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Belladonna posted the words to a song she wrote and invited anyone to write music for it. I heard it as a jazz thing and I'll add that it was a lot of fun as I'm always looking for an excuse to Croon! The vocal was so dynamic It gave me fits. I wound up downloading and using "Waves Vocal Rider" plugin.
RealTracks in style: 2126:Bass, Acoustic, Jazz Half,Half Sw 110
RealTracks in song: ~771:Piano, Acoustic, Rhythm Jazz Sw 110
RealTracks in style: ~938:Guitar, Acoustic, Rhythm JazzFreddie Sw 110
RealTracks in style: 2593:Horn Section, Background CroonerBigBand9-Part Sw 110
RealDrums in Song: JazzBrushesSticks: a: Brushes b: Snare, Ride
Bottom Dollar Blues words by Donna Evans, music by Lawrence Olivier
Verse 1
She’s a candy red hot
Fire whiskey, tequila shots
She’s waitin’ for me at the bar
Spends my money like a wild fire
Think I’m scoring but I lose
Got the bottom dollar blues
Verse 2
Hoping she’s my Lucky Star
She plays me like a lotto jar
We cruise and schmooze around
My ticker tape’s runnin’ down
Then some final rounds of pool
Goes my bottom dollar blues
Bridge
Sunday church I’m confessin’
Can’t seem to learn my lesson
Party girls and booze
Give me the bottom dollar blues
Verse 3
She always revs my engine
Sparing any intervention
I’m addicted to the night life
We live the weekends right
For her I’ll play the fool
With the bottom dollar blues
Last edited by Andrew - PG Music; 08/24/20 10:37 AM.
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Lawrence
That's a hell of a big amazing vocal! Wonderful stuff.
Excellent song, nice use of the band and a good set of lyrics.
Really nice all round.
Peter
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Lawrence & Belladonna
This is simply outstanding.
You've got those horns piping hot. You got the vocals sitting there just great.
This cooks, from start to finish.
Top effort, team!
BIAB & RB2026 Win.(Audiophile), Windows 10 Pro & Windows 11, Cakewalk Bandlab, Izotope Prod.Bundle, Roland RD-1000, Synthogy Ivory, Session Keys Grand S & Electric R, Kontakt, Focusrite 18i20, KetronSD2, NS40M, Pioneer Active Monitors.
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Hi Lawrence and Donna
Great job in this. Wonderful lyrics and a wonderful interpretation. More collabs please!
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Donna & Lawrence - a nice combination of lyric & music...
Lawrence, your vocal on this is powerful and free. There is "fun" in the sing - a real delight in a vocal.
The horns sound great! They fit so well and really carry the underlying track.
Especially like the way you handled the bridge.
A truly excellent listen.
fj
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Nice collaboration!
Fun lyrics and production, enjoyed the listen.
Re: the vocal rider plugin, great tool! I use it all the time here too.
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Great collab, Lawrence, I always know it's going to be a great vocal and it is, but I thought the real star of this production was the arrangement. Especially the bridge and outro. Inspired chord choices. All of it was unexpected and a rewarding listen, Tom Also that vocal rider is one of my go to plug-ins.
Last edited by tommyad; 01/28/18 03:05 AM.
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Awesome vocal Lawrence. Loved what you did with these awesome lyrics. Super tune to listen to.
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That was great Lawrence...the crooner side of gruverider. Who would've thought? We've used the bass rider but have never thought about the vocal rider...interesting. This was the first type of music Bud ever heard -- from my parents in the 50's -- Janice was yet to be born  but we both love the genre and sometimes mix in Frank, Tony and others along with our love of Americana. We've always felt that a really great singer can handle about any genre and, man, does this ever support that notion. Your arrangement, chord choice, RT and vocal are over the top good. It don't mean a thing if it ain't got that swing! Wow! J&B
Our albums and singles are on Spotify, Apple Music, Amazon Music, YouTube Music, Pandora and more. If interested search on Janice Merritt. Thanks! Our Videos
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eddie1261
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Really good job. Smooth vocals. Now where did I put that Zoot Suit?
