PG Music Home Forums General Discussion Off-Topic "Cloudy Day", songwriting, and Fiverr.com

For whatever interest there is, and so as not to clutter up the "showcase" post, I thought I'd post some other notes about this song, why (and a bit of how) it was written, and my experience with Fiverr for both vocalists and solo sax.

About nine or ten months ago, through a friend here, I came in contact with a playwright. He was heavily involved in community theater in the US as a playwright, and producer before he retired. In chatting, he told me about a play he was working on based on the expat experience.

In trading war stories, I told him that I was an amateur song-writer and (very much unlike most people who hear this) he was intrigued and asked me to send him links to some of my songs.

This led to that, and he contacted me a few months ago and asked if he could use one of my songs in the play. Of course I agreed. Then he asked if it was possible for me to write a song or two especially for the play. I'd been messing with BIAB, and though I hadn't written a proper "song" in a while, I told him I'd try.

And that's when I ran into the wall of being "dry" and unable to write in my current "happy/contented" emotional state. So I started a thread here about that. It wasn't for nothing...I essentially had a "commission" and a deadline.

Well, cracks began to appear in the creative dam from that thread and its participants, and I managed to write at least the basics of a lyric. I read the screenplay (at least the draft that was available) and borrowed some short lines from it as well as the tone and "theme" behind one of the scenes/vignettes.

I sent it to him, and he liked it. He told me if I could finish the song he'd guarantee it a prominent spot as an "act" ending piece.

So I set to work with lyric and rough melody in mind and did the backing in BIAB, The stipulations was: It had to be in the key of Bb. He did not have a male soloist in his little cast, and the female part in this vignette asked for music to be in "her" key as she was going to be singing a sort of "songlet" that is interrupted by this one and they did not want to change key.

So I adjusted my melody (though not my general phrasing) and finished.

But when I tried to sing it anywhere near how I heard it in my head, I was grossly disappointed in how badly years of disuse had weakened my already pretty weak singing voice. There was no way my vocal was going to work at all, much less in his setting.

So we talked again, and I mentioned that I'd heard about fiverr.com. I hadn't had any experience with it, but I'd heard a bit about it. He said, OK...gave me a small budget, and set me to it.

I went to fiverr and searched as best I could. Most male soloists were, of course, high-pitched IF I thought they could even handle the style at all. So armed with the world's worst vocal guide/demo I made my contacts and hoped for the best.

The first guy was quite good in certain respects, but I (and the producer, eventually) didn't feel his vocal was strong enough for the setting. I'm going to make a new mix and his performance will probably be as a reprise of the song later in the show--possibly even just before or after the final curtain.

The second guy was the one featured on the mix I've posted. He did very much what I asked him to do--set up the melody early, then open up and finally end "big". Though he missed a couple of the notes I "aimed at/fell short of" in my uber-crappy vocal demo, they were musical, and by the time he got to the end I was blown away. If I had it to do again, I'd ask him to cut the first two verse over (and I may yet, though my oversight may cost more money). The producer is well satisfied, but as the songwriter, I'd prefer the song was able to be "charted" the way I wrote it, even if I couldn't hit the notes either and the melody is very much malleable and open to interpretation.

The sax was my idea. I asked for two "verses" and a chorus as an instrumental break. Added to that, a two-bar "false ending" that would allow him to resolve to tonic before the song started again. He sent me three versions of that, plus another two versions that included the intro and the ending repeats. Needless to say, he got a tip. I'll use one of his other versions (or cut between them) for the other mix, as well as a somewhat different band.

My budget was $300. I didn't spend it all.

I knew my second vocalist was going to go BIG from his demos linked at fiverr, so I knew I was going to have to beef up the band to support him. Thus, I already had some alternative instruments ready to mix in that he did not have when he sang/recorded.

Anyway, this was the first song I've written not just "for fun" or on spec, but for placement. I'm told that a conservative estimate for the audience for the run of the play is about 1000 folks. Could be twice that, and if it's a roaring success they may take it on the road, so to speak, as it were. The final mix will be done by his sound-man specifically for the venue. I'm also putting together some incidental music, fillers, scene changers, etc. of various lengths. He'll choose which, if any, he'll want to use.

I won't get rich, and won't get famous, but I will do OK.

From the word "dust" to the difficulties I was having writing, to a particularly dry dry-season in Thailand, to a desire to just be with my wife again--all these influenced the writing (and other things as well). So, although the song takes the theme of "Cloudy Day"s and impending rain, it's really, at heart, a song about a guy trying to get his lady to quit worrying and, well...you know.

If you read this far, thanks. I hope you enjoy the song. I may or may not post the alternative mix with the other vocalist when it's finished. I'll just have to see how it turns out.

My thanks to all who contributed in their own way to it's completion...from discussion in the "Dry as Dust" thread to the heads up about fiverr, and the questions I had about how to communicate musical ideas with words. This forum rocks hard.

Great story Tangmo! Very inspiring, thanks for sharing!

Yeah, enjoyed reading the story and really enjoyed listening to the song that resulted from it!

Enjoyed the back story as well. Your start isn't all that different from artists that went on to become big in the industry so keep working on not getting "dry as dust" again anytime soon. Who knows what's around the bend. It's actually a pretty exciting beginning story.

That is a great story. The story is the essence of what the internet and Band-in-a-Box is all about. You go from rusty and neglect to daring to be great all because of one song.

The only things missing are ... wait for it now ... suspense build ... links to the posts in the User Showcase and to the "dust" thread.

I hope others find this as inspiring as I do. There are many ways to measure success and you, Tagmo, have a wonderful success story. You also have my deepest admiration for following the journey.

Very cool. Did you try to get the sax from real band? It does an amazing job on stuff like that. It's not playing the melody just comping around the chords...and that's what RB sax tracks excel at doing.

Singer sounds good. And nice job on the write. At one time when I was with TAXI I was writing in a similar manner. The listing would give a description and I'd try to write to it. It's a great learning experience and guaranteed to get you out of your rut and comfort zone. I'll post up an example of one that I wrote for this very thing in as little bit. Keep your eye on the showcase.

Thank you for telling that very inspiring story, Tangmo. I needed to hear a successful story like this as I am in a "dry" period as well.

I've heard about others that had good experiences with fiverr (and services like that) and I will for sure try to find a female vocalist there soon.

I'll go listen to your song now!

Thanks for sharing!

Will

Some of the takes the saxophone player cut were more improv than the one I used. I think RB could have done quite well with similar. Though I love Jazz (at least when it's reasonably accessible) I don't like it when they begin a "song" with pure improv. It's one thing to do that with a recognizable tune and either reharmonize or remelodize. It's another thing when the tune is unknown, as this one will be. So I wanted him to set up the melody (at least his interpretation of the melody) before he went more pure improv. Real Tracks would really only do that by "accident", or create a new melodic phrase.

A former partner and I dabbled a bit with Taxi, but it never really got going. I'm anxious to hear your piece. Some have mentioned "Bill Withers". I hear it too, but I think it's the combination of the vocal and the style that gets the credit for most of that resemblance. I told the singer the piece was kind of a throw-back to 70's southern pop soul, and in large measure he took it from there.

This is an older song where I did use the sax in it. Just some improv stuff.

Get Happy

BB is doing everything except the guitar.

That's a really interesting story! I've been seeing a lot of Fiverr reviews coming up lately and hiring musicians via Fiverr has been a common one I've seen. I think someone may have posted one on here as well at some point. What a world we live in.

Nice story and the song turned out great.