Square Pegs by Lennon714
Genre: Alternative Rock
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Keywords:
square pegs (1)
Description:
This song is a few years old I'm very familiar with it and know exactly what I want from it. That's why I chose it for my VERY FIRST GarageBand song. It's intentionally missing a chorus(four verses, a bridge, outro). The vocals are a mess and there are some mixing issues, but I want everyone to give it to me straight. I need to know how I can improve after this first attempt and from what I've read, I'm in capable hands. Have a listen, enjoy, and pick the damn thing apart!
It's just a song about chosing between one love and another and how you know that choice will change your life.
It's just a song about chosing between one love and another and how you know that choice will change your life.
Lyrics:
Square Pegs © 2008Could you let me know if it's time to go.
'Cause this moment would last if you'd say so.
It's so hard to stay afloat in this ocean.
Square pegs and round holes. Pound me until I go.
It's an awkward situation at best.
'Cause the pegs get shattered and the splinters are lethal.
Did we have a chance? Have we let it pass?
It feels like I'm lost in my own home.
And I'm waiting for armloads of guilt to die.
Solitary, yeah
Solitary, yeah
Oh yeah.
If I walk out the door will I see you anymore?
I Don't want to lose my best friend
But I've got this sinking feeling that I must go.
Square pegs and round holes (repeat)
Hardware:
Fender Telecaster, Yamaha keys, Shure SM48Software:
GarageBand08You must be registered and logged-in to comment.
johnny d
hey
sounding cool
Lennon714
Thanks!
Feter
Coool Rockin my friend ..would love to hear
your nice singing and guitar riffs into the
middle dunno just my rusty ears ..all in all
just great !! welldone !!
Lennon714
I've played this song for 7 years and I've always done that middle part quiet. I've messed with the dynamics of everything else but not that. It probably is a bit dry. I'll have to tinker with that. Thanks for the tip!
racerat
This has the bones to be great. You have a couple mixing issues though. Why are all the instruments in the left channel only? The only thing that is in the right speaker at all is the drums.? Oh, and then later an organ comes in on the right a little. Pan the guitar out to center or maybe 10 degrees left off center. Main vocal center. Harmony vocal 10 degrees right. Bass center. It will be much more impactful.
The song itself is really great. You have a strong voice that suits the Alt. genre of the music. The guitar work is strong too. Keep it up!
Lennon714
The mixing was my waterloo. I tried 6 different mixes and eventually had to just move on. I'll have to look in to the panning. I did do some crazy panning stuff but thought that I had moved everything back. I don't have any monitors at all so I would mix through my headphones, burn a copy, then listen to it in my car. Probably not the best method :). Anyway, thanks for the advice and I'll get back to this song in a few months once I get the hang of everything.
timothy devine
interesting panning, makes it feel and sound live
drums are great
Love the stop in the intro
get a catchy chorus, its in here somewhere
why not the title and just add a chord or two to your outro and you have a great chorus
I'd mix your vocal in the center or make a copy and put you voice on both sides and to gain a fatter vocal
you could add a bit of reverb or make it rounder on one side with eq
just some ideas
move the bass to the center more also
turn up the bass MHO
you need some more balance in the mix, a second counter rhythm guitar on in the right ear, you
more bass
a little lead guitar bit some where, definatly in the end
these are my ways and don't reflect on how this sounds overall.
The over all sound of the recording is very hip
I bet out of ear phones with this turned up it sounds different(cant do that now kids and wife are sleeping)
i dig this tune very much and i dig the guitar sounds
your voice works well with this song and you sing it with lots of confidence
Good arrangement, song writing and performances
peace
looking forward to what else you got up your sleeve
tim
Lennon714
Those are some great ideas. I'll give all of that a shot. I just updgraded from the Tascam Porta-02 4 track tape so the idea of any EQ AT ALL, and more than 4 tracks (7 with the tape to tape trick) is befuddling indeed. But I'll get it in the next few months. Thanks for listening and offering great suggestions!
lengold
post Eric. Lovely songwriting, musicianship and vocals. Good advice above re the mix but the most important thing always is the song, and this is good.
Cheers
Len
Lennon714
You're right. You can't polish a turd so there's hope yet!
Lennon714
You're right. You can't polish a turd so there's hope yet!
rsorensen
id love to hear a fuzzy distorted driving guitar in there during the verses - a la Weezer's 'Buddy Holly' - it could drop out during the break then kick back in for the last verse. I think you should keep the break quiet as it is. In fact you could start it even quieter and let it build. This has amazing potential. I'm looking very forward to hearing it develop!
Lennon714
I'll have to try the Weezer thing. I'm a HUGE Weezer fan, but I've never tried to emulate their guitar sound so that should be fun.
ajnorth
There's a lot going for it, but like everyone has said there are issues with the mixing. It has the makings of a great song so I look forward to hearing the next attempt.
Good start!
Adam
Lennon714
I'm glad you enjoyed the song!
