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Hi Rick welcome to the forum. Man, one could add stuff till the wazoo, however I think is very good as it is.
Very well done. It would be good if you can list the style used and instruments. We all learn from that info.
Cheers
Mike B.
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Hi Rick ...
OK, first to first address the issues you brought up:
For my ears, it's already finished. It's a lovely lyric that eloquently but simply unfolds the message. The music, as it is, is much the same and I think it fits. If it were me, I wouldn't touch the arrangement.
Just a couple of things for your consideration:
I think the drums are a wee bit loud as they bring in the lead guitar. They're a bit disrupting to the simple serenity. I'm fine with the short breaks before and after the lead.
I think a little less reverb on the vocal would soften the vocal without making it mushy. I wouldn't bring it down much ... just a tad.
All in all, I like the song a lot. As I mentioned, the lyric is lovely without being sappy. It's a strong message that you deliver with subtle tenderness.
I like it as is, other than the two things I mentioned. And those two things certainly aren't deal breakers. I just think they would add a bit of extra polish to a work that already shines.
These are only my opinions for your consideration. Ignore them if they don't complement your idea for this song's presentation. Otherwise, feel free to use them as you see fit.
Very nice song!
Alan
Last edited by Al-David; 08/01/22 12:08 PM.
BIAB 2024 Ultra Plus-all StylePaks*Win11*32GB DDR5*Rhyzen 9745x*AT 2035 Mic*Peavey Nashville 112 Amp*Ibanez ART120* Acoustic/Electric/Washburn D200S Acoustic*Stromberg Monterey Jazz Guitar Loops: https://aldavidmusic.wixsite.com/bestmusicloops
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Sure,
Cello- _thrshcl.sty
Guitar 1- _12stacs.sty
Drums (lead bars)_12stacs.sty
Piano (ending)- _12stacs.sty
Me:
Lead guitar
Bass guitar
Vocal
EZkeys- intro, various supporting bars
Ezdrummer- Last chorus
Composed in BIB
Tracked in Studio One 4.1
Mastered in Band Lab (free)
I have to admit that one or two parts came from other real tracks from other styles but I played around with them so much I didn't save anything except the rendered waves. I think I covered 80% of them above but I am not really great at documenting what I used. I probably at one time had 35 tracks going and discarded 28 of them. I pick from a lot of styles till I find the real track I like. I'm always looking for that magic BIB seems to have under the hood. I don't think I could write songs without starting in BIB.
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Rick...this is a very pretty love song...the melody is very nice indeed...love the cello and the guitar lead is very cool...I like the ebb and flow of the arrangement though changing gears is the real challenge isn't it...I listened several times to see what I would do differently...the more I listened the more I thought...I don't think I'd change a thing...there that helps doesn't it 
www.soundclick.com/firesongBiaB 2024, Steinberg Cubase Pro 13, Wavelab 11.2, SpetraLayers Pro 10, Audacity, Steinberg UR44 Interface, Yamaha Genos, Roland FP60 and FP10, Windows 10 You are who you are because you do what you do because of what you believe.
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Yes, you see why I agonized way to long on what to leave in and what to take out. It's just a song after all LOL Thank you all for the feedback. I do think the drums come on a little to strong before the lead but on the other hand they do wake you up a little don't they? Songwriting is such fun!
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Hello Rick,
first of all, I like the song as it is now, you wrote a really soulful ballad.
As others already mentioned, I'd probably use a bit less (or a less obvious one) reverb on the vocals and the guitar, but that's just my personal taste and I wouldn't worry too much about it.
To answer your question: in the past I more often than not had the same problem, I added tons of interesting layers just to find that I always ended up in a dead-end-street. For me that's a "not seeing the forest for the trees" problem.
What works for me: to stay with this analogy, I remove trees until I see the forest again, see what a song needs and what not. The mute button is my biggest friend here. Sometimes I end with just a piano and vocals.
