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Joined: Nov 2012
Posts: 126
Apprentice
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OP
Apprentice
Joined: Nov 2012
Posts: 126 |
I wrote this song several years ago and it was originally done with BIAB 2006 and a MIDI Controller Keyboard. I worked it up with the current BIAB and this is how it turned out. Real Tracks: Bass – Electric Pop Half Notes Sync #701 Drums – Nashville Even 8 3-Sidestick #29 Acoustic Guitar – Fingerpicking Country Brent # 2051 Acoustic Guitar – Strumming #405 Cello – Background Pop Country #1856 Harmonica – Background Pop #685 Vocals: The Sons of the Mojave Singers (Me mutlti tracked) Cakewalk Home Studio – Mixing and effects Silent Moon Soundcloud Silent moon in the silver sky Don Quixote is standing by Sancho is right It’s only windmills we fight Dulcinea in a castle dark Only exists in his fevered heart Maybe he’s mad His foolish dreams are all he has From Pablo’s pen on a field of white India ink bleeds an eccentric knight Across the mighty San Fernando we ride To angels gate harbor light Silent moon on the open sea I won’t be troubled by the lunacy Sail on sail on Into the colors of the dawn Soundcloud
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Joined: Jan 2007
Posts: 385
Journeyman
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Journeyman
Joined: Jan 2007
Posts: 385 |
That's just beautiful, Austin, all around! The song, the vocal, and especially the arrangement and mix. And the cicadas.
The background vocals were especially well-done... did you use Helicon, V-Voice, other tools, or just multi-tracking?
And do they have a Mojave in Texas, or in Spain? I thought that was entirely ours in Cali.
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Hi Austin.
I think you've excelled yourself with this one.
Super vocals, harmony and BVs. Got a very "Paul Simon" feel to it.
Great intro and ending and a good mix. Really enjoyed listening to this one.
ROG.
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Nice voice, pretty harmonies
and a good mix.
Enjoyed listening.
Guenter
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Austin,
I really like this one... Excellent all around.
Bob
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Apprentice
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Apprentice
Joined: Nov 2012
Posts: 126 |
Hi Brad,
Thanks very much for the feedback.
I multi track my vocals, add compression, eq, and effects, usually only reverb, and this time I added some delay and some "lush chorus" from plug-ins in Cakewalk.
Ah yes, the Mojave is in Cali as is the San Fernando valley and Angels Gate lighthouse as you know. With the rascally Quixote, you can't be sure what's fact or fiction or some distortion of the two.
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hi austin well done great production buddy a keeper 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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Lovely! Great harmonies, very effective arrangement and nice changes in the instrumentation keeping things moving. Fun lyrics, too. I love it. 
-- 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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austin,
What Brad said! +1. What ROG said! +1. What David said! +1.
Beautiful in every way. Great lyric (read DQ just a few months ago - can't say I enjoyed it).
The fade in - very cool. A "simple" production that sounded truly full - kudos. Would have liked to hear "The Sons" trading off "..sail on.." and "..si-lent moon..." at the end (instead of the ooohs) (a real "nit-pik" there)
Incredible. Can't wait to hear the next one!!
floyd
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Apprentice
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Apprentice
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Thanks to everyone here for listening and the wonderful comments.
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What everyone said +1
Super song.
Love is grand.
Divorce is twenty grand!
64 bit Win 10 Pro, the latest BiaB/RB, Roland Octa-Capture audio interface, a ton of software/hardware
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+1 from me too. Enjoyed listening Austin.
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Hi Austin,
Others have mentioned Paul Simon. I agree. This sounds like it could easily have been written by him. Others have also said how terrific this is on every level. I totally agree with that too! The song glistens with skill whichever way I look at it. Very impressive.
Regards,
Noel
MY SONGS...Audiophile BIAB 2026
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MarioD, Josie, and Noel
Thanks very much for listening and comments.
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Impressive indeed and I agree with the Paul Simon reference!
Super job!
Cheers,
Mike
Cheers, Mike My Music * Asus ROG Strix G15CF 32 GB DDR4 4TB HDD + 1 TB SSD NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 8GB Win 11 AKAI EIE PRO Sound Interface. BIAB/RB 2024 UltraPak Build - Latest
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Hi Austin
I really enjoyed this one. Quick question on the backing vocals. Is it all your voice on the backing vocals (or did somebody else record them for you)? How many backing vocal tracks did you record to get that “choir/multiple part” type effect? I am working on getting better harmonies on the pieces I record so any advice is much appreciated!.
Thanks
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Thank you for listening Joanne.
I do all of the vocals on my recordings track by track. I enjoy the process of layering harmonies.
I used four and five tracks for harmony parts in this song depending on how many harmony voices above and below the melody track. Where I use five tracks, there are two below and three above. I prefer to set up a scratch mix of the instrument tracks to do vocals with.
I attempt to record the tracks as close to the same audio level and then tweak a dB here and there. I don’t care for using normalization on individual tracks, I prefer to tweak each track only where needed, but that’s just one of my quirks. When the harmony tracks sound balanced and blend well before any panning, I add compression, eq for a bit of brightness, and the amount of reverb that seems to work.
I put the harmony tracks to the left or right in the stereo field and separate each of them slightly so they are not on top of each other. I do this either listening to the tracks soloed without instruments or with only a guitar or piano. Then tighten up the entire mix and keep fingers crossed.
A technique I sometimes use for dramatic effect is to clone the harmony tracks in Cakewalk and put a set of five (or whatever the number) on the left and five on the right, varying the panning on each side. I also experiment with spreading harmony tracks across the stereo field.
I have zip, zero, expertise and experiment and use what seems to work.
I have a rather thin voice and I find it helps me to use the doubling technique of cloning vocal tracks. My higher register and lower register can be weak standing on their own. The same with falsetto. When I double tracks using cloning it strengthens that vocal in the mix.
So that’s the method of madness I use. Hope it helps.
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Thanks Austin. Will keep that for future reference
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