Monkaton
I liked the song and you're right. Mixing can drive you crazy and after a while you start losing perspective.
Put everything in the middle and do a mono version, then proceed from there.
Good luck and welcome to Macjams.
Lennon714
It would be far less aggravating if what came out on my CD was what was coming through my phones. I'll get it though. I'm having too much fun to give up.
caroline
good song and i wish you all the best with the mixing bit - i'm a one take and no mixing kinda girl myself (i don't do technicals) - this has the potential to be excellent - good luck and enjoy!
Lennon714
Many props on the being a one take girl. It takes a lot to get it right the first time!
is a really cool song. Good advice above...
The chord progression with a bit of dischord is really cool and I like the break to quiet part - put a little more "bite" on the lead; solid vocals
great first post.
. - Harold
Lennon714
Thanks, lead parts are scary for me. Someone who has never played guitar can come up with better leads than I can. Maybe that's why I hide my leads so much :).
dajama
Good catchy melody, and a strong vocal performance. The song has a strong hook. Like others, I would try copying the vocal track and placing it in the middle. The guitar track in the left could work, although something on the right to balance it out might (perhaps more keys?) could be good. All of this is a bigger issue for me because I'm listening through phones so the quietness in the middle is more obvious. This is a great first post. Welcome to the neighborhood! Peace.
Lennon714
It does need balance. I may just start from scratch. I don't want to add too much to fix the bleeding or I'll just end up with more of a mess. But thanks for the compliment on the song!
Moviz
and I can hear the Lennon-ish feel in this great song. I like your vocal and the instruments and volumes. I think the mix is wrong, but you'll soon learn as we all have to here.Your execution is good, but if you follow what Racerat and Tiomothy Devine have to say about the mixing, this song will be really Hot. Do what they advise and then post it again, Welcome to MJ and cheers M
Lennon714
Utilizing the pros here is what I'm excited about doing! I know the mixing will improve with a little help. Thanks for listening!
davisamerica
silly question from me but when you record in gb are you doing it in"mono" as opposed to "stereo"? reason i ask is cos i had this panning issue for a while.. "everything to the left" till some kind Mjammer enlightened me..lol.... if you are recording the tracks in the preset " stereo" your panning attempts are for naught... right then.. agreet with phillip.. this one has bones and has some great possibilities... wish my first post had of been as good!
Lennon714
That must be it! I'm not 100% sure, but I do believe I did select stereo as my preset. You may have solved at least a fair majority of my problem! I was getting so mad because I know I put all vocals, drums, and bass in the middle. so I couldn't understand why things were going wherever they wanted. Now I have to scrap the two projects I've got going on now, but at least I know! Sheesh. Thanks!
DWL
really needs the mix to be central.
I liked the guitar in the left channel to start but was surprised that nothing came in on the right.
A remix and a repost I reckon :-)
Welcome to MJ.
Cheers
Dick
Lennon714
I will certainly have to remix this one and get it reposted. Although it sounds like I'll have to re-track, remix and then repost.
guitapick
...your Tele...
...Cool tune and the lyrics are killer. I can relate...been there before as, I'm sure, many of us have...
...be patient with the mixing. You'll get it. Tough at first. But you've got lots of people at this site who're more than willing to help.
Bob
Lennon714
Thanks! I like my Tele. They really are incredibly versatile. I'll get the mixing squared away and I'll do her proud!
Peter Greenstone
I think this is a great tune. I like the melody, the lyrics, and the overall structure. The production does have its issues here and there and I think this could certainly be improved to make it shine to its full potential. I'd like to hear the bass guitar and the drums have a lot more presence in the mix. I hear some mic popping in your vocals that could be eliminated if you use a pop filter when recording. In the meantime though, you can significantly reduce the popping on the existing recording by using EQ to cut out most of the bottom end frequencies on the vocal track.
Generally, it sounds good to the ears but there are surely a lot of little things you can do here and there to get more out of it. I like your performance and the inflections in your singing.
Really nice work. Keep playing with it.
Lennon714
Those pops drove me nuts. I did have pop filters on my mics until my daughter got to them... no joke. They are now "hats" and are in terrible shape. But listening back to the tracking after I did vocals I see that I needed them badly. I tried automating out the pops but it sounded goofy so I just let them stay for now. Thanks for listening and for the compliments
lavalamp
Love that Telecaster sound, man. Everything is in my right speaker, though. Except a drum. Take it off STEREO and which it to MONO. Trust me. As Racerat said the song is great and your vocals, too. Take whatever advice he gives. He semms to know what he's talking about.
Dave
Lennon714
Yeah, I was tuned in to the mono/stereo mistake earlier. Yikes. I'm excited to go home and fix everything up. Thanks for listening and for the compliments!
michael2
only gripe i have is that everything is panned to one speaker. i love your voice and the whole vibe (gtr sounds awesome). actually I would like to hear some more bass in the mix. i do like the non-standard arrangement though (no chorus). nice when the harmonies come in at the end too. great job, welcome to MJ.
