THANKS ALISON: AS I CHEAT AWAKE - CHEAT REMOVED!!

[rayc]

@Alison commented on my recent dark lyrical themes and I responded with a 3 minute dribble of more of the same. I decided to use that quick scratch, add some more, contrasting, lyrics to go with the two colours of the piece and bung them into my drum demo song.
The vocals are dead wonky as it was a twice through tracking - one for verse & one for chorus and I was making it up as I went - clearly. There are a couple of spots where a click or mouth noise goes ballistic...beware.

biabstemdemokit3BVOXd.mp3

Here's an update with tidier everything - particularly vocals..def needs a proper voice.
UPDATE with a little more bass, a slightly tidier vocal - with NO ReaDelay Vocal Thickener on it...unlike the previous mixes.
One Step Beyond the last...
Outro guitar added plus some bass tweaking.
BIAB drums n organ. The rest is me.
I gave up, ran a render, put it into a new project, upped the thing by two semitones and sang the chorus more comfortably THEN imported the vocal into the original project and used ReaPitch to drop the vocal into the right key.
It doesn't sound like me but that's a plus.
I spent a couple of week listening and thinking.
yesterday the house was all mine for a few hours so I took the opportunity to "sing" without the limitations that come with householders, cringing etc...ie: I sang LOUDER and not directly into the mic while I was at it - in an effort to reduce plosives & sibilance. Double tracked and with harmonies (assisted by tuning in parts).
FIXED a bum note in the organ track and tweaked a bit...


I think the above is about cooked: more sung an less tuned than I've managed in the past.

MASTERED

Lyrics...
V1
1st world problems pressing in
Eating right, staying thin
Buying wisely and ethical choices
Where to dine away from loud voices
1st world problems pressing in
Sorting rubbish for the bin
Whether to buy an electric car
Will it be convenient? W ill it run far?

C1
In a darkened cell,
Brick walls and door.
Sounds of dripping water
And pacing on the floor.
The voices tell them
Till they resist no more...
Dark thoughts come to me
As I lie awake.

V2
1st world problems pressing in
Delivery or eating in
Bruised egos exhausted emotions
Streaming or cinema commotion?
Does the phone know where I've been
Social media's mind filling din
Will there be signal for my phone?
Finding fish without bones.

C2
In a darkened cell,
Brick walls and door.
Focused dripping water
And cables on the floor
The voices yelling
Till they resist no more...
Dark thoughts come to me
As I lie awake.

1st world problems pressing in
Are you hungry, where've you been?
The voices tell them
till they resist no more.t...

[CrowsofFritz]

What’s that effect on the guitar? It almost has a Leslie speaker quality to it. Vocals are very clear in this one.

[Alison]

Awesome! You just crank these babies out, I am in awe.

Not commenting on the recording as I was really focused on the lyrics. I'll listen again later.

I am amazed at what you come up with. Maybe I'll try the "lie awake" strategy

[rayc]

What’s that effect on the guitar? It almost has a Leslie speaker quality to it. Vocals are very clear in this one.

Reaper JS Tremolo...pulses nicely.

[stratmonkee]

Tremolo sounds cool, Your guitars remind me at times of early New Order, or actually Joy Division, love that vibe. Nice job Ray!

[Lt. Bob]

nice one for sure!

Does the BIAB automatically generate the organ part or do you have to input the notes someway?

[rayc]

nice one for sure!

Does the BIAB automatically generate the organ part or do you have to input the notes someway?

@Lt. Bob ,
it'll do both depending on what is opted for.
I could select a midi organ and it'll automatically generate a part based on the song's chords that can be tweaked in BIAB via midi or just by entering notes on a stave.
I could also select a midi organ and write my own part into it with notes on a staff or via any midi input preference.
OR
One can opt for a a "soloist" and a solo part will be generated based on the chords (this can be well manipulated as it'll now accept more than one chord per beat which means the machine generated part will be pushed to create something more deliberate from the user).

For this one I selected a blues background organ because I know the person who tracked the stuff does lots of cool bits n pieces.

