I left you some months ago for several reasons, but none had to do with you. In case you missed me; I'm back. But anyhow, this song took me some time and I changed it all the time in whatever way. The story is simple; I fell in love with a painting and so on... But then some weeks ago my cat dissapeared. Haven't seen him since then. Then I thought to change the lyrics for this, but I didn't. I only added his picture on the cover with a baloon. So if you have seen him, give me a call.
Some days ago I got Ozone 10 and I'm experimenting with it. So I'm very curious what you think of the sound of this song. And I also promise to catch up with your songs if all goes well again.
The lyrics you can read on SoundCloud, here is the technicall stuff: Style: DIGRESS.STY (Digress Songwriter Night Ride) Key: A,tempo: 95 Used instruments Bass, 2939: Frettless Piano, 1262: Acoustic Guitar, 2718:Gitaar, Nylon, Fingerpicking Guitar, 1118 Acoustic rhythm 12 str. Guitar, 3351 Baritone (Swampy Blues) Synth pad, 1841 Solo guitar, 3353 Electric, (Swampy Blues) Drums: Moody Songwriter Pop [Multi] Keyboard: Native Instruments, Session Instruments, El. Mint
Man, I am so glad you're here, too, Hans. And what a bang of a gift you brought with you. Yeah, if my wife had one wish it would be to have our cat Stevie come home. She left with her brother Stash in July. He came back after 3 weeks. Yes, I've missed you... well, let's say more than I miss Stevie.
I gave this beauty a few spins and really like the song a ton --a metric ton. For my taste it seems a bit... well, I'd add a Master Rebalance at the start of the chain and bring down the drums a bit, or at least add a Vintage EQ and cut the highs just a bit. Sorry, I have no more help than opinions.
Hey, but this is just the first welcome-back-Hans comment. The others know a lot more than I do.
Last edited by BabuMusic; 09/30/2203:14 AM.
Enjoy whatever happens! marty
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@babumusic51 SoundCloud: https://soundcloud.com/marty-straub Band in a Box, Reaper, Cakewalk, Ozone 12, EZDrummer
Hey man, if health is one of the reasons we do hope that all is well and that you're stronger than ever.
Nice use of BiaB, great vocal delivery and interesting lyrics.
https://soundcloud.com/user-646279677 BiaB 2026 Windows For me there’s no better place in the band than to have one leg in the harmony world and the other in the percussive. Thank you Paul Tutmarc and Leo Fender.
Hey Hans, you have your own style that shows through on any song you present here. This song reminded me of the movie "Laura." If you like noir, it's a good film. Vocals sound great on this. Lyrics have that mildly enigmatic quality you usually have. Glad you're back, so sorry about your cat. Hope he's okay.
Windows 11, Intel Core I5 10400, 16 gig ram, Scarlett 2i2, Sony Acid Music Studio 10, BIAB 2020 UltraPlus Pak
Welkom terug meneer, A terrific song to drop in with. It made me think about the many pronunciations of "portrait" amongst other things. Your voice is cool - it seems to have far less processing or, at least, far less obvious processing. Dit is een goede!
This was popular when I was a teen...
Last edited by rayc; 09/30/2202:43 PM.
Cheers rayc "What's so funny about peace, love & understanding?" - N.Lowe
Really great song Hans. Very powerful and very well sung. Love the music too.
Ik luisterde met oortjes in en dan zijn de instrumenten die links en rechts gepanned zijn iets te luid, want ze overstemmen je zang daar. Dit kan ik beter omschrijven in het Nederlands dan in het Engels
Groetjes, Anne-Marie
PS ik stuur je nog een mailtje
We are Rob Meulman and Anne-Marie Bovenkamp from The Netherlands.
also liked the synth work at the back of the song.
lovely guitar work closeing out the song at end.
i salute your talent mate.
best
om
my songs....mixed for good earbuds...(fyi..my vocs on all songs..) https://soundcloud.com/alfsongs (90 songs created useing bb/rb) (lots of tips of mine in pg tips forum.)
Welcome back, Hans! And what a comeback, absolutely stunning work! Interesting subject on different kind of love given super treatment. Nice name dropping, although I'm not sure even Einstein could fly through time The chord progression in minor is perfect, straight to my heart. And the sad melody supports the story exactly. Good intro and a beautiful way to end.
What an excellent arrangement, so much happening all the time, really like a painting with lots of details and beautiful emotional voices in the center. Those guitars are very well chosen, the nylon guitar takes back many centuries and then the baritone, you can always trust its power, then the blues solo guitar is perfect fit to give blues mood. Strings sound excellent - really lush.
I bought also Ozone 10, I tried to use it on my recent song, but decided not to, because it sounded overcompressed.... well, maybe tweaking Maximizer might help. But you have done really good job with it, I didn't hear any compression issues. Very spacious mix, nicely panned.
Cool song!!!! Your vocals are always great, and this is no exception!! Very good arrangement/production!! Sorry to hear about your cat. My favorite cat (who was clueless outside the house) disappeared many years ago.....still miss him! Nice song!!! Take care. Greg
Hans...great track...well sung...very interesting and engaging song...really fine production!
www.soundclick.com/firesong BiaB 2024, Steinberg Cubase Pro 13, Wavelab 11.2, SpetraLayers Pro 10, Audacity, Steinberg UR44 Interface, Yamaha Genos, Roland FP60 and FP10, Windows 10
You are who you are because you do what you do because of what you believe.
