This is an eclectic wee thing from my Parking Zone that I’ve been playing around with… It’s been on-the-go for too long and I’d love to ‘finish’ it… would really appreciate some feedback.
I sang these weird wee pixie voice backing vocals and then I kinda liked them but had some real issues with volumes and frequencies and the mix seems to have taken forever. I’ve been grounded following surgery and trying to get my creative muscles moving again…
Thanks for your ears…
Edit: Lyrics as requested:
It’s magic!
I saw mermaids, real live mermaids
swimming in that little bay
the secret one where dreams allow us
freedom yet for breathing
I saw elves, the wood-elf kind
when I was walking through the forest
green and golden sunshine drifts through
leaves and I feel magic
I feel magic in the air, I know I am alive at last
I can taste it on my tongue, it feels so… it feels so…
I don’t know how I’ve been living here so long and never…
O… it’s magic
I saw serpents real live serpents
swimming in the backyard creek
twining tangle shadow waters
I can feel you calling – and the sun on water sparkles
I saw lights in many colours
I was holding out my hand to
gather in the pieces of you
floating on the water
I feel magic in the air, the endless possibilities,
I taste them hold them on my tongue
run wild as all the colours run
over me now, over and over and over - it’s magic…
Oh, yes it does sound magical. Love that intro. The bgv,s are great. I wish you would post the lyrics. Like to hear some kinda strings in there in place of the piano, but only in some places. It’s late for me and will revisit tomorrow. love it
Beautiful song Emma, it’s different but very appealing! Great effects and accompaniment, overall sound is good too.
My only nit would be the bass seems a bit loud at points. It’s a very supportive sound which works well but I think it needs to be felt more that heard. The waffle-waffle sound is cool but maybe just a bit less of it? But that’s getting really picky about a tune that’s quite good!
I agree with Boz on this one, very very nice production work!
A couple of thoughts on the arrangement - not that it needs anything at all!! - just some ideas to maybe get you thinking: maybe a bigger “break” after the fairy intro, let everything wind down, pause, then do the first half of verse 1 with just vocal and piano, then introduce the other elements bit by bit to create a build into the chorus at 1:12. Maybe a shorter post chorus 1/pre-verse 2 section. (?) And/or a more dramatic break between chorus 1 and verse 2 before you start singing. (?)
This song reminds me of “Puff The Magic Dragon” for some reason. It could be in the sound track for a whimsical animated feature or something. Your piano sound is wonderful. What do you use for you piano? I’ve also been working on my reverb techniques and would love to hear how you approached that on this song.
One last thing, from where I sit, it’s hard for me to imagine you needing to “get your creative juices flowing”!
First off, I think the song and the way that you sing it is fantastic. It made me feel sort of heartbroken. I love the lyrics too.
The more fairy-tale like elements of the production are interesting. I feel like at times they really work, and at other times they can take away from the song a bit. I like the way they sound on their own when it’s just instruments, but I’m not sure about when they are competing with the vocals.
The pixie-voice background vocals make me laugh a little. Right when the song started I laughed. It’s a really interesting song that way in that it made me feel both delighted and very sad.
@feaker
Hi Paul,
thanks for checking out this whimsy thing… I have put the lyrics up in the original post - I wondered if they were a bit muffled. I actually recorded bits of this about 5 years ago… crikey!! Didn’t have the energy to re-do it but wanted to try and faux-finish it haha. I did try some strings, played some cello to it but it all ended up a bit ‘soupy’…
thanks again!!
@ingolee
Thanks Ingo… good points! I struggled quite a bit with the bass, getting the right sound to fit and I agree that it really needs a ‘sense of bass’ rather than a specific bass… and the same with the sound effects that I struggled with the levels… will re-visit these, thanks…
@bozmillar
yay thanks boz… great to hear…
one of my troubles is that I have absolutely no reference tracks for songs like these, just an idea in my head that I relentlessly pursue… I guess it’s a sort of compulsive self-indulgence and … I have rather a lot of ideas. But it is a lot of fun at times!
@miked
Thanks Mike - some great thoughts there!!
Yeah I hear you on the structure… it’s one of the perils of my process… just really working through it as stream-of-consciousness… I have realised that there is not quite the traditional ebb and flow and I wanted some more ‘strands’ to build up at the end but I had smothered the track with whimsy and couldn’t come up for air - if that makes any sense at all??? I’ve had it flapping around for too many years perhaps, waiting for me to untangle the major frequency troubles I had. I think I’ve pretty well nailed them, but lost the will to make major structural changes.
Thanks for your comments re the piano. I use Alicia’s Keys software, through my roland RD300 nx. I tend to use the very raw piano sound from that with only a touch of compression and small eq tweaks in parallel tracks. I tend to stick to 3 reverbs in my basic set up, a short tail and plate send for the vocal and then a hall send for everything else. With this track I also used my favourite classic delay send for some vocal bits…
Ahh yes… with me it’s time… just managing to get the time to do it without becoming swamped in domesticity, the life the universe… thanks again!
Thanks Styles, yep just boring melanomas - better out than in but not so nice in the eyes And yes, smiling again - crying stings too much! hehe
@Cristina
Fab comments, thanks so much!! And yep, I think you have nailed my thoughts - there is just a bit too much mush… I took SO much out, it’s always hard when you have lived with a song for far too long… as I said to someone else, one of my perils is that stream-of-consciousness process where I can end up with so many ideas and have to get that really clear headed creative sense to slice things up in the right way.
I’m so glad you laughed at the pixie bit… I cracked myself up… a bit like the time I was recording a heap of chicken sounds and the mail woman was standing at the open front door looking totally stunned… It’s funny, I’d thought this was a happy light song but when I sang it - it felt as though my heart was a little bit breaking… bittersweet I guess. Thanks again… think I’ll re-scalpel this, it’s just not quite done yet…
Beautifully calm - almost floating. Lovely clear mix. Fragile vocal performance - and then a glimpse of power - very nice. Reminded me a little of Hazel O’Connor in tone and delivery…
I’ve been thinking of this song ever since you posted yours. I don’t know if it’s the fairy theme, the sense of wonder, or the melancholy, but I do love the poetry you write and put to music.
Yours could easily be a companion piece to Mr. Yeats:
Hi there Tony and welcome to IRD!
Thanks for your lovely comments!! This song seemed to take years to mix so it’s really great to have feedback from fresh ears… I particularly loved the reference to Hazel O, i played her ‘Breaking Glass’ album SO many times back in the day… not many have heard of her.
@miked
Thanks for posting that - what a lovely track and gosh Yeats painted magical scenes. I’ve always loved fairy tales, the earl king, goblins maket etc… plus I’m still an avid fantasy/science fiction reader… Thanks so much for your kind words!!
haha… yesiree… caught the fleshy bit between my toes and hung on in grim spiral… eeeek… but that was only a teeny eel-serpent… and better me than the two year old I was encouraging to paddle at the time!!! eeek
But it is a lot of fun at times!
thanks again!
