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David and Rachel Radio 5.29.23: PAPA SAID

Hey Memorial Day Y'all! Here is a new song.

It is a Prodigal Son song. One note: on the guitar squeaks, yes, I know. I had it fixed (or under control) until I mastered it and the mastering kind of brought it back out. I will take another pass on that when I move to a final version but I don’t feel like doing it right now. Any thoughts on the song itself would be cool though.



Papa Said

By Rachel Cintula and David Snyder

https://soundcloud.com/rachelanddavidworktapes/papa-said



V1

I think Papa gave me
the very best of him
Raised me not to shake
My honest hands with sin
Taught me to climb mountains when they came up to me
and not get lost in the darkness
of the deep valleys
And I can hear him say, son
It don’t matter where you go
And it don’t matter what you do
I’ll be right here on this front porch, if you need me
And I’ll be waitin’
For you

CH

And Papa said
Don’ forget your compass
Even when you’ve reached the top
Or those directions home
If you’re living too fast to stop
From choices that left you broken and alone
You can always come back to me
Just come back home

V2

Sad to say my life got
A little out of hand
Made some bad mistakes
Wouldn't want to make again
Did some things that caused us a whole world of hurt
and dragged our family name
through some heartache and some dirt
Still I heard him say,
Son, even if you fall
I will always hold you close cause it happens to us all
Yeah I can still hear him say,
Son, even if you fall
I will always hold you close cause it happens to us all

CH

And Papa said
Don’ forget your compass
Even when you’ve reached the top
Or those directions home
If you’re living too fast to stop
From choices that left you broken and alone
You can always come back to me
Just come back home

BR

Now that I myself am a papa to a son
I trying to raise him like my own Papa done

CH

And Papa says
Don’ forget your compass
Even if you’ve reached the top
Or those directions home
If you’re living too fast to stop
From choices that left you broken and alone
You can always come back to me,
Just come back home
Just come back home
Yeah son
You can always come back home

Words and Music Copyight 2023 by Rachel Cintula and David Snyder/ASCAP
David Snyder: Vocals, instrumentation, mixing and mastering

RealTracks in style: 3911:Guitar, Nylon, Fingerpicking SongwriterAlternating8sDADGAD Ev 075
RealTracks in style: 3908:Guitar, Acoustic, Rhythm SongwriterPushDADGAD Ev16 085
Cello_ 1856
Fiddle_3152

Other links for the week and month:

https://soundcloud.com/rachelanddavidworktapes/more-with-less
https://soundcloud.com/rachelanddavidworktapes/outlaw-religion
https://soundcloud.com/rachelanddavidworktapes/never-say
https://soundcloud.com/rachelanddavidworktapes/beer-and-a-bible
https://soundcloud.com/rachelanddavidworktapes/take-a-long-hard-look-at-me
https://soundcloud.com/rachelanddavidworktapes/if-we-can-make-it-through-midnight
https://soundcloud.com/rachelanddavidworktapes/penelope
https://soundcloud.com/rachelanddavidworktapes/big-wide-open-road
https://soundcloud.com/rachelanddavidworktapes/when-it-rains
https://soundcloud.com/rachelanddavidworktapes/thick-thighs
https://soundcloud.com/rachelanddavidworktapes/church-girls
https://soundcloud.com/david-snyder-gigs3/one-more-whiskey-song
https://soundcloud.com/david-snyder-gigs3/dirty-hands-clean-money
https://soundcloud.com/david-snyder-gigs3/dire-straits
https://soundcloud.com/rachelanddavidworktapes/creek-day
https://soundcloud.com/david-snyder-gigs3/make-me-love-again

Man that's a lot of string squeaks. Distracting. Might want to buy that guitarplayer some flatwounds although round wounds sound really nice when you can avoid those pesky squeaks.

Of course this is a "guitar singer basic demo" right? So in the final mix, a different RT might be better if you don't want the squeaks. Or.... simply do some serious audio editing with envelopes.

In the bridge, the chords kinda ran all up on one another and it was hard to hear what you intended to convey musically.

Good song.

Is this a joke, Herb?

From me:

"One note: on the guitar squeaks, yes, I know. I had it fixed (or under control) until I mastered it and the mastering kind of brought it back out. I will take another pass on that when I move to a final version but I don’t feel like doing it right now. Any thoughts on the song itself would be cool though."

You read that right??

Jeez. I know how to do it, I said it, and I will do it later, as I said.

Sometimes the only thing that annoys me is people, really...

David / Rachel,

This is a great song... Love your vocal on this - very soulful.

Excellent mix (sounds very natural - almost "live") and excellent arrangement.

Bob

I know you said there were squeaks. I know you said you minimized them. I know you said they mysteriously came back after you "mastered" it. I know this was a RT which you have very little control over let alone getting the guitarplayer to switch to flatwounds..... I know.....

Regarding the song itself.... you got so flustered you missed that part completely....apparently.....

And I quote: "Good Song." My only other advice was the bridge chords weren't quite distinct enough. I couldn't figure out what it was trying to do musically. That's all.

