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Sipping Whiskey in the Rain My friend SteveS writes excellent Christian poetry. He was also a member of the group Pumping Station Road. He came to me with these lyrics and asked me to put them to a song. I wrote the melody and I'm playing the lap steel via my keyboard controller. I am also playing the bass guitar and rhythm guitar. The piano came from Band-in-a-Box. Steve is singing the vocal. This song started in BiaB using style MART Ballad Nashville Rock+. As I was recording I managed to replace all of the BiaB tracks, thus nothing from this style remained. The piano is SuperMIDITrack (I hate that name) 2087: Piano, Rhythm Pop Ballad John EV 85. The drums are from drum MIDI loops. As always all comments are welcomed.
Life is short so make sure you spend as much time as possible on the Internet arguing with strangers.
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Journeyman
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Now that is a great country song!!!!,, Wow that lap steel is just plain awesome, as well as vocals, and everything else. I love this son Mario.
Cliff
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Hi Mario,
You and and Steve have done a terrific job.
You've created a very authentic pedal steel with your controller keyboard! I love the 'crying' effect that it adds to this 'tears in the beer glass' styled song.
Kudos on all your live playing! All the tracks sit together comfortably in the mix.
I don't know if this is useful information or not, but I'll mention it in case it is (it's purely a personal preference thing).... Did you try having the pedal steel 1 - 2 db softer so that it was like 'crying and sobbing in the background' rather than sitting quite so up front? While every thing in the mix is well balanced as it stands, I found myself wondering what effect using a softer pedal steel would create. So I pass on that thought. As I said... just a personal preference and curiosity kind of thing.
This is really, really good listening.
All the best,
Noel
MY SONGS...Audiophile BIAB 2026
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Very cool tune Mario. Loved the vocal and lyric. Lapsteel was excellent. Well done.
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A nice song with a really well suited backing.
Controller lap is well done!
The vocals start with a prominent ESSS that could be addressed with a little vocal automation the sibilance isn't that big an issue elsewhere.
The melody is cool - but very familiar.
Cool.
Cheers
rayc
"What's so funny about peace, love & understanding?" - N.Lowe
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Love your SuperMIDITrack….  As others said, I like the lapsteel, turned out really good. Steve's voice works out nicely in the mix too. For what it's worth, I'm not the Steve S. Mario is talking about....
 Steve BIAB/RB 2022, Pro Tools 2020, Korg N5, JBL LSR 4328 Powered Monitors, AKG/Shure Mics.
PC: Win11 PRO, 4 TB M2 SSD, 2 TB HD, 128 GB Memory
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Mario & Steve...
A classic sound all around. The overall sound, the melody and the lyric. Real turn-back-the-clock stuff.
I liked Steve's vocal - like a well worn pair of jeans...comfortable...
Enjoyed.
fj
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Mario & Steve, you’ve created a great sounding classic country tune. I agree with Noel about backing off the volume of the steel. It is amazing the sound you got though. Good one, Tom
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Now that is a great country song!!!!,, Wow that lap steel is just plain awesome, as well as vocals, and everything else. I love this son Mario.
Cliff Thanx so much Cliff. I really like that lap steel sound. I also purchased a good pedal steel that I want to incorporate in a song.
Life is short so make sure you spend as much time as possible on the Internet arguing with strangers.
64 bit Win 10 Pro, the latest BiaB/RB, Roland Octa-Capture audio interface, a ton of software/hardware
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Hi Mario,
You and and Steve have done a terrific job.
You've created a very authentic pedal steel with your controller keyboard! I love the 'crying' effect that it adds to this 'tears in the beer glass' styled song.
Kudos on all your live playing! All the tracks sit together comfortably in the mix.
I don't know if this is useful information or not, but I'll mention it in case it is (it's purely a personal preference thing).... Did you try having the pedal steel 1 - 2 db softer so that it was like 'crying and sobbing in the background' rather than sitting quite so up front? While every thing in the mix is well balanced as it stands, I found myself wondering what effect using a softer pedal steel would create. So I pass on that thought. As I said... just a personal preference and curiosity kind of thing.
This is really, really good listening.
All the best,
Noel Thanx Noel. That is a good suggestion that I will try on my next country song. I really didn't notice that until you mentioned it so thanx for that.
Life is short so make sure you spend as much time as possible on the Internet arguing with strangers.
