Daz - March 2008

Daz · Post by **Daz** » Mon Mar 31, 2008 3:51 am

Remember this comment from the other day ?

Daz wrote: Anyone who knows me will be very surprised by this month's song ... even I am surprising myself here ... and scaring the hell out of myself at the same time. This song is a "first" for me and I am doing a few things that I've never done before. It could well be a total disaster, but I am feeling fairly confident that what I have done so far will actually work out well and it won't be too laughable, despite the "firstness" of it all. I would never have done this without the "spirit of the OSAM".

Well here is the track ! Before you listen you need to know there are a few "firsts" in this piece; things that I have never done before :

1) Written a song that has lyrics (only instrumental songs previously)
2) Recorded myself singing (yarg !)
3) Played the drums (rather than programmed in the sequencer)
4) Recorded a song that has 6 times as many guitars as synths. There is only one mono-synth part !

Overall I wanted to go for a "real" feel to this song, in contrast to the normal sequenced stuff I do, a bit like a band. There are the following parts :

* Electric Rhythm Guitar
* Acoustic Rhythm Guitar
* Bass Guitar
* Baritone Guitar
* Electric Lead Guitar
* Drums (played on a V-Drum kit and then corrected (alot!) in Logic)
* Mono synth (recorded to MIDI and then bounced to audio)
* Lead Vocal
* Backing Vocals (with some help from my girlfriend!)

Did you really want to know all that ? LOL, it's just so different from my normal stuff I thought it might be of interest.

Anyway .. blah .. blah ... here is the track (Living a Daydream) :

http://daz.korgforums.com/mp3/daz_mar08_daydream.mp3

... I hope it's enjoyable to listen to !

Daz.

JonSolo · Post by **JonSolo** » Mon Mar 31, 2008 4:11 am

Well Daz you absolutely rock dude! This is a really good song. There is a little "Al Stewart" phrasing to your voice which is great! Amazing that this is your first vocal track. The stacking is very professional. I do not know whether or not you have recorded other's vocals before, but it is clear you know how to do it.

It definitely feels real. It is hard to give a whole lot of criticism to a song that you know encompasses so many "firsts". There is a bit of rumble to the track overall perhaps from the strum guitar tracks or some stray reverb signals. Guitar is very hard to record cleanly, especially on multiple tracks if you are not used to doing it. And if you are like I was a few years ago you have enjoyed a sterile environment with just your keyboards for a very long time.

Irregardless of that small issue, this is something to be really proud of. I would keep it up if I were you. And it was VERY enjoyable to listen to; for all the reasons you mentioned and the fact that the song is just plain good.

Please keep this kind of thing coming. You are good at it!

Jon

Pecca · Post by **Pecca** » Mon Mar 31, 2008 7:40 am

Rocking stuff !

Very nice indeed. Agree with Jon that you really record the vocals greatly.
The sound of guitars/drums are kickin´... So you actually play the drums aswell ? Sounds so good to me

Great job... Was a joy to listen to it.

Diego · Post by **Diego** » Mon Mar 31, 2008 8:40 am

Hi!!

First of all...I'm so happy many of us is taking that OSAM as a challenge to do things that would have never done in other ways.
I liked that song a lot, very innovative for you, and considering is your first time from a lot of point of view, it's an amazing result.
Vocals are a little over processed, I would use a few less reverb, and prefer a small touch of delay rather than too much reverb.
Sounds are very natural, and synthed sound are very well blended with real ones.

BTW, vocals are great, I'm sure you're kidding when you say that you've never recorded vocal tracks

I really envy you, you played all that instruments in a great way!
Generally, one man band lack on some points, but you don't!

Just to be courious: have you ever thought about giving this song a "classic" structure like:

- intro
- verse 1
- pre-chorus
- chorus
- bridge
- verse 2
- pre-chorus
- chorus
- solo
- chorus
- chorus (1 tone higher)
- outro

Regards

georgeinar · Post by **georgeinar** » Mon Mar 31, 2008 10:38 am

First of all, three cheers for lyrics and vocals. Thank you. That makes I think only 3 of us doing lyrics at this point. And thank you for going out on a limb here. I've been working on a piece where I actually sing, you know like notes and stuff, so maybe when the time comes I'll go ahead and post mine as well. For me I thought the voice was fine, the guitars seemed to blend together so it was difficult to distinguish any parts, but not in a bad way, just a bit thick. Also, I do think it could benefit a bit on the structure side, it seems to just be looping around and might benefit from some change up in that area. But you know, I am so encouraged by your leaps here that I wouldn't take any criticisms too seriously and just continue risking it all. How liberating is this OSAM. I would like if some part the rhythm guitar dropped out too. Or if there were some variety in the drums. These are just suggestions since I'm forced to nitpick here.

Daz · Post by **Daz** » Mon Mar 31, 2008 1:26 pm

Thanks guys

Your comments pretty much match my own feelings about this ... as I have said before my song structure/arrangement and being a little too repetitive are my weak spots that I am working on. It's useful to keep getting feedback on that. I need to keep getting those gentle reminders

It's such a challenge doing what we are all doing; composing, performing and producing. But when you add lyrics/vocals, it's even more challenging, and I've got a shed load of extra respect and understanding now for George, Unimon and Jon. It's just so much more personal and it feels so strange putting your thoughts/emotions out there. This song is about some pretty personal stuff (as you can probably tell

) and I found it difficult not to let that drag me down whilst trying to be confident, outgoing and attempting to rock the hut.

