Hella Gems | Original Music Blog

2009_04_26_fucking_danger

Concept:

I added vocals to the Space Ballad song that I had made a couple posts ago. I was actually worried I wouldn't be able to come up with any lyrics because I was having major writer's block, but somehow I pieced it together. When I started I wanted to sing a shangri-las style song and somehow tie it into the album theme: fucking danger. I listened to some shangri-las before I started as inspiration, but it did the complete opposite for me. At first I thought I could do a love song about a dangerous guy. But after hearing Shangri-Las I think I realized I despise girls singing literal songs about boys, it's funny because every song is about a boy that they love but doesn't love them or some bullshit like that. I think it's totally demeaning in a way. Why don't they sing about themselves? I'd like that a lot more. To me THEY would be more interesting then the boys they're singing about, which by the way they don't even describe these boys, I know nothing about them. Anyway, the lyrics are pretty shallow. Also is every song about a different guy? Man I have trouble believing they were really in love with them if they just jump to the next guy so quickly. So in the end what I thought would be inspiration really turned into anger which became my motivation. I started to think consciously about what Shangri-las was keeping from their audience about a girl's love. What about self destruction? Each boy like a new slit on the wrist until finally you find a good nurse to stop the bleeding for you. There's where the danger comes in. It might just be me, but I think self destruction is something female vocalists usually don't sing about, it's more common in male vocals, I'd like to end that trend. In the end, the only part related to self destruction is the lyrics: "I'm out of control, I'm not safe to myself anymore, never sure what I want, but I'll try anyway".  So that's what I went into it with, but what I came out with wasn't at all what I had planned. Anyway, I hope that you enjoy, it's my fucking danger inspired song, two posts in the making.

Technical:

It took me about 4 or 5 hours to record the vocals on this. I used a nice condenser mic and put that through a tube amp, then I put that through the Pod X3 amp modeler (which is where the reverb and delay are coming from). I recorded this in Cubase and cut it up a lot to take out shitty out of key parts and duplicate good parts. When I record vocals I do a gazillion tracks and pick 2 or 3 of the best sounding ones and keep them, so I end up with 2 or 3 layers, usually one is a harmony, and 2 are the main vocal, with this song sometimes I have 2 tracks of harmony and one main, at any rate it's a highly chaotic overly complex piece it together process - Is anyone still reading this? I'm just bullshitting anyway. The important thing to note is that I have no idea what I'm doing and I just make the rules up as I go along and if my first impression of it is that it doesn't have potential, I don't waist time analyzing it to try to fix it, I just delete it and try something totally different.

Lyrics:

You think you know everything

but you don't and you won't

not as long as you know...me

(harmony: every step I take, I wonder when the ground gonna to crumble)

Every step I take

I wonder

when the ground

is gonna crumble

Every turn I take

I wonder

what I'll miss

before the corner

I'm outa control

I'm not safe to myself anymore

never sure what I want,

but I'll try anyway

You think you know everything

but you don't and you won't

not as long

as you know

(harmony: every step I take, I wonder when the ground is going to crumble)

5 Responses to “Space Ballad (Fucking Danger version with vocals)”

  1. billjings

    I still love the melody and harmony on "every step I take, I wonder". The bend into "won't" on "but you don't and you won't", too! I would have liked less guitar amp on the vocals, so as to get a bit more of the higher frequencies from the vocals going into the reverb. Guitar amps can just kill those consonants, which makes it very difficult to understand the words.

  2. gojirra

    You are a great singer. I love the parts where you double up and sing different melodies. I think the effects you added to the vocals work perfectly with this song and give it an awesome feel.

  3. Felix

    That was an exceptional song. It created a really good feeling.

  4. V

    Next time when dealing with this subject matter, try to do a punk song with seductive, whore-ish, Courtney Love-type vocals. That may better convey your message. A whole generation of punk whores didn't die just to have their legacy abandoned. We must revive that bitch style! Long live whore rock!

  5. V

    And like the Shangri-la's gave a damn about what they sang. They were in it for the money (back when there was still money in music).

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