Wow, this is so great. How did I miss this the first time?
I can't decide which version I like better. This one's a bit peppier; amazing what a slight shift can do. It's what, 8 seconds shorter than the first version?
But the song itself is really nice. You've managed to subtly capture and incorporate some of the good bits of '70's era Fleetwood Mac/Supertramp kind of stuff while keeping it fresh and you.
Love it.
posted to MeFi Music by chococat at 7:22 PM on November 11, 2009

Oh, and:
hang on a minute - just how many lightning-fast guitar solos I've heard have benefitted from a little tweak on the ol' varispeed knob??
1:20.
posted to MeFi Music by chococat at 7:34 PM on November 11, 2009

I've said it before: I love recordings that are as much about the room as they are about the song. Love the feel of this and the sound of the room.
Also, at the beginning I was singing to myself, "ground control to Major Tom..."
posted to MeFi Music by chococat at 7:09 PM on November 11, 2009

I was going to suggest Tunesmith yesterday but then I remembered that I hated that book. My brother bought it for me, singing it's praises. It was an interesting read but I tuned out toward the end.
The one thing I got from that book (that I was already doing) was to have a place that's your area, yours alone, to write/make music. And he's way too anal about perfect rhymes (you can't rhyme "rain" with, say, "name," EVER) even though it always nags at me so much... [more]
posted to MeFi Music by chococat at 12:31 PM on November 10, 2009

Your right, that sounded like a bitchy shoot-down of your suggestion; I'm sorry uncleozzy.
Yes, it is worth reading. If only, in my case, for rejecting things certain things and adapting others. He's Mr. Formula in a big way; but I do value the rhyming dictionary and thesaurus now, more than I used to.
posted to MeFi Music by chococat at 12:41 PM on November 10, 2009

That ain't weak. If that's just horsin' around, well, hell, that's a nice pony you got there
Aw shucks flapjax, I reckon you got me all blushin' now. I thank ya kindly.
I just meant it's pretty thin and shaky and didn't hit all the notes. I shoulda gone back and done it again. But, you know, shoulda coulda woulda.

Interesting final chord you got there.
You can't go wrong ending a country... [more]
posted to MeFi Music by chococat at 10:30 AM on November 7, 2009

Ya, you do this sound well, cortex. Really suits you.
posted to MeFi Music by chococat at 10:16 AM on November 7, 2009

It's a fun process, although not one I'd personally like to attempt too often.
You may also want to consider the RPM Challenge in February, (which is actually in the States so you may be able to attend a party afterward) which several Mefites have participated in previously.
posted to MeFi Music by chococat at 3:04 PM on November 3, 2009

Thanks everybody.

Your "bgm" tag... here in Japan that means "background music"
It's actually my initials, but I love that it's become background music.

Is that also a woman's voice or a really nice falsetto?
Heh. That's all me and all man.

I'd turn the main vocal track up a tick or two
You're entirely... [more]
posted to MeFi Music by chococat at 3:39 PM on October 30, 2009

Ya, about 15 minutes into writing this one I realized that it was basically Same Dark Road again. But I liked it, so I kept going. Sometimes that happens.
posted to MeFi Music by chococat at 7:25 AM on November 3, 2009

Turned out great!
posted to MeFi Music by chococat at 7:00 AM on November 3, 2009

Yes. Your stuff is so great. It's like some kind of midi-informed take on Lounge. Like Combustible Edison with some edge. Combustible Edgison.
posted to MeFi Music by chococat at 4:30 PM on November 2, 2009

Okay well I just bit the bullet and did a possibly silly thing by buying a new one on Ebay.
$169 US, free shipping via USPS Priority (although I upgraded to Express for $15).
Possibly silly in that if it's busted it will be a bit of a drag to return it, at my expense.
But if I don't get gouged by Customs I should save about a hundred bucks Canadian.
posted to MeFi Music by chococat at 6:13 AM on October 20, 2009

Got it today, it's awesome. Nice and warm sounding without that thin, plucky piezo sound.
All told I saved about $80. $169 US plus $31 CDN which the mailman collected for the 13% GST and PST tax.
posted to MeFi Music by chococat at 11:34 AM on October 26, 2009

I think you captured this whole idea perfectly on the first one, so you had a tough job to not jump the shark here. I think the awesome organ saved it.
That and your AMERICAN GUY vocals.
posted to MeFi Music by chococat at 11:04 PM on October 24, 2009

Ya, lovely.
posted to MeFi Music by chococat at 10:56 PM on October 24, 2009

I like the parts where it's the piano, guitar and uke combo.
Also, sometimes I like when your voice does that kind of shouty vibrato thing, sort of panicky-sounding.
posted to MeFi Music by chococat at 8:38 PM on October 23, 2009

