Things:
1. This is a demo, going to redo this with a click track and changing some parts of the lead guitar. Lyrics and all that will probably stay the same. The final version will have drums.
2. I'm finally settling into a singing voice and songwriting style, and apparently that means I'm writing music that sounds like AJJ and/or The Mountain Goats for the time being. At least that's what everyone else has said about this.
3. First multi-track recording I've ever done of a song I've written.
4. Feedback is welcome!
5. Pinging thenewgreen.
There's good energy to the track, the lyrics aren't bad, and the singing has potential. Your voice has a sense of conviction that would really benefit from some more power behind it. Though I know it's hard when you're still developing and gaining confidence, if you take a big breath and sing louder it will open up the airway. This allows you to hit notes easier, put less strain on the voice/throat, and generally relax. Sometimes it sounds like you're a bit tense trying to sing along, and I think doing this could help that. Keep it up! I've been lacking some confidence recording/posting some singer-songwriter type stuff but you've inspired me to reconsider. :)
Thanks for the feedback, I really appreciate it. There's a couple things to that vocal tenseness. The first is that I'm not trained and I'm still just...uncomfortable hearing myself sing, but working on singing more often and being more open about it. The second is that I know who these songs are about, and they're about real people and things that I still talk to and that makes me very nervous that everyone will figure the game out. But yes, I agree with what you're saying. I'd love to see some singer/songwriter stuff from you sometime!
https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/2680326/Sights.mp3 This is something I managed to record over the last couple of days. Just a singular verse at the moment as I still need to get the other sections finalised.
This might be a really broad/unclear question but, how do you personally go about writing your songs? I mean, putting the lyrics to music, or vice versa whatever. What's your process?
I write lyrics semi-regularly so I'm sitting on probably 20+ song possibilities lyrically, but most of the time I end up sitting around with my guitar and think "this sounds kind of cool" and then build off a chord progression. Then I'll usually come up with entirely new lyrics instead of using something I've already written and having to edit and fit them to the music.
Neat! You make it sound so simple ;) I know it's a lot of work though, but it's good that you can work with the pressure off, it shows in the quality of your recordings. cheers.
I like the lyrics, and I dig the bass. It sucks when you realize "you're not one of those people."
Thanks for giving it a listen. The bass was done by my roommate, I sent him the stems and that is what he sent back. I think it works really well with everything else. Sometimes it's good closure though to find that out. Mostly it just gives me something to write about.