[CaliaMoko]

I'm moving this here from "Lyrics", as I have a demo made now. You can hear it at https://soundcloud.com/caliamoko/purple-shades-take-1.

I'm learning in small increments, so try to ignore the canned accompaniment. What I'm looking for is

1. advice on how to mix this.

   1.A. At the moment, I think I have the volume levels fairly good relative to each other, but I have no experience so I don't know for sure. Maybe the acoustic guitar is too quiet (the only actual real instrument)?

   1.B. I have left the canned accompaniment centered, and I moved my lead vocal slightly to the left and the acoustic rhythm guitar somewhat to the right. Does that work, or should I try something else?

   1.C. Then I assume I should warm it up a little with some reverb? Short of eradicating the canned background, which won't happen this time around, what else should I consider?

2. It needs a better name. The phrase "Purple Shades" was in an earlier incarnation of the song, but it's gone now. Maybe I could call it "Survivor Ceremony", since that's what it will be used for. Or "Purple Hues". ?

This song is specifically by request for our local Relay For Life event coming up in July. I can't be there, so I've agreed to provide two songs via recording. This is one of them. Lyrics below.

PURPLE SHADES

Verse 1
The evening sky in purple hues
Declares the close of day
The colors darken into blues
The moon comes out to play

To indigo from violet
The sky grows darker till
The stars begin to twinkle and
The frogs begin to trill
The stars begin to twinkle and
The frogs begin to trill

Verse 2
We walk and wander 'round the track
And read the mem'ries there
And as we finish every lap
We say a little prayer

In honor of, in mem'ry of
The little candles gleam
Bright tokens of undying love
From every Relay team
Bright tokens of undying love
From every Relay team

Verse 3
The flick'ring candles light the way
We let our mem'ries flow
Although we start with hearts of clay
We feel a lightness grow

We pledge to help with time and strength
We walk in league as one
We'll stay awake for this event
And sleep when we are done
We'll stay awake for this event
And sleep when we are done

[hardtwistmusic]

Not sure why, but "the frogs begin to trill" doesn't sound right to me. 

First thing I thought of was "the frogs begin THEIR trill." 

Small thing.  If you don't agree, it's not worth changing.

[tina m]

I thought this sounded very good vicki & I liked it a lot  & it sounds perfect for what you want it for..
I think vocals are supposed to be in the middle but this works the way youve done it & you sound nice & clear ...i couldnt hear your guitar very well but the mix sounded nice so maybe you should leave it like that
a little reverb on your voice might be good

the trouble is I think the song is going to sound very empty when you take out the 'canned' backing ...so do you have to take it out?
What is  the canned backing anyway? How did you make it?
I liked the title ...but  I did think the song was going to be about purple sunglasses & jimi hendrix! 
So unless you can write those things in maybe it should change
 do frogs actually trill? I thought it was birds

[CaliaMoko]

@HTM: Yes, something is wrong with the trilling frog part....

@TinaM: Thanks for the nice compliment. I made my guitar hard to hear on purpose. It adds a little "noise" without being too noticeable. When it was louder, it kind of stuck out as different from the rest of the mix.

I have no plan at present to remove the canned backing. I don't know how I would replace it, and, as you mentioned, the song needs it. Or something to replace it. If I were still working, I would probably hire Boydie to make an accompaniment for me and consider that my donation to the American Cancer Society for this year. 

I made it with my old Roland EM-303 keyboard ("intelligent synthesizer"). It has a feature that is handy for me--I can choose a variety of pre-set types of accompaniments and choose a tempo. Then I can either start it right off by pushing the "start/stop" button and holding down the keys of the notes I want in the chord. Or I can push the "intro/ending" key. I used the "intro/ending" key, which played a canned introduction before the song started. After that I just have to press the keys of the chords I want at just the right time so the chord changes when I want it to. At the end I pressed the "intro/ending" key again and it played an ending for me.

One big disadvantage: I can't do anything to change those intros and endings, so any time I use this particular preset, I will always have the same intro and ending. There are 64 presets.

Yes, I really need a new name for it. I don't think I'll include anything about Jimi Hendrix and/or sunglasses!    Maybe I should just call it something like "Ode to Survivor Ceremony"... 

I'm going to ruminate on the trilling frogs aspect of the song today, I think.

Thanks for the input. It's always helpful to get opinions other than my own.

Vicki

[Paulski]

Hi Vicki

You have a sweet almost old-fashioned vocal in this - nice!
Couple of suggs. if you're open to them.
I'd stick the vocals in the middle, give it some reverb and more bass as it sounds   a bit tinny (trebly) to me. The song is too long IMO - there isn't enough variation to go 4 mins to me. And round these parts, frogs "sing" or "peep". I'd go with "sing" but you'd need to change "till" into sth that rhymes with sing.

Good luck with this - sounds like it fits the bill
Paul

[CaliaMoko]

Before I answer Paulski, I did a search on noises frogs make. The results I found include clicks, whistles, grunts, croaks, throaty squeaks, chirps...and...a "high pitch long-lasting trill", a "long high musical trill on one pitch", and a "hearty, resonating trill". So, if I can't find anything better, I won't feel so bad if I have to keep it.

@Paulski, I like your mixing ideas, although I don't know how to do the bass thing. Is that an EQ procedure? And do you mean to add reverb only to the voice? Or also to the accompaniment? I think I might be able to do that part, although I don't really know how to control it. I found some presets in the reverb effect and I plan to choose the one with the least amount (it's called "small dark room", I think).

The EQ effect shows me a graph-looking form with a line running through it. I have no idea what to do with the line.... I can click on it and drag it around. But what does that mean?

And, if I move the vocal to the center, should I move the accompaniment to one side?

Oh, and about the length. I agree it is much too long. It just gets all draggy. But they want it for the part of the survivor ceremony where everybody starts walking around the track. They used to play "Walk of Life" about a million times while people all made the first lap. I think they finally found something else to play last year and now this year they wanted me to come sing something original. Since I can't go, they'll take a recording of me instead. I do hope, instead of playing it over and over, they'll play it once or twice and then move on to something else.

And finally, thanks for the compliment on the vocal. I was thinking I got way too schmaltzy and thought I should probably do it again, a little "cleaner". Choices, choices...so hard to decide. I'll try not to agonize over it, since I'm doing it for people I find very easy to please. "Somebody local did this...isn't it amazing???"

[CaliaMoko]

I have moved this to "Finished Songs", because it's almost the end of the month and I have nothing at all in there yet. I updated it, trying to carry out some of the advice I've gotten.

To make sure you see the most recent version, I've locked this topic and put the link to the new topic above.

Vicki