New song 'Abalone'

[tjw1979]

Hi all,

Recently wrote and recorded a new song called Abalone.

It is another folky rock/ballad acoustic song. I'm pretty happy with it.

Would appreciate it if you can give it a listen to see what you all think of the mix etc.

I used an akg 414xls into my tascam1800

https://www.soundcloud.com/timjwilliams/abalone

Merry xmas to all I hope you are doing well and enjoy the somewhat weird xmas festivities this year.

Love to all

Tim

[Dean Roddey]

An interesting piece, with some very non-obvious harmonies. When you were really hitting the vocal parts best it was very good.

[tjw1979]

Originally Posted by Dean Roddey

An interesting piece, with some very non-obvious harmonies. When you were really hitting the vocal parts best it was very good.

Thank you so much Dean for listening, means a great deal to me.

I appreciate your comments, and yes for sure the vocals could of been sung better and or arranged slightly different. I am not the best singer and definitely need to work on tighter doubles


The song is quite dark lyrically, admitting to the world I'm not perfect and highlighting personal struggles but with some hope and light in there.

Again, thankyou for listening and taking time to comment

Tim

[ggrey]

Hi Tim, I basically agree with Dean. You are definitely on the right track...no pun intended.

I would like to add that both your playing and singing sound 'stressed' in that you are strumming and singing very hard with a lot of power exerted. This is not necessarily a bad thing in itself, but it comes into play in relation to the song being performed. IMHO calming the whole production down would better suit the thoughtful lyrics in Abalone.

Possibly playing and then singing the song in a lower key would help soften the attack of your voice, with the added benefit of making the song easier to sing (it's always harder to hit those higher notes). You could also try getting a softer strum maybe with a thinner pick to take away some of the string bite and attack. Some players even strum with their fingers to soften the performance.

I've been working with a friend on his songs for years and in every song we record we try at least 3 to 4 different keys before landing on the best fit for his voice. Even for professional singers, if the key is not right for their vocal range the song will never sound its best.

Just a few thought to shake the tree. Best!

[tjw1979]

Originally Posted by ggrey

Hi Tim, I basically agree with Dean. You are definitely on the right track...no pun intended.

I would like to add that both your playing and singing sound 'stressed' in that you are strumming and singing very hard with a lot of power exerted. This is not necessarily a bad thing in itself, but it comes into play in relation to the song being performed. IMHO calming the whole production down would better suit the thoughtful lyrics in Abalone.

Possibly playing and then singing the song in a lower key would help soften the attack of your voice, with the added benefit of making the song easier to sing (it's always harder to hit those higher notes). You could also try getting a softer strum maybe with a thinner pick to take away some of the string bite and attack. Some players even strum with their fingers to soften the performance.

I've been working with a friend on his songs for years and in every song we record we try at least 3 to 4 different keys before landing on the best fit for his voice. Even for professional singers, if the key is not right for their vocal range the song will never sound its best.

Just a few thought to shake the tree. Best!

Sage advice and thankyou for talking me through suggestions. I do tend to play rather hard and that's with a thin pick (orange dunlop) so perhaps i should go thinner as you say. I come from a pick style metal bass player background and am not much of a guitarist so unsure exactly how to go about that (capo????)

Maybe i should just strum with my fingers and edge of nail as a alternative.

Perhaps i should rerecord it this way, what do you think?

Im in the middle of a mini pc build with a better interface (apollo twin x quad) so perhaps that will get me a better warmer sound as well.

Thankyou so much for listening and taking time to give me a rundown of your thoughts

Edit: i will restring my acoustic, but tune it down a whole step to d standard, perhaps that would be right. And as you say i may dk this with my fingers so there's no pick noise and a softer transient.

Tim