The Work Diary

Singing is really hard - way harder than guitar for me, and theres a lot of mystery associated with it, but I definitely know for sure that anyone can sing.  Saying someone can't sing or learn to sing is like saying some people just can't learn to speak Spanish no matter how hard they try - or maybe its more like some just can't speak Spanish loudly.  Which is crazy. 

For me my teachers in college always threw around words like "tension" and "support" and "the breath" and I guess yeah once you have your own handle on the sensations happening in your own guts and throat that you can adopt those words, but its just so personal that you really just gotta fumble around and screw it up for a long time until you figure out a good feeling happening inside.  Teaching someone to sing with words is like me trying to teach someone to play the guitar over the phone: "yeah sounds pretty good, so I assume you're doing something right.."  Obviously I would just show them with my hands but unfortunately this is kinda impossible cause everything is annoyingly hidden underneath your skin and muscles. 

One lesson I can say is that tone... and by that I mean what your voice sounds like is a combination of 4 factors (at least) according to my notes.  What consonant the word starts with, the vowel, how high the note is, and how loud your trying to sing it.  So you're trying to juggle these things all at the same time and once that word is done you need to move on to the next one in real time rapid fire!  And sometimes a single word has several notes happening all over it!  Its also like a rubik's cube because everything could be feeling good but then you change one of those factors and the rest might freeze up.  Then theres the mother of all factors that obliterates the others - fear of someone actually hearing you.  No matter how awesome you think you sound or how great it feels alone, if you freak out because someone is listening to you then your notes will just fall apart like Jenga.  Thats why you should move to Japan and practice - because here no one cares if you sound bad, and if you can sing in English you're freaking awesome!

My new amp I bought online for 60 bucks and is set to UK 70's w/ the reverb on. 

Ishida

I didn't even like this band when I was in elementary school.  The only CDs I had were Weezer, the Offspring, and The Beastie Boys and none of my friends had this CD, so I could only hear them on the radio or MTV.  I only remember that song Champagne Supernova being really annoying to me, so I decided I didn't like Oasis when I was 13 - but a lot of Japanese people remember and still like them, so I learned this song because I'm singing it with another guitarist in the near future.  I first recorded the guitar and voice parts and then would rehearsed the harmony part and shaker / tambourine while the first tracks were playing from my recorder and little speaker.  Coming up with the harmony is a lot of trial and error, but I think its getting easier.

Anyway, I recorded them together to hear if they even sounded all right, and then I went ahead and loaded them into the computer for the blog since it would give me another chance to practice using the recording software.

Ishida

My first real attempt at mixing a song - and thank Jesus it wasn't an eye gouging nightmare that I usually have on Garageband.  Have I mentioned how much I hate Garageband?  I downloaded a new program called Reaper and its way better (though I hate the name).  They let you use it for free with no limitations for 2 months which is a freaking brilliant move because I hate apps or demos that let you use but don't let you save or export the thing you actually worked on.  I also like it because all the effects have built in presets that I can just put in instead of fooling around with the knobs - I guess that comes later.  I wonder if I'll look back on this and laugh at myself for going overboard on everything... hopefully I will.

In the program, the bass is just my acoustic guitar detuned an octave and it sounds like an upright bass.  I didn't intend this to turn into a bluegrass style acousti-version..though it has prompted me to want to take apart a Dixie Chix song next...  I recorded voice and guitar first  and tried to build around them but I now know you should probably record bass first because if you're a hair off, the bass really honks out as late.  At first I thought it was the detuning that was making it sound late / off the beat but then I realized.... it was me.  So play with a metronome even if it seems a relatively uncomplicated song because late bass just sounds really bad.

The guitar solo is a Frankenstein mix of other solos which strangely sounds very Mexican / Cuban and totally out of context but whatever.

The harmony was recorded on my big studio microphone and I think does sound way way better than my hand held microphone that I bought for gigs.  Its more of a pain to set up, but the signal is a lot "bigger". 

Also doing this I figured out how to record multiple tracks on my Tascam device that I didn't know how to do before.  You can record once, then hit record again and hear yourself and have them mix together, or keep it as a separate new recording - then repeat as many times as you want and then put the SD card into the computer like uploading pictures from your camera.

Yes everyone is right - record guitar and voice separately because otherwise your guitar track is going to have voice all over it that you can't get rid of.

Take aways
 - Use reaper
 - Record bass first
 - Use a metronome
 - Record on the studio mic (duh)
 - Record guitar separately next time

Ishida

Theres a lot of love making happening in this song.  Its a clever song - not quite a guilty pleasure but not too far from it.  The lyrics are soft hitting but just interesting enough to hold your attention thru the whole thing.  Its varied - the opening in the beginning followed by a sudden tempo change and the rhythm changes suddenly as well back to a familiar pulse from the beginning part.  Its also kinda simple with just one voice and instrument but the harmonies are not cookie cutter.  Its a lot of things, and I think its a good strategy to try and navigate that narrow path where it grabs attention but is lite enough to let the listener go as soon as its over - and then makes you want to play it again.

I took another stab at getting real about editing audio with software and its still a nightmare.  I'm going to have to buy a real program soon instead of clawing my eyes out w/ Garageband and dealing with the hard to find answers for Audacity.  I think its mainly me though - I just hate clicking and dragging little knobs on a screen and being unable to ctrl Z backwards if I changed something I didn't like.  Plus your ears get super fatigued and inevitably the thing you were screwing around with for hours will eventually sound like crap.

All I know about Grovesnor is that he's kinda an English underground indie electronic singer and this one is just one of the few songs I can find of his on the internet. 

Heres the original on YouTube:   http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q_m8aLVpMxI

This one was also recorded on my new live Rode condenser mic.

This is also the first time I made an acoustic version that wasn't directly copied from someone elses acoustic cover.

Ishida

This is my attempt to study / learn a legit pop song - written by 22 year old Sam Smith and his partner James Napier.  At first I liked it, but now I'm sick of it as are my neighbors I'm sure - but this happens every time I try to record a song. 

I was trying to figure out that Pop voice quality on this one which is... well you know it when you hear it on a CD or on the radio.  I've theorized that its hard to practice / develop this tone because the technique demands resonating on / in a very "narrow" space where you are very vulnerable to tightening up in the throat or just over taxing it or resulting in a very small sound.  I can imagine voice teachers everywhere saying its a bad technique which I can kinda agree with because if you're trying to learn to sing then you might as well learn the classical style which is way more open and rich and has lots of important repertoire and you can leverage this traditional sound into other styles down the road - so yes from this perspective its relatively less good.  Classical guitar is the same - If you learn classical rep then you'll be set up for success to learn pretty much all the other genres...except for ones where you use a pick...which I guess is everything else...

These new microphones sound awesome.  This time I used the free program Audacity because Garageband is such a nightmare for me to use - but maybe its just me.

The set-up

 - Range - lowest note is an octave and a half away from the highest note

 - Crescendo on a F# in the passagio which is super hard and annoying to do consistently each time

 - Hard NOT to end up just shouting during climax on high notes

 - Tricky rhythm on guitar part is vulnerable to speeding up when played against tricky vocal part.  Difficult to keep a steady pulse.

Ishida