[Bankie]

Hello! I've just joined the forum and looking for advice. I promise not to run away afterwards; this looks like my kinda place 

I have a song in progress which I've been putting together very quickly, but I'm wasting a lot of time trying to work out what my chorus is lacking. I feel there is space for something which would be pushed back in the mix, but which would help enhance the sound without detracting from the vocals and guitar. I'm quite happy with the stripped-back sound of the verse, and have included the end verse for context. I've also added the middle eight, which would probably benefit from the same addition the chorus gets.

Any ideas, including to pointers to similar commercial songs most welcome.

https://soundcloud.com/bankie666/underneath-my-skin-wip/s-cJtoo

[Neil C]

Hi,

one approach would be to pare back the the verse and lift the chorus to provide greater differentiation.

On verse take out the harmonics, is simplify  the drums.

And for the chorus add more open hi-hats, tambourine or more complex drumming to differentiate. You could put in some power chords there to to underpin the chorus. Just some simple suggestions. hope it helps. neat tune too.


neil

[Bernd]

Well, if you knew the feedback to my own 'productions' you might decide to do the opposite of what I would do...

Anyway, to my layman's ears you are actually quite close. Only the drums sound too samey all through. I use either different 'grooves' or just replace a closed hi hat with an open one or a ride. Yours could do with a bit more action, I think.

Have fun,
Bernd

[Bankie]

Thanks both of you for taking the time to answer. Firstly, just ignore the drums - I haven't done any proper work on those yet - I just know that the overall feel is what I'm after, and I'll refine/add the extras in for that later. I've just been focusing on the instrumentation for the chorus for now.

Bernd, I do agree that it's quite close - some people I've talked to agree with us; however others think the chorus is seriously lacking.

Neil, if I took out the harmonics from the verse, I'd be left with just a bass guitar and drums, and I'm not the minimalist type. Also, the harmonics is the basis of the introduction to the song (which of course you didn't hear), so it's the guide for the journey of the song. My original experimentation with power chords seemed to gravitate to a sound which occupied the same space as the acoustic guitar rather than contrasting. However, just in the past hour, with fresh ears, I've found a better sound and avoided the clash by moving the power chords up the fretboard. For the middle 8, I've went with root/3rd power chords to make the major/minors clear. So, well done, you win the (non-existent) prize.

BTW, I'd already tried everything I could think of to fill that space, but I didn't want to pollute any ideas - I wanted to find out what direction others would go in so I could narrow my focus. I tried choral backing, orchestral strings, synth pads, organs, pianos and many others. After a while, everything sounds bad, so it's sometimes a good idea just to leave things and go back fresh later.

[Johnnyuk]

Hi,
I just took a listen a couple of times and from what i can hear you have a really good song here!
The chorus is very very good and catchy. I do know what you mean about how can you make it sound fuller etc.
One way is to make the verses more intimate vocally and instrumentally. For example just before the chorus i heard crash cymbals in the verse.
If they had not been there in that part of the song then when the chorus kicked in the impact musically would have been a lot stronger. But because those cymbals were there just before the chorus then when the chorus kicked in the overall sound diminished which is the reverse of what you want when walking into a chorus.
I hope this helps.
Johnny

[cowparsleyman]

Great idea, really really good song, lots of potential.

The sanre and bass drum could be bigger.

Love the bass guitar line, and the Vocal arrnagement, It sounds like the Lead Vox has ADT or chorus on it, rather than being 1 tracks, but I could be wrong, it's very subtle, but it might wsound better with 2 tracks.

Let me know if you take this any further.

A gem.

cpm