Lennon714
A chorus just didn't work with this song. I said all I needed to say and the outro worked for what it needed only as an outro. I don't think I'm Bob Dylan or anything, but I do enjoy the ol' goofy song structure.
michael2
as is. i am a big fan of not sticking to convention. whatever the song needs, right? great stuff though.looking forward to hearing more from you.
pablatone
you can hear that it wants to be great. I think you should bring up the kick, snare and bass. Put them right up front. Hope you get some monitors soon, you got tons of talent.
Lennon714
I hope I pick some up soon, too! The song does want to jump out of the speakers and really move people, I just need to give it the right tools to do so.
Aaron David
This a is a great start... definitely shows potential.
I definitely agree on the comments of Racerat and others on the mixing. I've done some reading before that talk about how your brain perceives sounds/music. Apparently, your left ear is more prone to pick things out in a music track, whereas your right ear is more prone to blend the sound. With this as the case, if you want something to be noticed, pan it a bit more to the left and make your background sounds a bit more to the right. In your song, it's a bit of left ear overload :). Like racerat said, pan your vocals in the middle of you mix (in other words, don't pan them, lol) , pan your guitar a little left, other instruments a little right.... it doesn't take much (only 10-15 either side) so widen out your sound.
If you want to pan something completely right, a cool technique I've been messing with lately is record to seemly identical guitar tracks, pan them to extreme opposites (100% left and 100% right) and blend them with reverb into the background. I only use them in parts where I want to build it. Even though I'm playing the same thing in both tracks, no-one's perfect, and the slightly different between the two different recordings actually widens the sound and makes it seem bigger. Give it a try sometime :)
Lennon714
Thanks for the vote of confidence. That's certainly interesting about which ear perceives which sounds. I've definitely got my work cut out for me, but it's something I love doing so it should be a lot of fun.
Willywagga
Really good though like others have already things need to be centred particularly the main vocal. It's a little displacing as it is. But really great voice and great lyrics.
Lennon714
Yeah, I'll have to keep an eye on that mono/stereo switch. Thanks for the listen and comment!
Ibstrat
know anything about mixing- but you've got talent.This is a great song!
Lennon714
You don't know anything about mixing? That makes two of us! Thank you for the compliment. I love songwriting and I'm so glad I stumbled across this site because it really is oozing with talent and I have yet to see snobbery, which is amazing when you think about it. The mixing will come around.
rtcooper
Sounds like early Elvis Costello and THAT'S Cool.
But, it seems to have forgotten about the right channel.
Gonna Re-mix using whole spectrum/envelope?
Lennon714
I love Elvis Costello, and really, who doesn't? Thanks for the compliment. I will be re-mixing this song later. I recorded it right when I got everything set up just to see what GB was all about. My band, the Ex-Kings already recorded a version close to this so I will get back to this song, just not any time real soon, you know?
Bob Rodgers
is a great song and very good songwriting, nice break in the middle, I loved the guitars and vocals! It's already been said about the mixing and good advice from everyone, look forward to hearing more of this song!
Lennon714
I'll get a remixed version someday. I've already got two other projects running so when I run out of other ideas I may revisit this song. Until then, thanks for listening!
jiguma
.. great bones! Needs a chorus, and the mix is pretty average - you'd get a huge improvement just by returning everything to the centre and slowly and slightly panning each track until it sounds right. Bass and drums could stay in the centre until you sort the vox and instruments out. I'd be leaving the vocal pretty much centred also - so that leaves the guitar and organ - one slightly left, one slightly right. A second guitar track would also help balance things a bit. See how that sounds and go from there.
This song is definitely worth some more work!
Neil
Lennon714
It seems I recorded it in Stereo so all my tweaks were for naught. I will get another version of this put out, but it will probably just be a totally redone version rather than just a remix because there's enough to fix. Thanks for listening to it and for offering the tips!
jiguma
I record a lot of my tracks in stereo (all except bass in fact) in Logic and it doesn't present any panning problems at all. Just make sure you don't pan right or left during the recording process for each track - keep it centred and stereo should work fine.
Cheers,
Neil
Lennon714
Don't tell me that! :). If that's not the case, I have the problem of finding out why my pan controls won't obey me.
sschedra
You have a gift for putting together songs. I see almost everyone has given feedback on production so I don't have to. Your playing and singing are swee-eet. I really like your song writing style though and I look forward to more of your work. I share your frustration with the tech details. I always hear it perfect in my head. Now if we can just develop an interface . . .
Lennon714
I'm glad you liked it. I know what you mean about hearing it in your head. It's extremely frustrating because I hear arrangements in my head that I can't even begin to put together. So what I put down is usually "close enough". Anyhow, I'm actually re-recording this song so I'll have a better version up soon. Thanks again for listening!
Very nice... agree with feter about the mix and sounds. Cool work
Lennon714
I'm revisiting this one every now and then. One I start working on new projects I start losing interest in older ones so it's taking long than it should. Someday... :)