Reto

I have been posting my songs here for a while but I found it to be difficult to access them for myself through the blog.

To solve this I have created a simple static website with org-mode: under reto.nom.za/music/. I intend to post updates and blog entries here and the music itself on the other site now.

On the Songs page are all of my finished songs. I think that most of my previous demos are quite lacking so I just included a few of them. The songs that have a demo are marked with “demo” in the table of contents.

The “open” tag is more for myself. It means that I have transcribed this song for Open Guitar Tunings.

On the Demos page I'll be posting demos of unfinished stuff. If you want to see and hear how I write my songs you can get an idea there as I'll be posting early demos and then the steps of the creative process, e.g. when I add lyrics, a chorus etc.

One of my #songwriting learnings is that #recording your work is a whole different chapter. When I'm singing live it just sounds a lot better. People asked me “why doesn't it sound just as nice on the recordings?”.

Of course the equipment plays a role here. I don't have professional recording equipment. But I've found that there are other things that have quite a big impact:

Recording with headphones

Whenever I record with headphones the pitch of the voice is quite off on the recording. It's much better when I can sing with natural feedback. Somehow the headphones “break” something. I've never quite found out what it is though.

Non-acoustic instruments

When I use my epiano it just never sounds that great. Even when I try to use all kinds of tricks and use soundfonts with samples that have been recorded from real pianos, it just doesn't help much.

I don't have a real piano at home. The best recordings I can make are with acoustic guitar.

Mic type

I have a few mics at home. I think the best sound I can record is with stereo condenser mics. Dynamic mics are less sensitive to feedback loops so you can use them near a speaker (otherwise you get that loud howling sound). But for recordings they don't sound that great.

I've made a new demo now of Simple Melody with which I'm quite happy.

For this recording I have used those mics:

With the Sony on the left I have recorded the voice and with the Philips on the right the acoustic guitar. I have used Ardour to record and mix everything, using some plugins to enhance the bass on the guitar and add a stereo effect. For the voice I used a slight Calf Reverb and a compressor.

Voice maturity

If you want to sound great on a recording you have to sound a lot better in reality. While your voice may be good enough for a concert, it takes much more to produce a recording that will sound just as good.

I know I need to get a lot better still to bridge this gap and I won't do any serious recordings until I know that the quality is good enough.

Ok, these were some of my learnings with recording. Thanks and see you next time!