I really like this. Such a nice, warm, clean recording.
Love the bell; reminiscent of Kelis; sounds like the same bell in fact.
I wrote a song a few years ago about waiting for the subway but it never went anywhere (haha.)
I'll have to pick your brain sometime about how you get your recordings so clear, as I'm an idiot when it comes to mixing.
posted to MeFi Music by chococat at 8:22 PM on October 23, 2009

Huh. I just read about the mic-beside-your-ear technique a few weeks ago. Still haven't tried it. I'm NEVER happy with how my acoustic tracks sound, it's like a constant search to find a good sound. Think I'll have to try this. I only have one large condenser, though; my other mics are shure 57's and a 58. Look forward to hearing your result.
posted to MeFi Music by chococat at 2:49 PM on October 18, 2009

I'd be really wary of checking the guitar with regular luggage. They throw that luggage. You can call ahead and ask if you can bring it on the plane with you, if it fits in the overhead. But I've heard of people getting to the flight check-in and then not being allowed to bring it on, so I guess it's up to the discretion of the airline person. If the flight isn't so crowded it shouldn't be a problem, they can even put it up front where they put all the strollers that... [more]
posted to MeFi Music by chococat at 8:10 AM on October 7, 2009

Oh, also while finishing this tonight my old backup hard drive from 2004 completely died in a scary orgasm of clicking and scraping noises. It (was) a Hitachi Deskstar (which, I've subsequently learned, has earned the name "Deathstar" due to it's tendency for failure.) And while, yes, it was a backup drive, it's 5 years and 160gigs of stuff; a lot of which had been stupidly deleted from the original computers it was backed up from, because, "man...I need more space on this... [more]
posted to MeFi Music by chococat at 6:41 PM on September 23, 2009

Thanks, guys.
Ya, the melodika is great. You think it's just going to sound toy-ish but being able to control the dynamics of it with breath just makes it so expressive. It's like a weird accordian/harmonica hybrid.
A bit hard to mic, though. You have to twist it around and play it at a weird angle to get to the sound holes in the front.

spiderskull, I got an HD-28. Sounded unbelievable when I first played it, like it was amplified. I love it.... [more]
posted to MeFi Music by chococat at 8:05 AM on September 24, 2009

Conscious?
Huh. Nope.
But interestingly, the very first guitar teacher I had, in Grade 5 in the late 70's, was this really hippy-ish guy. I'd go to his house and he'd show me chords and then get me to strum along and sing songs with him, and "Colours" was one of them and I just hated it. Because I wanted to be learning "Highway to Hell" or whatever.

Whoa, wait, no way, you live in Toronto? I... [more]
posted to MeFi Music by chococat at 4:47 PM on September 27, 2009

Thanks again!

edlundart: I think it's not necessarily good to have a set way of doing something every time, however, I'm guilty of that often. Depending on the song, I frequently double-track harmonies and pan them both over to the right or left a bit. Season with reverb. On the chorus I might double the lead vocal too. I only have a few mics, a Studio Projects C1 (large diaphragm condenser), a couple of SM-57s and an SM-58. Mostly I use the C1.... [more]
posted to MeFi Music by chococat at 7:49 AM on October 7, 2009

Can someone tell me how to make links (even though, clearly, I don't give a flying fuck)?
Sure.
Find the thing you want to link to.
Copy the URL.
When making your comment, highlight the text that you want to be the link.
Click the blue "link" at the bottom right of the comment box.
Paste the URL that you copied.
Ta-da!
posted to MeFi Music by chococat at 12:21 PM on October 6, 2009

I think I got as far as a spooky Moog theramin track last year. Still on my hard drive somewhere. Oh right, that hard drive blew up. Nevermind.
posted to MeFi Music by chococat at 11:19 AM on October 6, 2009

but sometimes you just want to put something down, you know?
I hear you, sister.
This is a great track. "I found love...or something very much like it" is awesome.
I have to confess that, given your previously established ability to create believable facsimiles of a wide variety of musical styles, I'm never entirely sure if your vocals are an ironic take on the faux-California-y singer type of music that's played on radio... [more]
posted to MeFi Music by chococat at 7:19 PM on September 24, 2009

I like yours a lot better.
I really like your mic placement on this. At first it sounds like a kind of lo-fi, YouTubey, someone-at-their-computer thing but then as the layers come in it sounds like you're having group singalong with yourself, which really works.
posted to MeFi Music by chococat at 6:48 PM on September 24, 2009

