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Hi again, Brad. Quote:
I beg to differ, Robert. The "and," IMO, serves to bring the listener immediately into a continuing story.
As mentioned above to Robert, Sheila Davis, in her book - "The Songwriting Idea Book", says almost exactly what you say. For me, the word was the spring board that launched me into this song.
Thanks for the Tom Waits link. He's certainly a songwriter who stamps a huge signature on his material. If I had 0.1 of his ability, I'd be very happy!
Regards,
Noel
MY SONGS...Audiophile BIAB 2026
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Hi Guenter,
I appreciate your thumbs up. Thank you for having a listen.
All the best,
Noel
MY SONGS...Audiophile BIAB 2026
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Hi Tano,
Good to see you! The two phrases you isolated came about because I wanted the music to do something different at that point. Then, when I had an idea about how the melody should go, I played around with words for a few days to try and get something that worked. They were the end of result!
In relation to the song's "carpet", I can only take a little bit of credit there. PG Music's BIAB and RB deserved 95% of the credit for that. As you know, this software is a songwriter's dream-come-true.
Kind regards,
Noel
MY SONGS...Audiophile BIAB 2026
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Noel, Some quality songwriting there! Wonderful mix on the bed tracks! Also great vocal by Jason. A BIG two thumbs up from me!!  Greg
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Hi Greg!
Thanks for those thumbs up. I spent a long time on the mix for this one. It was also the first song I used Ozone to polish the final mix. I have to hand it to the iZitope guys, they really know how to make a mix shine.
Thanks again!
Noel
MY SONGS...Audiophile BIAB 2026
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Noel,
This is a terrific song. Simple and complete at the same time. Sounds like a hit to me. A true "accomplishment" of songwriting. To be able to keep the lyrics of a song simple, at yet, MEAN SO MUCH. Splendid.
The tracks and mix are perfect. The vocals are spectacular - even if you did "cheat" <tee hee>. I would have liked a link to your original....
Keep 'em coming!!!
floyd
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Hi Floyd, I had to cheat!!!! I don't sing anywhere near as well as you do and so it was necessary to call in the professionals. Thanks for the kind words! Do I owe you anything?  When I write a song in AABA, I always keep in my mind that The Beatles managed to have a gigantic hit with "Yesterday" by using only 84 words. Maybe one day I'll discover how to make 84 words work like that for me *laugh*. In the meantime, what I do is to write lyrics and then go through them and try to streamline them by reducing the word count by around 10%. It's always an interesting exercise! One again, thanks! Noel
MY SONGS...Audiophile BIAB 2026
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Great song. You're a great singer.
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Noel,
All I can say is outstanding! Great song, and really shines with the vocals on it! Very impressive!
Steve
Steve Young Music"In order to compose, all you need to do is remember a tune that nobody else has thought of." - Robert Schumann
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+10 to everything said. Exquisite!
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Quote:
Great song. You're a great singer.
Hi Sal,
Thanks for having a listen! I'd love to wear the compliment "great singer" but, at best, I'm only somewhere around "enthusiastic person who tries hard" *laugh*. I called in a professional on this one.
Once again, thank you.
Noel
MY SONGS...Audiophile BIAB 2026
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Hi Mike (Cubanpete), I appreciate your taking time to drop by and listen to "Always There". I've never have a "+10" before. Thanks for that. It's a perfect start to the day All the best, Noel
MY SONGS...Audiophile BIAB 2026
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Hi Steve,
I have to agree with you, the Jason's vocal is certainly the polish that shines the song's shoes. If you heard his version side by side with mine, you'd understand just how shiny his work is! Thanks for have a listen.
All the best,
Noel
MY SONGS...Audiophile BIAB 2026
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Quote:
I'm not quite sure how to interpret your last sentence but I guess it's a good thing for songs I write to have my mark!
Yes, it's a good thing. You like to use asymmetrical constructs, and unusual rhythmic choices. A lot of your songs are "meta" in the country and broadway style, in the sense that the singer makes sophisticated word and rhyme choices that show that they're aware they're singing, instead of going for a more "speaking" voice.
Quote:
Hope all is sailing along well for you and your family
Thanks! We're doing well, but there are several waves of illness still sweeping across the country, so we've got our fingers crossed.
Cheers!
-- David Cuny My virtual singer development blogVocal control, you say. Never heard of it. Is that some kind of ProTools thing?BiaB 2025 | Windows 11 | Reaper | Way too many VSTis.
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Hi David,
Thank you for giving me this additional insight. You've really made me think about my music from a whole new perspective and I appreciate that. I know I'm going to be pondering your thoughts as I drive to work this morning.
Best wishes,
Noel
MY SONGS...Audiophile BIAB 2026
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Noel,
I almost missed this one. You have a great tune here - excellent all the way. Love the mix as well.
Bob
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Great song and mix Noel and fantastic vocals as well, I think a song like that would go down well with a boy band as they have lots of lady fans. Boybands seem to be the rage in the UK and Ireland for the last few years, dont know about Australia.
Noel I know that you use Ozone in your mixodwn I think you said before that you use one of the cd master presets.
Just interested to know did you use the same preset in this song as sometimes I find that my songs are lacking volume when I mixdown and obviously there is a way to get that as you have proved.
Keep it up Noel, one of these days I'm sure some big star is going get hold of one of your songs.
All the best.
Musiclover
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Hi Bob, I've been so busy at work that I nearly missed seeing you telling me you nearly missed this one! LOL! Sounds like there's a song in those words just waiting to escape Thanks for taking time to have a listen and for the words of encouragement. I appreciate the Saturday-morning smile you've just given me. All the best, Noel
MY SONGS...Audiophile BIAB 2026
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Hi musiclover I'm awfully sorry for taking so long to get back to you and to thank you. Work has been evaporating all my time and there's been little left over for much more than offering a few people help in the other forums. Thank you for all your positive comments. I really appreciate them. Regarding Ozone ... I used the below preset with "Always There" without any alteration.  Also as a general part of my work flow ... After I render the final mix, I open the song in Goldwave and then maximize the waveform. When I do this, I raise the volume past the normalization value so that I chop the tops off some of the waves that have greater variation. This is another way of "limiting" the signal and can be done in most wav processing software. (Ozone does have a limiter that will do this but I have yet to learn how to drive it properly. So until I manage to figure that out, I'll keep doing it this way!) The image below shows what the finished wave form for "Always There" looks like.  As you can see, it's like someone has used a pair of scissors and has chopped off the tops and bottoms of the waves to make them flat. I do this by maximizing the sound to 1, 1.5 or sometimes even 2.0 rather than simply normalizing it to 0 or -0.3. One needs to be careful limiting the waves because if too much is applied, it causes noticeable distortion of the sound. Hope this helps, Noel
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Thank you very much Noel for taking the time and the trouble in helping me with this. Its really appreciated. Musiclover
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