Bring A Torch, Jeanette, Isabella

Since Guitarhacker posted a list of public domain Christmas songs, I thought I'd take the hint and do a Christmas instrumental.

Somewhere along the line I lost the original MGU file for this, so I'm not sure exactly which tracks I used. I think the string pad came was a SuperMIDI Track, I don't recall which. There's a background fiddle RealTrack buried deep in the mix.

The 2976:Vocal Oohs-Aahs, Background Pop3-part Ev 085 didn't smoothly connect the chords, so they were manually crossfaded in my DAW. They've never seemed to work correctly for me, which is too, because they sound lovely,

I originally used Acoustic, Bowed HeldSimple Ev 110 for the bass, but there were some issues with it - some odd rhythms, for example. When I rendered the third verse in D major, there were a bunch of gaps in the audio, so I'm wondering if files are corrupted on my machine. I ended up replacing the track with an arco bass from JABB.

The rest of the tracks are VSTis from various places.

I tried writing a "real" string trio intro for the intro, but was pretty awful.

Toward the end of the Black Friday sales, I picked up a VSTi violin, cello and trumpet from Waverunner (still on sale at this writing), so I figured I should somehow use them. They're really more "ambient" sounds, but rather lovely anyway.

The steel string guitar, nylon string guitar and mandolin are all from Indiginus. They're a lot of fun to play, and I figured if I bought them, I should use them.

The woodwinds in first and second verse are from my trusty GPO library, with the Waverunner trumpet doubling in the background to give it some heft.

Verse three uses the pennywhistle from Embertone, as well as the Jubal flute to take some of the edge off. It's probably mixed so low it's not even necessary. With a mandolin and pennywhistle it was rather shrill, so I got some help from my son to EQ it, and added a 12 string to add some midrange. The strings on that verse are a bit spongy.

Mixing was done using Ozone Elements, Neutron Elements and EZMix and some other plugins.

As always, comments (both positive and negative) are appreciated.

Really, really liked this David! Loved listening to how you handled the various instruments, especially the winds...thanks for sharing the background info on sound sources... and I specially enjoyed the modulation at each verse. Thanks for this extra special Advent treat!

Wow - this is a stunning piece The arrangement is gorgeous, and it flows so well. Definitely reminiscent of the season. Nothing like a classical Christmas piece. Very relaxing.

Thanks for sharing!

Wow!

David , this is beautiful

great job,

enjoyed the listen,

Kenny

Nice work on this dcuny! Really enjoyed the overall timbres on this. Thanks for sharing!

David,

Stunning!!! Absolutely Beautiful.

A wonderful arrangement and an excellent mix.

Thanks for the informative write-up. All those VSTs and libraries make my head spin.

Excellent in all regards.

fj

Thanks for taking the time to listen! Happy Advent!

Thanks! Nothing classes a song up like a background of vocal "Aaahs".

Thanks for listening Kenny, I appreciate it!

Thanks, Joe!

I had gotten the Passion Flute during the Orange Tree Samples summer sale, and initially was going to use it here. But it's more of a jazz/pop sound, and I ended up going back to the GPO for the flute and double reeds. They're really lovely sounds.

Thanks! I appreciate the superlatives.

Real Life has kept me from being as involved with music or this forum as I'd like. I haven't really had time to listen or reply to other songs on the forum, but I wanted to do something.


Thanks again! There are a lot of VSTis on the track, but I figured that keeping the same instrument for three verses was probably asking too much from the listener.

Usually I over-orchestrate the last verse of my songs. Ironically, I ended up with the last verse too quiet, and ended up having to jigger and fiddle to get a good balance. Figuring out where the acoustic guitar sits is something I haven't quite figured out yet, but I'm working on it.

This is really beautiful David.

Can you give an insight to the title? What does that mean>




Great work man. Super mix, and gorgeous use of those instruments.

Great instrumental version of this song. I've always liked this song. Well done.

David, here is one version of the lyrics...

Bring a torch, Jeannette, Isabella!
Bring a torch to the cradle run!
It is Jesus, good folk of the village;
Christ is born and Mary's calling:
Ah! ah! beautiful is the mother!
Ah! ah! beautiful is her Son!
It is wrong when the Child is sleeping
It is wrong to talk so loud;
Silence, all, as you gather around,
Lest your noise should waken Jesus:
Hush! hush! see how fast He slumbers:
Hush! hush! see how fast He sleeps!
Softly to the little stable,
Softly for the moment come;
Look and see how charming is Jesus,
See how He smiles, Oh see how rosy!
Hush! hush! see how the Child is sleeping;
Hush! hush! see how He smiles in dreams.

