PG Music Home Forums General Discussion User Showcase Waiting in the Wings (album title track)

Hope I am not going to bore everyone with this long post but I've spent the past few months working on a new 12-song country style album called 'Waiting in the Wings' and I finally released it digitally in Sept so it is now on all the major download and streaming sites. I also made a new Soundcloud site for the album so here is the link to the title track https://soundcloud.com/tonycliffsongs/waiting-in-the-wings

I made use of BIAB quite a bit throughout the making of the album as it is so strong in the country music field. I utilised some of the RealTracks and RealDrums and sometimes using BIAB as a kind of launchpad for prompting and testing my ideas. On the title track I used the BIAB RealDrum track plus some RealTrack acoustic guitars. However another way I am indebted to PG Music is that I ended up collaborating with forum member Donna Evans who wrote the lyrics for 9 of the songs. Since I am in the UK and she is in the USA it was really great to work with Donna who gave me a fresh and different US perspective on the songs. Sometimes she sent me lyrics and I worked on the music and other times I'd send her rough musical ideas for her to come up with a lyric. She was very flexible about changing things where necessary and it was a total pleasure to work with her overall. On the album I did all the music arranging, playing and recording as well as the vocals. I am a specialist piano and keyboard player but I also play guitar (mainly acoustic). I'm not sure I consider myself a lead singer but since I was the one always available I got the job!.

In making the 'Waiting in the Wings' track I rendered the wave files from BIAB and then placed them into REAPER which is my DAW of choice. I EQ'd the RealDrums quite a bit to remove the boominess of the bass drum. I also added occasional cymbals using Addictive Drums. I wanted some resonator guitar so I made a few RealTracks from resonator Solo RT2041 Country Bob. I think I may have actually made these using RealBand rather than BIAB. I then put these wave files into REAPER and went through each, choosing the best bits and then using REAPER automation to fade them in and out at the correct places. I was pleased with the solo part which I used in the intro and also the links and a short solo in the middle. For the bass I played in using the bass part using Spectrasonics Trilian. I always like to make my own bass parts and Trilian is great as once you have created your bass part you can add extra MIDI notes to create a slide effect up or other bass playing features. I also used some guitar BIAB accompaniment tracks as listed below. For piano I played this using a modern upright instrument from Ivory 2 pianos and then I added my own acoustic guitar playing to the mix too. Vocals was my voice plus I added a couple of vocal harmony parts. Then I played in some background strings using ProjectSAM ‘Orchestral Essentials’. In the Bridge section I added some percussion using the excellent 'Shimmer Shake Strike'. Vocals effects was mainly iZotope Nectar for everything except EQ where I used the brilliant EQ DMG EQuality to make a preset to suit my voice.

For the track the BIAB style was _FOLKRKG.STY (Folk-Pop 12 String w/ Electric G)
RealTracks in style: ~896:Guitar, 12-String Acoustic, Rhythm FolkRock Ev 100
RealTracks in style: 798:Guitar, Electric, Rhythm SouthernSnappyClean Ev 090 (A:quarters)
RealDrums in style: NashvilleEven8^1-a:Sidestick, HiHat , b:Snare, Ride
Plus of course the extra resonator guitar tracks.

The album is on Spotify and all the other streaming sites as well as Bandcamp and all the major music download sites. Like many musicians I am pretty bad at the marketing side of things which seems to be the most important aspect nowadays. I am hoping that my songs might get picked up by better singers than me in the future. At least you can get music out there now but the really tricky thing is getting people to actually find your music amongst the millions of tracks available.

Anyway sorry I may have been writing too much but I hope this may be of help or interest to fellow musicians and songwriters. Please have a listen to the other tracks on the album too. In fact if people want me to write more about my whole process of my album production I'd be happy to write a longer article at some point in the future.

Wishing you all happy songwriting

Tony

It was so great to work with Tony and even better that I met him on this very BIAB site. We worked together quite well and the album was so much fun. I am mainly a lyricist and a mediocre musician so was happy that Tony could do the music parts. It would be great to get feedback from other musicians on this site as I know there are some very talented people here. Thanks to BIAB for providing such a wonderful platform of like minded souls and sharing all the tips and ideas from others. Donna Evans/Belladonna

He'd better watch out.

Lovely piece. A really nice progression. It went a little longer in the chorus than I was anticipating, but under those last two lines, buttoned it up good.

A great lyric idea executed very well by writer and singer.

Here's a thought for the both of you. Think about writing a companion piece intended for female vocal from her point of view. AND, maybe even from the groom's POV.

I'm no Simon Cowell, but there may be a suite of songs come out of that intended for the stage. The whole "waiting in the wings" motif is a theatrical expression, after all.

Just a thought I wanted to share.

THEN...find you a playwright, better before than after you write the next one or two, and get a collab going. I had a friend in south Texas working via internet on a musical with another friend in upstate NY. I don't know what became of it, but I know they did it. At the least, it may be better than being that song-in-a-million looking for placement.



ps...If you're really liberal, it doesn't have to be a female voice. I'm just saying, is all.

Hi Donna & Tony,

Very, very nice song! Such a pleasant listen. Kudos to both of you - a job well done! Collabs can be so much fun and result in greta music like this! best to both of you - and good luck with the album. Also, loved the key modulation - great touch!!!

Alan

Wow! What a really nice song this is… Pleasure to listen to… I don’t think I could suggest a single improvement. The lyrics are great, vocal performance really good, the overall mix and selection of parts works great… Great collaboration!

A pleasant listen. Nicely mixed. The vocal is quite nice.

Tangmo that's a great idea for future writing and a great example of out of the box thinking. I'll definitely keep it in mind and see where it could go. Thanks Alan, so nice to talk to you again. Thanks Tano music and Floyd James for your comments. I've been off the BIAB site for a while, quite busy with my day job and then writing for Tony 14 songs. I also did FAWM in February 14 songs and just finished 50/90 where I did 20 songs. I'm getting a bigger laptop soon and will update my BIAB with the Ultra and Xtra Paks and hopefully can also start doing some music to post. Thanks everyone, you all are the best!!

Thanks Tangmo, Alan, Tano Music and Floyd Jane for some nice comments. Some people even liked my vocals! I'll post some other songs from the album over the next few weeks. Thanks again

Great song and a story I can relate to, as I had almost the same experience when I was younger. So the song made my thoughts fly back in time and lots of memories came up.
Your song made me sad, but only quality music can do that!

Well done, Tony and Donna!
Will

Very pretty tune!! Melodically, this has a very classic feel....like a track from a 70's or 80's film (from me, that is a high compliment since I love those kind of well-crafted songs). Very nicely arranged, sung, and mixed. A sweet, classy tune!! Take care. Greg

Very nice...as Greg alluded to it has a cinematic feel.

Well written, performed and mixed!

J&B

Excellent tune. Super vocal and loved resonator. Good luck with your album

What a tune! Love the old school vibes here. Reminds of something that would have come out in 70's - definitely a compliment A great groove, with a stunning standout vocal performance. Nicely catchy too.

Thanks for sharing!

Thanks for those comments. 70's vibe guess I'm just retro! Fashionably retro of course.