So good to see you back on the board . . . and more importantly to hear something new from you. Creative write and that chorus is powerful, some beautiful harmonies accented by the strings . . . and then that rockier shift in the second verse. And, wow, love the delay/reverb in that third verse. Great arrangement, mix, and production. Terrific listen!
And sorry about your cat—I’ve got two and if one slipped away I’d be devastated. Maybe he’ll find his/her way back yet.
As always I enjoyed your comment. But let me tell you how it went. I was not feeling well and went to bed very early. Around 4 in the afternoon. Then read your comeent, listened to my song on my Ipad and heard it was all true what you wrote. Althought I thought I'd checked it all. I jumped out of bed, changed things in the song, got that vintage eq in my mastering and brought it out again. And it was late, I felt well, so you cured me (I think...) That's why no one after your post mentioned the things you did. What a help!
And about the cats. Mine never returned again or was detected. He must be dead. I had an apointment with the veth 20 minutes later than he dissapeared. He was sick, but a young strong animal. I was 20 minutes to late. and I begged for a miracle like with your Stevie. I would call him Stevie Wo.. (ah, you now what I would say!)
Originally Posted By: BabuMusic
Man, I am so glad you're here, too, Hans. And what a bang of a gift you brought with you. Yeah, if my wife had one wish it would be to have our cat Stevie come home. She left with her brother Stash in July. He came back after 3 weeks. Yes, I've missed you... well, let's say more than I miss Stevie.
I gave this beauty a few spins and really like the song a ton --a metric ton. For my taste it seems a bit... well, I'd add a Master Rebalance at the start of the chain and bring down the drums a bit, or at least add a Vintage EQ and cut the highs just a bit. Sorry, I have no more help than opinions.
Hey, but this is just the first welcome-back-Hans comment. The others know a lot more than I do.
Thanks a lot for your concerns and compliments. Health is sometimes a problem, but I still can smile, make jokes and songs. So that's a nice thing.
I like to experiment on little things to make my music. This song took me at least 3 months. Every time I thought, "now it's ready" but then decided to change it, sing it differently or whatever. Never had a song taken so long. Ok, the heath things and so also took time.
Originally Posted By: Bass Thumper
Hey man, if health is one of the reasons we do hope that all is well and that you're stronger than ever.
Nice use of BiaB, great vocal delivery and interesting lyrics.
A very nice comment you gave! And my song came to the forum just in time... You also were away. Let's hope we can continue making songs for a long time, Al All my best to Di
Originally Posted By: Al-David
Hi Hans ...
welcome back! I was gone for several weeks - just got back 2 days ago. It;'s good to have you back posting.
And this is a wonderful sonmg. Great concept and production. Really, really nice! Always enjoy your music a lot.
Of course I am a little slow in replying, but I had an excuse; got ill on severall days. Think because of the bad weather or the war in Ukrain, or whatever.
Floy posted this:
Originally Posted By: floyd jane
Hans,
Vocals sound good. BGVs, too. Instruments are crisp and clean. Good arrangement. A good sound. Good mix. Solid.
fj
I really liked what you wrote, Floyd! I was a bit afraid some tuning wasn't right, because working with Ozone 10 needed some practise. Thanks.
And TuneMonger wrote:
Originally Posted By: TuneMonger
Hey Hans, you have your own style that shows through on any song you present here. This song reminded me of the movie "Laura." If you like noir, it's a good film. Vocals sound great on this. Lyrics have that mildly enigmatic quality you usually have. Glad you're back, so sorry about your cat. Hope he's okay.
I didn't see 'Laura' but it must have been amazing ;-) And yes, I think noir movies I like, but only when followed by some funny stuff! I was intrigued by what wrote about the lyrics, but I like using metaphors in my writing. And the cat: never heard of him since. A tragedy, or maybe I'm too weak. People often say; "well, it's only a cat". But thanks for your compliments and attention.
And there was Ray:
Originally Posted By: rayc
Welkom terug meneer, A terrific song to drop in with. It made me think about the many pronunciations of "portrait" amongst other things. Your voice is cool - it seems to have far less processing or, at least, far less obvious processing. Dit is een goede!
This was popular when I was a teen...
Oh Ray, I knew you had Dutch roots (or maybe it was Google translate). I listened back to my pronouncation of all the portraits ,but they sounded more or less the same. But I have no English roots, of course! About the processing; the song had taken me longer than any other song. And it did well, I notice. Oh, and thanks for sending that very long australian song about the cat. I loved the story. But what a long song for that time!
Band-in-a-Box® 2026 Mac Special Offers Extended Until May 31st!
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With Band-in-a-Box® 2026, we've released 202 incredible new RealTracks (in sets 468-488) in a variety of genres—featuring your most requested styles!
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MIDI Styles Set 92: Look Ma! More MIDI 15: Latin Jazz
MIDI SuperTracks Set 46: Piano & Organ
Instrumental Studies Set 24: Groovin' Blues Soloing
Artist Performance Set 19: Songs with Vocals 9
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Instrumental Studies 25 - Soul Jazz Guitar Soloing
Artist Performance Set 20: Songs with Vocals 10
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The chord progression in minor is perfect, straight to my heart. And the sad melody supports the story exactly. Good intro and a beautiful way to end.
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