Here's another song from our album. This was played in a national radio at the eve of Finnish independence day.
The song title "Kalevala" refers to the national saga of Finland. It is a singing tradition that has gone through centuries and possibly millenias in the northern land. It was gathered as a book by Elias Lönnrot in the year 1828 and onwards. (More info: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kalevala)
So the lyrics of this song are inspired by the events of Kalevala. The structure of the song was inspired by Son House's version of "John the revelator".
This song has three harp solos + background vamping at the chorus. The intro harp solo is the theme of the melody and the two other solos were recorded at first shot at the studio. In fact this song used to have just the intro solo and the other solos were done by guitar, so it was actually the first time I ever played a solo to this song.
Here again I was just trying to serve the song and cought some of it's feeling to these solos. The background vamping I designed specifically for this song (only the backgrounds of chorus was mixed in to the final version).
I would appreciate honest feedback of how you think it went. Also critical feedback is welcome - although it doesn't always feel comfortable I have found that it can be very valuable for learning too.
Well, I listened a couple of times, but I can't understand what the vocalist is saying. I think it's "Hurt my groin in Havana with Murray."
In the big picture, I thought the "sound" was good, meaning your tone and your volume relative to the rest of the band. I liked the intro and the background stuff, the chordal work. You really didn't have much room to "build" a solo. Magic Dick didn't have much room in J. Geils' First I Look at the Purse, either, but that was a more intense song. I think your role was to accentuate, not to dominate, and I think you acquitted yourself well.
I listened the Magic Dick's solo. It was a good point, there weren't lots of room for him to build the solo so he seemed just to participate in the "dialogue" instead of making it a full-length solo.
In my song I had more room but not enough to build a story. Instead it was more of a "one sentence" to contribute the song. It might have possible to use the second solo more as continuation to the first "sentence".
It was interesting for me to work that background stuff as I'm the singer so I don't usually have an opportunity to do that in live. The recording gave me that possibility and I somehow thought the chordal work and other background stuff could kind of a keep the theme alive in the harp-side. Perhaps the harp represented somehow the Kalevala saga's real voice while the lyrics and singing told a story of it...
On your solo, no fault with it, but from a personal view I'd like to see you develop and implement your vibrato more, and maybe slap some triplets in there-BUT, that's from a fellow harmonigeek's perspective-what you played fits nicely. Your soloing style is very rhthymic-nothing wrong with it, but stepping away or doubling the tempo sometimes during a solo adds flavor...or maybe playing a slow buildup to a faster crecendo. Not a whole lot of room in this song to go nutso, however, so your more conservative approach worked.
Thank's toddlgreene. I'm glad you mentioned the vibrato - it has been on my "to do list" for a while but I don't seem to remember to actually work with that. I did concentrate on it about year ago but then I forgot it at some point. I have been working with vibrato in my singing but not so much on the harp lately.
GamblersHand also suggested the triplets concerning the other song I presented here, so I think that would be another area to focus on - also how to use other more interesting rythmic patterns...
@WoodEye: That's actually a pretty good line, I think I'll use that somewhere! :D
The tone is good, but the feel of the hook seems a bit off like it isn't totally in the groove. I like the comping, but I can hear you weren't as confident with the lead lines.
I agree that this is not a typical song to play leads over, so the riffs/hook probably make the most sense. Through my filter, I would aim for maybe more of a melody driven line than blues-riffy, but that is just my style and to expect another to do that isn't really a fair criticism.
Off-topic, so feel free to stop reading, but I kept waiting for a bridge section. That would have made room for a lead or at least a curveball.
IMO, the hardest part about recording music that you aren't continually playing all the time (read: when you record originals for a hobby band vs full-time band) is a lack of vision. It is hard, as time and money often are hard to come by, to really be thorough.
Again, IMO, and I can say that when I've gone to record the other people in the group disagreed, you should be able to do your parts in your sleep.
As an example, the Black Keys spent like 40 days hashing out tunes for their newest album before recording it. Most bands, even really good ones, don't go in with producers or the like. They just through out some ideas on digital tape, see what sticks, and hope that there is a gem to help them get to the next level.
Most of us - not full-time guys - don't have the luxury of experimenting in studio, but we try to do so anyways.
From my own experience, as the sing/harmonica player, I was the last one to record my parts. The other members of the band viewed an 8hr day as 8hrs to cut their parts...totally forgetting that I needed time to record. Having to overdub sucks, and you feel like you have to settle for good enough vs what you want to really hear.
I've always felt that a band should record the whole album live on their own as part of preproduction...even if just live in a room. They should know 100x over exactly what they need to do for each song and when. Spend your own time jamming and improving to find the song...not the studio.
***I am not saying that is what happened here, but making up the part in studio and doing it in 1-2 takes can be a red flag. We tend to think it works because we live in the world of live music, but it seems to not work so well in the studio.
This has happened to me both times I went to the studio with my last original project. We had songs already to go - most of which we played live for at least a year - and then people went in and totally rewrote them on the clock! The worst part was we all weren't there to agree on the changes and so guys went ahead and recorded "new" songs (for hours) and it was a huge pain, IMO. Not everyone is this dysfunctional, but I think it happens a lot where people aren't totally prepared for recording.
Very good comments Mike. You were right reading between the lines. We didn't practice a lot before going to the studio, we played all the songs in one weekend and actually rearranged and even recomposed few songs at the same time. I recorded most of the vocals afterwards as I caught cold that weekend and weren't able to sing most of the songs.
If we'll do another album in the future, I'll make sure we'll work harder before we go to the studio and won't do any new arrangements to the songs. Of course the solos could have been better if they were thought over and practiced - on the other hand improvisation might bring some feeling of...improvisation. :)
The comment on the bridge is also spot on. I have been thinking about my that a lot and I need to pay more attention to those things when I compose new songs. To really put effort on the structures of how to make the most of the songs...
