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Ok, well, first of all: I cannot sing :-) ... but this song badly needed lyrics and a voice to sing it, so, lacking anyone else to do it, I volunteered for my own task. Anyway, the song's supposed to be about a man whose wife is travelling the world and who hopes to see her for Christmas at home. In the song, he's reading postcards that she's sent him from her travels ... hence the title. Postcards at Christmas Lyrics: "It was a quiet day in New York City and everything was looking pretty Children running through the snow ..." "It was a sunny day in Cincinnati and everybody was looking happy People smiling as never before" "It was a stunning day in Lake Dakota Everybody's son and daughter Singing loud and clear" ... Only here in London Town I'm alone, creating sound, Stifling a tear; "It was a stunning day in Lake Dakota Everybody's son and daughter Singing loud and clear" Only here in London Town I'm alone, creating sound, Wishing you were here. CHORUS Come home for Christmas, darling Treasured one of mine Come home for ham and turkey, Presents and mince pie The children're waiting, expectantly, For your safe return If just for Christmas, come home. *** The BIAB style I used was _YEARNIN.STY (Yearnin' Country w Piano Solo), but without the Pedal Steel and Piano tracks given, replacing them with a Pedal Steel solo in the middle, bridge passage (1667: Pedal Steel, Soloist CountryPaul, Ev065 [Paul Franklin]). *** This is (thankfully, some may say) probably my last effort before Christmas, so let's hope you genuinely like it (despite my vocal howlings on it), haha ... all feedback welcome! Thanks!!!
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Ok, you had me believing that you couldn't sing AT ALL. I think it's more the recording of your voice than you singing. You recorded it well enough that I could tell what you were doing. What you were doing I really like! I thought you strength with the melody and harmonic support of the melody was strong. Please keep 'em coming; even if you feel you can't sing. Personally, I feel it would be a shame not to your songs being made. I like what I heard! 
Chad (Hope that makes it easier)
TEMPO TANTRUM: What a lead singer has when they can't stay in time.
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Thanks so much, HeartoLearn!!!
I trained as a classical violinist and have zero background in music production, so I have absolutely no clue what I'm doing as far as recording things go. When I look at my DAW, I'm totally puzzled (EQ? limiter? normalizer? etc., haha) and tend to learn by trial and error :-) I also have zero background and training in singing.
Trouble is, I love to write music ... and love to sing it, too. I need, of course, to learn much more about the tricks of how to record it properly, I feel ... just a question of experimenting, I suppose. As for the singing quality of the voice, itself, not much I can do there, I suppose ... but, if I AM to produce at least some demo versions of my songs, I'll have to sing myself from time to time, I suppose ... at whatever cost to the listener, haha.
Thanks again for the kind words, therefore. Whenever I sing, people have to look past my voice to whatever I've actually written - but, on here, people are experts, so I'm not unduly worried about that, as I know their feedback will always be fair and spot on, so ... thanks for your words. I agree ... it's worth singing badly if it means I keep writing, I think ... however torturous that may be for my initial listeners? haha :-)
All best!
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This was a very nice song. I think you did great. Perfect for this time of year
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You've got a very nice voice... However, like many of us you may not be use to hearing it on a recording... So go on & sing your songs... You did well on this one! Too bad you're not from Texas, but even if you aren't... You might want to take the words of Ray Wylie Hubbard to heart... So when you write or sing or play... Remember his song... "Screw You, We're From Texas"
Jim
†=☮&♥
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James, I think I have been consistent in my praise and encouragement, as a listener and fan. Your phrasing and pronunciation is infectious, as is your mastery of the language in conveying emotions characteristic of our people, especially this time of year.
Keep in mind, most of us here work at the demo level, meaning that there is another level, that of the full service production and post production studio. It is axiomatic that musicians who have done their songs in a recording studio say they don't recognize their work after the studio pros finish with it. That applies not just to audio, but to video or film as well.
Take a look at the doc on you tube about the Muscle Shoals recording studio for proof of what I am saying.