Wikipedia states "The song title refers to two female farmhands who have found the baby and his mother in a stable. Excited by this discovery, they run to a nearby village to tell the inhabitants, who rush to see the new arrivals. Visitors to the stable are urged to keep their voices quiet, so the newborn can enjoy his dreams."

Yeah, that always bothered me. Is "Jeanette Isabella" supposed to be getting the torch, or is it "Jeanette" and "Isabella"? If so, why does it take so many people to get a torch? Are they using "torch" in the British sense of "light", or do they mean the sort of torch carried by an angry mob/tomb raider?

So many questions... we may never know!

(I see Samuel has helpfully supplied a real answer).

I can't believe you didn't ask if I could "Shed some light" on the title! You're slipping, man!


Thanks, I appreciate the kind words.

Thanks!

It really is a lovely song.

Nice melody and great instruments in the song.
I can feel the Christmas atmosphere

Sergio

David,

Wow! So complex and delicate - extremely beautiful...

Loved it.

Bob

Really pretty arrangement and beautiful mix David!!! I don't think I know the song but it puts me in a holiday mood!! Take care. Greg

Hi, Sergio.

Thanks for taking the time to listen and comment!

Thanks, Bob!

Thanks, Greg!

I'm glad you liked it.

O.k. Cuny,

What if I had said "Hey cool! A TORCH song for two girls at the same time. Very French!"

Ha ha! Three's better than one! Bada bing bada boom!

And don't forget Carol! Christmas Carol! Pow!

Ba da bing!

Is this thing on??? [tap, tap]

Hey tip your waitresses--we'll be here all night!

Why shed a light when you can shed your clothes instead!

Yo! Ba dA! BOOM!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Better David??

More Christmas-y? That what you wanted???



Do I have the magic back now??

Absolutely beautiful! An aural rainbow.

dcuny,

What a beautiful song and wonderful production—really pretty on the ears and totally embodies the Christmas sound and spirit. This could easily play on a Christmas channel on any streaming service. Very well done!

Kind regards,

Deej

You are the magic, man.

Thanks! Musical skittles...

Thanks, Deej. I appreciate you listening.

Lovely tune. What a cool collection of instruments. Well done David

Thanks, Scott!

Those Indiginus instruments are a lot of fun to play! If any keyboard player is looking to get a guitar VSTi, I'd highly recommend checking them out.

Perhaps ironically, having the mandolin VSTi has got me practicing my cheapo mandolin again. For one thing, it reminds me how nice the mandolin can sound. But more importantly, it shows the correct fingering of the mandolin chords, and tricks me into thinking that it's actually something I do.

Excellent song, the sound is refreshing and relaxing, brings in the spirit of Christmas quite well!!! Cliff

David, this is really a very nice rendition of this song with very smooth transitions between the different passages in the piece! All of your instrument choices sound great with very good production work! Thanks, Torrey

David, this is just so beautiful, an absolute joy to listen to. I can tell a lot of TLC has gone into the making of this, you must be very pleased with this track, thanks for letting us hear it.

John

Stunningly beautiful, David. I can't think of anything else to say, except you made me very happy that I listened to this masterpiece.

Thanks, Cliff!

Thanks for listening and the positive feedback, Torrey!

Hi, John.

Thanks, I'm glad you enjoyed it.

Thanks, that's the best thing I can hear about a song - that it made someone happy.

David,

Add my "beautiful" to all those before. The instrument layers are finely balanced ( I`m always amazed at the skills of folks who can get the VSTi`s to sound so good).
The pennywhistle is my favourite- not at all shrill, just so purely joyful and sad at the same time.

Robert

Thanks!

I've tried learning the pennywhistle a couple of times, but never gotten that lovely tone out from it. There are a couple of D pennywhistles still sitting in my dresser drawer... I should break out eventually and have another go at it.

In the meantime, I'll make do with the VSTis.

Thanks again for listening and commenting!

The song is fascinating and very lovely.

Words like classy and sophisticated come to mind.

