New song, recorded on my digital camera in preparation for...

[onetubetone]

I'm gunna be recording this for real at my friends home studio wednesday, I'm looking for any comments, suggestions, anything before I go do that. It's an original song I wrote a few weeks ago:

 

http://www.digitalsoundplanet.com/Members/000159217_000029405.mp3

[digitalsnipe]

Okay...so there's no video at the moment. But, I do hear shore birds so I'm guessing that is the theme. The videographer will know the real deal there so my visual isn't really important.

 

What is important is the fact that I honestly could not understand one word of the lyrics. I did give it a go trying some EQ-fiddling to bring the vocal forward. But, you have an Ian Andersen voice getting lost in the mids. Some competing going on with the guitar and vocal. The mids-to-highs are really tangled and not working with, so much as against each other. The guitar has to be moved back, the vocals forward. I would consider another background sound if possible that doesn't compete with the mids / highs. The ebbing/flowing wave action is not all that much a departure from pure static saved only by the universally recognizable sound of gulls. If I knew what the song was about I might be more helpful.

 

Otherwise, I like the guitar work and the layering of the vocals.

[onetubetone]

Haha let me clarify. This was recorded by placing a digital snapshot camera on MPEG mode in front of me and singing the song, then ripping the audio off of that. I'm not looking for recording quality comments, just compositional, song-related things. The vocals are not very audible because I cant sing as loud as the Larrivee. Thnx for listening tho.

[digitalsnipe]

So... I prepared a rather off-base critique. Sorry 'bout that.

 

Again, I like the guitar work and your vocal delivery. I have heard your style many times before and I like it alot. So, just out of curiosity, how are you going to set up at the studio to bring the vocal forward. I have some idea of the technical details but I have been doing some of my own recording and like to get input from you seasoned guys.

[onetubetone]

Well let's see, my friend is really the more knowledgeable of the two of us when it comes to recording (being that that's what he's going to school for ) but what we did last time I recorded with him is, first of all, we used the same mic for everything because it's the best he has... i forget which one but it cost him like $2000 or something ridiculous. Anyway, first we worked on placement on the guitar to get a really sweet tone without being too intrusive on the vocal range. This involved some angling, but we ended up with a really nice tone. He also recorded direct from the pickup in my guitar and blended that in lightly and panned it to get more of a stereo sound which adds some depth. Vocals were easy, the mic really did all the work, it's fantastic for that. Anyhow, he is very sparing with his use of post-recording effects. We did a hint of EQ on the acoustic to again get a really balanced yet non-intrusive tone. Then he added a hint of reverb and a hint of compression to the vocals, and that's about it. I mastered the tracks with Sound Forge, which basically involved a full-track compressor and sonic maximizer. The end.