Chordial - November 2008

chordial · Post by **chordial** » Sun Dec 07, 2008 9:53 pm

Hey guys,

A little late, time has not been my friend for a while:

http://www.music.ferntill.com/osam/Nov08.mp3

The acoustic is proving hard to play, but I felt that this track needed more than I've posted so far. There are buzz frets going on, but I'm pleased with the parts that worked out well. The vibe of the original idea (which has been kicking around since the October song) has come through well. More musical ideas without anything polished. Maybe I should have kept the beginning and end and ditched the middle parts. It sounds distorted/clipped on the laptop, hope it doesn't come across that way.

Cheers Simon

georgeinar · Post by **georgeinar** » Mon Dec 08, 2008 11:32 am

I love this. There is such good feeling here, good timing, and the imperfections just make it sound real to me. It's as if I'm sitting with you while you play. I can tell you've been practicing. There is a sustained buzzy thing on the right channel at times. If you've still got the tracks separate you can fix that. wow the ending is so clean that piano sounds great.

Stephen · Post by **Stephen** » Mon Dec 08, 2008 12:36 pm

Well this is very nice.
I love when the rest of the instrumentation joins the acoustic, very dramatic.
Try strumming a little lighter, on this style, I think you'll like it.
Well done Simon.
Regards,

chordial · Post by **chordial** » Mon Dec 08, 2008 2:35 pm

I'll have another listen tonight George when I get home, to see if I can isolate the buzzing, it could be my fretting.
It's always good to capture the best quality recording, even if it means multiple takes, but I had to say hands up, and go with it. I like the 'live' idea.

Bar chords on the acoustic are very hard for me to get clean, there's a F to F min following on from an open C(+) that was almost impossible to get right.
I'll try the lighter strumming Stephen, but I think it's maintaining the higher pressure needed that needs to be worked on.

Cheers Simon

Stephen · Post by **Stephen** » Mon Dec 08, 2008 6:49 pm

I'll try the lighter strumming Stephen, but I think it's maintaining the higher pressure needed that needs to be worked on.

I wasn't implying that anything needed work, simply suggesting an alternate technique.

ellll · Post by **ellll** » Mon Dec 08, 2008 9:09 pm

VERY nice! a real keeper!

Has that certain authenticity .. as mentioned by George....and a bit of verve as well; rather spontaneous and creative....!!

I also would like (as a "non-player") a lighter strum at times...as a contrast for emotional interest... It is however acceptable to me on the basis of a continuing emotion, IF..that is some of the reality here...

I find, for my ears, this to be perhaps one of your best efforts in descriptive music....; I could stand many more like this!!!

My Regards! John (ellll)

JonSolo · Post by **JonSolo** » Mon Dec 08, 2008 11:01 pm

There have been some good comments thus far on this song, because it really is a great idea! There is so much here to comment on.

The highlights are what some have mentioned: where the instrumentation comes in, the clean ending. I like to hear you stretching yourself thin...something I am trying to do as well...going for things you might not have done before.

This song really delivers a lot. I think the acoustic totally makes the track. Stephen had a good suggestion with the strumming, though I think you could accomplish SOME of that sound with a little EQ trimming.

In fact I think that this track would shine a bit more with some EQ trimming and setting everything in it's own field so to speak. I feel the buzzing you are referring to is accentuated more since there is so much bass coming from the acoustic. Trim it back some and that might cause the buzzing to meld in a bit more (view it as camouflaging instead of eliminating...I do it ALL the time!).

But I love the chord progression. This thing is begging for vocals.

Jon

dreamaiden · Post by **dreamaiden** » Tue Dec 09, 2008 6:49 am

Nice Chordial !

When the chords came in about a quarter of the way through, it was definitely an Ahhhh moment. Loved that. Of course it was the contrast of the guitar before that that made it happen. I like that combination of guitar and other instrumentation. Keep up the good work.

Susan

DrWho · Post by **DrWho** » Wed Dec 10, 2008 12:28 am

Oh yes - this is your best tune yet! I was hooked right from the beginning - love the playing! And from a whole tune perspective it really delivers. Yea it has a certain authentic feel - which I like.

As for EQ'ing and all - well I am not good in that dept. But the buzzing didn't distract for me. I agree with Jon - the acoustic rocks!

I hear you on trying to get an acoustic performance right - oh man - that is why I've only done one out of both OSAMS.

Your definitely expanding - it shows. Cool !!

chordial · Post by **chordial** » Wed Dec 10, 2008 1:43 pm

Thanks Stephen, I'm always on the look out for tips and new techniques, sorry I was thinking more about the mechanics of playing and less about the music variations when I read your comment. All is clear now

I tend to wind myself up on the acoustic too, starting off carefully and quietly, and then playing more aggressively as my confidence grows

Thanks John, I did have a set of chords and changes for this that I've been working on for a while now, but when I started to record I lost my way a bit and played a D that wasn't part of the original idea. Instead of stopping I managed to keep going, so from then on was a bit free form, when I listed back it sounded alright, and broke up the structure a bit. I hear this is your work all the time, and love the way songs develop and change, wish I could do that more often!

Thanks Jon, You're spot on, that's a great idea! The buzzing was from bottom E and A on the acoustic, and by eq-ing the bass end back, that should really help to loose some of it's impact. It's funny that the more I listen to one of my tracks, the less I hear, it's like you get use to hearing certain sounds (or noises, playing the guitar is a real challenge!), and it needs the guys here to pick them up. That's the osam spirit. Vocals as always, I had a cold recently and my voice sounded like someone else for a while, I should have tried recording something

Thanks Susan

I'm determined to keep at the guitar, it's funny that I can go weeks without touching the keyboard, and it falls back into place very quickly, maybe not as polished as playing regularly, but I can still play. The guitar needs daily doses of playing, and that's just chords. I'm still picking my around playing lead, whereas the rhythm track was down in one pass, the lead took many, many takes over a few days even to get to this stage

Thanks Art, authentic feel, I like that. It might (does!) take weeks to get the song together in my mind, but the way I've been recording for this osam is more 'live' than studio. I know there are mistakes, but it does seems to capture the feel of the song that I'm playing. I really wanted to record this one to a click track (even with the slower start), but tired with metronome and drums, and it felt too robotic. So it was backwards again - acoustic first, then match up a finger hit-hat to get something structured to play the other tracks to

Think this is my favorite own track from this OSAM too.

Cheers Simon