Goodbye Ain't Easy


This is one I put together about three years ago. I never did get around to finishing it until last night. It just needed a final touchup and mastering. There are a few squeaks left on the acoustic lead track, but they're relatively minor. Using the multiriff feature in BIAB, I eliminated most of them. But in a couple of places, I got rid of the squeaks but couldn't get a lead melody to work the way I wanted it to, so I left the squeaks but reduced some higher frequency to somewhat minimize the squeaks.

I love the slackkey guitar tracks, but they're notorious for squeaks! Hope you enjoy your listen.

As always, comments are appreciated.



Alan

Title: _STAR Demo - Star Ambient Guitar Soloist

File:Goodbye Ain't Easy.SGU

Key=Bm , Tempo 85, Length (m:s)=3:34

Style is _MACON.STY (Macon Cajon Country Folk Ballad)

RealTracks in style: 3468:Bass, Electric, AmericanaSyncSteveA Ev16 085
RealTracks in style: 2195:Piano, ElectricVintage, Rhythm CoolJazzPopHeld Ev 085
RealTracks in style: 1945:Guitar, Acoustic, Rhythm GroovinFolk Ev 085
RealTracks in style: 1814:Guitar, Acoustic, Fingerpicking CelticAir Ev 085
RealTracks in song: 1860:Synth, Rhythm, EuroDance ChorusHousePianoStraight Ev16 120
RealTracks in song: 3700:Guitar, Acoustic, Soloist SlackKeyBallad Ev 085
RealTracks in song: 3959:Synth, Rhythm StripMallStrings 65
MIDI SuperTracks in song: 4688:Synth, Pad, SynthmasterDistantGalaxy
RealDrums in style:CajonFolkSlow8ths: a: Cajon b: Cajon, Shaker

I switched out the indigenous drums and replaced them with a less busy and softer track. I made it barely audible. It's very quiet in the mix, but if I remove it, you would quickly notice it. You could say it's a quiet offering with a loud influence.


A NOTE OF INTEREST FOR THOSE WHO MAY BE INTERESTED:

You'll notice I used the Synthmaster Distant Galaxy track. With a little high-end boost and a lot of reverb, it creates a great outer-space sound. However, if you boost the low end and cut back a small amount on the reverb, it offers a nice, soft setting for the rest of the soundstage. That's what I did here in the chorus. FWIW.

Alan,

I think this sounds excellent. The guitars are exquisite - they fit your arrangement so well.

This track has great ambiance. The mix is pro and sounds great in my headphones.

Love everything about it from start to finish...

Bob

Hey Alan,
I really enjoyed this. I can feel her sadness.
Nothin' wrong with a guitar squeek here and there, it makes for a "humanized" sound.
And the guitar has a slight Spanish flair which I like.

The only nit I have is the last note/chord could have rung-out for a bar or two to close the song gracefully; but that's personal preferrence.
Great job
--Steve

Alan...this is such a relaxing track...this would have taken some work...man you sure know how to use BiaB to it's fullest....all the tweaks you did created a very pleasing soundscape for our listening pleasure...this is beautiful!

Great stuff Alan, very soothing track - and once again - superbly mixed. Personally, I liked the squeaks. First of all they're not all that easily noticed, but they do add a bit of realism to the sound, in my opinion anyway.

Brad

Hi Alan,

Yes it's a bit sad, but lovely music..
And a squeak now and then isn't annoying, it sounds quite natural.
It's a nice listen.

Rob and Anne-Marie

Alan,

This is Absolutely Gorgeous!
A pro mix.

You should be selling albums filled with these!

fj

Really sweet guitar tones, nice chord changes, excellent production and mix

Alan, great mix! Sounds perfect. I also don’t mind the squeaks. It happens in real life, right? You are a master of these great sounding excellent chord choices that always work so well, Tom

Hi Bob,

Thanks a bunch. The biggest accomplishment (from my POV) was getting three acoustic guitars that worked well together - not stepping on one another - and each having differing but compatible tonal qualities.

I appreciate those kind words.

Alan

HI Steve ...

The fact you commented that you can "fell her sadness" put a smile on my face. I think it's the goal of most music creators that their music instills an emotion for the listener. Thank you for verifying I did that with this piece.

Many thanks for the kind words!

