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VEN (Latin Pop Using Cakewalk, MusicLab,Native-Instruments)


Miguel Carzola

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Hello again, fellow KWalkers ?.

Quick question first. Does posting songs on Bandlab preserve their fidelity? I find that files lose quality in SoundCloud. It doesn't allow me to switch streaming from standard to high quality audio. Hoping to hear what your experience is with that. ?

So...about this song:

This was the song I moved onto after I learned enough about programming guitars with MusicLab's RealGuitar and RealStrat on "For All We Know", as I mentioned in my last post, so all instruments here are also VST. The song is an original in Spanish that talks about missing someone and if Spanish is not one of your languages I would love it if you could show it to a friend.  Yes, it's mine BTW and it's definitely not mastered either but I hope they get the idea. I didn't wanna bore you all with the translation here but I can add it later if anyone cares. ? Meanwhile I hope you can listen to it and treat my voice in your minds just like another instrument.

(I'd prefer to be a guitar in your minds if it's all the same to you LOL)

At the time I wrote it I envisioned making it in the style of "Jesus To A Child" by George Michael, but that changed with the passage of time and under other influences. When I finally  recorded the track as posted here, I had been listening a lot to John Mayer, so I ended up experimenting with some of his approaches to dynamics and arrangements.  He doesn't have a powerful voice so they  use a close mic-ing technique and they put kind of a flat EQ on his lead vocals (I hand held a Shure Beta 58 for this one) . They also put the lead vocals up front so the diction cuts through, and then they surround it with alternate vocal and instrumental melodies that become part of the chords in the arrangement. Maybe because of that they also don't mix the bass and drums as a typical rock mix. This is most often how they mix pop in other languages too, so to  Spanish language listeners (me included) this approach feels natural.

Though I can reach the higher notes in the backing vocals here, I used the available Melodyne and lowered the entire bounced track as needed to punch in some of the phrases and then moved those punches to the original song's key for mixing.  The advantage I found to doing it this way is that the slight difference in texture (format) makes the harmonies more interesting. (Not feeling like the Castrati was another welcome benefit LOL)

I hope you guys enjoy or at the very least can relate.

Be well, KWalkers

 

 

 

Edited by Miguel Carzola
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Saludos desde España .

Una canción muy bonita y muy bien interpretada y producida. El master siempre se podría mejorar ;).

Con respecto a los servicios de streaming,pues todos hacen que tu master pierda calidad debido a la compresion con perdidas (mp3,aac,ogg,etc).

No obstante muy bonita producción, felicidades.

 

Greetings from Spain .

A very beautiful song and very well performed and produced. The master could always be improved  ;)

Regarding streaming services, they all make your master lose quality due to lossy compression (mp3, aac, ogg, etc).

However very nice production, congratulations.

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Thank you so much, guys. It means a lot to me that you enjoyed it, especially without the lyrics for some of you.  Thank you for your time and for not bouncing off in the first few seconds. Also, thanks for the brief explanation on streaming FJ. I’ll look into the new BandLab mastering tool for future posts. 
Again, thank you guys.  ???

Edited by Miguel Carzola
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It sounds very thin and the distortion sounds kind of muddy. Maybe a different amp plugin (if that's what you used).  I think it would sound better with less distortion.  After listening again the bass could be fattened up too.

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Miguel,

Good song and overall production.   Really like the vocals.   

Regarding the guitar solo, in many instances stringed instruments do not translate very well with MIDI.   Your MIDI strumming parts are fine in the mix but the guitar solo is very MIDI'ish  and would remain so even with the suggestions made about the sound.    I would get a guitar player to learn your solo and play it for you in a more natural flow for this style of music.   Many guitar players on the forum here that may be willing to do it for you.   Great work though..

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Thank you so much, Nigel! 
Especially about the vocals. I think they are the hardest thing to approach for a singer/songwriter since we have never heard the song sung by anyone else before we step up to the mic lol   
Bummer about the mastering in streaming services, huh?

Thank you so much for listening  ?? 

 

Edited by Miguel Carzola
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Hi Miguel.  . . .  Excellent song. My opinion is that the instruments do the job, but the vocals are so well sung, that’s the main attraction !

You asked about mastering online . . .  it’s a generic  formula of artificial intelligence, and  works like a roll of the dice. If you master in your DAW,  you control things better . . .  then when you put it on Soundcloud, the down sampling and mangling of your art is minimalized. Just try to keep as much dynamics as you can, so it won’t get squashed too much ?

Really like what you’ve done with this song, it sounds great to me  (just listened on headphones so far)  What a voice you have !

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Thank you, Paul.

I really appreciate the feedback, and thank you for the kind comments  on the track and vocals. it means a lot to me. 
I’m just a guy with a plastic keyboard  and a computer who likes to write songs, and I’m not a guitar player, or a bass player, or a drummer, or even a singer for that matter, so I’m always looking to learn from real musicians. 
…do you have any suggestions on how to achieve a tone you would prefer on the solos?

What amps, pedals, speakers, mics, rooms, etc would you use?  Any tricks you could share to achieving your sound?  Any help would be appreciated ???

Much thankful. 
 

M

Edited by Miguel Carzola
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Hi Miguel, great job on this song, the feeling comes through your vocals without the words, very nice vocals and expression. I agree that the sound of the guitar is a bit harsh and not as pleasant as the rest of the song which has a sweetness to it. I play guitar and write midi guitar parts more than play them completely in a song because the vst sounds so much better than my old instruments. Its challenging to get midi guitar to sound "natural" and I don't have any tips about how to achieve that ! But the vocals are so good and make the song so work well even some tweaking to the guitar harshness would help it work better.  Good work with the melodyne. 

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