My entry in this week’s songfight is a collaboration with Hoblit, who is another songfight regular…
It’s cool how this came together. When I thought of feathers I thought of it as a love song to a stripper coming from a shlub at a table in a club. (the Paradise Club in Vegas is a great place for a bachelor party, incidentally). I came up with the chords (it’s an Fm7 on the chorus and I like it) on guitar and played a basic drum thing. This was actually accidentally miked from my vocal mic accross the room. It had a slightly distant, tinny sound I liked at that point, but I’m still trying to find the drum sound in the new room. Gotta play with the micing more.
I uploaded my vocal (sans bridge) with guitar and basic drum to my server on Wednesday. Hoblit played with it and said the trading of verses made it sound like we were singing to each other.
I suggested we do something at the end where we start arguing that the girl “wants me” “no she wants me” etc., ala a shlubby Mac’n’Jacko. Hoblit wrote and sang the second verse, the bridge vocals and the guitar solo. I wasn’t sure about the chord progression on the bridge, but Hoblit made it work. And his ending was eery (sic) and perfect as it was so I left it that way. Much better than what I was thinking.
I took his vocal and guitar tracks into Deck with my tracks and added the electric piano and bass and second drums. I followed his lead on the bridge and added another punctuated guitar there. I’ll redo the drum when I find the sound. I made Hoblit’s vocal too wet with software delay to try and match somewhat the effect I had on mine, which was fixed at that point. I think I’ll redo my vocal less wet so I can back it off his, and work on the vocal levels all around. This should give more separation to the two vocals, although I think we blend well as it is in the off way I like.
The collab was done in a few days, trading little more than half a dozen private messages here. I’m stoked to do more with Hoblit and others now. Glad you guys liked this one allright. Thanks for the constructive feedback.
The really cool part was seeing how Hoblit took my basic idea and completed it in his way.
You can find the track HERE, along with a bunch of other great tracks. Really good ones this week!
Here’s what people are saying:
“I like the melody of the vocals against the guitar. The two singers’ voices go well together.” –Brother Machine
“:30 and so far interesting. Where are we going? Ah yes upshift. A new face. Some serious soul there, and that makes this song. Nice. Very passionate very original. Good effort with this, guys.” –abecaderian
“Much collaborative goodness. Loud. Obviously been well mastered. Both can sing! Competent axe work as there has been on every track so far. The two clearly work well together.” –Mother Funker
“this collab intrigued me alot. i’m curious. the entire mix sounds like a blind mime production. seems like hobs just sings. nice harmonies together. the drums sound tinny and sort of an afterthought. the song itself is great and well written for this type of collab. nice job” –jack shite
“Oh man, you guys are like George Michaels and Elton John! This is great. Really really.” –roymond
“Nice groove right off the bat. Cheesey cymbal has to go- or at least bury it in the mix a little. The vocals are ok. They get a bit too weird in some spots & screw up the great mood you guys have created. I love the ending. Great Song. B+” –Eddie Bangs
“nice singing on both parts– i like that you both really sing hard, and though there are parts where you’re off-key, i think it’s fine. taking turns really adds to the song. the intro hooks me in, and the music smooths everything out. i like this. there are some clipping issues in hoblit’s (?) singing, and some nasty flanging, but screw it. i like it. i dig the mmmmMRRMRRROOW growlin, too.” –peabody
“These vocals seem too wet also. Is that clipping during the first Hoblit verse? In the chorus, I kept expecting the third chord of the progression to be the first chord again (some 7th chord, right?). A little more stereo/frequency separation between the vox might make them more distinct during the unison/harmony singing parts. Dang, that last line is super creepy as someone else pointed out. Anyway, in spite of my complaining I like the song.” –Lunkhead
“Good voice, draws the listener in immediately. The timbre of the music sounds warmer than that of the vox, but that’s good for this song. If you told me this was a Bowie cover, I would half believe you. How’s that for a compliment? This is turning into a classic fight this week.” –the ‘over
posted at 5:30 AM
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