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Post by Shannon on May 26, 2020 8:43:18 GMT -5
Well, I've not tried this before ... Here's a link to a little recording I put together in my basement over the weekend. The idea for the song came from being awakened in the wee hours by a train. The recording is obviously amateur, and represents the first time I have tried to do anything with my Zoom R8 digital recorder, but it came out fairly okay. In My Town
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Post by billhammond on May 26, 2020 8:54:57 GMT -5
Delightful! Sweet. Charming! Melodic, so well sung and played. Homey lyrics, not sappy. Excellent.
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Post by billhammond on May 26, 2020 9:46:16 GMT -5
Folks! Give this a listen!
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Post by Cornflake on May 26, 2020 10:08:12 GMT -5
Wow! A beautiful song, very well played and sung. Thanks for letting us hear this, Shannon.
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Post by billhammond on May 26, 2020 10:09:44 GMT -5
Slightly Fogelbergian, I thought, and that's a GOOD thing!
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Post by howard lee on May 26, 2020 10:16:02 GMT -5
Shannon, Bill used up all the good adjectives, but I enjoyed the heck out of this song. I forgot what a nice voice you have! And well played, my friend.
And the audio was just fine!
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Post by Shannon on May 26, 2020 10:45:24 GMT -5
Thanks, guys! I appreciate the kind comments!
I tried to write songs when I was a teenager, and they were really bad. Of course, I was also getting into a bunch of great songwriters, and I eventually decided the world didn't need any of my bad songs when there are so many good songs out there already. So I gave up songwriting.
Over the years, I would jot down an idea or two, in case I decided to try again. Lately, I've felt like maybe I could try to write again and see how it goes.
The whole effort may go down in flames again, but I'm enjoying it for the moment.
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Post by Marshall on May 26, 2020 12:58:16 GMT -5
Well that's quite nice. On all levels. Great writing. Great singing. Great playing. Very fine recording. (A little too loud on the electric guitar. But that's a small thing.)
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Post by Marshall on May 26, 2020 13:02:00 GMT -5
"In my town, you can still hear the trains." - I can't help but think about the freight line behind the Modern Motel in Vinton that Bill loves so much.
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Post by billhammond on May 26, 2020 13:03:33 GMT -5
Well that's quite nice. On all levels. Great writing. Great singing. Great playing. Very fine recording. (A little too loud on the electric guitar. But that's a small thing.) My only quibble (and it's tiny and probably just a hangup of mine) would be that I don't care for bent notes on non-blues or non-country or non-rock guitar solos. But I had to reach to find that quibble.
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Post by Cornflake on May 26, 2020 13:10:47 GMT -5
Two afterthoughts. First, I had the sense that this was very genuine. This was Shannon speaking. Keep that up.
Second, I could imagine this in 3/4. I'm not at all suggesting that you change this one but there's something about your style that would lend itself well to 3/4 in the future.
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Post by billhammond on May 26, 2020 13:24:56 GMT -5
One afterthought from me -- I like how natural and conversational the words are. Hemingway would approve.
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Post by coachdoc on May 26, 2020 13:44:52 GMT -5
Thanks, guys! I appreciate the kind comments! I tried to write songs when I was a teenager, and they were really bad. Of course, I was also getting into a bunch of great songwriters, and I eventually decided the world didn't need any of my bad songs when there are so many good songs out there already. So I gave up songwriting. Over the years, I would jot down an idea or two, in case I decided to try again. Lately, I've felt like maybe I could try to write again and see how it goes. The whole effort may go down in flames again, but I'm enjoying it for the moment. Don't...Stop. Great song, well performed. Best new amateur song I've heard in years.
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Post by millring on May 26, 2020 13:58:20 GMT -5
I think I'm hearing just a touch of Mac McAnally. Well done.
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Post by Village Idiot on May 26, 2020 14:34:14 GMT -5
Shannon, I've got to say that is the absolute best written song I've heard in a long time. And the music and voice were just beatiful. And being cooped up in the house, I've been listening to a lot of music.
I don't know the songwriting terms, but you had the hook, in fact a different one for each verse, and tied it all back to in my town you can still hear the trains, and what you said in the verses really struck a chord in a guy sitting right now in the country between Vinton and Garrison.
I love a song that makes this supposed macho guy tear up. I teared up. Just wonderful.
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Post by dradtke on May 26, 2020 14:37:23 GMT -5
Very nice. I grew up in a railroad town so I still like hearing them.
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Post by Marshall on May 26, 2020 14:38:09 GMT -5
Whatcha using to record? Software? microphone?
(I like to get technical. And it all sounds very good).
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Post by TKennedy on May 26, 2020 15:06:44 GMT -5
Shannon that is fookin awesome. Great lyrics, wonderful arrangement and musicianship, sweet vocals and a totally honest feel overall. Really tasteful.
You can be walkin tall with that one.
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Post by theevan on May 26, 2020 15:21:10 GMT -5
Love it on all counts. Great song, great voice, great guitar. Tom me the song and performance is reminiscent of Bob Bennett. Bravo.
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Post by Shannon on May 26, 2020 16:19:38 GMT -5
Boy, you guys are so generous! Thank you so much.
Regarding the electric guitar, that was certainly the part I was least sure about. I think a good electric guitar line fits there, but I'm an acoustic guy and never quite found the tone I was hearing in my head. I plan to keep working on it, and will re-do that line in the recording if I can find the sound I'm looking for. Marshall, I also agree it came out a touch too loud. I can fix that. And Bill, I will enjoy trying to work out a solo without the bends. I think acoustic players are frequently tempted to bend strings too much when we get our hands on an electric.
The conversational nature of the lyrics was by design. I've always admired songwriters whose lyrics sounded natural. I don't mind a little creative syntax from time to time, but I like songs that don't seem to be working so hard. It turns out it is hard work to make something sound easy. At least, it is for me.
Don, I have a partially-written piece that is definitely a 3/4 tune. I'm having a little lyrical block with it at the moment, but I know where I want it to go, so maybe I'll get it finished before too long.
Marshall, here's the technical stuff: Acoustic guitar is my 2001 Worland OM, a 12-fret of Adirondack spruce and Indian Rosewood. The bass is an el-cheapo Epiphone. I don't have a bass amp, so I used one of the built-in amp simulation algorithms in the Zoom R8 recorder. The mandolin is my new Eastman MD505. The electric is some Michael Kelly semi-imitation of a Les Paul; on it I also used one of the Zoom's built-in algorithms. The voice is, well, mine. I recorded the Worland straight from the passive Schatten HFN pickup through the ToneDexter. There was no mic on the guitar at all, and I think it sounds quite good. It sure was easy! The mandolin was likewise straight from a K&K internal pickup, through the ToneDexter. I recorded all the tracks dry and EQ'd flat on the Zoom R8. I normalized each track individually in Audacity, then imported to Cubase LE. I mixed to a stereo track, then went back and applied a smidgen of compression and reverb to glue it all together. I did everything in 24-bit until the final mixdown, which is in CD-standard 16-bit 44.1K.
I've enjoyed the ToneDexter for live performance, and was very pleased with its performance in recording. Fiddling with mics is a royal pain, especially when you are recording in the basement of a house and other lively people live there!
Again, you guys are so encouraging and generous with your comments. I'm grateful to know you.
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