Eye in the Sky Project

[neverfoundthetime]

Hi folks. As we descend into the depths of winter in the northern hemisphere, its a good time to have projects to work on around a bright fire and a warm guitar. I know you Californians will never get it but this time of year can be tough!

So, I started on Eye in The Sky last week and firstly needed to see if I could sing it. Would have been a huge pain learning Neil's beautiful lesson but then not being able to cope with the vocal range! So I made a backing track (a hlaf step down) from the original in Audacity (easy to do) and then recorded a vocal with my Tascam. then I added a slight echo in AVS Audio Editor, duplicated the vocal and placed at about 51% left and right and at 68% volume and then I offset the tracks by about 3/100 second to get some ABBA-like reverb. Then I duplicated the the backing track and placed at 58% Left and right at 100% volume.

Then I mailed it to Vanessa, Daryl, Tom and Claire, Michele and Corina for feed back (as I knew I would get competent and no-holds-barred feedback from them!). I was especially having a problem with the chorus line: "I can read your mind" where the melody was eluding me. I found out there were quite a few melody problems and got great advice from Carina and Ness. Ness was even so kind as to answer me in a video and Corina sent me a recording and it all really helped! Daryl has been encouraging me not to be such a stiff-upperlipped, reserved Brit and let go more Shel wanted me to calm down a bit so I found that a challenge, balancing the two! . Claire liked the emotional expression and Tom gave me the all clear on the tech side of the recording. So I thought about it all for a week then make one take tonight and I hope I managed to incorporate all the feedback and not lose anything from the first attempt. I did stuff up on one note on the word "lies" but I know I can normally get it right.

Anyway, for those interested I uploaded the track to Soundcloud if you'd like to listen and comment.

Next step is to learn Neil's lesson and then record vocal and guitar live and post again here. May take some time but it will come.

All in all, so far its been great fun and is a reminder what a fabulous place TG is for hooking up with wonderful, helpful folks who are willing to give and share. Love it!

[neverfoundthetime]

....which reminds me, I need to re-new my membership! Always takes a couple of days with Paypal.

[cosmicmechanic]

Chris, why am I NOT surprised that you have a special interest in this tune ? B)

When this song came out (way back when), it could only reference a narrator who was completely imaginary.
You could project whatever identity on this entity, whether spiritual or philosophical, but it remained a concept, and was not a physical being.

But this production of yours now reminds me that "Eye in the Sky" can CLEARLY become a protest song about real everyday events.

Which makes you a protest singer !

Loved it ! The tech info is also appreciated.

Pierre

[michelew]

Hey Chris,

That's sounding GREAT! The improvements make a beautiful difference. I think my feedback was "relax into it and go for it more in places" , strangely conflicting; somehow you managed both. Good for you I love the way you're holding onto a lot of notes now.; very smooth.

Great energy.

Thanks for the listen. Good stuff.

Shel

[Lavallee]

Hi Chris, beautiful soundtrack you made there. Your voice is perfect for the song.

I have been working on the guitar part for a while from Neil's lesson (i sure hope his play through will turn into a lesson as well), so I just want to let you know the challenges that I felt in this song.

I found that the second chord (some kind of a G with a bar on the second fret) is made strategically to be smooth with the first chord but took me a while to made it sound clear. Plus there is that hammer on without a base note at the beginning and then at the end a similar melody with the bass note but without the hammer on, tricky for the muscle memory. I also found that the chord changing are a little awkward as they felt shorter than what I (Mister Rhythm himself )felt (but when played against the original, it is a good match) in the chorus. The constant bass line is also something to get acquainted to (thumb independence as it is referred to sometimes)

Overall I always loved that song. I m grateful that Neil came up with the lesson. I am looking forward to see the final video you will produce

Have fun

Marc

[willem]

Fantastic Chris,,this is the recording you did after the great advices and it sounded great (think I will learn this song too,well I will give it a look)..

I have so much respect for those who learn songs (melody ) by ear,I Always try to find sheet music where it is written out (in this case there is, musicnotes.com) and study it by playing the notes on guitar or keyboard..I was so suprised by your dept notes at the beginning so I had to check them out and it was right,love it..you have a fantastic range..I Always have my guitar a whole step down so I can play songs 1 or 2 semitones down(it helps) and play the chords just has they are..

Thanks for sharing

Willem

[daryl]

Fantastic job Chris. Your voice is perfect for this song (like I said before). It will be great fun to watch you develop this song. So glad to see you having so much fun!

[BobR]

Hi Chris,

I just got to work and living in the Northeast we're having more snow so The company is closing at noon. Now I will be able to go home and listen to your performance after I shovel my driveway of course

Bob

[neverfoundthetime]

Many thanks for listening folks! This really is becoming a fun project. Being able to just put it out there and get instant feedback and support is really worth its weight in gold, especially as I getting exactly the help I need and I am listening. Just having someone else interested is a BIG help already. This a real trump card at TG, having this sort of feedback and support on tap.


Yep, I'll protest a good cause Pierre, just bring it on! Thanks for tuning in!

Thanks Shel, yep, seemed like conflicting points for me to bridge at first, considering your comments and Daryl's but it all made sense when I listened carefully. And that's been the big lesson for me to LISTEN. I thought I was, and realised I still wasn't hearing. I can hear more now after listing to what everyone said. Phew!

Thanks Marc, great that you are working on this too. I'd be happy to collab on this with you if you are up for it. I will produce my own complete version anyway but it will take time for me to assimilate the lesson and I can see what you mean already. Neil make it look way easier than it is. Like he said, it just sucks you in.

Many thanks Willem! The problem of doing it all by ear is that maybe your ear hears it wrong! I have been finding out that sometimes I don't hear properly, so going through the notes is surely best practice. I need to do that more instead of winging everything. I tuned the backing track down a half step and will have to do the same with my guitar to be able to play and sing this well.The original key is just a half-step too high for me without sounding stretched and stressed! BTW, your English is getting pretty good, I've watched you improve year for year. Hat off to you!

Thanks Daryl, you remain a great help and support. Yes, its very motivating to do this and share this way. Over to you!! :laugh:

Many thanks Corina for all the support behind the scenes! How cool is it to have an expert singer advising me!

And if you are listening in Dan, yes I know I owe the video of my progress on New Horizons, I just need to video it... which always takes a bit more time than an audio recording!

[BobR]

Hi Chris,
I just listened to your soundcloud. Wow !! Your vocal sounded awesome I look forward to the finished project :cheer:

Bob