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Hello, Here's a song I wrote a while ago but never posted (as far as I remember, at least). link: Brighter Than Any Star (audio) - on SoundcloudThe demo is sung by Jason Wyatt. He is also playing the two electric guitars heard in the mix as well as providing the vocal harmonies. If ever you need a demo done, I highly recommend Jason. He's incredibly good. All else you hear is Band In A Box and Realtracks. I mixed the song using Reaper and polished it up using Ozone. Background ... In 2010, when this song was written, I was playing around with song sections that had an odd numbers of bars. This was because I was experimenting with Pat Pattison's theory of 'stable versus unstable'. As a consequence, if you have a look at the lead sheet, you'll see that this song has a 3-bar introduction and 9-bar verses. If Pat's theory is correct, this should help boost the emotional intensity of the song! The leadsheet can be download at the below link. link: Brighter Than Any Star (leadsheet)As always, please feel free to comment about anything. Regards, Noel P.S. You will probably hear Steve Young's influence in the arrangement of the mix. When assembling this arrangement, I regularly asked myself, "What would Steve do at this point in the song?" Those thoughts helped a great deal when decisions needed to be made. Steve's songs have given me lots of insight into how to get things to sound professional. Thanks Steve  REALTRACKS/DRUMS USED366 - Electric Bass 368 - Acoustic strumming guitar 362 - Acoustic strumming guitar Realdrums - Nasville Even 16
Last edited by Andrew - PG Music; 01/19/17 11:27 AM.
MY SONGS...Audiophile BIAB 2026
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WOW Noel. Fantastic!! Great vocals, great mix and great production. I love the positive energy that your songs bring to this forum.
Well done!
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Hi Noel.
A great song and a VERY, VERY, good recording and mix. Beautifully crisp and clear and loud without sounding compressed.
The lad certainly has an impressive voice, but maybe a bit what we call "Talent Show." At times it felt a bit like he was showing off his voice, rather than the song.
I'd love to hear you sing this one. I think your voice is quite distinctive and would suit the song, but that's just my take on it.
Still an excellent song and very professional package.
ROG.
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What a beautiful song. Great story. Loved his voice. Thank you for sharing
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Noel, Great song. Please don't change a single thing about it. Well recorded and i loved the break in the last chorus. My new favorite Noel song. Super job. Tom
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Noel,
That is absolutely BEAUTIFUL in every respect.
Lyrics and melody are moving, emotional, romantic and simple. Wonderful slow dance ballad. Form fits perfectly.
As important as the vocal is, the best singer in the world can't turn a mediocre song into a good one with just a vocal. As Pat P. said when using one of his own songs as an example - and I'm paraphrasing in my own words - if more focus is on the singer's vocal performance instead of the song then something is wrong.
That's not the case here. Jason did a great job. He had a solid song to work with so it's a great marriage of singer and material.
Love it.
A+ from me.
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Hi Noel,
Please don't change a single thing about it.
It's perfect as it is.
Beautiful song.
Guenter
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Noel:
Very nice song and a very good demo. Congratulations.
How was it that you came to work with Jason?
John
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Hi, Noel !
I must be doing something wrong as I
did not manage to open your file (play) !
When I press on the play button, there
is a text saying "you are using an unsupported
browser", but I do use the latest version of IE ?
and I have both google chrome and firefox on my
computer ?
You do not happen to have a link to
soundcloud by any chance ??
Cheers
Dani
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Noel,
Another great song! Loved everything about it.
Bob
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Hmmm, seems like I might be out of step with everyone else, here.
Whilst acknowledging that the lad had an impressive voice, I did think I detected a touch of ego in the delivery. As Josie said, if attention is drawn to the voice instead of the song, this isn't right and that's what I thought I heard.
However, it appears that no one else thought this and so I'm happy to concede that I was wrong and offer my apologies to Jason, who is certainly very talented.
ROG.
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Hi ROG, Thanks for the positive feedback! You started my morning on a high and the rest of the day sailed along nicely after that. Appreciate it. When I read what you said about the singing, I completely understood what you meant. What you heard is probably due to me more than Jason. I did a heap of volume shaping of the vocal line to try and create an emotional contour that sat with how I heard the lyrics and music. (See the image below of the start of the third/last chorus.)  I could easily have over-exaggerated Jason's singing without realising it. I'll leave the mix for a couple of weeks, to clear it out of my head, and then have another listen with your thoughts in mind. I appreciate your comments. They're very useful indeed. All the best, Noel EDIT: P.S. In case forum readers are wondering, the big, square dips on either side of "change" are to tame the "CH" and the "J" sounds at either end of the word. The curvy dip on "-bout" is bring that syllable under control in relation to the surrounding lyrics.
Last edited by Noel96; 11/04/13 01:58 PM.
MY SONGS...Audiophile BIAB 2026
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Hi Dani, I've added a Soundcloud link in my original post Thanks for letting me know about this problem. I use Firefox and the Songspace site opens fine. (Did you try pasting the URL's link into Firefox?) After reading your post, I tried using Internet Explorer. On my Vista machine, the most up-to-date version for Vista does not work properly at Songspace. Strange. I'll pass it on to the site's Support team. Regards, Noel
MY SONGS...Audiophile BIAB 2026
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Hi Joanne, Thank you I always smile when I see your avatar pop up in a thread. I'm not quite sure what positive energy my songs have but I'll pass that thought on to my mother. She has an amazing ability to see a silver lining in the blackest of clouds. Maybe she taught me a thing or two that I don't know about. I'm looking forward to hearing your next work! Best wishes, Noel
MY SONGS...Audiophile BIAB 2026
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Hi Scott,
I agree. Jason has a great voice. Thank you for passing by and giving the song a listen. Appreciate your time. Thank you.
Regards,
Noel
MY SONGS...Audiophile BIAB 2026
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Hey Tom,
Glad you found time to wander in and take a listen. I appreciate all the uplifting comments. Thank you.
All the best,
Noel
MY SONGS...Audiophile BIAB 2026
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I say... this is a good song. Great job on the writing of the melody and the lyrics.
As far as the vocal delivery.... heck YES I want a singer who's not afraid to sing and show off his/her voice.... name one professional singer who doesn't. If you have a talent, be proud of it and learn to use it the best you can. That little "cry" & "crack" in the voice in a few places, was effective. I
I did not feel that the singer was "pushing" his voice into the over exaggeration area, which could have been tacky. Nope... didn't see that happening. Simply a well delivered song and a good vocal performance. nice vocal harmonies.
I generally do use volume envelopes in all my tracks for control but rarely do my vocal tracks have envelopes that are up and down as your screen shot depict.
Nice guitar fills. nothing fancy but certainly solid.
While I like to sing my own demo's I also am not adverse to using other singers from time to time. I like the passion others can bring to my songs. Passion beats a "safe" delivery any day.
Loved it....
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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Noel,
It's all been said, this indeed is a solid project from the first word to the last note.
Congrats!
Later,
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Hi, Noel !
Now that I got to listen to your song
I must say that it is really good and
very well performed and produced.
Could not get any better ?
Cheers
Dani
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Noel,
Outstanding! I really like this song. You did a great job of writing (as always) and Jason was a good pick for the vocals on it. I think he did an excellent job. Seems like I remember either this song or one like it that you posted a year or two back, where you had contracted a Nashville vocalist. Again, this sounds just great to me.
Always enjoy hearing your work!
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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