting my head around the software. I’ve still got a long way to really learn to use the software and understand how to use all the features properly as well as fully comprehend the mixing and mastering process.

@brianlarsen
Good evening Brian :smiley: useful positive feedback is exactly what the doctor ordered. Thanks for the listen, feedback and kudos.

Absolutely, agree that the vox level would have been better raised. I’m sure you clocked on that I probably ran out of headroom and got myself into a bit of a pickle :crazy_face:

The virtual instruments were done on the plug in and then the midi dragged across. I think I may have applied a fade to grey start and fade to grey end. I figured at the time that was the thing to do.

Though in saying that I did have an interesting occurrence which I couldn’t work out. When I was trying to get the master track to the appropriate levels I applied a plug in and adjusted the settings of the plug in to get the levels to the correct parameters for streaming. I rendered the file and listened to it and the full track sounded good. When I imported the audio file into DaVinci Resolve the video render was missing out a certain word in the chorus. So I tried another render on Reaper but with a different plug in for the levels and the issue I was having with DaVinci Resolve disappeared.

That’s a good point with the drums. I just need to make sure I don’t hit the other extreme.

Interesting point on the vocal emphasis on the beat as I wasn’t thinking about the beats when I was recording the song. I was thinking I wished I didn’t have monitoring on as this echo is doing my head in :slight_smile: You had me singing my latest original to see what beat that tends to be on which was interesting. I seem to start the opening line of the first verse on beat one but after that the vocal lines tends to fall on beat 2 , back to the chorus for beat 1.

Thanks for all these helpful pointers. You’ve gave me plenty to think about.

@Silvia80
Thanks for the listen, feedback and kudo, Silvia, it’s much appreciated. It was a whole new experience. A bit daunting and a lot to take in but was very helpful to having David there offering me support, advice and encouragement along the way.

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@NicoleKKB
Thanks for the listen, feedback and kudos, Nicole, it’s much appreciated. Yes, I’m a big fan of unplugged versions to so it was very interesting taking the other path and seeing what I could produce. It was a really enlightening project.

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@TheMadman_tobyjenner
Thanks for the listen, feedback and kudos, Toby, it’s much appreciated. It’s funny you should say that as dragging the midi from the song maker over to the drum track midi in reaper was what I done though I was thinking at the time “am I doing this right” as all the videos I saw on YouTube didn’t show that step. It’s definitely a :rabbit2: :hole: to be wary of… first to really get to grips with everything reaper.

@SgtColon
Thanks for the listen, kudos and feedback, Stefan, it’s means a lot to me. It’s been a great learning experience which I hope to build upon.

@JokuMuu
Thanks for the listen , kudos and feedback, Nicole. Some really interesting points you have made that have given me lots to think about as I progress down this road in my musical journey and for when I revisit this track to improve it when I have more experience :smiley: I totally get where you coming from with regards to the solo guitar recording which does have that quirkiness quality to it. I’ll definitely share an improved version of the unplugged acoustic version once I’ve finished tinkering with it and get some free uninterrupted time to record. I’ll be sure to tag you when I post it.