Great job Herb. I did a video several years ago using a flip. It can be tedious for sure. You pulled it off well!

Outstanding video and song (and I love the song); I absolutely loved the 'extra mile' footage in this.  I couldn't detect one missed lip or strum ... so that would make me believe its a live performance.

Excellent self portrait!  (Makes we want to try That Heavenly Choir video with my collaborators).

'Love the way you handled the condensor at the start (I'd be pop'in my ppplosives a bit if I tried that -- LOL!)

Again, very excellent!

oh yeah... I think there are one or two that you have on your site that I never put up on mine for one reason or another.

Wow herb!
That was a touching song...

BENZOFOG


Wow herb!
That was a touching song...

It was? I started touching myself when I heard it? And I haven't stopped since? 

Robomusic


Herb that was truely a very nicely done song, and the video added another dimension to the project. One thing i learned from reading your comments is to slow down and really take my time. I tend to rush through a song project. If is worth doing it is worth taking the time to do it right.

Yeah... for me, if I'm going to record a song the tendency is to "get it done NOW!" I like to hear the final result, and I know it will sound good so I want to rush to the finish line.... but as Pistol Pete says in his signature.... it takes as much effort to record a bad song as it does a good one....  well, I think he's pretty much on target with that statement.

So spend the time needed to get the song itself right...even if it takes a few months or more in rewriting and tweezes to the song.... then record it allowing enough time to get that aspect right as well.


example on a new song: I have been working on writing a new tune now for about 4 or more months.... it's pretty much done and I have tracked my vox in it..... BUT ...I'm not intending to be the final singer. I have been trying to get a female vocalist (the right one) to sing this. I think....maybe, this Thursday night, I will be able to do first tracks with "the singer".  This is a song that I feel confident will get licensed, since I have someone who heard the rough demo and is very interested in the final version. So yeah, this one has to be right. My cowriter said she cried when she heard the rough demo..... (over the lyrics and music, not my singing... just in case you're wondering).  As much as I'm looking to get this one done, it has to be right in every way. I'm hoping that this singer will nail it in all the right ways and we can proceed to a finished song in a few more weeks, but if not, ....... patience grasshopper.....


I'll be posting it here when I get it done...

Love it!


I like the song. I really like the piano part... it's just right.

It was a joy to see you relaxed and having fun in your studio.

Thanks for sharing.



best,
mike

I like it.
And I think you mean Peter Rabbit; Pistol Pete is an entirely different creature.

57Gregy


I like it.
And I think you mean Peter Rabbit; Pistol Pete is an entirely different creature.

You're right Greg, I knew it was one of those Pete guys....

Guitarhacker

So spend the time needed to get the song itself right...even if it takes a few months or more in rewriting and tweezes to the song.... then record it allowing enough time to get that aspect right as well.

When I write a song, it usually comes to me immediately and I write it front to back in a matter of minutes. Entire songs with lyrics have come to me in my head just from hearing a chord played a certain way or a particular instrument. If I have to concentrate on something I'm writing or spend more than a couple of hours on it, then I lose the feeling I had when I started it and 99.9999% of the time I end up scrapping it. Hard to explain really, other than it's like the chords and lyrics are already known to me even though I've never heard it or thought about it before and it just comes out of me.

The recording aspect of it is a completely different story for me. I've taken 5 months to finish some recordings and scrapped them to start over completely.

As for the song/vid you posted. Very nice. No crits that I can think of.

James.... it's the things of nightmares.....



Bub... I hear what you're saying. I used to write something in one setting and call it done. I had heard about rewriting but I'd look at the tune, and think.... this is perfect just the way it is... it's brilliant!  I have written a number of songs in that manner.... pretty much star to finish in under an hour.   Then I discovered or, more properly,  learned how to re-write a song. (still trying to perfect that art).  I do not recall all the things that happened with this particular song, but let me try to explain the writing of this song.

