Jonathan Christopher (solo project)

jon_christopher · 08-10-2005, 10:42 PM

Hi All:

I am new in posting to this forum, but have been lurking a while, and I thought I would shamelessly plug my music since this forum seems to be the place to do it. I am a solo songwriter out here in Colorado, and have quite a few of my recordings on SoundClick at:

http://www.soundclick.com/artist/5/j...pher_music.htm

I am always looking for input and new listeners, especially as I am working on a new CD project! I have had this site up for a year now, but used to be on MP3.com before they passed on. Anyway, have a listen or two -- all songs are downloadable too!

jon_christopher · 08-17-2005, 11:20 PM

So I'm looking at page stats and see that folks really haven't been following through to the Soundclick site to see if I have anything interesting.... So whadda I got to do anyway?

Here is a first recording of one of my latest songs at this link:
http://streamer.soundclick.com/speed...wallflower.mp3

It ought to download the MP3 directly.

"Wallflower" represents the hesitance many Christians feel in getting intimate with God our Lover who wants to "dance" with us and allow true love to bloom. It is a metaphor based on the storyline of The Song of Solomon. Hopefully it will resonate with someone here.

I am putting together a CD of songs this winter and am re-recording a good deal of material, so if anyone sees one on my site that they think should be included or excluded or that resonates with them, let me know. I am also looking to find a genre that works: alt.country/folk.Christian isn't a category in most places. Honest constructive input is always welcome. I regularly post new material too.

jon_christopher · 08-23-2005, 09:19 AM

Hi All:

More BSP: I have posted some new material in IndieHeaven:

http://www.indieheaven.com/artists/jonathanchristopher

They are also posted at SoundClick

http://www.soundclick.com/jonathanchristopher.htm

If you like simple acoustic arrangements, that's what I put up. No fancy production, just simple honesty -- one mic and me. No overdubs either... With one exception on "Supernatural Duct Tape" which is an experiment in Desktop sample-looping as a writing technique. The guitar parts were added acoustically -- the drum machine is a Soft-Synth. If you are curious...

http://streamer.soundclick.com/speed...alducttape.mp3

Ciao!

**Only Alive** · 08-23-2005, 10:19 AM

Hi Jon,
I'm currently listening to 'Do You Want Now To Be Free'
Recording quality is pretty darn good. I immidiately noticed that the violin / strings piece is sometimes quite out of tune sounding. The mix is also somewhat muddy. Try panning the strings and guitar to each side a little bit, levaing your vocals in the middle. Your voice is pretty good, but the whole song is a little monotone melody-wise.
What kind of recording equiptment did you use?

-Nick

jon_christopher · 08-23-2005, 11:50 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Only Alive

Hi Jon,
I'm currently listening to 'Do You Want Now To Be Free'
Recording quality is pretty darn good. I immidiately noticed that the violin / strings piece is sometimes quite out of tune sounding. The mix is also somewhat muddy. Try panning the strings and guitar to each side a little bit, levaing your vocals in the middle. Your voice is pretty good, but the whole song is a little monotone melody-wise.
What kind of recording equiptment did you use?

-Nick

Thanks Nick:

Yes, the string accompaniment is a bit out -- I am a much better guitar player than viola -- but I left it in as a work in progress and I kind of like the feel. The melody in the verse particularly is pretty simple, which I will work on as I perform it more and have a chance to let it mature. For the strings when I go to produce a CD, I hope to find a real cellist/violist to work on this for me.

The guitar/vocals are the same track since I record without overdubs. I like the feel of a live performance, and my timing is slightly off when I overdub vocals and I don't like how that tends to sound. Overall this recording probably sounds muddy due to the less-than-ideal mic I am currently using and because of the string parts I put in later.

I recorded almost all the songs on my laptop with a single AKG vocal mic, cardioid pattern. I hope to buy a decent diapraghm condenser soon and proper interface to my laptop, but that will have to wait until some cash rolls in that I don't have to spend on the family, food, rent or tuition to seminary. So for now I have found I get the best results when I run the mic (and sometimes guitar direct signal) through a small mixing board and preamp through an old fender 15watt amp, which boosts the signal enough to prevent overdriving the mic input into my laptop and helps prevent clipping.

Thanks for the input! I really appreciate the time you took to respond.