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Nice writing and arrangement. Decently sung, too - I enjoyed it. Two tips you might find helpful: 1. The microphone is distorting your vocals. That means that you're probably too close, and you're overpowering the poor microphone. Don't sing any softer, just move a bit further away from the microphone. In recording studios, audio engineers spend a lot of time setting up the microphones, testing them out at different distances, making sure they get they best recording. You might want to try the same thing - move back a bit from the microphone, and hear how it sounds. 2. You're speaking instead of singing in some places. Think of singing as sustained vowels, briefly interrupted by consonants. If you don't hold those lovely vowels longer than you would when speaking, we won't hear those beautiful notes! An exercise that you might try to get out of the habit of speaking the words is to first sing a lyric with only the vowel sounds. So if you have the line: I love pizza, you'd first sing "Aaaaaay Uuuuuuh Eeeee-uuuuuuuh". That way, you can focus on the pitch and tone, and then add the consonants in once you're happy with that. I'm looking forward to hearing more from you! 
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Thanks everyone :-) Jim, I think that that Ray Wylie Hubbard song is my new favourite song, right now ;-) made me grin from ear to ear. Ed, you're absolutely spot on, of course ... proper production in the studio (plus a little singing advice, I'm sure) goes a long way into making things sound more professional, etc. I'm just fooling around, really, with music ... but that's the whole point, I think ... if one fools around without pressure, who knows what one may eventually create? So thanks everyone for providing such a kind space for me to basically create and somehow experiment (mess about, haha) with music - I am genuinely flattered (in the very best sense of the word!) when you say you like something of mine, because I've listened to some of you guys' work and it really is sublime, all of it that I've heard so far, no exceptions.
Thanks all, therefore, once more - enjoy your holidays, Christmas, New Year, etc. etc. ... looking forward to hear more - this is such an incredible music community ... genuinely feels unique - and, of course, none of this music creation would be possible without the BIAB creators. Nice one, folks :-)
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Thanks David! I'll definitely experiment with the distance from the mic. I didn't realise that I was speaking some notes (I should have done, but there you go), so thanks for the singing tip - it (my singing) needs a LOT of work, of course, and that's a great place to start, I think ... there are bits where my pitch/intonation makes me cringe, on listening back ... so I'll definitely try singing the vowels only, at first, as an exercise :-) I guess I may have gotten into the habit of speaking some words to mask what my voice can't do, haha ... but that's cheating, so ... off to work on my voice I go ;-) Cheers and Happy Christmas.
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David is absolutely right about those microphone tweaks. Another factor is the mike, itself.
Most of what I know now comes from behind-the-scenes videos on You Tube and from the great minds of PGmusic.com and associates. Back in the day, 60's, I did train as an analog audio tech and worked it for a while. Rest assured, our equipment bore no resemblance to anything available in stores. I used a Nagra II and Seinheiser that could red line the sound of water going down a drain.
Last edited by edshaw; 12/18/18 07:47 AM.
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Haha, thanks Ed. I've got a superb Sony recording machine thing, but, since I bought it just for my classical work, I neglected to make sure it has an overdub function - it doesn't - so I cannot record my voice over the BIAB track on it. Believe it or not, I'm actually using my PC mic. But ... a good mic is definitely on the shopping list, as soon as I can afford it, haha ... in the meantime, I'm messing about with music anyway, it seems ;-)
Thanks again for taking the time and for the nice words!!!
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James...great Christmas song, and a wonderful concept for the lyrics..thank you for making and sharing.
My comments:
Your singing...you should try to sing..I’ll bet you can do much better if you didn’t hold back! Take the suggestions here, especially David’s comments about vowel voicing—and I’m sure you’ll see that you can passably “sing” many of your creations. Go for it! You’re in a very supportive, positive friendship group here...I hope you do this!
Regarding the song itself...only thing I would do is that you have a long-ish pause in the verse melody before the last line of each verse. If it were me, I’d look to “decorate” it with some catchy musical element—maybe a sustained piano chord, or some chimes..not more than a beat, but would give that little expectant pause a small listening treat.
Merry Christmas to you James!
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Thanks Tano! I'm really skint these days, but I nevertheless went out and bought a new, cheap but better than the one I had before mic today ... and did a new take of the track. What a difference a (however slightly) better mic makes, right? Wow. I'm still experimenting with it all (i.e. distance from mic, etc.), but ... genuinely wow :-) Postcards at Christmas (Take 2) Thanks all once more for your kindness, warmth, expertise and patience with me while I figure all this out! :-)
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