LOL ... don't be thinking I am a drummer just yet, this was a real hybrid of playing the V-Drums and recording the resulting MIDI, which then underwent a fair bit of surgery, primarily fixing timing and lots of accidental extra kick drums etc. It's just one of many instruments I can play badly and fix in the sequencer

That's a kind of talent I suppose

Oh and I have recorded vocals before, just not my own. Last year I worked with a friend on a bunch of his songs which were vocal based and spent a lot of time working on his vocals. He is a much better singer than I am and his vocals seemed to just glide right into place in the mix, whereas mine were a bit more of a struggle.

Good luck with that vocal track George, as I say, you have my complete sympathy regarding the challenge of doing that !

Finally ... I do have another vocal/guitar song in progress, so brace yourselves

It's a much gentler love song, but I won't do it just yet 'cos it's still coming together and I want to really do it well. Next month I am going to do something "easy" instead !

Daz.

JonSolo · Post by **JonSolo** » Mon Mar 31, 2008 2:07 pm

I just got up and wanted to hear this one again.

Just so you guys know, he has a distinctive and what I feel is a classic structure.

Verse 1
Pre-chorus
Chorus
Verse 2 (with a slight different word meter than verse 1)
Pre-chorus
Chorus
Verse 3 (back to verse 1's meter)
Pre-chorus
Chorus
"Solo" to the end

SO......with that in mind, I think what throws everyone off is the pre-chorus. It is good, but it does have the feel of a bridge. And the fact that you do this three times in a row and throw the "solo" at the end instead of breaking up verse 2 and 3 makes the song seem to "ramble" a bit. I won't lean heavily on this one because this is your first public vocal piece.

What would help this situation, however, would be some good dynamics. For example, in verse one drop down to one strum guitar and make the strumming a little sparser. For the pre-chorus add a few instruments and then keep your chorus the same. For verse two, drop out the strum altogether and keep the little solo elements all around. Etc.

That should help in keeping it from running all together.

Again...I love it!

Jon

georgeinar · Post by **georgeinar** » Mon Mar 31, 2008 5:10 pm

Very good suggestions, Jonsolo on construction. A tip I usually do is to record my segments quite full of background leads, countermelodies etc, but then I strip down once I get beyond the original development stage and remove a couple parts for the first verse, then the second verse I will put them back in but remove something else, so each section sounds different. Even my choruses I will try to mix it up so the final chorus will be where everything is full swing. It just seems easier for me to start out huge and strip away rather than start small and wrack my brain at the end for what it needs.

ellll · Post by **ellll** » Mon Mar 31, 2008 5:11 pm

Shades of Asia...(or John Wetton...), (Or... John Payne??)

This is fantastic...thats it...Well, now we know what else Daz CAN do..

I see no prob with the form...and it is not "quite" as stated, as the feel also depends on the verse structure...and Thats why it seems very good to me, as far as the form...I always wondered in real analysis about the pre-chorus not so sure here, (..all as stated by Jon...)......but...Whatever, It's really a great work in my opinion..

The sound could maybe be a little better? The structure probably required so much, some of the clarity I like could be more accurate...

But What do I know about this style...(other than listening for many "tears"...), The whole thing GELS...and thats what it's all about!!

Do some more of these...and you will have an album!!!

BEST!!! ellll

Sorry about all the edits...My machine keeps hitting wrong letters...

georgeinar · Post by **georgeinar** » Mon Mar 31, 2008 5:35 pm

After another listen: I like the lyrics a lot, they're strong and poetic and there's a punch to the musicality of the words which really fits this style. It is truly amazing how much more personal it is to hear our voices, while few of us actually know each other in real life, to hear our voices is another way to experience who we are. It's much easier to picture you sitting around and singing into the mic. I do hope you give us some more of these pieces. You have the music production side down, so this is a great place for you to journey and I believe you have nothing to lose, in so much as this OSAM is whatever we want it to be, so whether we can become big stars for what we're doing or not, these pieces will move us all forward in ways we would never had gone without this great group of ears and talent. OK, now I'm inspired to start on my next musical journey myself.

ellll · Post by **ellll** » Mon Mar 31, 2008 6:08 pm

Boy!!

This is one voice that was a surprise....I guess you just get an idea and then,...welll...

elll

Lorenzo · Post by **Lorenzo** » Mon Mar 31, 2008 7:49 pm

I thought your voice was quite different! eh eh eh anyway goooood stuff here! I'll try to create something different too for the next month, it's a good idea to experiment in different music area...

chordial · Post by **chordial** » Tue Apr 01, 2008 12:33 am

First of all, what a great sound!

When you said something different was on the cards, I had no idea. I've been playing this all day, you make it sound so easy.
I love the punchy chords, singing (!) and the arrangement. It sounded a little sparse at first, then I started to get into it properly, there's space for everything and they all live so well with the other parts. I love the synth work, but the guitar work is something else again.

This style sits very nicely with me, could be the British connection again, I'm thinking of the Wonderstuff as a songwriting example.

Excellent Daz!

Stephen · Post by **Stephen** » Tue Apr 01, 2008 11:08 am

First of all, this is a very cool song.
I'm totally impressed with the drums, and the fact that you actually played them, and no modesty from you here, If I played a drum track, no software on the planet could make it sound this good.
You vocal work is a pleasent surprise indeed, well done.
I like this a lot, congratulations on pulling this off so well, and for being not ony so creative, but having the talent to do something like this.
You really should work with your singing voice, it has a quality that could really become fantastic with more confidence, and just a bit more energy.
Great stuff Daz, two thumbs up on this one.

Dee · Post by **Dee** » Tue Apr 01, 2008 8:35 pm

Hi Daz

It's really good to hear the voice behind all the writing here at KF.

Congratulations

on venturing into something new, .....and doing it so well too

Arrangement-wise I think the suggestions from others here are very good ones, although in the end it's about you expressing yourself, and we appreciate hearing it the way you want it to come out.

Heck at this rate, you'll have us all singing by the end of 2008

Regards from
Dee