I hate that you have to say something underneath, explaining the song. You can't just leave a blank space under the title. I think the "more inside" should be enough, if you want to say stuff about it.
posted to MeFi Music by chococat at 7:32 AM on September 22, 2009

Love it. What a great (changing) chorus.
posted to MeFi Music by chococat at 7:22 AM on September 22, 2009

I think you've got Coldplay and Oasis in the wrong category, there.
posted to MeFi Music by chococat at 2:31 PM on September 19, 2009

Ya the MIDI way is tough. There's always some lag on Garageband.
I rarely do MIDI but when I do, I go the labour intensive route. I see your 132bpm tag, so I assume you're playing to a click. So play the drums via MIDI, like you did, and then just go back and zoom in on your timeline. Then you can do two things. You can highlight the part of your region that's off-time, open the region editor (looks like a pair of scissors, at the bottom) and click on the "Enhance... [more]
posted to MeFi Music by chococat at 10:18 AM on September 15, 2009

Love the Rhodes. Reminiscent of Joni Mitchell's album-version of "Woodstock."
posted to MeFi Music by chococat at 9:17 AM on September 14, 2009

Hey, that was really nice.
posted to MeFi Music by chococat at 7:34 AM on September 8, 2009

This turned out great!
Great job, not_on_display. And of course, Happy, Happy Birthday Jessamyn I met you once in Toronto at a meetup.
posted to MeFi Music by chococat at 8:07 PM on September 4, 2009

Pretty damn good.
I also learned that I can get paid lots of money by answering surveys online, a fact of which I was previously unaware.
posted to MeFi Music by chococat at 9:13 AM on August 31, 2009

Feeds my soul?
posted to MeFi Music by chococat at 10:02 PM on August 8, 2009

Gosh, you have a nice voice.
posted to MeFi Music by chococat at 10:05 PM on July 31, 2009

Nice job!
posted to MeFi Music by chococat at 7:34 PM on July 30, 2009

I'm listening on a pair of crap headphones right now and the bass is sounding pretty on par with everything else, to me, so it's hard to tell. I'll always defer to uncleozzy's superior EQ IQ, but could it be possible that in a rough mix you just got way addicted to the bass up too high and you haven't been able to hear it any other way since then? It happens to me all the time.
Great track though, I like it. Really standout guitar.

Also, Driver's Seat!... [more]
posted to MeFi Music by chococat at 7:22 PM on July 30, 2009

Another really great track. It's funny, 'cause at the beginning I thought, "wow, he's being pretty faithful to the original" but then you bust out the tremolo and the trip-hoppy beats, and then the pedal steel seals the deal, for real. That's how I feel.
posted to MeFi Music by chococat at 10:37 PM on July 29, 2009

Oh god, I love this so much.
Shiny shiny.
posted to MeFi Music by chococat at 10:31 PM on July 29, 2009

Great job, snsranch.
I'd third flapjax about the panning. And, of course, effects are to taste, but I'd go even drier on your vocals, because they're great. Maybe a bit of compression so we hear more breath and gravelly throat sounds, since you're singing nice and quiet.
But that's just me projecting onto your stuff, it's great how you made it.
posted to MeFi Music by chococat at 10:16 PM on July 29, 2009

Awesome.
posted to MeFi Music by chococat at 10:07 PM on July 29, 2009

my wife and I both thought of Bowie the first time we listened to your recordings on Music

I always think of Tom Robinson. Great vocals as usual, Major.
posted to MeFi Music by chococat at 10:06 PM on July 29, 2009

Well, I think it's really moving. The technical stuff doesn't really matter, because it's not about that. In fact, it's kind of appropriate that you recorded your vocal on a phone; it's sort of like a phonecall to no one.
Without going into it, I can also relate to the situation.
posted to MeFi Music by chococat at 10:00 PM on July 29, 2009

That's great. You are a clever boy.
Now do the horn ring, the one that goes "Ah-ooooo-gah."
posted to MeFi Music by chococat at 8:13 PM on July 29, 2009

Oh, man. Honestly, I came in here prepared to roll my eyes and click out pretty much right away.
But..this is mesmerizing. The "she's a femme fatale" panned right made me laugh really loud and it's 3 in the morning here and I'm alone in the basement with my precious beer.
Very well done monsieur cortex.
posted to MeFi Music by chococat at 12:14 AM on July 11, 2009

Love this. Yes, dagosto is scary good.
posted to MeFi Music by chococat at 12:02 AM on July 11, 2009

Jesus.
posted to MeFi Music by chococat at 11:47 PM on July 10, 2009