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23rd Nov 2017 01:23 - 7 years ago
Description : So, I've just learned a really humbling lesson. I finally figured out some lyrics for this track today and, again, without a real singer to do the vocals, I recorded them myself. Better to have lousy vocals than to have the melody line played by a B3 patch again.

With the vocals added, the track ended up reminding me of Roxy Music, so I checked out their stuff in my library. I’m a great admirer of their sound. The humbling lesson is how much better their stuff sounds.

That said, this is kind an 80’s sound, but a bit more polished than some of the other 80’s influenced tracks I’ve done. I’m still on the search for vocalists to do the vocals on my tracks properly. This one requires a male vocalist for the verses and the chorus and the female for the pre-chorus.

Comments (13)

If you have time take a listen and give EricMilligan some feedback.

BlancFroid
BlancFroid 27th Feb 2018 16:13 - 6 years ago
I think you pulled it off - has a great flow and progression, and has that almost intangible 80's loungey feel. Yes, Roxy Music mastered that feel.

You found the right pockets for the vocals too - nice work!
EricMilligan
EricMilligan replied 27th Feb 2018 - 6 years ago
Thanks. One of the very few instances where I actually came up with a complete set of lyrics for a song. All my life I've focused only on instrumentals. I never, ever paid attention to the lyrics of a song. Actually preferred instrumentals over vocals. Now that I really want to make songs that require vocals, I'm paying the price for my foolishness. :)
ChadJ
ChadJ 27th Nov 2017 07:55 - 7 years ago
Hey Eric I love the song. Like everyone else has said, you do have a good voice and it does go good with the song. I hear Depeche Mode for sure. I believe I could rock this song for you. You can check me out on N1M. My band name is DodgingDove. I would def enjoy singing your great song. Keep up the great work!!!
EricMilligan
EricMilligan replied 27th Nov 2017 - 7 years ago
Hi, Chad. Thanks for the comment on the track. I am getting rather amused by the various comments which suggest that my vocal was actually OK. Nobody would ever say that if they heard the raw vocal track I recorded without all the effects I had to put on it. I suppose that, as Silverman suggested in his comment, the use of technology to make a sow's ear into a silk purse is fair game. But I am under no illusions about the true situation. I'm in the process of listening to your Dodging Dove tracks on N1M. Wasn't aware of that site previously. Yo've got a nice distinctive timbre to you voice. A little bit of roughness which gives your delivery a really authentic feel. At least, that's the way I'm hearing it.

I actually think I may have some other tracks that will fit even better with your vocals, if you'd be interested in considering them. They were meant for a voice like yours. Sent me a PM via Looperman if you are interested and I will start locating some possibilities. There one in particular that I have kind of an electro-trucker piece about an 18-wheeler doing dangerous runs on "Thunder Road". Yes, I know that was a famous Robert Mitchum song. The title just seems to work for this track, so I've not been able to come up with anything more original! :)

Regards,

Eric
theHumps
theHumps 26th Nov 2017 12:20 - 7 years ago
Honestly, I can hear the Roxie Music influence in this track which is good. I think you should continue working on your vocals, they aren't as bad as you said in your description. Be original in your approach and style and it will work out in the long run. The song is catchy, the effects on the vocal help with the overall feel of the track and the mix is real good for this song.

Well done man!

Wayne
EricMilligan
EricMilligan replied 27th Nov 2017 - 7 years ago
Thank-you, Wayne. You are one of the true "authorities" here on Looperman and I respect and appreciate your input and advice. I did manage to reasonably successfully disguise my wretched vocals with multiple plugins and tracking the melody line with a synth part. Autotune simply doesn't work really well on my vocals. I have a really hard time keeping a note on pitch and you can really see itinerary the pitch display in Autotune. That's a function of age I think, although I was never allowed to sing even backup in the bands I was in back in the day. :)

That being said, I think your advice to be original in approach and style is very sound. I've been thinking the same thing recently, as I come to realization that I'm not really good at creating trance, or any other genre of EDM. I particularly like trance, but getting it "right" continues to elude me. So, am thinking that perhaps I should accept reality and find an original path. Not necessarily 80's recreations, either. But, perhaps influenced by them.

Anyway, enough of my philosophizing. Have a new R&B track underway and it needs a lot more attention. Definitely won't be adding a vocal to it.

Thanks again,

Eric
Perko93
Perko93 26th Nov 2017 10:03 - 7 years ago
I actualy like the vocals, not highest quality, but fitting for 80's vibe that's going on in the song, Everything seems nicely mixed, backing lead melody sounds great.
EricMilligan
EricMilligan replied 27th Nov 2017 - 7 years ago
Hi, Perko. Thanks for the support on the track. Vocals are, I agree, not great but I did try to capture the essence of this kind of genre. My main objective in doing vocals on my tracks, something I really hate doing frankly, is to hopefully inspire better vocalists to collaborate on the track and replace what I did. Looks like it has worked in this case, thankfully. :)
yeti09
yeti09 26th Nov 2017 08:00 - 7 years ago
Hi Eric,

I love this track, great work. I love 80s music as I grew up thru the era and this has the feel spot on

Keep up the great work

Damian
EricMilligan
EricMilligan replied 27th Nov 2017 - 7 years ago
Thanks for the feedback, Damian. I'm glad you liked the track.

