My granddaughter Grace started recording her own songs when she was 12. She just stopped one day and didn’t pick up a guitar until this year age 18. The previous year at school her teacher here in the US sat her in class between two foreign exchange students from Spain and France because "she was a good communicator? Well she fell in the in love with Einyo from Spain. Not sure the spelling.
Grace has worked at the local quick stop from right after school till 9 at night every school nights and weekends and earned enough money to supplement her college first year. She spent $800 of in for a plane ticket to Spain. Eeenyo reciprocated a couple months later.
It was Gracie’s fist love and now she is so sad. Not at all sure of their future. She sat on the edge of her bed and with her cheapy mini guitar and iPhone sent me this song last night. Turned me upside down. She just said “what do you think Gramps”? I haven’t responded yet because I am not sure if I should encourage that relationship or try to comfort her? We have always been real close cuz her dad abandoned her early on.
Of course this is a very crude track with an out od tune mini guitar an a fan blowing.
I have a layout now that will end up to be 2:40 in length. It will include an intro, a verse, a solo, another partial verse and an outro. all is on hold at this point. Hardest thing I have tried with no click track again.
Version three with a sprinkle (4.5%) delay and junk fillers for now.
Final round of messin until I spend Christmas with Grace and we will finish this.
This is awesome! Beautiful voice. The sincerity takes it to a different level. The iPhone and guitar don’t distract at all. In fact, a so-so guitar with old strings goes great with this singer/songwriter music because it sits in the background nicely.
I wouldn’t know whether to encourage this relationship either, but I would definitely encourage her to keep writing and recording music! I wish it kept going at the end…maybe after a 1 bar pause then come in with cello/strings plus acoustic guitar! You should be proud of her.
Thanks fly. She has had much sadness with her dad bailing and the other grandparents not interested either. She came back from visiting the other grands and said “I am the only one not on their family bulletin board of pictures” She brought one next time and included a thumb tack.
Good thing she was an “A” student and could see thru the BS. Alway on my lap. I’m pretty torn up about this.
She does sing with emotion and I am glad you recognized that. Your comment are a big help. thank you
Sad story. Like I said, keep encouraging her in her musical pursuits. It is such a great outlet for every emotion, as we all know. It lifts us up every time. Maybe we can get her on this forum, and even collaborate on a project in the future!
I have been trying to Collab for many years and have had just a few. Very few still making music on this forum. Lots of talent tho. You name a genre and theme an/or lyrics. Not too keen on country tho…?
Ok, where is the best place to post a collab proposal?
Have you ever played that drawing game where you fold a piece of paper over several times. Someone draws a head, then folds it so the next person doesn’t see the last drawing but proceeds to draw the chest and arms, and so on. So at the end everyone gets a good laugh when they open the paper and see a goblin with octopus legs, wings, and hairy toes riding a skateboard?
I’ll let that analogy sit right there for a while.
Another idea, maybe we could convince your granddaughter to help out and lend her beautiful voice. My 12 year old daughter plays bass and sings well too. Maybe others on this forum have young children that would be able to contribute. That would be another cool project.
We she was 12 and making songs left and right, I decided to buy her a setup from studio one that had everything. Well she didn’t take any of that with her to college because she just got back playing guitar. So all she has now is a cell phone. I will see her at thanksgiving and then again in our winter home in Texas for a family Christmas.
I could ask her to write more lyrics tho.
You also could take the song over and make it your own if you like it. Add more verses and have your daughter sing and play as well. I am not attached to my songs in any way, Grace isn’t either. She has an in the moment kinda mentality.
As far as other forum members joining in, I’m thinking you wouldn’t get any takers.?
Especially with the lack of activity lately. I think folks aged a bit and lost interest. Or, they had hopes of hitting the big time and it didn’t pan out?? IMHO =who knows?
Another Grace song age 12…lyrics scary good
I just called her and asked if she has recorded anything else lately. She said she is working at olive garden between classes and not much rest time. She said she threw a short one together without much thought. I told her to send it just so I could hear it. So here is a good comparison to her at 12 and now at 18 crude and all
Ok, I have overstayed my welcome…no more Grace for now.
