JPF Home Page Forums Lyric and MP3 Feedback MP3 Feedback Forum 'Til Darkness Falls Again (re-done again)

Well, here is this song one more time. I have had a lot of pitch problems with this tune, probably because it is a stretch for my vocal range. I re-recorded it yet one more time and I think the vocal is much better; but that is the trouble with pitch problems: not being able to hear the problems clearly in the first place. I like this song very much and am trying to get it right. I have given it my best shot and hopefully it passes inspection; if not, well, time to move on . Let me know if it still sounds "pitchy" - if it does I may have to wait until I reincarnate in a body with a better voice and ear before trying again.

Here it is:
http://www.soundclick.com/bands/page_songInfo.cfm?bandID=473345&songID=3575383

‘Til Darkness Falls Again
© 2006 by Clint Anglin

I still see your face at night
As I dream dreams by candlelight,
I hear your voice in the wind;
I long to kiss your tender lips,
Be caressed by your fingertips,
And feel your touch upon my skin.
I dream the whole night through
Of nothing else but you
And I never want to wake again.

For I know when the daylight comes
I will wake and you’ll be gone,
And this dream of love will end
‘Til darkness falls again.

I rise with the morning sun,
And now that the day’s begun
I will have to leave you behind;
I never thought I’d wish for night
Instead of the bright daylight
That now seems so unkind.
I can’t wait for the day to end,
For the dreaming to begin
When you will hold me one more time.

But I know when the daylight comes
I will wake and you’ll be gone,
And this dream of love will end
‘Til darkness falls again.

I still see your face at night
As I dream dreams by candlelight,
I hear your voice in the wind;
I long to kiss your tender lips,
Be caressed by your fingertips,
And feel your touch upon my skin.
I dream the whole night through
Of nothing else but you
And I never want to wake again.

For I know when the daylight comes
I will wake and you’ll be gone,
And this dream of love will end
‘Til darkness falls again.

--
Clint

Clint,

Really nice song. And you make that flat top sound so sweet! From my point of view, no major pitch problems. The one thing that I did notice, though, is that on the last two lines of the chorus, you have a tendency to increase the tempo by 4 or 5 bpm. Other than that, I think that it's probably pretty close to what you want.

That is a real nice lyric and arrangement. What kind of acoustic guitar are you using. It is just so danged sweet sounding...rich, full-bodied, yet has a "sparkling" tone that is crsip. Good song, good job. Best of luck with it.

Hey, tell us about that baby in the picture!

Al

Well the guitar is great, love the groove you create and the tone is incredible. The vocal sounds good if not pitch perfect. It doesn't need to be pitch perfect for this song, to me it just sounds like it needs to be a little more relaxed to fit the emotion of the song. I would try it at a slower more reflective tempo and not repeat the first verse again and if it needs more just do a guitar bridge IMO.

Pete

Great sounding guitar -- you always do an excellent job recording that! Reminds me of a "Peter, Paul and Mary" or "Mamas and Papas" type song. Therefore, you you need to hunt down some female harmony vocalists to add some more flavor in there.

Good one.

Kevin

Sounds classic to me Clint. Not hearing a lot of pitch problems, maybe a little too much vibrato in places, but I like it

Hey Clint:

I thought the vocal sounded great. I didn't get any feel that it was pitchy.

Heard a bit of hiss through one side of my headphones....had it turned up pretty high though....

Always liked this song - can see why you keep coming back to it.

Hey, love the new avatar! Is that you and your son?

Great to see you again!

Scott

Hi Al,

Thanks, Al. I'm glad you didn't detect any outstanding pitch problems. Yes, I have a problem with tempo . I have a tendency to speed up unpredictably. My recording software doesn't offer the ability to create a click track, but I just discovered a workaround. I can use a software metronome and record it for several minutes and import the track into Audition. Now, if I can just keep time with the metronome!

My main guitar is a custom Martin D-15. The differences from a standard D-15 are that the sides and back are rosewood and the front is sitka spruce rather than all Mahogany. I have been taken by its tone from the moment I picked my first note on it 3 years ago.

The baby is my son when he was a week old 25 years ago. I was a bit younger too .

Clint

Pete,

I agree with all your suggestions. I will never be pitch perfect, but I would like to remain within an ear tolerable distance . If I slow it down, like you said, I shouldn't need to repeat the 1st verse. You know, I have tried repeatedly to slow it down but it keeps falling back to approximately this tempo. I must start using a click track to keep me on track!!

Thanks for the comments and suggestions - much appreeciated.

Clint

Thanks for listening and your kind words. I would love to have some female harmonies and this (and many other songs). I agree, it would raise it up a few notches.

