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http://soundcloud.com/lawrence-olivier/yellow-busAbout a week ago while looking for something else I came across an unlabeled CD. It turned out to be some songs that I had written and recorded sometime between the years 1997 and 2005 (pre- Hurricane Katrina). The computer I used to record them on had crashed and I had not backed it up. I thought I had lost these songs forever. I ripped the CD to my newest computer and am running them through Sonar and Isotope's mastering suite (Ozone5, Nectar2, and Alloy2). They were originally recorded in Cakewalk. I did not have BIAB at that time. I was using a combo of Propellerhead's Reason and a Korg X-3 for Drums, Bass, Strings, ect. All “played” on the keyboard and manipulated as midi. They contain quite a bit of my guitar playing from back then. I can play a mean two bar lick, splice a few together and bam! Guitar solo. Lol! Kinda like BIAB. Although I am not able to alter the mixes, such as instrument and vocal levels and panning and such, for this song with the help of Melodyne I was able to add some harmonies. I hope you enjoy it as much as I enjoyed rediscovering these songs. Yellow Bus (from around the year 2000) I found my way on your yellow bus/ arm full, full of books Then I sat down next to a red-headed girl/ well I guess that's the way it goes, that's the way it goes I touched your hand when you weren't looking/ and I kissed your cheek when you weren't expecting it and I pulled out some cash and I bought that yellow bus and I drove it all around the world, all around the world all around the world and I sing Ha ya-ya, Ha-ya- ya ya Five thousand people standing in the water/ running from the famine and running from the brutal slaughter I think I'm gonna grab them and pull them all together and load them in my yellow bus, my yellow bus...
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Loved it Lawrence. It had me locked in from the very beginning. Great vocal and production and excellent song writing.
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Lawrence, I love the dreamy feel of this one. The recording sounds great. The vocals are excellent. My only nit is the intro and the overall length are a little long. I realize
you can't change it now, but it might be helpful in the future to hear an opinion now. I can see this as a soundtrack piece over some closing credits in an independent
film. Good job! Keep em coming. Tom
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Lawrence
Enjoyed the song, nice lyrics and build and vocal overlays, but I too thought the intro went a bit too long.
Overall a great job though.
BIAB & RB2026 Win.(Audiophile), Windows 10 Pro & Windows 11, Cakewalk Bandlab, Izotope Prod.Bundle, Roland RD-1000, Synthogy Ivory, Session Keys Grand S & Electric R, Kontakt, Focusrite 18i20, KetronSD2, NS40M, Pioneer Active Monitors.
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Hi Lawrence,
Josie is right: Great vocal and production and excellent song writing.
I enjoyed it.
Guenter
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Cool song Lawrence. Good production and your usual good vocal.
Especially liked your string pads. Simple and effective.
floyd
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One of the things I like most about our forum is the variety in the music. It's like Forest Gump's "box of chocolates".
Congrats on finding your old songs - what a nice blessing for you right before Thanksgiving.
Shortening the intro and the very first instrumental break would tighten this up - which is doable in a good editor. jmo
I like it a lot. Very positive feel.
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Very cool and love the story behind the song/cd...
Bob
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I've heard it on headphones and I am drowned in it.
What a song ....
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hi Lawrence awesome really enjoyed this mixed very nicely thanks for sharing eric
AMD (TM) 5950 4.9 GHz 16Core Processor 64 bit 32 bits of ram windows 10 pro 64 bit os. sound card Antelope ZenQ guitars Ibanez 2202a 1968 les Paul Custom and Cavin ae 185 Guitar boss Gt-100,GT1000 pedal Yamaha HS8 studio monitors
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JosisC, I'm glad you liked it. Thank you for listening.
tommyad, I was learning how to write a song at that time. I was into bands like "Rush", and "Yes" and I thought if a song wasn't at least four to five minutes long then I was doing something wrong. lol!
VideoTrack, thanks for listening and commenting. I was trying to write "music" back then instead of songs, but I am happy with the result even after all these years.
Boehm, thanks for the kind words
Floyd, thanks for listening
Sundance, I didn't think about the link to thanksgiving but you are absolutely right! thanks for listening
rsdean, thank you for taking time to listen
erloeser, thanks for the comment, I had a "headphone" experience in mind when I mixed it.
F.M.M., thank you for commenting
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Hi, Lawrence !
Do you allow me to call this a masterpiece ?
Absolutely fantastic harmonies, what a tune
and what nice and pure singing ! Just loved it !
May you find more old files from your crashed
computer for us to enjoy !:))
Cheers
Dani
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That's a very imaginative song Lawrence, with a very generous sprinkling of hooks throughout. 10/10 on the originality scale. I'm really glad you found that CD. A very enjoyable listen, thanks! 
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dani48, thank you very much, I'm glad you enjoyed it. After all these years it remains a favorite of mine.
Skyline, thank you for the kind comments, it was a pleasant surprise to hear some of these songs again and to reflect on where I was as a songwriter back then.
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The name of our CD is "All Over The Map" and buddy so are you! You've thrown a lot of genres out here and every one of them has worked and worked well for us. Janice pointed out the subtle but very effective dynamics in this one and the fine vocal. You can sink into this one and just ride with it. Great recovery!
Our albums and singles are on Spotify, Apple Music, Amazon Music, YouTube Music, Pandora and more. If interested search on Janice Merritt. Thanks! Our Videos
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Janice & Bud thank you, yes sit back in a comfy seat in the Bus and take a ride. As to genre, wait till I post my Santana meets Ozzy song from my long lost CD!
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I enjoyed that a lot and a big +1 to all the other comments. NOW THAT I look forward to!!!!! Alyn
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