Folk Tune (with Djembe!)

[brockf]

Hi, I'm a 20-year-old singer/songwriter from Canada. This is a short little tune that will most likely serve as the intro to my EP. Any comments/suggestions for the production or song? Thanks guys for all your help.

[brockf]

The word "indie" became pointless because "independent" music isn't a genre, it's a business model.

I have never listened to Matchbox 20. I do love Elliott Smith, though. So if something like this even crossed his mind, that's pretty cool.

Folk music to me is simple songs, not written for hooks. I'm really sorry I offended you.

By "Pre Madonna", do you mean "primma donna"? Either way, the vocals are quiet and the drum is loud because I'm a typical singer with low-self esteem and a microphone. I played everything on this so believe me, if the drummer is a prima donna, so is the singer.

You make me feel so good about myself.

Anyways, on a less defensive note, I can't help the fact that I don't sing like Bright Eyes or Ray Lamontagne but I don't want to sing Matchbox 20 and this is the stuff that comes out. What would be worse - me doing a Ray or Conor impression or me just singing naturally?

[brockf]

Originally Posted by TroyTempest

The impression.

I thought we were talking about folk here, not emo. You want someone to tell you how fantastic all your music is ask your GF, not GearSlutz.

edit*



Thats funny because that same definition is "Shit" music to me.

I have no idea why you're talking about emo.

Simple songs without hooks = shit? So... Akon > Leonard Cohen? N'Sync > Bob Dylan?

[brockf]

Whatever, man. There's constructive criticism and then there's being an anonymous, gutless dick on the internet. Take a guess as to where you lie. I know you're not a musician.

[audiovisceral]

Originally Posted by TroyTempest

Cry all you want, if you cant take criticism you are not a musician. What I said has its place. You reply focusing on the ******** shit, and make ******** statements pointing out false shit like "Folk does not have hooks" Give me a break, I'm not your enemy, I am the public, I matter more.

Maybe someone will come here to defend you and call me an idiot, and if so, so be it, but don't hold your breath.

you're being a jackass. it takes one post to criticize. 4 is trolling.

op, turn vox up. djembe needs a better relationship to guitar - they're smearing each other - eq, pan, compress, reverb, whatever to separate them.

[peeder]

Welcome to recording. And gearslutz.

Anyway i highly recommend against opening your debut album with a lofi section. Especially one that sounds bad. Honestly, if I wasn't trying to make you feel better I would have shut it off after 5 seconds of that awful lofi thing, thinking that's how good the rest of the recording actually is.

It is a little better than that but you have quite a ways to go. It's fun to learn!

[always_ending]

Originally Posted by paulnowo

Whatever, man. There's constructive criticism and then there's being an anonymous, gutless dick on the internet. Take a guess as to where you lie. I know you're not a musician.

LMFAO! Dude, I'm positive you don't know who you're referring to here (Troy Tempest) since I've been to his recording studio he owns and worked on tracks with him. Not to mention the fact that he has a Gold Record with his name on it hanging on the walls.....I guess you're WAYYY better than that though, if one was to judge from the hooks in this tune

[always_ending]

But seriously, you shouldve ENDED this song at the start.

#1 you're doing the same guitar riff the whole entire time, minus the one time when you just slowly strum.....the same chord

#2 even IF you're singing style (if THATS what you want to call it) is to sing "in the back" of the band.....that DOESNT mean you have to set your mixes to shit, bring the vox forward in the mix, else people think you have nothing worth listening to if YOU dont believe it, self confidence....get it?

#3 to improve this song a small amount, I would try slowing the tempo down, especially if you want it to be a "folksy" tune

#4 there's a djembe in this song? didn't hear that at all.....maybe I need to hook up my subwoofers and crank it to 150db? might even be able to make out what the lyrics are saying in the "so called" verse

[brockf]

Alright, thanks guys. You've actually given me something to do with the mix. I appreciate it.

[Audio Hombre]

prima donna*

even though you took some serious lumps on this, Troy made a couple of very good points. Your balances are all way off and reversed from a typical listener's perspective, of this minimalist type stuff. in folk, you gotta get the words front and centre, then the guitar, usually an acoustic like we have here, and then everything else is for support. having that hand drum beating down the vox = teh fail, period.

it's almost all mono . play with panning the drum and guitar

you committed the most common mistake that everyone makes when they're getting into this: way too much reverb. i've made the same mistake as have most, so no big deal.just be more aware of it. what i started to do, was listen to whatever i was adding reverb too boost it up there to hear what is what,and then start to pull back the fader until i think it sounds right and then from there, pull it back a bit more.

[Awedeeoh]

First of all I'd just like to point out theres a difference between constructive criticism (good and productive) and blatantly insulting someone (pointless at least on this type of medium)

Anyway. The lo-fi thing in the beginning is a bit annoying, if you really want to keep that in I'd do something with it...I'm not sure what but it sounds a bit harsh to me.

There needs to be a better balance between the djimbe, guitars and vox. They all drown each other out or cover each other up at a lot of times in the song maybe try playing around with the panning, maybe eq things a bit to give them their own place instead of overlapping each other. As far as the vocals..I get what you're going for stylistically but maybe you've over done it a bit, so possibly play around with that.

Oh and as far as Bob Dylan having hooks yes a lot of songs he did, but then again a lot of songs he didn't. My favorite Dylan song "Love Minus Zero/No Limit" doesn't have a hook, it doesn't even have a chorus.

[brockf]

Okay cool guys. Thanks for taking a listen.

I took one piece of advice from TroyTempest seriously and that was the extreme panning I had wasn't great (and I think it added to the polished "Matchbox 20" sound). So, I brought it in and made it almost mono and now it seems it's lost some of the separation I had before.

So, I will try out some EQ, turn down the reverb/drum, and work on making that intro a little less ear-grating I liked it at first because it immediately lowers expectations haha.