Wow, nice production! I really liked the intensity of the bass turned up on this. I have never tried to do anything like this production wise, so I only have the ability to be impressed. I am surprisingly low tech in my normal life for a technology professional. Roger mentioned something about seeing the lyrics, but I haven’t found them. Do you have them written out here? Again, great job!
Thanks all for the listen and comments. I do so aprpeciate all the positive support and encouragement.
@skinnyt It always takes me a while, Trevor and this one became protracted when I was struggling with the fingers and/or ideas. You’ve picked up what I intended about the darkness and a more optimistic end.
@Jenndye429 tapping along is a good sign, Jenn. I find lyrics to be a struggle, and always seems as if other people come up with far cooler lyrics on a more regular basis. Just have to keep plugging away. One thing I struggle with having been a Toastmaster is escaping from my speech-writing mind that wants clarity and comprehension. One can be far more ambiguous and obscure with song lyrics. As I say, I struggle and fight against it becoming prose that must be literal and correct.
@brianlarsen I’m unlikely to have much a career as a song-writer, musician of any description, but it is fun to dabble. Rewarding that you hear improvement, Brian, especially in the singing area. I know I took my own sweet time before I did anything to improve my singing. And since my Liepe year, that I have again settled on where I am. And as you rightly say, being more melodic is something to work on. I didn’t have the energy to try and compose a vocal melody using keys and record a melody reference to sing over. So I just sing what I hear and I guess that is always like to focus on the root and other chord tones (maybe). As for the timing, I did try different phrasing and timing. In the end, what you hear is what flowed best for me. As for punk, I don’t know a lot. If the song has elements of something the Clash may have performed then that’s a huge compliment.
@jkahn Such is life that we can relate to the ideas in the song, JK. A fair comment on the fills. While I am comfortable to take a bass preset and tinker with it, with drums I tend to leave the presets that seem to work as is. And maybe I was feeling a little too busy and energetic with the drums on this outing
@Lisa_S a catchy chorus … what a lovely compliment, Lisa. The AI art does look like it could be longer-term fun. For me the ugly comment would be a typical offensive comment made by a social media troll. Far too much of that out there.
@sairfingers Don’t know Nik Kershaw, Gordon, though the name is familiar. I think this 80s vibe was quite coincidental. Like all things music, putting these together just takes some learning and practice. As a software engineer and being exposed to tech all my life, I seem to be able to get the hang of a lot of the digital stuff and music theory. So the biggest challenging in all this remains playing the parts consistently and in time. I contemplated a longer solo in the outro and opted to keep it short, trying to be able to play something pleasant and not getting repetitive and revealing my general lack of lead technique. I was also watching the clock and felt the length was right as it was, that trying to fit another solo verse in might just make it longer than I wanted. But mainly it was my playgrade that stopped me adding a solo, perhaps between verse 3 and the second chorus.
@bytron keep doing what you are doing and you’ll keep improving, Bytron.
@SgtColon good to hear all the layering and tone tinkering on the guitars paid off, Stefan. Seems more here have that 80s nostalgia that I don’t have. I think I was listening to 70s music of various flavours in the 80s
@NicoleKKB these projects do take a while but if it is something that appeals then it is more labour of love than hard work, Nicole. Glad the bass turned out so well.
@jgottwals the technology is quite remarkable today, Jeremy. The scope and quality of what you can produce yourself at home is incredible. And once you get the hang of it lots of fun. To be able to produce a song with bass and drums without having to play them is pretty cool. I’ve made use of piano, synths, strings and brass before. If you go to my YouTube channel, rather than watching in the Community, you’ll find a section with my original songs on the home page. I haven’t counted but guess I must be getting on towards 10 maybe, which is not prolific given the number of years since my first one was shared. As for the time, I’ve no idea. I worked on this for months but on and off, more off than on.
@roger_holland if one can produce one’s best yet whenever one puts something out then it doesn’t get better, Rogier. I am sure some said my last one was my best, so good news to keep improving. Yes, this one was just drums, bass, and guitars.
@Mari63 my brother and I do take about this alot, with much consideration of Stoic philosophy, Mari. Both books are not the heaviest of reads. Glad you enjoyed the bass, that was clearly a winner this time round.
@TheCluelessLuthier well you make up for any lack of tech in your normal life with all the hardcore craftmenship going into your guitars, Mark. I think tech is forgiving and something to get the mind around and you’d get the hang of DAWs and recording quickly enough. Now me and my hands, can barely hammer in a nail without it bending and flying off. The lyrics are in the first post just under the embedded video. You have to click on triangle to expose them. I hid them for those who don’t like to see lyrics.
Hey David! Nice Chorus for an Ear Worm - but a good one!
I really liked this. Especially after going back and reading the lyrics. I missed a few words while listening without them. (I truly think I need to think about getting hearing aids)..
Yes, we must all be careful not to keep spinning our wheels.
It all sounded good to me. I’ve never learned how to add things like drums, Bass, keys… But it’s sounds so impressive. I need to check out the “ How to” on all that.
Great vocals and guitar.
The video and the website you mentioned were interesting. Lots of rich colors and HDR.
Fabulous production David. I love the sound and the flow of this song as well as the lyrics. Felt like a trip back to the 80’s for me which is always a good thing. Superb work!
That’s a super piece of work David! You should do more of this. (OK I know it’s a lot of work and takes ages ).
…but it was really really good!
Super cool!
Maybe it’s just me, but I got a definite Bowie vibe listening to you and that song, David.
@pkboo3 Thanks Pam. Lots of fun to be had by introducing digital instruments and using midi. I started with drums using https://www.powerdrumkit.com/. You can download that and add to your plugins, then add it to the Fx of a track, open the plugin and find preset grooves that you like. Drag the preset grooves onto your track and away you go. Bass can be a little more tricky but still relatively straight forward to use the piano roll editor to compose simple bass lines. I started with this one amplesound.net
@Eddie_09 Thanks Eddie, seems as if I inadvertantly sent many back to the 80s.
@twistor59 Thanks Phil. It does take time but the bigger blocking issue for me is coming up with the ideas for songs, the lyrics, and then chord progressions that sound ok and fit the song. I do have another idea that will hopefully develop into a song this year.
@wiredforsound Thanks Kevin. That’s quite a compliment, especially if the Ziggy era Bowie
Great song David and great production too!
I did get some Bowie vibes there… and that is a compliment
@DavidP I’m late to the game here and sorry I missed the big ‘release’.
This is FANTASTIC.
It has a quality to it that reminds me of things I was listening to in my youth.
I think perhaps the reason it sounds ‘80’s’ is because those that were writing songs in the 80’s were inspired and growing from the music of the ‘70’s’. So you just one of the innovators rather than the imitators.
Congratulations on a great job, looking forward to the full album
Enjoyed this immensely.
@Charlie_James Thanks Dale. Appreciate the comments. Guess I am a lover of guitar-based music, particularly the blues/rock n roll flavours. Do love the piano and sax when also in the mix, hence loving the Stones.