Alan

HI Dan

Thank you very much! You are always very kind with your words. I appreciate that!

Wishing you & yours the very best,

Alan

Hello Brad ...

It's always nice to hear from you. I agree that a few minor squeaks here and there add to a live nuance of the performance. Thank you for your comment on the mix. I don't use a DAW - just Audacity, if you care to call that a DAW. I think it's going in that direction, but still doesn't have all the capabilities to call it DAW - but it's getting close.

Again, thank you very much!

Alan

HI Rob & Anne-Marie,

Thank you both so much. It's good to have you on the forum again. e miss and your music when you're not here.

Thank you for your very nice comments!

Take care,

Alan

Hi Floyd,

I'm never sure how to respond to your always kind and encouraging words. I hope a sincere and heart-felt thank you are sufficient. Your encouraging comments are always an inspiration for my musical journey.

I'm going to look at Spotify and a couple other major service. Thanks for the boost in that direction!

I'm delighted you enjoy my work.

Thanks!

Alan

Good Evening, Elliott

Thank you very much. Those are the areas in which I'm always trying to improve. I appreciate your feedback!

Take care,

Alan

HI Tom,

Master? I'm not so sure about that, but working to improve in the most important areas of music creation. I'm more than delighted you feel I'm approaching that goal. I appreciate all those kind words!

Thank you very much!

Best to you & yours.

Alan

Alan, this sounds super! Very open and natural sounding, and the guitar squeaks aren't distracting in the slightest. Beautifully arranged, and a real feast for the ears!

You are really talented Dan. This guitar is very beautiful.
Laurent

FWIW? I love to hear the producers story of how things are made. Thank you, Alan.

Not only the strings, but everyone in your group lays a bed of flowers for the guitar to swoon over. A what a wonderful swoon it is. Good write. So glad you finally finished it. Listened a couple times on different systems and the high quality shines in each. The mood is catures so well.

Hi, Alan.

Lovely track. I'm not sure which guitar parts you were unhappy with, because I couldn't hear any issues.

As you said, subtle stuff in the background, but it works.

There's an option in BiaB to force notes to be "right" under Track Settings | Fix "Sour Notes . That way, you could render out a "corrected" version of the track, and manually replace the notes in the original track.

There's also an option to "Change Pitch" within Audacity. So you can select the portion of the waveform that you want to modify, and only adjust that. That's something I'd do in my DAW occasionally when BiaB has a phrase I really like, but it doesn't fit the cadence I want.

Nice work!

Nice and sweet!

Hi Ron,

Thanks, Ron. I sure appreciate those very nice words.

Take care,

Alan

Bon jour, Laurent,

Thank you very much. I'm glad you enjoyed it!

Best to you,

Alan

Hi Marty,

You are welcome!

I'm delighted this sits well in your ears. If I "discover" something useful that might not be obvious at first sight, I'm more than happy to pass it on. Sometimes the simplest things aren't equally obvious.

It felt like it was time to resurrect it. I'm starting to explore a redo of the first song I ever wrote - music and lyric - in 1978! I was almost young back then. I was playing in a band 18 - 24 shows per month.

Again, I always appreciate your kind support.

Wishing you the very best,

Alan

HI David,

I look forward to your comments as I almost always learn something or have something to ponder that will probably be helpful. Many thanks for all that.

There weren't any sour notes - just not the sound/inflection I was looking for. I'll check out that "Change Pitch" option in Audacity. Audacity is my goto software for "massaging" my songs. Thank you!

Hope you & your family have pretty much recovered from all those nasty bugs.

Alan

"Thank you for a "nice and sweet" comment - much appreciated!

Best to you & yours,

Alan

Melon cauli flowering instrumental. Lovely to sit back with headphones on and fruitfully veg-out to.

All the instrumentation, particularly the guitars, and the mix sound just right to be---just like baby bear porridge. Great title that accurately reflects the mood of your composition.

Man, are you ever prolific of late!

Another BiaB masterpiece that is very cinematic in nature.
It simply makes the listener want to contemplate ... and regarding what they can connect their own dots.

Squeaks just mean new strings to us.

Great mix with a fine soundstage on our monitors.

Well done!

J&B

Alan, I almost missed this one but I'm glad that I got a chance to listen.
Outstanding work.
A mellow masterpiece.
Great use of those RTs.
Great blend.