This not only helps me to recognize the bare minimum of instrumentation my song needs to still be "that" song, but it also gives me a different perspective on it, a fresh mindset.
Nowadays with all those virtual instruments it's so (too) easy to add wonderful instruments which do not add to the song.
Maybe this approach can work for you, too.
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Less is often more. Don't feel like you have to add other things just because.... you don't need much to make a song sound good. Make note of my signature .... It's something I try to live by.
I do agree with a comment made about the drums there in the guitar solo. If you had an electric guitar, perhaps it would have worked out fine.... but with the acoustic.... the drums are certainly too much for the acoustic guitar.
Nicely done.
Last edited by Guitarhacker; 08/02/22 08:19 AM.
You can find my music at: www.herbhartley.comAdd nothing that adds nothing to the music. You can make excuses or you can make progress but not both. The magic you are looking for is in the work you are avoiding.
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I agree with Dan (aka, Firesong)!
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Rick, I think you did a fine job on a very good song. I go along with what both Alan and Firesong said above. There may be some spots for background vocals or oohs and ahhs, but you may have already tried that. I think you've got a really good song here as it is.
Brad
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Rick, I think the arrangement of this is quite lovely and I would not add anything additional. However, if you want my two cents on the mixing I will give you my thoughts. These are not criticisms, just things you might want to consider for future development. 1.) The drums. If you add drums to a mix they become the most important part of the song next to the vocals. So, you need to spend a lot of time looking at all your options and for mixing and eq'ing drums. The EZ drummer drums sound a bit thin and high end in this mix. You might try making a board for drums only, and try different eqs on each track and fiddle with the faders (using multiple copies of the drums track, I use at least 8) until you find a drum sound that you love. The drums need to have a thud without being muddy. You have to build you own virtual drummer, in other words--and create a custom sound you can live with for most other drum tracks. Also, you might try mixing Real drums with EZ drums triggered by Real drum midi files. (You find a Real drum that has notation and save one version of the file as midi get the drums track as midi or ask Real Band to generate a real chart for that drum track.) It takes a long time to get a methodology that allows you to get a great drum sound, but if you use drums, the true sign of a pro is a great drum sound. 2.) Vocals. You might want to have a separate board just for vocals, and duplicate tracks (I use up to 10) and put different effects on each tracks, mixing stuff as a blend until it sounds PERFECT to you. Then export that as a single mixed stereo wave for input into your master board. This also takes a LOT of time. 3.) After that the bed is pretty easy, and less is always more. Use the absolute bare minimum you need to get your point across. That is what makes a song age well. Stuff that is over produced never ages well. This, however, is a great use of tracks and simplicity. I really like it. But the next level, so to speak, is hours and hours and hours just listening to the drums and vocals. Then the bass.... Then everything else.... Great job on this.
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Thank you all so much for taking the time to listen and comment. I will take every single thing to heart, there is a lot to digest that's for sure. A lot. LOL
Rick
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Thank you all so much for taking the time to listen and comment. I will take every single thing to heart, there is a lot to digest that's for sure. A lot. LOL
Rick This is an excellent song. I go alone with taming the drums during the acoustic guitar solo. I wouldn't change them just lower the volume a little. Everything else sounds great.
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This song has an original buildup and the vocals and lyrics have a lot of sincerity!
Well done.
Rob
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I made fixes and adjustments per all your suggestions and mixed it into the new video. Thanks again. I put a link in case anyone is interested in viewing it. It Could Only Be You https://youtu.be/r2UYVVW_pHcPeace.
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Hi Rick
This is really a cool song
I did not notice it at first
But at the latest with the guitar solo it was clear to me ;-)
The vocals fit perfectly to this song
Really good work
Many greetings
Andi ;-)
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Thank You. I smiled when I wrote that little guitar part.
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I listened to the latest version and I think it sounds very good.
Nice song very engaging.
Peter
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