Herb,

This opens up a whole 'nother can of worms. I wish the squeaks weren't there in the first place and I don't understand why they are. When you find just the right real track and it has bunch of squeaks it is annoying as all get out.

Some have written posts on how to spend four hours with spectral editing to rid of squeaks. I don't want to spend four hours. I don't want them there in the first place.

I play barre chords all day lay long and just lift my barre finger up and move it quietly so I make no squeaks. Some of these moves are in milliseconds. But if your technique is right, you won't squeak. It is part of proper technique. I wish they would ask some of those acoustic players to take another pass if the squeaks are out of control.

I will just play it myself it looks like it will take more than 10 minutes.

My next mix and master will take another few hours. Those few hours are less easy to come by than they used to be.

Maybe that is why I am cranky.

David & Rachel ...

A really terrific singer-songwriter composition. Great messaging in the lyric.

Re the squeaks. I'm not as bothered by them as many folks are. But I'm currently working on one that has a ton of squeaks. Here's what I'm doing to eliminate many of them. I'm simply regenerating them on a bar-by-bar instance with the multi-riff function. It sometimes takes me 10 or 12 regenerations to get a sound I like, minus the squeaks. It's a pain in the a$$ with the monotony of repetition. But it does work - at least for me. I've spent about an hour-and-a-half, collectively, with the effort, and I'm a little more than three-quarters finished. In a couple of instances, I actually got something better than the original I was trying to modify. Perhaps it's something you might want to consider. Just thought I'd throw that out there, FWIW.

Nonetheless, it's a terrific song that I enjoyed. Good luck getting it where you want it!

Alan

David ...

Just saw your last reply to Herb. Just ignore what I mentioned about the multi-riff approach, if you'd prefer, as it is a bit time-consuming. I didn't see that post before I posted this.

However you go about it, I hope you get something you're pleased with. Good luck!

Alan

I read the "one note" and was very pleased it wasn't the 14 paragraph caveat that some use.
The song - nice story with some saddness/longing/regret in the telling.
The chord progression is really nice - familiar but not a rip.
The vocal was what was needed...avoided saccharine styling.
The cello & fiddle will fit even better - later.

Alan,

I know I am answering these out of order, but....

Izotope has something called RX that has a feature in it specifically for guitar squeaks. I used that on a conservative setting. It seemed to bring it all to an acceptable range.

BUT, when I used Ozone to Master it, the setting I chose brought out the EXACT same acoustic frequencies that RX had masked. So I am like, ..d&*&*& it, here comes another hour or so.

I have the tools to fix it all, without all the regeneration, but my commentary is the same:

Why are there squeaks in the first place?? Whoever is recording these should ask the artist to re-record the parts where the squeaks occurred. It would not be that hard.

Once the squeaks are baked in to the cake, these tracks often become unusable, if you are impatient like me, and don't want to fiddle for hours. What a waste of everyone's time for something that is so easy to fix before you call it a wrap. They simply should not be there in the first place.

Again, if you play with proper technique you do not squeak. You relax your hand and move it like a feather to the next location in whatever millisecond. You don't squeeze the neck and choke it like a chicken when you move your hand. (This goes for non-barre chord moves as well.) It's not rocket science.

So there is my little rant.

Have you tried using a different real track guitar, or maybe a piano? Maybe even a 12 string or an electric guitar?

Seems like that would be the quickest fix short of spraying everything in your studio with WD-40.

Thanks Bob, for paying attention to the song itself.

That means a lot.



If not for folks like you, I wouldn't even bother.

Thanks so much my friend.

A very moving song. Bravo.

Heartfelt.
Intimate.
Touching.
Does what songwriting is meant to do.

fj

Mix needs more oil... your guitar squeaks.


I like your song, it tells a nice story and you deliver it well.
I always like your vocals best when you don't sing too high, I think that gives you more room to play with your voice.
I wouldn't worry too much about the guitar, if it really bothers you, just play that part yourself. That's faster and better than beating a dead horse.

Touching lyrics, "Son, even if you fall/I will always hold you close cause it happens to us all" very nice lines.

I don't care about the squeaks, I just listen to the very well written song having nice chord progression, good vocals and pleasant arrangement with appropriate cello and fiddle

Janne

Nice, David. Real nice! I played in 3 different productions of Godspell and the prodigal son part was my favorite. This song would have been absolutely perfect for it. Love this simple production, and I'm sure I'll enjoy the "final version" when you feel like it. If you ever do --you're so prolific and creative, it's hard to imagine you'll find the time.

{Re the squeaks: You're on 'em, so I'm good. I once asked here how others got rid of them, and many said they like them in there to give authenticity. If you didn't mention it, I probably would've ignored them cuz the song is so good.}

As always, you have a poet's knack for creative lyrics. Never any question about what you mean and you say it in ways that touch the listener. The chorus in this one is so good.

Cool tune David. Excellent vocal and lyric. Cello was a nice add. Well done

Thanks Alan, I really appreciate that.

It means a lot bro!

What a heartwarming lyric that is.

Janice said she wishes her Mama was here for her to read the lyric because she and her five siblings all returned home
at one point or another in their adult lives.

We also like the sparse accompaniment and your soulful vocal.

Good teamwork!

J&B