Lee Neitzel

We went down to the beach a few weeks back and shot this. First time I've ever done a video for a song before. Well...that's not entirely true. The band I was in when I was 17 made a music video with a friend's camcorder. But, it was only watched by us and our parents and is currently (probably) under a diaper in a landfill somewhere.

Anyway, kind of proud of how it turned out and just wanted to share it with folks.

On 8/1/2023 at 5:33 PM, bjornpdx said:

Cool song and video. I really like it.  
I wanted to hear a couple new verses in there. Seems like you repeated the 1st part too soon.
The outro might be a bit too long.
The lyrics are great. They sound like they come from real experiences eg "I forgot something. You know me."  Been there. 😁
-Bjorn

The forgetfulness certainly is written from a place of experience.

This is just begging to be in film. It has a great soundtrack quality to it. Excellent job on creating a moody atmosphere. 

So, I've heard the name Harry Styles...but never really clicked on anything before. Two things to note...

1 - He looks like the guy John Wick wanted to kill in the first movie. (Or we can call him Reek)

2 - I think I like your version better than his. It has a shoegaze quality that speaks to me.

This kind of sounds like some vintage video game music. I could see myself killing some virtual nazis in a 32 bit environment with these sounds.

Here is one I put out on the Spotify a couple weeks back. It's the first song I've "released" in over a decade. It's fun to be back on this horse.

I like the subtle Ooo's happening in the background. Well produced song overall as well.

I also really like the sound of that guitar. Nice and muted and lofi. Has a real campfire feel to it.

Drilled into my head over and over and over...

Literally!

This is some very smooth smoothness!

For me...for some reason I feel like the bass and drums are lacking an 'Oomph' in the mix. The bass seems plenty loud...so it might be the percussive stuff that isn't hitting for me. And, maybe this isn't the type of song where the bass and drums are supposed to slap...but for some reason I found myself missing that on this one.

This is really fantastic. Great song and great visualizations. I could hear Neil deGrasse Tyson narrating something fantastic over this to those images.

This one does not fit neatly into any box. I'd say the keyboards could come down...but that's just trying to fit the song into some sort of "vocal prominent" box. Awesome as is.

This song is fantastic. A great vibe and performance all around. This would sit exceptionally well on a playlist with Peter Bjorn and John.

On 4/30/2023 at 5:38 PM, steve@baselines.com said:

Nice rhythm on that Uke - and the vocal is great.  Are you singing?  And the profile pic - that is awesome.

Steve

 

Yea, that's me yodeling. And, thanks on the pic. At the end of November (when I do that no shave thing) I like to leave the stache for a day or so. My girlfriend hates it...so it's a lot of fun.

On 4/29/2023 at 4:40 PM, Kevin Walsh said:

I really like this one, lee. Don't be ashamed of this kind of vibe, they are feel-good tones and everybody needs them once in awhile. Your vocals are stellar, and the ukulele playing is really nice. Got to get me one of those, they seem to be little idea factories right? Really like chorus , nice payoff. I think you have something here and I can't wait to see what develops.

I highly recommend picking one up. They're so cheap and actually record quite well. And, yea, they are little idea factories. Basically, it turns everything on it's head and I'm finding myself with ideas that I then move to a guitar sometimes. It's pretty fun attacking music on a new instrument. And, since it's stringed, you basically get to hit the ground running. 

On 4/28/2023 at 12:58 PM, markno999 said:

Nice, work, good song, really enjoyed the listen.      

Personally I would keep all the instrumentation acoustic throughout and make the groove swing when the chorus comes in so as to lift and continue the groove you have going up to around 1:35 mark.   It kinds of breaks the beach vibe when the organ comes in and backing track goes to that straight 1/8 note drive.    A walking bass line, steel guitar, percussion and continuation of the Ukelele would sound terrific with that hook in the chorus. IMHO.    Anyway, solid performance and you should be proud of it.

 

Regards

So, it sort of organically grew into this thing where it evolved from the beachy thing to the pop thing. I might give your suggestion a go and try a couple versions. 

I kind of like how it builds and grows to something new. But, at the same time, hearing it keep the same feel would be a good A/B to see where it sounds best. Also, the bass and drums in here are generic placeholders (Still waiting on the drummer). But, do you think a full drum kit has a place in the lifted sections?

Really appreciate the input and making me think outside my little box

21 hours ago, Ross Smithe said:

This is fabulous! Really cool vibe with the uke, catchy melody, all around great tune! Your performance and production are outstanding also. The meat is definitely there, look forward to hearing it in the completed form! I want to go to the beach now, lol… 🏝️😎👍🎶🎶🎶

To me, this is the best time of year to be at the beach. Cooler weather and no crowds. Young me might have liked the crowds and 95 degree days...but aging me prefers a cool breeze and nobody but me and mine around me.

Here is one that I've started working on. I bought a ukulele on a beach trip recently and came up with this idea. Waiting on my drummer and bassist friends to upload their parts, so it's currently a drum loop and a boring bass synth working as placeholders for now. The intro xylophone thing is also a placeholder for a potential lap steel part a friend is working on. But, the meat is here. It's a bit of a departure from what I'm used to doing, but I'm awkwardly kind of proud of it.

The song itself is a bit outside my wheelhouse. But, the performances on every bit of this is top notch. And, regardless of genre, I can always appreciate good musicianship. That horn/sax thing is pretty incredible. I feel like this could be performed on stage at the House of Blues at any given time and everyone would be grooving.

She was Aphex Twin before Aphex Twin.

I love the intro to this song. Really fat bass and a slick riff. I like the blue collar approach to the mix. No frills just a straight forward bluesy tune. Well done.

I'm going to echo a lot of what has already been said about the vocals. From your reply it sounds like you might have overprocessed to compensate for a self-conscious thing as you felt maybe you were singing above your range. But, while the performance is certainly breathy, I think you still hit it. I'd try a mix with less processing  and actually push the main vocals up in the mix while bringing down the background (or doubled) take. There are some sibilance issues that got a little distracting where the secondary vocal doesn't hit the S sound at the same time as the lead.

But, mainly, push up the main, kill some effects, and I think it will give a much more natural sound and let the listener focus more on the song itself.

This is one damn fine performance. Well done. If there is a producer out there working on some kind of modern cowboy TV show, then this is easily their theme song.

Are you certain you aren't an offspring of Frank Zappa?

I'm going to take your advice and shut my pie hole now.

The guy is making a case for pianists being athletes.