Truly talented. Your granddaughter has a beautiful voice and I can tell she is singing these lyrics with authentic emotion. I think it’s wonderful that she has an outlet for her sadness and heartbreak.
Hi DG She sends things to me and not her mom. I did tell my daughter I would not keep anything that is between Grace and I if sh. e was threatened. I wish that recording was cleaner. Her talent is revealed when I play the guitar and she sings along. She has no idea she is good.
Thanks for your comments, they mean a lot to me.
Sounds very good! Long distance relationships are hard to keep going, especially if you don’t have a ton of money to fly back & forth. Very often my wife watches “90 Day Fiance”, and I’ll watch it sometimes. Some couples get married, yet they can sometimes only see one another a few times a year, if whichever country doesn’t allow the foreigner to move into the other country permanently.
Thanks for the listen aaron. I tried to mess with EQ to not take away from the vocal and knock down just some of the wonky guitar.
I played along with my acoustic, but without a click track I had to follow the visual on the screen. Not fun. Then I knew i should play a second track for variety. but i cheated, cloned it, and delayed it. I put a bass track starting about half the way across. Considered drums, but the track would not sync. Anyhow i’m not sure if I bettered or worsened the track. The delay now seems a little excessive. ha ha
No need to reply.
Sounds very good as is, but yeah, I might have used less delay on the vocals. Guitars sound much better & way more full. Do you use Melodyne at all? Because if you do, I know a trick to do, what I call pseudo double-tracking; if you are interested for future reference.
Hi aaron I do use melodyne on my vocals when i hear a mutt note. I will look up the double tracking feature. I hope we get a chance to say our god bye’s before this site goes down. Almost zero traffic now. Thanks for the second listen
Nice work! I love the ambiance and fullness. I go back and forth on whether to back off on the vocal effects. Maybe just a little. I wish the song kept going and added drums, orchestra, and one more chorus!
Is the site threatened to be shut down? Or you’re saying that because so few are on here? What about recruiting on another site? Is that poor form?
Hi sir Fly Yes, I tamed that vocal delay from 28 to 13 percent this morning. I am working on getting a strings program or have Michelle do an intro and outro. I’m not there yet tho. Grace is too busy with work and college to do more with the track, but i will be with her for a week at Christmas with my fam in Texas so…
There hasn’t been any news on the site shutting down, but I just have this gut feeling. There are only a FEW here who are making songs. Not good
I put my songs on taxi, but am not welcomed because I am not a member anymore.
This one dude who is nasty said that Gracie’s track was the best i had ever posted.
ha ha Things are very slow there too and they have I think 6,000 members. Most are doing tracks for tv commercials.
To my knowledge, there is no Melodyne double-track feature, but one of their videos might show how to do it. Record guitar or vocal track. Copy it to a different track. Melodyne time correct one track; might partially time correct other track; it takes experimentation to find what sounds best. I time shift one vocal track from 0.010 to 0.030 seconds relative to the other, before I do the trick I just mentioned.
I like the guitar additions you have done, but I would keep vocal processing to a bare minimum. Compression, EQ and a wee bit of delay and wetness. Her voice already has a texture that cuts through quite easily like seasoned star singer! Imo it needs to be showcased in the mix. Her vocals need to be up close and personal for this kind of genre. That’s probably a preference but great work overall!
For vocal reference I would look at Christina Perri Thousand years
If you are looking for a bit more “lush” vocals, you can reference Gabriell Aplin’s Salvation
Hi Yeah, when you use an iPhone and you are playing a clunky guitar and singing at the same time, your options vanish quickly. I haven’t posted the last take with the vocal with just a sprinkle of delay brought back most of the originality.
This child is a free spirit. She shoots from the hip. I was there when my daughter and her dad were in the middle of a divorce. My daughter was complaining and Grace just blurted out “well you picked him”?? ha ha
I think between friends and other sites, the verdict is that ii is original and real. Most agree it is heartfelt and rare. Now I will listen to your examples…thanks
