Slightly over a week ago, I wrote about demoing a new song and the conclusions that I derived from this pilot study. Last Friday I implemented those changes: dropping the song by a tone, slowing it down slightly and changing the instrumental fills. In light of the criticism from The Auditorium, I also removed the hi-hat parts from the drum track. I then sang the song a few times and created an almost complete version.
It had always been my intention to add a harmony vocal to the bridge; this I did by pitch shifting the appropriate vocal track by means of software. I also decided to add a harmony to the final verse; this I sang live and as such is more organic (as opposed to the exact, but also more robotic, harmony of the bridge). For the first time that I remember, I also found myself singing the vocal tag ("Blind as a bat") over the coda.
Over the next few days, I went through the usual phase of being underwhelmed by the song, disappointed that it didn't sound as I thought it would sound. But that soon passed, and I found myself making a few final changes to the musical track. The song began with four bars of Fender Rhodes vamping on a C minor chord; this sounds reasonable in the middle of the song where it acts as a space to breathe, but seems wrong at the beginning. I changed this to a synthesizer 'bloom' over three bars; as it dies out, the tambourine rattles, and we're off! Somehow another synth 'cameo' at the beginning of the solo section had changed; all my efforts at restoring this piece failed so I left it out. This doesn't seem to make much of a difference. I also dropped the rimshots played on the drums in the first verse and replaced them with a conga loop. The vocal on the first verse now has what might be termed 'extended reverb', a new technique that I am trying.
The trouble with this kind of sound production is that it's so easy (and tempting) to make changes. I never know when to stop. Last night I made the FINAL mix! No more changes will be allowed!
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