Clint

Louis,

It's good to hear that you didn't detect any pitch problems; I think you have a good ear for that. I don't seem to have much control over the vibrato and it can be too much. It comes out more than usual in this song. There seems to be some enhancement of the vibrato when my voice interacts with the guitar on this particular song. When I play the vocal track independently, there is much less vibrato...weird.

Clint

Hi Scott,

Thanks. Like Louis, I trust your ear so I am very pleased to know that you didn't hear any real pitch problems.

Ya know, I heard some of that hiss too. I think it came from using a hard limiter effect on the song - it seems to raise the noise level as well as the overall volume. Using a hard limiter was recently suggested by a friend and I thought I would try it. It may work better with a different style of music, but I don't care for it after all. So...I just went back and did a remix and removed the hard limiter and I think there is less background noise now. I just did my usual normalization instead.

Yep, that's my son 25 years ago when he was a week old. That was me a few months before I cut off my hippie hair .

Clint

I have to agree on the vocals. It is not pitch perfect but still sounds very good. It sounds real and that is a good thing.
I agree on the tempo issues. I'd like to hear this a tad slower. I think the song would have more impact at a slower tempo.
Great sounding acoustic guitar. The finger picking was well done.
You do seem to get a really good sound from the guitar on the recording.
How are you recording the acoustic? I like the sound you get. and do you use a thumb pick?

Bill,

Thanks for the comments and I am very happy that my vocals are not hard on the ears. If, and when, I try this one more time I will definitely slow it down a bit and use a click track.

I do use a thumb pick (but not finger picks). I record the guitar with a small diaphragm mic (MXL 991) about 10 inches from the guitar and aimed at the 13th fret. I am very happy with the quality of this fairly inexpensive mic. I tweak the sound a little in the software with a little reverb and compression and that's about it.

Clint

Hi CLint,

Very sweet.
Take a bow, I'm certainly impressed with it all.

Calvin


http://www.soundclick.com/bands/0/calvinstewart

Clint: Oh yes, Oh Yes, this is real good. Fingerpicking is superb! Your voice matches the style of the song and I would not change the vocals. There's really no reason to do anything else to it in my mind. Made me feel reall nice and evoked a real nostalgic feel for 60's folk. SOunds like a lost classic.

Regards...Paul

Clint,

this was great. the guitar is just so well done, tough i agree with others the tempo changes are a bit distracting. my only other comment - and this is just personal taste - is to back down a bit on the doubled vocals (or chorus effect if you're using that), bring one voice more forwards and use the second to give the voice depth.

One thing I've found works pretty well to give the vocal a bit more presence on these vocal/guitar only songs, is to record one vocal in mono, copy it to a second track but slightly off in timing, a few microseconds. pan one full left and one full right. it's less noticable than doubling or chorus, but it still helps the voice stand out from the guitar.

..ant

This is a sweet little song Clint...i always admire your pickin type playing..you are one of the best i have heard on here..well written lyric..no obvious pitch problems but i do hear it as near your vocal limit..slight variation on timing here and there,but that is to be expected as you say you are not using a metronome..but that would'nt be an issue at the end of the day..If you want to take this song to the next level,which i think it deserves,it is screaming out for a female vocalist..it reads to me, as a female lyric as well...funny how some songs turn out that way...but in any case well done..i wish you all the best.....Terry...

Thanks, Calvin! I appreciate your kind words.

Clint

Hi Paul,

Well, your comment made my day . It definitely has a 60's feel - I think everything I do has that feel. Thanks for listening!

Clint

Thanks, Ant. I am going to try recording with a metronome from now on. I just recorded a new one yesterday and used a metronome; it took me forever to get used to it, but it helps avoid the tempo problems.

It's odd what you heard in the vocal because I did exactly what you suggested in your second paragraph. I did not use a chorus effect and I didn't even add a delay to one of the vocals, just copied it to a second track to add more depth. So, I'm not sure what happened.

Clint

Terry,

Thanks for your encouraging words and kind comments. I agree that a female vocal would work very well and am very open to that.

Clint

Clint,

Man, I wish I could play like you do! This is a very pretty piece. It does have a 60's folk flavor to it. I guess I'm with the some of the other posters in that perhaps I would slow down the tempo a bit. Your vocal sounded fine to me. I may be able to talk my friend Faith into singing this for you. If you click on my Soundclick link and listen to my song Sweet Release, she is doing the harmony on it for me. She has a more polished, professional sounding voice with a really pretty vibrato, almost like EmmyLou Harris. Let me know if you want me to send it to her and I will let you know what she says.

Thanks, Wendy. I've been playing guitar for 40 years and always wish I could play better. And thanks for the offer to send the link to your friend. If she would be interested, I would also. I think I would have to redo it slowed down and with a metronome.

Clint