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****** Song Summary ************* Title: Whol' Lotta Bossa Goin' On!Key = Am, Tempo @ 170, Length = 2:29 Style is _B140_GB.STY (Contemporary Med. Bossa) interpolated with three varieties of Afro-Cuban/Latin styles from Band-in-a-Box. RealTracks in style: Ron Carter on Bass, Acoustic, Bossa,Ron Ev. 140, #2284 Oliver Gannon, Guitar, Nylon, Soloist, Samba Ev. 190, #1094 Oliver Gannon, Guitar, Electric, Rhythm, Bossa Ev. 140, #467 Gary Smulyan, Sax, Baritone, Soloist, Bossa, Gary Ev. 140 #2142 Craig Scott, Bossa Brushes: a: Sidestick Brushes b: Sidestick, Ride Loop(s): Guiro [Percussion Loops\Loop124bpm Guiro 8ths 4 bars.wma] Other instruments include a vibraslap from Sonic Foundry Latin Loops, and a kick drum loop from Zero G’s Nu Bossa sample pack. The song form is…I don’t know, really, but it includes a 16-bar intro, followed by a pair of 8-bar verses of vocalese lyrics performed by me. A 4-bar bridge occurs with a style change to BOSSONM.STY (Son Montuno w / bossa drums). Gary Smulyan solos on baritone sax for 16 bars. A second 4-bar bridge comes in with another style, _SONMOPC.STY. (Son Montuno). Oliver Gannon solos on nylon guitar (he sounds like he could have performed on the soundtrack for the 1959 film Black Orpheus!!!) for 16 bars, followed by a third and final bridge of SONTRIO.STY (Cuban Son Montuno), after which the pair of 8-bar vocalese lyrics are re-visited and lead to a 4-bar ending. To forum member ‘rayc’: You seem to be the resident mixologist/sound engineer on the forum, so I’m particularly interested in your comments on the production, though I welcome comments from all others concerning that aspect. The song is dedicated to the late João Gilberto (June 10th, 1931 – July 6th, 2019), the Brazilian singer, songwriter, and guitarist, who according to Wikipedia “was a pioneer of the musical genre of bossa nova in the late 1950s. Around the world he was often called "father of bossa nova"; in his native Brazil, he was referred to as "O Mito" ("The Legend"). https://www.soundclick.com/music/songInfo.cfm?songID=13929290
Last edited by bluage; 10/05/19 07:20 AM.
"Music is what feelings sound like."-- borrowed from a Cakewalk Music Creator forum member, "Mamabear".
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Loren,
A very enjoyable piece.
All of the instruments have a real "presence"...crisp and clear. The percussion really brings it to life.
The vocals sound really cool panned as they are. They really "pop" - sounded like there were two people standing here in the room on either side of my.
fj
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I feel you used the Styles really smartly in this song! Great job.
Cheers,
Ember
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Firstly--a masterful use of the program here. The style changes are delicious. Though I had trouble keeping up with your description at such a high tempo, the results/rhythmical changes were inventive and fun to listen to. Both sax and guitar solos were coherent and beautiful. The vocals were well done, and the panning was effective. I especially liked the descending line at the end of the piece. I'm not a Bossa expert, but if the point of the thing is to produce a feeling of happiness mixed with sensuality, then you've nailed it. Greatly enjoyed.
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Very nice. Smooth as butter, and very nice arrangement, kept it interesting. Really enjoyed listening to this!
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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That was a whole lot of Bossa indeed.
I'm just a home recording song writer like everyone else - being a retiree probably gives me more time to muse though.
My 1st thought was about the bass being a little to the side. It works but isn't entirely balanced by the acoustic on the other side.
Having bass & bass drum up the middle is no longer essential as we aren't trying to keep the stylus from jumping out of the grooves but it's a convention of the "stereo image" that is imprinted in my mind.
Putting the two bass instruments up the middle does mean a little EQ carving of the frequencies they overlap in - one has to have the meat in that sandwich. At present the bass dominates and the kick drum is subordinate.
The nylon string guitar solo didn't grab me - melodically or tonally. It may benefit from a little more presence but I think it's just my expectation that it'd pick up some of the melody that is the problem.
In terms of your arrangement I see the reasoning and to change it to a more conventional image you'd need to add another guitar or something else which would probably clutter things.
The hard panned vocals are very much of the era of 60s pop bossanova so there's nothing to comment on there.
The whole package is eurobossonova poptastic - the sort of thing I'd expect to hear in an Italian or Spanish movie - all that's missing is the high gloss lipstick female vocal on one side. To put it into a simile to match your style: as light & frothy as the top of a cappuccino with good espresso underneath.
Cheers
rayc
"What's so funny about peace, love & understanding?" - N.Lowe
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Enjoyed it, just too short, wanted more! Well done!
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Nice groove! And overall a fun song, I enjoyed the listen. Also enjoyed Loren's Lounge which started playing right afterwards.
Nice work!
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Hi Loren,
I like very much Bossa-Nova and I find in your instrumental the same atmosphere that in Jorge Ben's song " Mas que nada ".
It's always a pleasure to listen to this musical style played so well.
Thanks for that. Christian
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Wonderfully upbeat! It does sound like it belongs in a movie from the 50's. A movie I would watch in a heartbeat.
Very well put together. Inspirational!
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Hi Loren ...
Yes sir! Di and I are H-U-G-E fans of almost all Latin styles of music, Bossa being our favorite, followed closely by Samba (got a Samba in the works!).
That was a real pleasure. The style change was very effective ... as smooth as warm butter on a hot bun. Excellent choices on the backing tracks. The vocal pan was very effective and most enjoyable. The finished product reminded me of a jigsaw puzzle in a way ... lots of pieces that had to be perfectly interlocked to finish the piece and then such a gorgeous picture after the last piece was locked in.