LOTS of options depending on musical & technical skills.

[CeeBee]

Nice one Ray

[Lt. Bob]

nice one for sure!

Does the BIAB automatically generate the organ part or do you have to input the notes someway?

@Lt. Bob ,
it'll do both depending on what is opted for.
I could select a midi organ and it'll automatically generate a part based on the song's chords that can be tweaked in BIAB via midi or just by entering notes on a stave.
I could also select a midi organ and write my own part into it with notes on a staff or via any midi input preference.
OR
One can opt for a a "soloist" and a solo part will be generated based on the chords (this can be well manipulated as it'll now accept more than one chord per beat which means the machine generated part will be pushed to create something more deliberate from the user).

For this one I selected a blues background organ because I know the person who tracked the stuff does lots of cool bits n pieces.

LOTS of options depending on musical & technical skills.

pretty natural sounding organ on this .... if it generated that then it's surprisingly good

[vomitHatSteve]

Yeah, I can definitely hear you struggle to get to those lowest notes. Not losing bass vocals in the mix is tough.

There's a bad artifact on the vocals at 1:48. There's a fair amount of artifacting throughout (vocoder?) but that one really stuck out.

Organ sounds nice. No nits on the core guit/bass/drums mix.

[rayc]

There's a bad artifact on the vocals at 1:48. There's a fair amount of artifacting throughout (vocoder?) but that one really stuck out.

Thanks vHS,
I wasn't careful when "tuning" the vocals as I know I can't do a good enough job so just need a demo to con someone with. The chorus is too low for me but it sounds completely wrong played higher and sung higher...need ominous depth I suppose.

[rayc]

@Lt. Bob ,
it'll do both depending on what is opted for.
I could select a midi organ and it'll automatically generate a part based on the song's chords that can be tweaked in BIAB via midi or just by entering notes on a stave.
I could also select a midi organ and write my own part into it with notes on a staff or via any midi input preference.
OR
One can opt for a a "soloist" and a solo part will be generated based on the chords (this can be well manipulated as it'll now accept more than one chord per beat which means the machine generated part will be pushed to create something more deliberate from the user).
For this one I selected a blues background organ because I know the person who tracked the stuff does lots of cool bits n pieces.
LOTS of options depending on musical & technical skills.

pretty natural sounding organ on this .... if it generated that then it's surprisingly good

@Lt. Bob , Here's a mix of organ & rhythm section. This one reminds me of a Mellotron as the organ is pretty noisy, was recorded that way, and the noise adds to the character and authenticity of it.

organ 4 Lt B.mp3

[TripleM]

I went straight to the "120122" mix.

I like the guitar on the right. Cool and "appropriately thin" sounding.

There was something about the overall mix that just wasn't full enough. The snare is a bit slappy and I often can't hear the kick because the bass is covering it. It might help the mix if there was a fuller sounding guitar on the left.

[rayc]

I went straight to the "120122" mix.

I like the guitar on the right. Cool and "appropriately thin" sounding.

There was something about the overall mix that just wasn't full enough. The snare is a bit slappy and I often can't hear the kick because the bass is covering it. It might help the mix if there was a fuller sounding guitar on the left.

Thanks Mx3,
Try the last two mixes they address some of your concerns.

[rayc]

Replaced the chorus vocal with a pitch cheat.

[Alison]

I like this last mix. To me, the vocals sound more real (authentic?) without so much reverb. You almost have as deep a voice as I do!!
You keep cranking them out, I'll keep listening!

[rayc]

PITCH TRACKING CHEAT removed.

[annikajayne]

Love the lyrics on this one. I listened to all of the mixes to have a comparison - I definitely prefer the last one, especially the vocals.

[rayc]

Thank you @annikajayne ,
I've tweaked it a bit today.

[JD01]

Ray - I'm coming in at the last mix.
Guitars sound good, there's much less of that massive roomy/boomy sound on your drums.

There's still way too many effects on the vocal and, you'll like this, its a touch loud!