Jimmy Gentry wrote a song, it was the last ones he wrote  Finish What I Started . I asked if he wanted to rewrite it with me... to maybe make things flow a bit better in a few places. He liked it like it was and so he declined, but told me to use what I wanted except the hook & title.

I contacted my cowriter Pat, sent her Jimmys tune and asked if she wanted to write a song "like this" but we would not use anything from it at all. Nothing.....Only the feel of this song, and being about love.

She agreed and in a day or two sent me an almost complete song lyric. I took what she sent me and started to work on structure, flow, melody, and of course, from reading what she wrote, I had a bunch of ideas, so I deleted entire verses and even the chorus that she wrote and inserted the things I was wanting to say in the song. I sent it back to her.  She then did the same thing to the whole song..... leaving some of my parts, replacing others including some of her original stuff with new or stuff  that fit better. 
We bounced it back and forth like that about 6 or 7 times and called it done.  

THEN..... after a few  months or so, I listened to it again and something in the bridge didn't set right with me...yeah it was OK but it wasn't hitting that magic spot. So I asked if she'd like to work it some more. We went back and forth about 6 or 7 more times on just the bridge and maybe one other place in it.

That's the art of rewriting a song. We (I) hold nothing in anything I write as sacred or untouchable. A first draft is just that...a starting point towards a song. I do the same thing with the songs that I write by myself.
This song Just Another Rainy Day is a prime example. I wrote the rough draft in an hour on day 1 and did some rewrites on that day as well. I started putting the music together also, melody, groove, chords, structure.  Day 2 I made several more changes to lyric and began the recording. After getting the tracks done, I went back and worked on lyrics again. I think it was start to finish in 3 or 4 days since it was for a film project submission with TAXI and there was a short time frame. I asked Pat if she wanted to write it with me but she was unavailable and by the time she got back to me it was done. I still made the equivalent of 6 or 7 bounces while rewriting it myself. AND..... a few months back I changed a few more words in it. Those changes are not in the version above.  One word can make all the difference in the world.  (fall became walk)

That is just a little behind the scenes look at my writing process. It might not work for everyone, but....everyone should be rewriting everything they write. It is a rare thing for a first draft to be the final product. (hit quality)

Bub

Guitarhacker

So spend the time needed to get the song itself right...even if it takes a few months or more in rewriting and tweezes to the song.... then record it allowing enough time to get that aspect right as well.

When I write a song, it usually comes to me immediately and I write it front to back in a matter of minutes. Entire songs with lyrics have come to me in my head just from hearing a chord played a certain way or a particular instrument. If I have to concentrate on something I'm writing or spend more than a couple of hours on it, then I lose the feeling I had when I started it and 99.9999% of the time I end up scrapping it. Hard to explain really, other than it's like the chords and lyrics are already known to me even though I've never heard it or thought about it before and it just comes out of me.

The recording aspect of it is a completely different story for me. I've taken 5 months to finish some recordings and scrapped them to start over completely.

As for the song/vid you posted. Very nice. No crits that I can think of.
 
 
That's quite a different expeience from how I get songs out.
I almost always write songs while starting to record something. I find a chord, or groove, and start noodling and get the idea down. For example, about two years ago I bought a POD X3.  I was a kid in a candy store with all the new tones and textures, and dropped about 20 songs worth of riffs and chord changes in about a month. It seems I can always get an idea and write a verse/chorus pretty quick. But then, if nothing is particularly moving me, I will move on to something else.  But the idea is preserved and ready to be worked on. A few days ago I had an idea for one of those tunes, dusted it off, and started re-recording the bass and a few guitar tracks, and made some fine-tunings to the drums. I used a bit of the scratch vocals and added a bunch more, and wrote the rest of the words, and now I should be done by tomorrow with it.
 
Sorry to hijack your thread, Herb, but I do find it fascinating how we all do what we do.

no problem James.... yeah it is cool how differently we work and still we all manage to come up with some pretty impressive music.

That's what makes this such an interesting place to hang out.

The vocals are wonderful as usual Herb. Good video and real nice song too.
I had to subscribe to your youtube.