Hello all!

I'm a newbie here and a BiaB novice, so go easy! Here is a tune I put together using some of the real tracks that came with the 2013 version. Here are the tracks:

Bass: 518 Electric Pop Ev 085
Acoustic Guitars: 693 and 405 - Ev 120
Electric Guitar: 695
Drums: Nashville Ev 8ths
Piano (Midi): 1888 CountryPopJohn Ev 120
The alto saxes are me.

Here is the tune/video: Over and Over Again - YouTube

Thanks for the listen.

Lyrics:

Lookin out that old cracked window
so hard to leave that old black pillow.
It's alright, starting over again.

Watchin the day fold into another
the world don't stop cause you're thinking of her.
It's alright, starting over again.

Over and Over you search your mind.
Over and Over you just can't find.
What's the reason - What makes it last?
Over and Over again it seems
your right back where you used to be.
Another dead end, starting over again.

Solo

Over and Over you understand.
Over and Over you must withstand.
Another season whose time has passed.

The days are long and the nights are colder
but its all wrong cause you can't hold her.
It's alright, starting over again.

You can be tough and try to forget her
cause one is enough but two make it better.
It's alright, starting over again.

Over and Over you search your mind.
Over and Over you just can't find.
What's the reason - What makes it last?
Over and Over again it seems
your right back where you used to be.
Another dead end, starting over again.
When one road ends, start it over again.

Welcome to the forum! What a beautiful first post. Color me impressed. Love the song. Pretty arrangement, those saxes are absolutely gorgeous, love the sweet harmonies and you have a really nice voice. Looking forward to hearing lots more.

Josie

Hi Jeff,

welcome to the forum.
A very nice start.
Love those saxes.
Thanks for the entertaining video.

Guenter

Jeff,

Welcome! Terrific first post.

Really like the melody to this. And the vocal - easy on the ears....

Great oohs!...

Enjoyed it. Looking forward to more. Cool sax tag.

floyd

Nice work on that song. I like the song. Great job for the first one out of the box....

As I hear it: ( that means simply my opinion and not a flaming of your choices)

The song tends to be country/rock in it's genre. You play the sax well. I'm not a fan of the twin sax parts since they sound more latin than country. Personally, I would probably have looked for some guitar or piano fills on the verses. I think the solo sax would work well by itself where it did play.

Remember that in BB13 you have a number of "solo" tracks in Real Band that I think would also do great justice to this style.

On the chorus the instruments should fill the background a bit more. Step it up on the choruses. And where you have harmonies, use a little bit (not too much) of reverb to blend the voices a bit.

Just a few tips that will/may help you in the future.

Over all.... man this is a great first one.... welcome to the forum and hope to hear more from you in the future.

BTW: you can collaborate with others here if that is something you are interested in doing.

Hi, Jeff !:))


Welcome ! :))

This is a superb first post by you !
You´have a good voice and your
harmonies are spot on !:))
I like the tune and the harmonies !
We´ll be expecting more from
you after this !:))

Cheers
Dani

Great song!! Beautifully done, and great vocals!! I agree with Herb that the sax sounds a little "out of genre". But, it is beautiful none the less. It's already clear that it will be a treat to listen to your stuff!! Take care. Greg

Hi Jef,

Welcome to the fray! Good to have you with us.

This is a really super first post. BIAB has a steep learning curve and it seems you have a very good grasp of the basics. Nice balance on the mix and you have a very easy-to-listen-to voice.

I (Alan) think one small thing that might help is to put a little more reverb on the vocals. It tends to to give the vocal a nice warmth and fills the vocal space a little better. It's easy to over-do the reverb but a little more would probably help, according our ears.

All that said, this was a great l;isten! We anticipate lots of super music coming fromn you! Once again, welcome ...

Alan & Di

Wow, thanks for the comments. Really appreciated.

I was definitely going for a country/rock feel for this one, but as sax is my primary I felt a bit limited on my solo options. I haven't really checked out Real Band, but I will now. The mixing process is a bit new to me as well.

Again, thanks for the feedback.

The trick is to use your primary instrument in such a way as to have it fit into the genre of the song. Not impossible but you may have to work at it a bit because when one thinks of "sax" one doesn't conjure up country as a natural fit.

One thing I had to learn to do (and it took a bit of time) was that, as a songwriter and a guitar player, I needed to cut back to some extent on the "guitar playing" for the sake of the song.... in other words.... no really long solo's or fancy picking just for the sake of picking, so that the end result was a better song.

My advice, is to simply play and record, and listen to the advice you get from others....BUT..... listen to the music of the folks giving that advice to see if what they say is advice that actually works and shows in the music they are recording.

I have PM'd some people in the past with questions such as..... How did you do such and such? Sort of thing..... most people will tell you. Some won't but hey..... that's life. The more you work at learning how to do things and actually applying it and recording and producing, the better you will get. It's that simple.

Good country rock song and very good mix and production. This genre is a good fit for your vocals and harmonies. Also, I think you did a great job recording the sax's. The tone was outstanding. Although sax and other wind instruments are not often thought of as mainstream country/rock instruments, it is not unheard of. Marshall Tucker Band, Pure Prairie League and Don Henley and Glen Frye's solo work come to mind.

This is a delightful listen and I look forward to hearing you again soon.

Charlie

Hi Jeff,

That's a very and original first tune.
As for the mix:
the saxes (which are well played by the way) could be a little less loud. The vocals could probably use a little bit reverb.
Overall a very nice song.

Regards,
R & AM

Welcome aboard!

That's a pretty good song there Jeff. You have an excellent voice with a beautiful vibrato, and the vocal harmony work is excellent. I'd have liked to hear the bass and drums more forward in the mix, they're way back, and a tad of reverb on the lead vocal would be useful.

+1 to the excellent advice from Guitarhacker above.

John

Nice first post. Sax sounded good to me in this style, kind of Ronnie Milsap "no getting over (and over ?) me"-ish. I enjoyed it quite a bit. Welcome.

Hey, thanks again for all the helpful comments. I especially like the mentioning of some songs and groups that I had forgotten about. It's been fun listening to these again.

After checking out the other (terrific yet humbling)submissions here it seems that in addition to the songwriting; recording/mixing is a big part of the game here.

Looking forward to learning from you all.

Hi Jeff,

That's a great first effort! I loved the saxes, too. As others have noted, you've got a great voice. I'm now looking forward to what comes along for you second song and beyond!

Regards,
Noel

Excellent first production and you've already gotten a lot of great feedback. Welcome to a fun community. Look around....you might find some things you like!

Thanks again for the suggestions. I took another stab at the mixing process and made a few changes to the instrumentation as well. Basically, I subtracted more than I added. Hopefully, it makes for a better listen.

You can check out the updated version here: Over and Over Remix