Hi AurealiusB! A lovely song, and very pleasing to listen to. It made me wonder about your writing partnership with Kathy - are you still both writing together, and what was/is your workflow? Would Kathy give you lyrics to write to, or would you give her music and melody? In any case, a good collaboration. Andrew
That's a great question Andrew. It's sort of funny and goes back to around 1979. I was taking a song writing class in Encinitas (North San Diego). I was in the composers class (taught by the late drummer and producer Sid Bulkin). Kathy was in the lyricists class. Same location but we never met. But the instructor told me anout her so one day we met in La Jolla Shores (beach nearby). Just to talk. Well within several months she sent me a whole bunch of her photocopied hand-written lyrics via slow mail. The rest is history. In the next few years, I wrote about 20 songs. But I've only met her face to face a handful of times. However, she knows about this Forum and I will send her a link.
Thanks Ron. Happy to hear you enjoyed my "silly little" love song!
Another note about this song (Andrew was asking about this too) was that the chord progression came from a jam session I had in a cabin in the Santa Cruz mountains where I lived (1974-1975) amidst the Redwoods. Just me and another guitar player playing two mahogany-bodied guitars, a Guild and a Martin. The progression was so cool that I continued to play it (fingerpicking-style) over time. And then, years later when I received a copy of the lyrics to I'm Your Man from Kathy, well the words just fit perfectly with the chords and melody I had created.
And finally using BIAB, and after many years later, I was able to find the band (style) to help me produce, as you said, a cool soft rock vibe.
BIAB 2026 Audiophile for Windows (it sets the foundation for all my songs) REAPER (latest version)
Good write, AurealiusB and Kathy. Love those lyrics. Well sung and a good arrangement, too. The band is perfect. I like the bass. Everything is so well mixed and presented.
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
Thanks for the very positive feedback BabuMusic! I loved Kathy's lyrics too, which made it fun to write, as well as mix and produce. The bass (~683, Electric, PopHalfNotesPush) really added depth to this song, along with my harmony vocal.
Thanks Tunemonger! Yeah, with this song, which I wrote using an acoustic guitar that I finger-picked, using BIAB with a less-is-more approach seemed to work. The BIAB piano (Acoustic, Rhythm PopShiningSync) seemed to work well. I changed the key from G to Eb (for my voice) but had a harder time fingerpicking in C (on the 3rd fret). Overall, BIAB added more depth to the song using just a few instruments.
Thanks so much B.D.! I felt this BIAB style (band) really worked with my vocals, and like you, I thought the piano was key in this song. Bass helped too. Ya gotta love BIAB!
Aurelius, A happy sounding song in these weary times, with a good vocal. Production wise there are some sudden breaks in the sound which sound like glitches but are abrupt stops on the instruments. There is one just after the intro and the second one is just going into the chorus. There is at least one more after that which is a cut in the drums. Other than that it’s silky smooth.
Thanks Vic! Appreciate your feedback. Yeah, however those "breaks" were not complete stops. For example, after the intro, that wasn't a real stop, I just took out the guitars so when I started singing the piano was emphasized more. I admit BIAB could have handled this a little differently. Now, what you described as the second stop; again, mainly just the guitars. The third stop was where I took everything out except for the bass. I think this emphasized the small bass run going into the bridge. I really liked this, which was done on purpose.
BIAB isn't perfect, but in general it was doing very, very close to what I wanted in this song. Thanks again for your comments!
Hi again Difficult to advise as your needs are important to you. I can only suggest you may try a slight fade on the end instead of a complete silence. I do that a lot.
Thanks Vic. I'll be more aware of stops/breaks, especially removing instruments in the DAW, so that they fade out instead of being absolute cuts. Good advice!
Mario, So good so hear such positive comments on this song! This is perhaps my favorite melody of all the songs I've written. I'll let Kathy know (will send her link to this post).
One more thing about Kathy as a lyricist -- she did an incredible job writing a great love ballad like this one and especially from a man's perspective. AurealiusB
That's a really beautiful song! Great production and great listen.
Some favourite Waoist Adages: #1: Play on the Way. #13: Ask not for whom the flower blooms, it blooms for you. #58: Bring consciousness to it. #63: On the road to effortlessness, effort must be made. #92: Be Love Now, the rest will come on its own.
Hi Aurealius, what a beautiful love story! The music and vocals fit the atmosphere of Kathy's sensitive lyrics perfectly. Beautifully sung, too!
And what a lovely story about how you met. And that was years ago already. And still writing these sweet lyrics. Well, then you are still in love with each other. It seems a bit like my situation, except that my wife doesn't write lyrics...
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