64 bit Win 10 Pro, the latest BiaB/RB, Roland Octa-Capture audio interface, a ton of software/hardware
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This has on old Willie Nelson feel and sound about it.
I like 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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Very cool tune Mario. Loved the vocal and lyric. Lapsteel was excellent. Well done. Thanx so much for listening and commenting. It is much appreciated, especially since I have had little time to listening and/or recording lately.
Life is short so make sure you spend as much time as possible on the Internet arguing with strangers.
64 bit Win 10 Pro, the latest BiaB/RB, Roland Octa-Capture audio interface, a ton of software/hardware
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A nice song with a really well suited backing.
Controller lap is well done!
The vocals start with a prominent ESSS that could be addressed with a little vocal automation the sibilance isn't that big an issue elsewhere.
The melody is cool - but very familiar.
Cool. Thanx for those comments. I'll have to look for that ESSSS as I didn't catch that. It wouldn't be the first time that I wrote a song only to find out someone else did it earlier 
Life is short so make sure you spend as much time as possible on the Internet arguing with strangers.
64 bit Win 10 Pro, the latest BiaB/RB, Roland Octa-Capture audio interface, a ton of software/hardware
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Love your SuperMIDITrack…. As others said, I like the lapsteel, turned out really good. Steve's voice works out nicely in the mix too. For what it's worth, I'm not the Steve S. Mario is talking about.... Thanx for listening the other SteveS! I did very little modification on that SuperMIDITrack.
Life is short so make sure you spend as much time as possible on the Internet arguing with strangers.
64 bit Win 10 Pro, the latest BiaB/RB, Roland Octa-Capture audio interface, a ton of software/hardware
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Mario & Steve...
A classic sound all around. The overall sound, the melody and the lyric. Real turn-back-the-clock stuff.
I liked Steve's vocal - like a well worn pair of jeans...comfortable...
Enjoyed.
fj Thanx for those comments Floyd! I do like old time country. Steve can sing when he gets motivated.
Life is short so make sure you spend as much time as possible on the Internet arguing with strangers.
64 bit Win 10 Pro, the latest BiaB/RB, Roland Octa-Capture audio interface, a ton of software/hardware
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Mario & Steve, you’ve created a great sounding classic country tune. I agree with Noel about backing off the volume of the steel. It is amazing the sound you got though. Good one, Tom Thanx Tommy. I like the old classic country tunes. They sure beat the new Nashville country that is on the radio today. But as always YMMV.
Life is short so make sure you spend as much time as possible on the Internet arguing with strangers.
64 bit Win 10 Pro, the latest BiaB/RB, Roland Octa-Capture audio interface, a ton of software/hardware
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Sipping Whiskey in the Rain
My friend SteveS writes excellent Christian poetry Mario, I can't lie. I was going to listen to your song either way but seeing the title then THIS had me wondering all kinds of things! Very cool song all the way around. I always enjoy your songs; and this was no exception. Thanks for bringing this to the showcase. You never disappoint! ...and I'm still wondering all kinds of things.  Like, how do you play lap steel with a midi controller? It sounds GREAT, however you are doing it!
Last edited by HearToLearn; 10/25/19 02:42 AM.
Chad (Hope that makes it easier)
TEMPO TANTRUM: What a lead singer has when they can't stay in time.
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The melody of this song is really lovely. Thanks for sharing!
Cheers,
Ember
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Fun tune. With a title like that, it's hard to go wrong. I'm curious which VSTi you used for the pedal steel. I'm asking because I've so far been able to resist buying the Indiginus electric steel, because BiaB already has lots of excellent steel guitars. But listening to that sweet sound in your song isn't helping my resolve.
-- David Cuny My virtual singer development blogVocal control, you say. Never heard of it. Is that some kind of ProTools thing?BiaB 2025 | Windows 11 | Reaper | Way too many VSTis.
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'MarioD' & 'Steve'...
I could hear the raindrops drumming on the roof as I listened to Sipping Wiskey in the Rain. The sad melody was instantly memorable, which I strongly credit Steve for because of the authentic-sounding regret and resignation in his voice.
That lap steel performance pulled on my heart-strings as much as Steve's vocal did! And the music? It's like the sound of memories from earlier, happy days.
LOREN (a.k.a. 'bluage')
"Music is what feelings sound like."-- borrowed from a Cakewalk Music Creator forum member, "Mamabear".
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