Spin Around the Galaxy

Bash This Recording
#1

This is a new song that my wife suggested could be a children’s book, and before I knew it I had this video/book idea, and this video is a most quick and dirty mock up of said book.

The song itself is a few bars of a melody/chord progression that repeat with different synths for each section, and the vocal melody is what came about just singing along with it. Is this original enough or have I subconsciously plagiarized something?

I used Boz’s effects on the vocals, including that harmonizer on the harmony line. I know it’s a little out of time and tune here and there, but I’m OK with it, but all feedback would be helpful.

1 Like
#2

I think you need to bring the main vocal up a bit and then smear the background vocals a touch. I think you could go heavier with delays on the vocals as well.

#3

Hi Steban I don’t know anything about synths :slight_smile: There is so much going on in this track, I get a little lost. That might be your intention…spinning…I feel that. I like the little vibrato at the end of your vocals. You did leave the atmosphere:) good luck sincerely

#4

Thanks for the suggestion, Eric. I fiddled with the vocals quite a bit, but I will give it a try.

It is insofar as midi goes an extremely simple pattern, but by changing the instruments I achieve surprising complexity.

I had the Moody Blues in my mind when I came up with this, not to say it sounds anything like them, but that’s how I wish the vocals sounded!

#5

steban,
Thank you for the song review! Now your song: I don’t think you plagiarized anyone. I agree with your own assessment that the timing could be a little tighter at times; and the vocals are a bit pitchy. I recommend Melodyne for pitch correction. In some regards, the song sounds like it is for children, but in some ways it reminds me of early Pink Floyd (not a bad thing at all). The pitch shifting on the vocals doesn’t sound entirely natural (probably because you shifted the notes so far from their original pitch?), but it does make the song sound more interesting, and more spacey. I think you could EQ the vocals with a bit more treble. Cheers!

#6

Thanks, Aaron! That is one of the hardest things to know when you write a song.

It didn’t start out as a children’s song specifically, more of a fun allegory with some astronomical references. Early Floyd is good for me!

The pitch shift was a Boz effect if you mean the harmonized vocal. It isn’t in proper tune but it is there for interesting spacey.

I may try that.

#7

Lot’s of good sounds and interesting stuff here. I think you’ve overused the vocal harmony effect, a little bit of that goes a long way IMHO. And definitely some vocal tuning would help I think. Neat song, great concept.

#8

I rarely use vocal harmony effects, Ingo, and this time I recorded a vocal harmony track and on the panned left put the vocal harmony effects on it and the right a heavy tape delay effect, and it sounds like a mess by itself! It took several tries to find volume levels that worked- bg too quiet or too loud was surprisingly bad. However, I think there are spots that are not as in tune as others. There is a lot of repetition lyrically and melodically, so I theorize adding chaos might distract from that. But I also can imagine much more finessed vocal parts, especially now that the song has a basically solid vocal line. Before I move on to some new project I should take this opportunity to do that, but alas, most likely I’ll get distracted by whatever I stumble into next, but that’s OK. I think my musical mind works in the background, and I need to wipe the slate clean to hear a song freshly again, heaven knows we all listen to our current song to death. Maybe that gives the song a chance to be more fairly updated.

So how did you like my UFO animation? Pretty Ed Woods, huh? I was going for authentic recreations of UFO footage.

#9

I do like the video and I should have mentioned that. I use YT a lot and often scroll the video out of sight so that I can focus on the music since so many of the videos are distracting when I want to really listen, so I tend to ignore the video aspect at times when I shouldn’t.

Ed Wood probably would have had the saucer on a string in front of a still photo. SNL has done some pretty funny lo-fi animations like that. Old school animation and FX are quite refreshing in this CGI age; like seeing a Model T on the street.

#10

I actually used the free version of this PC clone of Deluxe Paint III from Amiga days called Pro Animation NG! It is both better and worse than original which was only old interlaced TV resolution, but it did some crazy spectrum fills and makes quick and dirty frame 2D animation. I created a 48 frame animation that was pretty small and then used Powerdirector to superimpose on the background, moving it around the screen to make it seem longer.