Christmas Song (needs a name and art still)

[Mr. PC]

Just finished this

https://albertmckay.bandcamp.com/tra...christmas-song


https://soundcloud.com/phryq/143s


Also, I need to start making money on my music ASAP (rent is due and I got fired).

Anyone know how I can do that? NFTs?

[msundh]

It sounds kinda messy. The vocal and solo instrument is way too low.
Sorry for the harsh comment.

[Mr. PC]

Originally Posted by msundh

It sounds kinda messy. The vocal and solo instrument is way too low.
Sorry for the harsh comment.

Ya, you're right. I'm redoing the vocals

[enroe]

Right flute, left piano ... it starts off very nicely,
Christmassy.

Then the drums kick in and you leave the "mainstream"
framework a bit here. On the one hand unusual - on the
other hand, this is where it gets interesting - because
from here the listener is seduced into the underworld!
At the end you garnish the whole thing with a baroque
harpsichord barrel.

I would choose the title "The Kidnapping of the
Christ Child". So the title is just as amazing as the
song itself.

Very awesome the whole thing! Keep it up!

[41TWIN]

Your mix and sounds are very clean and good. Besides the low vocals. Wild playing and song.

Only time I ever made much money with music is I currently play bass in a country band. For some reason bars hand out money for us to play covers.

Original music? No clue.

[Mr. PC]

Originally Posted by enroe

Right flute, left piano ... it starts off very nicely,
Christmassy.

Then the drums kick in and you leave the "mainstream"
framework a bit here. On the one hand unusual - on the
other hand, this is where it gets interesting - because
from here the listener is seduced into the underworld!
At the end you garnish the whole thing with a baroque
harpsichord barrel.

I would choose the title "The Kidnapping of the
Christ Child". So the title is just as amazing as the
song itself.

Very awesome the whole thing! Keep it up!

Originally Posted by 41TWIN

Your mix and sounds are very clean and good. Besides the low vocals. Wild playing and song.

Only time I ever made much money with music is I currently play bass in a country band. For some reason bars hand out money for us to play covers.

Original music? No clue.

Thanks... I got a lot of negative feedback about the vocals and balalaika (electric guitar solo).

I had a flu, and thought it sounded like Noam Chomsky, which I liked, but was told it was very creepy, which isn't a vibe I wanted... so re-working vocals now.
{edit, new take} is it better?
https://albertmckay.bandcamp.com/track/143-b

I also got some bassoon recordings from an old song, that manages to fit certain places (under the guitar solo where certain notes were weak).

I slapped that climbing-mountain progression in the harpsichord 6/4 section, which... should sound Christmasy in theory, but maybe it doesn't...

I'm also uncertain about lyrics... they should maybe be sung confidently, at least the first verse I'd wanted to feel comforting, like Leonard Cohen holding me in his arms... not like... a psycho holding me in his arms. When I'm listening now, I feel like the word "quill" sounds totally arbitrary, forced-rhyme. Is that just me?

If I could know you're feeling right
the fire's ash is drifting white
I'd sleep so still and wide and light
on this cold starless night

goodbye, although we're feeling bled
the fur and ash are newly wed
keep your quill, don't hide in red
in that old, star lit head

the snow outside has softly set
the frosted glass. A rusty fret
is cheep goodwill so wild and wet
take a bold Pascalian bet

[Timothy Lawler]

Typing as I listen. Beautiful intro. I like the sense of exploration in the piece, the arrangement's layering and variety. Really great instrumental textures, the way the parts balance and compliment each other. Listening to the new Bandcamp mix BTW. Like the vocal sound a lot. A little pitchy though. I'm no singer so have no business critiquing the vocal, but it sounds like you're singing very quietly. Personally, I have no pitch control when I sing that quietly.

Gotta say that I'd rather hear a few imperfections in an engaging and creative piece like this, than a perfectly performed piece that's generic. I like it.

[msundh]

Definitely an approvement.
Vocals still a bit low.
The low vocal on the 2nd,3rd verse, could be turned down a bit maybe.

[Mr. PC]

Originally Posted by Timothy Lawler

Typing as I listen. Beautiful intro. I like the sense of exploration in the piece, the arrangement's layering and variety. Really great instrumental textures, the way the parts balance and compliment each other. Listening to the new Bandcamp mix BTW. Like the vocal sound a lot. A little pitchy though. I'm no singer so have no business critiquing the vocal, but it sounds like you're singing very quietly. Personally, I have no pitch control when I sing that quietly.

Gotta say that I'd rather hear a few imperfections in an engaging and creative piece like this, than a perfectly performed piece that's generic. I like it.

My voice is really pitchy and unstable. I tried Melodyne, but I can hear the formant-shifts, and to me those are worse than bad pitch... maybe listening to too much ethnic music makes me not-mind out of tune singing. Actually, a couple bars in the song I pitch shifted to math my flat singing and I kinda like it.

Originally Posted by msundh

Definitely an improvement.
Vocals still a bit low.
The low vocal on the 2nd,3rd verse, could be turned down a bit maybe.

By low, did you mean low-frequency? I liked that. It's basically as low-pitch as I can sing; I had to really EQ the bass to make room for vocals though.



I feel like the vocals in every verse are still loud... maybe they need 3dB less in every verse; my drivers are too terrible on Windows today to fix. I'm not sure it's possible to migrate the project to linux; using a lot of VSTs. Tonebooster, Fab Filter mostly, but really so many things, I'm sure trying to get that all working in Linux will be uber difficult