This is one of our favorite listens of the recently posted songs. I think Di hit the proverbial nail on the head ... could have been the soundtrack in an early James Bond movie (when Sean Connery was still playing the part) when the setting was Spanish or Latin. That would have been really cool!
Great work ... such a pleasure to listen to. Wishing you the very best ...
Alan & Di
Last edited by Al-David; 10/06/19 10:51 AM.
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João Gilberto would be very pleased with this production and arrangement.
Absolutely everything has been delivered.
The scat worked so well throughout the song also.
Great!
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Loren,
A very enjoyable piece.
All of the instruments have a real "presence"...crisp and clear. The percussion really brings it to life.
The vocals sound really cool panned as they are. They really "pop" - sounded like there were two people standing here in the room on either side of my.
fj
Hello, Floyd Jane... You 'have ears' for all kinds of music, don't you  . I believe I've read your comments on every genre of music presented to the User's Forum...and that's a GOOD thing, something I strive to do, myself. I'm grateful for your positive assessment of ' the mix'. I assure you it's primarily the result of listening closely to User's Forum posts, while trying to imagine what technical decisions they made to get the sound they desired. The 'panning' effect you noticed was achieved by loading the vocal tracks into Sony Audio Studio 9.0, and then applying to each of them the 'Process > Invert/Flip' command, which 'threw' the tracks to opposite sides of the sound field. Thank you for listening to the music, Floyd Jane! Sincerely, - bluage -
"Music is what feelings sound like."-- borrowed from a Cakewalk Music Creator forum member, "Mamabear".
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I feel you used the Styles really smartly in this song! Great job. Dear Ms. Ember... Where Band-in-a-Box goes, I follow . Thanks for giving it your atttention! Truly, - bluage -
"Music is what feelings sound like."-- borrowed from a Cakewalk Music Creator forum member, "Mamabear".
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I'm not a Bossa expert, but if the point of the thing is to produce a feeling of happiness mixed with sensuality, then you've nailed it. Greatly enjoyed. Hello, 'Tangmo'... I don't think I'm a 'bossa expert', either, but your inspired comment would have me nominating you for being -- or becoming -- such an expert because of the sublimely beautiful way you described your experience of listening to the piece! You caused me to hear it a different, startling, unique way: 'happiness mixed with sensuality'. I like that, 'Tangmo'. I like that a lot. Thank you! - bluage -
"Music is what feelings sound like."-- borrowed from a Cakewalk Music Creator forum member, "Mamabear".
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Very nice. Smooth as butter, and very nice arrangement, kept it interesting. Really enjoyed listening to this!
Steve
Mr. Young... What would we do with out the word 'butter' to describe the concept of 'smoothness', eh??? Nothing can beat it...except a whisk, that is  . I'm glad to read that you enjoyed listening to it. Thank you for checkin' it out! - bluage -
"Music is what feelings sound like."-- borrowed from a Cakewalk Music Creator forum member, "Mamabear".
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'rayc'... You're right about "the bass being a little to the side." I made that decision because, with my severely limited knowledge of sound engineering, I couldn't figure out another way to prevent such a sub-toned instrument from getting lost in 'the mix'.  I'd love to hear how you would arrive at a solution to that problem. Frankly, the kick drum track was problematic for me. I wanted it to really punch through the mix, but I didn't see a way to do that without encountering that dreaded monster known as 'clipping' . "The whole package is eurobossonova poptastic." Man, I dig that  !!! And I agree that it would have been great to have a female vocalist perform one of the vocalese tracks. I'll do that in the second version. Thanks for the quick 'master class', 'rayc' !!! I knew you'd give the piece a deep listen. I appreciate your insights. Most sincerely, - bluage -
"Music is what feelings sound like."-- borrowed from a Cakewalk Music Creator forum member, "Mamabear".
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Enjoyed it, just too short, wanted more! Well done! Hello, 'Tunemonger' (nice handle!)... On the 'too short' thing, I felt the same way. But then, after considering how I might have 'padded it out', by adding more solos, perhaps, or by changing the dynamics of the arrangement somehow, suddenly it occurred to me that maybe, just maybe, shorter could be sweeter !!! Thank you for tuning in, and commenting, too, 'Tunemonger'. - bluage -
"Music is what feelings sound like."-- borrowed from a Cakewalk Music Creator forum member, "Mamabear".
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Nice groove! And overall a fun song, I enjoyed the listen. Also enjoyed Loren's Lounge which started playing right afterwards.
Nice work! 'Blue Attitude'... About 'the groove', I wanted to crank-up the tempo to hear how much more groovier it could get !!! I'm glad you enjoyed listening to Loren's Lounge, too. Thank you for taking the time to audition the piece, 'Blue Attitude'. - bluage -
"Music is what feelings sound like."-- borrowed from a Cakewalk Music Creator forum member, "Mamabear".
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Hi Loren,
I like very much Bossa-Nova and I find in your instrumental the same atmosphere that in Jorge Ben's song " Mas que nada ".
It's always a pleasure to listen to this musical style played so well.
Thanks for that. Christian Dear 'Chris37'... Well, sir, you win the award for guessing what the source of my inspiration for this song was: Mas Que Nada. I mean, you hit it on the head !!! That was it, exactly. Obviously, you do 'like very much Bossa-Nova', because that's what it would take to so accurately discern the influence. 'Chris37', thank you for listening so closely. I'm happy that you were happy with the song! Sincerely, - bluage -
"Music is what feelings sound like."-- borrowed from a Cakewalk Music Creator forum member, "Mamabear".
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