Hi all,
Here's the second collaboration with Deej and Ray !

https://soundcloud.com/christian-devienne/searching-for-a-paradise

We search for a paradise
We seek our Utopia
On our own terms
In our own way
Leave impressions in the clay

We search for our piece of Earth
We seek our own place in time
To make our mark
In our own way
What’s the price of games we play ?

What profits the man who just burns
The same world where his profit turns?

We’ll search for a future love
To make our old world complete
Our little world
In our own way
No matter what children say

We’ll seek but we shall not find
See the world with eyes so blind
Blind to the truth
Blind first and last
Present and future and past

What profits the man who still burns
The self-same world for which he yearns?

RT 572 Electric Bass
RT 365 Acoustic Guitar
RT 2808 Piano
RT 1884 Piano
RT 665 Acoustic GUitar
RT 873 Electric Guitar
RT 874 Electric Guitar
I don't remember which RealDrums I've used

Excellent collaboration!
Very nice flow in this tune.
Congrats to all!

P.S. Vocals a little dry in compare to arrangement to my ears, but it does not take quality away from this tune.
Enjoyed it!

Thank you for sharing!

Misha.

Nice write, good job singing, nice arrangement and mix.

With the slow, bluesy feel, I was surprised you didn't throw in a guitar solo.

As Misha said, excellent collaboration.

"What profits the man who just burns
The same world where his profit turns?"

Two great lines of many.

You three have it all going here with a fine, write, vocal, RT choice and production.

Everything is hittin' the note.

Keep it going y'all!

J&B

Very timely lyrics, so much sad truth. The touching melancholy in chording and the pain expressed in the interpretation make this another excellent collaboration.

Janne

Really enjoyed the falsetto on this.
Great write and colab.
Rob4580

"What profits the man who just burns
The same world where his profit turns?"

This seems really profound to me. Thanks for sharing!

I'd forgotten about this one: it was in June that Christian asked me to have a listen and consider writing something.
It took a while to come to fruition but, as someone who's worked on a song for 30+ years, that's not a problem.
Really nice vocal Deej56, oddly the room reverb sounds a little dry in comparison to the rest of the mix: though it may be different rather than dry - it's really hard to match natural reverb. Thanks for bringing this project to a logical conclusion.
Christian, well done yet again: the EQ and blending work you do with RTs REALLY changes them and makes them your own.
I hope George & Bess are OK.

Hi Chris and Ray,

When hearing the first tones of the song I got some doubts, but within a nanosecond (that is very short) I was caught.
Your voice is very intriguing and has a very high reach. It reminded me a bit of Simply Red.
Sometimes I had the feeling the music was too soft in relation to the vocals. But that is a matter of taste, I think.
And I heard Ray playing the sologuitar, or I must be fooled by my ears... Very nice done!
Enjoyed it very much,

Hans

Hello Hans - My part in this is quite small - I played naught - just sketched the lyrics and left the real work to Christian and Deej.

Nicely done The vocals were a big standout for me, and there are some really attention-grabbing lyrics here too. The falsetto tones on this work amazingly well in particular.

Thanks for sharing!

Excellent collaboration. Nice sparse sounding backing, and an impassioned vocal.

All came together very nicely.

Peter

Misha, David, Janice & Bud, Janne, Rob, Ember, Hans, Deryk, and Peter:

Thank you for taking the time to listen to this collaborative effort. For me, this one was a bit challenging vocally . . . I’m not so comfortable going falsetto, but it seemed what the chorus was calling for . . . and so I gave it a go. Thanks to Christian for helping me sound OK in the end. And to rayc for the great write.

Umm, but one question to you all: What’s meant by a “dry” vocal? I’m guessing that’s a shortcoming on my side (i.e., in what I passed along to Christian)—so hoping to avoid that error in any future endeavors.

All the best to you,

Deej

Powerful lyric, powerful progression, and powerful vocals all supported by those wonderful RT's. The piano solo was a bit of an odd choice at first "hit", but the longer it went and the bluesier it got, it felt right. Great collab, gentlemen.

Deej,
a raw vocal track is the track without effects - no reverb, no chorusing, no delay, no EQ but mainly no REVERB - "wet" is the common parlance for lots of reverb & "dry" the opposite - no reverb/delay & preferably with no "room" in the sound either.
Matching reverbs - or using the same reverb but at different levels - places the "band" & singer in the same room.
There's fair bit of the "room" in your vocal - the reflection of sounds in that built environment. MANY, many singer prefer to track with reverb on their voice, (in the monitoring loop but not "to tape"), as it feels/sounds "warmer" etc. and if it makes them comfy that's means a better take. Then ITB or through the hardware matched reverb, (though sometimes different ones are used like 80s snare tracks demonstrate), can be used on snare, OHs, guitar bus and vocal bus.

Thank you all for your comments.
Thanks, Ray, for your very well built lyrics.
Thanks, Deej, for your outstanding voice. Christian

Hi Christian and Deej,

this is really impressive. Really good lyrics and sung with a lot of dedication. Great backing track and well-mixed.

I really enjoyed this song.

Cheers,

Stefan

Really cool song guys!! Some really intriguing lyrics. At first the vocal seemed over-processed but it grew on me........a little bit of a Jeff Lynne vibe in it. Really like the band choice....everything fits well to support the track. NICE WORK!!! Take care. Greg

Excellent lyrics RayC and the mood Christian`s music makes really suits the "big picture" thoughts expressed.
I love the falsetto parts Deej! A slightly better connect between vocals and backing would be worth trying for, but this is a keeper anyway.
Well done!

Robert

Hi all,
To better integrate the voice in the mix, Ray has made some changes.
Thanks to him.
You can listen to it on Soundcloud !
Christian

Really enjoyed this. Darker than I thought it would be, beautiful harmonies. And Deej's vocals are, as always, top notch. Well done!

Sounds like something John Lennon could have written. Enjoyable listen.

Thanks James and Mark.
I hope John Lennon would be agree with Mark's comparison !
Christian

Tangmo, Stefan, Greg, Robert, musician17 and Mark:

Thanks for stopping in and given this a spin. Glad it was worth the listen.

My best to each of you,

Deej

Good vocal performance... good melody... great arrangement... what is not to like?

I enjoyed listening a lot! Very good song!

Will