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Been away for a while. No inspiration whatsoever, of late. So, this morning I was doodling on BIAB, mindlessly going from style to style, trying to find something to spark some sort of inspiration. Long story short: found this style, wrote the chords, let the saxophone solo do its own thing ... lo and behold, a new track. I just wrote the chords, the rest is all BIAB - an incredible effort from BIAB, I'm sure you'll agree. Nevertheless: I can't tell for the life of me what the end product is; i.e. whether it's "any good", haha. So ... here it is, I'll let you "have at it", as Floyd usually says, haha  - and I'll of course take your feedback very much on board! Thanks for listening and for any comments!  Freedom THE BAND: ****** Song Summary ************* Title: MM - Magdalen - 24 August 2023 File:MM - Magdalen - 24 August 2023.SGU Key=C , Tempo 65, Length (m:s)=3:41 No intro. 56 bar chorus, from bar 1 to bar 56. Repeat x1 chorus No Melody No Soloist track. Song is saved with Volume, Pan, Reverb, Chorus, Bank0, Style is _MIRROR.STY (Mirror Smooth Jazz Soloist) RealTracks in style: 2960:Bass, Acoustic, SmoothBalladNeil Ev16 065 RealTracks in style: 910:Piano, Electric, Rhythm SmoothBallad Ev16 065 RealTracks in style: 1060:Sax, Soprano, Soloist SmoothJazzBallad Ev16 065 RealTracks in style: 1543:Synth Pad, PopBelieve Ev16 065 RealDrums in style:** N/A ** ModernJazzMellow16ths^1-a:Hat,Rimshot , b:BusyHat,Snare *******************
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James,
This sounds very inspired to me! Love the melody. The sax sounds great - really stands out in the mix.
Much enjoyed.
Bob
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Yeah, that soprano is priceless, James. SO many notes in each measure. Hmmm, seems to me that you are not recognizing the inspiration that runs through you. This whole piece shows your inspiring use of chord structure. There were a few measures toward the end where it sounded like a second sax took over then left. Yet it seemed fitting as it told the listener the end was coming.
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James,
I like this piece, it is quite relaxing and has a nice flow.
Sometimes the sax is a little too hectic for my taste, but overall I enjoyed listening to it.
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Nicely done.
Personally, the slow tempo would be better served with a sax that was more relaxed and slower, savoring each note rather than trying to cram dozens of notes into each measure. In several places, it did play perfectly for the tempo and groove. The ending was really nice.... laid back and mello sax playing.... the beginning was a bit over the top.
I run into this occasionally when I'm looking for the perfect track.... just keep searching the real tracks. I look at the recommended tempo of the tracks to see what is in the tempo range of the song. That usually gives me several good candidates.
Last edited by Guitarhacker; 08/25/23 04:29 AM.
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 pleasing to the ear, James
Vic
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James,
Always a fun idea to experiment.
A pleasant progression. Mix is good.
I don't much care for all the fast note runs that the sax does (I was going to say "gyrations").
That is, of course, a personal opinion.
I thought it needed to "breathe" a bit - which it never seems to. That is often the case with BIAB soloing, but if you regenerate (many times) you can usually find enough variation to get what you want/need. That being said, perhaps this IS what you wanted.
Also, I did not hear any kind of "theme" to the soloing. Just random soloing. Creating some repetition would help that.
Opinions. You know what they say about them...
fj
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A bit too frenetic on the sax for me. By itself it wasn't bad, but it didn't seem to be going anywhere, other than notes for the sake of notes. It's tough to make a RealTracks instrumental work - especially if you're using the same instrument all the way through the track. It's a bit like poetry written with a Markov chain - the detail is there, but it lacks the coherence of a larger form. Still, a pleasant listen, and a something of a change as well! 
-- 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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I like to manic sax parts but the rhythm behind it should, in some form or other, match it at the beginning. Once it's established as a motif it rides the rest of it's revisits well.
I like your choices and arrangement.
The chord progression is JD all the way but little different too.
Cheers
rayc
"What's so funny about peace, love & understanding?" - N.Lowe
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Bob, Marty, B.D. Thomas, Herb, Vic, floyd, David C and Ray: THANK YOU so much for listening and for your kind comments! Marty: maybe you're right, maybe I don't recognise the inspiration which flows through me. It's not easy, though, when one cannot at all figure out what to write, next but maybe I just need to sit down and write, anyway? Thanks so much for your wonderful support! Herb, floyd, David C and Ray: yes, the sax has (too?) many notes in its melody. And yes, the melody is going nowhere, so to speak. My own thoughts were that the chord progression is real slow, so, to contrast, I liked the fast notes of the sax. But, if that didn't come through, I have to ask myself why not. Still - that contrast was what I was going for As for the melody, that was (believe it or not) deliberate, too. I wanted to hang around C major, as much as possible, only departing briefly, to return quickly - so I didn't really want to take the listener on too complicated a journey, melodically, either. Argh - looks like I need to re-think things, a little? That's life - if things don't work out as one intends - thanks for pointing things out David C: agree completely re: "poetry written with a Markov chain" . That's my fault ... I guess I need to vary the orchestration/arrangement a little, instrumentally, so that it keeps people's attention from beginning to end, and is not "the same thing" all the time, texture-wise, if nothing else. Something to definitely keep in mind, for me! So: thank you, everyone, again! This was just a doodle (as I said in my original post), for the sake of unblocking my creative block, so to speak. As such, it went better than I thought it would, haha ... thanks for taking of your time with it!
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Beautiful song. the sound of the saxophone is very good
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We enjoyed the doodle being longtime fans of a soprano sax. Over the years, FWIW, our approach to RT solos has been to take multiple regens and cut/splice them to arrive at what our notion was for the feel of the song. RTs are amazing ... they just, at least for us, need a little tweaking to speak to our song concept. No surprise there as the RT session guy/gal is a great musician but has no idea what you are thinking! 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! A few of our videos are here on our website: https://www.janiceandbud.com/our-music.html
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Thanks laurent, glad you enjoyed it. Thank you, Janice and Bud - great advice ... I must stop assuming "my" musicians are telepathic . Thanks so much for listening
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A very relaxing, introspective feel to your song. I agree with some others: the slower sax parts fit well, but the faster bits go against the grain of the calming mood you've established in your composition.
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KennyG eat your hear out, James is here.
This is a great song except for those rapid soprano notes. But that is only my opinion. I think the rest of the song is excellent.
Life is short so make sure you spend as much time as possible on the Internet arguing with strangers.
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Ask sales and support questions about Band-in-a-Box using natural language.
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