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Lawrence
That's a hell of a big amazing vocal! Wonderful stuff.
Excellent song, nice use of the band and a good set of lyrics.
Really nice all round.
Peter Thanks Peter. Glad you enjoyed it.
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Lawrence & Belladonna
This is simply outstanding.
You've got those horns piping hot. You got the vocals sitting there just great.
This cooks, from start to finish.
Top effort, team! Thank you for listening and commenting. It was fun.
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Hi Lawrence and Donna
Great job in this. Wonderful lyrics and a wonderful interpretation. More collabs please! Hi Joanne! So far this is the year of the collabs. More indeed!
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Wow!!!! Wonderful take on my song lyrics. I love it. I would have never thought to do it that way. It's really great seeing others creativity. Loved your vocals. My husband's favorite music is the big band sound as he used to play alto sax. He thought it was really COOL!!! Thank you so much and really appreciate how you made the lyrics come to life in a big way.
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Donna & Lawrence - a nice combination of lyric & music...
Lawrence, your vocal on this is powerful and free. There is "fun" in the sing - a real delight in a vocal.
The horns sound great! They fit so well and really carry the underlying track.
Especially like the way you handled the bridge.
A truly excellent listen.
fj Hello Floyd. I did five takes of the vocal and comped the final from three of them. It was a work of joy. The chord changes were partly inspired from the "generate intro" function. And I massaged it from there. Especially For jazz, after you've typed in your arrangement that function is a wonderful idea expander.
Last edited by gruverider; 01/28/18 06:58 AM.
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Nice collaboration!
Fun lyrics and production, enjoyed the listen.
Re: the vocal rider plugin, great tool! I use it all the time here too. Dave, I've never used the vocal rider before this song. And at first I overused it, I set the sensitivity to high. But after I dialed it back and got comfortable with it I wound up using it on the horns and the piano, and bought the Bass Rider and put it on the bass and drums (just a touch). To my ear it adds a bit of focus. Thanks!
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Hey Lawrence, loved the style of the song and your voice as well. Thanks for mentioning the vocal rider! I spend so much time on setting levels for vocals. This sounds like the perfect solution!
 Steve BIAB/RB 2022, Pro Tools 2020, Korg N5, JBL LSR 4328 Powered Monitors, AKG/Shure Mics.
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Lawrence,
This is really outstanding - a great interpretation of Belladonna's lyrics. I love the vocal styling and big band sound.
You should sing more in this style - you really have a feel for it...
Production and mix is excellent as well.
Bob
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Dear "gruverider"... Man, let me tell you something, and I mean right now. I compose music mostly in the jazz genre, and there is no way in the world I would EVER, ever have imagined Ms. Belladonna's lyrics for "Bottom Dollar Blues" being set in a big band arrangement. This has got to be one of the most original takes on a set of lyrics that I've ever heard. Step up, step up to the podium and accept your award, "gruverider"!!! Your music combined with Ms. Belladonna's vividly descriptive lyrics makes the song sound as though it was composed during the 30's at the height of the Depression, when damn near every American was suffering from the real "Bottom Dollar Blues" and attempting to lift their spirits a little by listening and dancing to upbeat numbers such as "We're In The Money". It would have been a sure hit because your danceable, cheek-to-cheek, smooth-as-silk arrangement would have enabled folks to put just enough distance between themselves and the hard reality of their Depression-era woes so that they could look down at them -- if only for no longer than the time it took to dance to it -- rather than look forward to more suffering, which was certain. I tip my hat to your originality, "gruverider". Bravo -- and would you ask the waiter to bring us more champagne with that order of caviar, please  ??? LOREN
Last edited by bluage; 01/28/18 11:30 AM.
"Music is what feelings sound like."-- borrowed from a Cakewalk Music Creator forum member, "Mamabear".
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Amen Bluage. I second the post.
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