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Yes, It's hard to believe but...around here it's Christmas in August. This is a remix and redo of an older song. New style, instruments, singer. This is the COOKIN country blues rock shuffle. Due to the way I rendered the tracks I don't have the track numbers for this. Using Utility tracks rather than rendering it from Real Band. However, opening it in RB indicated the following tracks, not all of which, made it into the final mix. Bass: 539 Piano: 2639/1549/2225 Guitar: 2436/4248/3610 B3: 4379 Fiddle: 2120 drums: pop shuffle snare groove I'm using Kontakt for the bells and chimes Solaria on the vocals and harmonies. The Best Christmas As always, Comments are welcomed. Lyrics: The Best Christmas Copyright D. Martin & H. Hartley V1 I don't need to be on Santa's Christmas list. I don't need to send a letter to jolly old St nick. I won't ride the polar express with all the boys and girls You hold my ticket to a better world. Chorus The best gifts of Christmas are all free. You can't find them under any Christmas tree. When you whisper “I Love You”.... right in my ear. You gave me the best Christmas gift this year. SOLO V2 I don't need to see Santa with a long white beard. You make my day & night just by being here. When you hold me close, in a lovers embrace I love the way you put the smile back on my face Chorus The best gifts of Christmas are all free. You can't find them under any Christmas tree. When you whisper “I Love You”.... right in my ear. You gave me the best Christmas gift this year outtro Yeah you did....You Gave me the best Christmas gift this year Oh oh yeah ....Merry Christmas to you dear!
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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Nice country Christmas tune. Solaria sounds good here. I like the groove, instruments and arrangement. My only nit is it feels a bit distant in my headphones... except for the chimes. Good song! 
-- 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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Wow Herb - this sounds great!
Sounds like an old fashioned Christmas song. The Solaria vocal is excellent.
So well done!
Bob
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Herb, this is a fantastic Christmas song with a very important message: You don't need expensive gifts when you are loved.
At first I thought that was a human vocal until I read your info. Solaria sounds amazing!
Great mix and instrumentation.
Life is short so make sure you spend as much time as possible on the Internet arguing with strangers.
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Nice country Christmas tune. Solaria sounds good here. I like the groove, instruments and arrangement. My only nit is it feels a bit distant in my headphones... except for the chimes. Good song! Thanks Dave. I've been working on this .... second guessing myself.... and well.... it's gotta roll like it is. I did play around with a few things that I thought might be off kilter a bit. Glad you 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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Herb...it's almost 100 degrees where I am today so I'm really liking this today...Solaria is in fine voice...love the tempo and melody...very stylish for a great country Christmas tune!
www.soundclick.com/firesongBiaB 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.
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Wow Herb - this sounds great!
Sounds like an old fashioned Christmas song. The Solaria vocal is excellent.
So well done!
Bob Glad you listened to this. It was aimed at a bit of nostalgia as is any Christmas song worth it's salt. Yep... I'm really liking what Solaria is capable of. Thanks
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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Wonderful! Great prosody and the vox are spot-on. Now I'm pining for Christmas season!
Dewey
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This worked out well.
Very jolly tune.
Vic
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Herb, this is a fantastic Christmas song with a very important message: You don't need expensive gifts when you are loved.
At first I thought that was a human vocal until I read your info. Solaria sounds amazing!
Great mix and instrumentation.
Thanks Mario. I'm glad you like this. Yep... christmas is about family, the heart and soul as well as love.
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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I think I've mentioned here a million times, if not more, that I hate Christmas songs, but other than that extreme shortcoming, this is one hell of an earworm.
Very, very well done!
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Herb...it's almost 100 degrees where I am today so I'm really liking this today...Solaria is in fine voice...love the tempo and melody...very stylish for a great country Christmas tune! It is kinda warm for Christmas. That reminds me of the time we went camping at a park in July many years ago. That particular week was Christmas in July and all the campers were encouraged to decorate the campsite and camper for Christmas. As we were walking around with the kids later that evening, a guy from the staff was dressed up as Santa, complete with the Red suit and beard. I looked at him and said... Wow that just looks like it's hot in that get up. Santa gave me the nastiest look.... Glad you enjoyed the song
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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Love the lyrics!! Cool country feel, and, whoever they are, the band is perfect. Good mix, too. Not sure how hard it is to fashion the synth voice, but this is just perfect. It's the kind of Christmas song that sounds good all year, Herb.
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Wonderful! Great prosody and the vox are spot-on. Now I'm pining for Christmas season!
Dewey Thanks... that means a lot coming from you. Glad you liked 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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This worked out well.
Very jolly tune.
Vic Vic, Glad you listened. Thanks I think I've mentioned here a million times, if not more, that I hate Christmas songs, but other than that extreme shortcoming, this is one hell of an earworm.
Very, very well done! BD Thomas, I'm kind of in agreement with you. I really don't like most "christmas" music. I dread that time of year when radio starts playing it every other song. "One hell of an earworm".... I can honestly say that we're hoping the right people agree. Thanks Love the lyrics!! Cool country feel, and, whoever they are, the band is perfect. Good mix, too. Not sure how hard it is to fashion the synth voice, but this is just perfect. It's the kind of Christmas song that sounds good all year, Enjoy whatever happens!
marty Thanks Marty. The voice.... attention to the details and the small stuff. Glad you 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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Herb, I heard this song at the NSAI meeting. It was great then and great now. Awesome chord progression and wonderful sound Will sound great in a movie.
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Herb, I heard this song at the NSAI meeting. It was great then and great now. Awesome chord progression and wonderful sound Will sound great in a movie. Thanks Dave.... we're hoping for good things from this tune.
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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We are always down with a good blues shuffle.
Christmas before labor day ... hmmmm.
Really nice Christmas love song lyric and Ms Solaria done it justice!
J&B
Our albums and singles are on Spotify, Apple Music, Amazon Music, YouTube Music, Pandora and more. If interested search on Janice Merritt. Thanks! Our Videos
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We are always down with a good blues shuffle.
Christmas before labor day ... hmmmm.
Really nice Christmas love song lyric and Ms Solaria done it justice!
J&B Well, seeings as how you're from the south..... Chances are fair to middling that you keep your Christmas lights up all year long so while you can't wear white after labor day you can always listen to Christmas music before labor day. Thanks for listening.
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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