And also fascinating was reading how you put all of this together. The attention to detail is amazing and it shows as the mix is remarkable in the way it is so textured but every track seems to have "its" place.

We can hardly imagine the time and skill it took for this production...but it assuredly paid off -- bit time.

Wonderful!!!!

J&B

David

I seem to be missing from all the great reviews, do ditto, beautiful work.

Peter

David,

Beautiful orchestration!
I agree with Tano Music.
Loved listening to how you handled the various instruments, especially the winds...thanks for sharing the background info on sound sources.
I also often experience that RT is not well rendered.
At that time, in my case I will render WAV a few more times and pick the best one.
Still, if it is not good, I cut only the wrong place and stick there from the other place of the same chord rendered successfully.
BIAB has many troubles sometime, but it's a fun work.
Enjoyed my listen a lot.

Best regards.

Shigeki Adachi

Thanks! I appreciate the kind words.

Thanks, Peter!

Hi, Shigeki.

Thanks for listening and the advice!

I've done the same thing. But since this was a pretty simple bass part and I had a comparable MIDI instrument, it was easy enough to play. Plus, I figured it's probably an installation issue, and getting the BiaB 2019 upgrade might fix the problem. So I'll just wait this one out.

In a pinch, I can put together MIDI tracks for most instruments. Where BiaB is really most useful for me is coming up with ideas that I wouldn't have thought up.

Thanks again!

Hi dcuny,

lovely tune!It's very well-arranged and so full of atmospere.
Very beautiful.

Happy Holidays and all the best for 2019,

Stefan

Thanks David for this lovely holiday feast as well as the enlightenment from Wikipedia...
I came to listen to music & walked away with an education, learning something I didn't know.

Your work method sounds complicated but it certainly pays off in dividends...
Well done!

Absolutely beautiful and I loved it. The info provided in the introduction was a lot to digest. I don’t think you could have made this sound any better. I hope you have a great holiday, Tom

Wow.... yep, there's definitely some gold to be found in those old PD songs.

This is so well done and a gorgeous tune. Loved the modulation in it. So many interesting things to like. The penny whistle is perfect and really sets a Christmas/Irish feel.

really well done.

Thanks, Stefan.

The same to you!

Yeah, I hate it when that happens. It's the constant reminder that I still don't know everything.


To be honest, I think I should have pared back on a lot of the instrumental doublings. But thanks.

Really, it's just a way that works for me. I tend to use BiaB as the primary backing tracks, and then refine it in my DAW. Is it really worth the extra effort? Listening to what other people have done with 100% BiaB, sometimes I'm not sure.

Thanks again for listening and the feedback!

Thanks, Tom!

I hope yours are great as well.

We're working through colds in my household, but nothing serious, thank goodness. Hopefully come Christmas we'll be set to carol.

I'm glad you enjoyed the listen.

The last section really is my favorite, with the more Celtic feel.

After I posted the song, I was playing with that pennywhistle and found it's got a lovely legato - the effect that you get when you roll your finger off a hole. Too late to use that now, but I'll keep it in mind for some other song!

Thanks!

Nice arrangement, sounds so pro through my headset, Nothing like a classical Christmas piece.

Really enjoyed it.

"dcuny"...

Somewhere amongst the rooms and halls of my musical memory, I vaguely recall hearing this song at a somewhat faster tempo, with lyrics I cannot remember being sung by a small choir of children's voices, sounding bright and upbeat. It may even have been a soundtrack to a commercial.

Any old way, your version of "Bring A Torch, Jeanette, Isabella" has got a ton of mood rising like mists and fog out of its musical texture. It's wistful and nostalgic -- maybe even a little melancholy -- in feeling. It also possesses an air of a new morning arriving, that slowly-waking time when, as you lie in bed, you sense the warmth of the early light coming through the window and falling on your closed eyelids, as you meditate drowsily on whether or not you really want to wake-up and begin another day.

I'm sure all these impressions are partly the result of the obviously meticulous orchestration of the virtual instruments you employed in the composition. I'm listening to it again as I write this. It's easy for me to imagine you standing behind a podium, waving your baton gracefully, yet emotively while you conduct an actual orchestra. I don't know who could suspect anything else, even those with so-called "trained ears".

You deserve to be addressed as "maestro" for your efforts here.

Sincerely,

LOREN