Music Forum / My Music

Hello NE folks! I said awhile ago that I would post some of the songs I've recorded and then never did. I still haven't decided if I like any of them, it changes by the day, but I suppose I've got nothing to lose by sharing. We all start somewhere right?

I don't consider any of these finished songs. I don't even have a computer right now, just a little four-track recorder and a microphone so the sound mix isn't polished at all. They sound better with head phones than speakers I think. The vocals are all over the place. I'm not sure if I'm getting better or I'm getting worse. Or probably I just need to pick my melodies more carefully. So anyway, this is more or less what I've been up to for the past year or so. Comment if you like. I'll try to grow a tough skin.

Oh, and I'm trying to get on AIM again and keep in contact with people so if you see me online, please say hello. About RCT, music, whatever. I don't have much time to chat since the only computer time I have right now is at work, but I'll try to be available as much as I can.

Without further ado, the first song...

And another song, this one just vocals and guitar. Incidentally, these are the first two songs I ever wrote.

This one is sortof a mess I admit. I had a pretty ambitious idea for a song and looking back on it now I didn't (don't?) really have the skill to pull it off yet. I also used to just improvise the lead guitar overdub parts as I recorded which is pretty hit and miss, on this song in particular. There's some good ideas in this one though I think.

This is a song I'm actually pretty proud of. I think the chord structure is pretty cool and the guitar parts (the outro in particular) are some of my best work so far. I've played it for a few people and they were kind of...meh. So maybe it's just the guitar player part of me that likes this song.

Not much to say about this one. It's built around piano chords which I don't usually do. I used a plate reverb effect on the lead guitar which sounds kind of spacey. I guess I was getting a little more adventurous with recording techniques at this point. I actually don't like using digital effects at all, so I'm planning to build a plate reverb sometime soon.

This started out as a joke. I really wouldn't even bother posting it, but it got an endorsement from a friend of mine as my best song so what do I know. Kind of a talking blues thing where I try to sound like a drunk Bob Dylan. Or maybe I actually was drunk at the time. You be the judge.

Two songs in this one. The first one is a short little piece I made up to test out my new four track recorder. A should write more short songs. I like the bass line. The second one is probably the best thing I've written so far. It's a beat I've been saving for this band I'm trying to start with my friend taking over the verses so that's why there's so much blank space.

This is from about September I think which makes it one of the most recent recordings. I was listening to a lot of Springsteen at the time. I've got a lot of unfinished songs parts since then that I'm still trying to work out.

Listened to "Eloise", "The Sidewalk Man", "Moving On", and "Queen of Hearts".

"Eloise" does some really off-the-wall key changes. "The Sidewalk Man" was entertaining both from a comedy and serious stand point because while some of the lines where Dylan rambling went horribly right strike pretty hard. "Moving On" felt the most like a song thanks the the bass and bits of drums. Gives it a whole different energy level. "Queen of Hearts" was pretty solid too. Reasonable running time and somewhat catchy, if a bit cliché (which is something that as a songwriter I'm starting to care less and less about... I'm always amazed by how many times words like "heart", "hate", "love", "you" and "I" show up in my favorite songs; so I'm finally getting over using them all over the place in mine too). In other words don't worry about it.

The best thing you can do for yourself right now would be to trim down your arrangements, cut lines that you don't think are absolutely essential to establishing the mood or theme of the tune and bring it down to just a few verses.

Ride6

Listened to "Eloise", "The Sidewalk Man", "Moving On", and "Queen of Hearts".

"Eloise" does some really off-the-wall key changes. "The Sidewalk Man" was entertaining both from a comedy and serious stand point because while some of the lines where Dylan rambling went horribly right strike pretty hard. "Moving On" felt the most like a song thanks the the bass and bits of drums. Gives it a whole different energy level. "Queen of Hearts" was pretty solid too. Reasonable running time and somewhat catchy, if a bit cliché (which is something that as a songwriter I'm starting to care less and less about... I'm always amazed by how many times words like "heart", "hate", "love", "you" and "I" show up in my favorite songs; so I'm finally getting over using them all over the place in mine too). In other words don't worry about it.

The best thing you can do for yourself right now would be to trim down your arrangements, cut lines that you don't think are absolutely essential to establishing the mood or theme of the tune and bring it down to just a few verses.

Ride6

Thanks for the comments ride6, your input is always appreciated. I can definitely see there are a lot of places where I could cut things down. I'm usually afraid to cut things out once I've recorded something since I don't know if I'll be able to capture the same energy again. I'm hoping that the ear training I've been doing will help me to get my ideas more organized in the future.