Eric
neuromancer56
neuromancer56 26th Nov 2017 03:57 - 7 years ago
Your vocals sound great to me. Maybe could use a backup singer or 2.
EricMilligan
EricMilligan replied 26th Nov 2017 - 7 years ago
Yes, backup singers is a thought that has occurred to me as well. But, I'm still hoping to find different vocalists who can work on the tracks. Seems that most of the ones I do are meant to have vocals. I've got quite a range of styles semi-finished. Am reaching out again to some vocalists including Aiden Walsh who has offered to re-do the vocals on this track. Found a really good Norah Jones-sounding vocalist from Calgary but I think she mostly focuses on her own compositions, all posted on Soundcloud, not here unfortunately. Maybe I'll get lucky. I'm trying to convince vocalists to join Looperman and come here. You get more listens and more support here than on Soundcloud, that's for sure.
DanGoldstein
DanGoldstein 26th Nov 2017 02:55 - 7 years ago
definitely takes me back to those years. your work is very good and I hope you find your vocalist. The song deserves it. Regards - Dan
EricMilligan
EricMilligan replied 26th Nov 2017 - 7 years ago
Thanks for the vote of confidence, Dan. I am on a quest to get more vocalists on to Looperman. There must be thousands, literally thousands of decent singers out there who could join our community if only they knew how much we would appreciate them! I'd settle for just a dozen or so.
Aidenwalsh
Aidenwalsh 25th Nov 2017 22:06 - 7 years ago
Hi Eric
I have this evening listened to your fantastic 80's creation and would absolutely love to collaborate (vocals) with you. I have taken the liberty of downloading the track and added a rough vocal but feel it would be much easier to work on it without your vocals being pre-laid. (They are awesome but it's very difficult for me to find my timings to match yours, if that makes any sense?) Do you have a copy of the track WITHOUT vocals and if so, how can I get it (I don't wish to leave my email address on here)?
Regards
Aiden (soundcloud.com/epm3)
EricMilligan
EricMilligan replied 25th Nov 2017 - 7 years ago
Hi, Aiden. Just listened to one of your tracks on Soundcloud. I think you'd be great on the track. I will PM you with my coordinates and set up providing you with the track without vocals.
sheensheep
sheensheep 24th Nov 2017 17:40 - 7 years ago
This is really cool. I feel like you nailed that retro feeling with the melodies, the synths you used, as well as the way vocals are sang with the effects on top of them too.
This is merely a preference, but if you want to make it more refined, I would add just a tad of sidechain compression to make the kick drum pop out some more. Awesome work!

-[ Sheen ]-
EricMilligan
EricMilligan replied 24th Nov 2017 - 7 years ago
Thanks, Sheen. In theory, I know how to do side chain compression, but for some reason I'm a bit hesitant to add it to my projects. I think it's just because I don't have enough practice doing it to feel comfortable setting it up. But, I like your suggestion, so I'm going to try it on a copy of the project. Typically, I think, you'd apply compression to say a bass or synth track that competes with the BD track, right? Not to all the tracks except the BD? I will need to listen to the project to see what makes sense. I was taught that I could set up a BD track with just the hits that are meant to "duck" other tracks via side chain compression, but don't route that BD track to any output, so it doesn't actually sound in the mix. Not sure if that will be necessary. Good suggestion. I' going to give it a try.
BLEEP
BLEEP 24th Nov 2017 13:46 - 7 years ago
this track is really really cool! like the eighties feeling in it! and your voice is not so bad! nice result! hope you will find people for your collab!

will have a look soon for the final version!
great work :)

Bleep
EricMilligan
EricMilligan replied 24th Nov 2017 - 7 years ago
Bonjour, Bleep. et merci pour vos commentaires. Je vais continuer a chercher pour le chanteurs et aussi pour quelqu'un qui peut écrire des paroles en français, et en allemande. Je pense qu'il peut être plus difficile d'écrire des mots en musique que de la musique aux mots?
silverman
silverman 23rd Nov 2017 12:30 - 7 years ago
This is really good.
So you used technology to hide the realit of your voice.
It worked a treat.
I use technology to help with every moment of a production with no shame!
EricMilligan
EricMilligan replied 23rd Nov 2017 - 7 years ago
You are quite right, Silverman. No shame in using the tools we have available to us. Still, I'd love to find some decent vocalists. I've got tracks that need English singers (or Welsh!), German, French, and Spanish. I have a great love for traditional Scottish music, but haven't written anything like that at all. But, am a big fan of Paolo Nutini and he's a Scot. Does that count?
Danke
Danke 23rd Nov 2017 11:00 - 7 years ago
this is a very cool track

your voice's gotta retro feeling on the good way and the whole song's groovy is frenetic...yeah, Bowie and those electro/pop groups from the 80's and it's more than exeptable :-)

congrats and handshake, Danke
EricMilligan
EricMilligan replied 23rd Nov 2017 - 7 years ago
Thanks very much, Danke. I've just remastered the track and updated it on Looperman. A bit louder now. Am debating what decade I should revisit next. :)
DijamMusic
DijamMusic 23rd Nov 2017 02:52 - 7 years ago
Hello Eric,
Wow mate this is great track
It sailed me back to the land where I wish to be Mate.
Really grateful for that moment mate.
Absolutely fantastic track mate.
Big well done to you.
Fav’s
Jamid
EricMilligan
EricMilligan replied 23rd Nov 2017 - 7 years ago
Thanks, Jamid. I appreciate the encouragement! :) If only I could actually sing! I've got loads of processing, autotune, and two different vocoders going to camouflage the vocals!

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