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It's approaching a year since I joined the forum, so I thought it was about time I posted something here. This song was inspired by someone who referred to the forum as a "Small Family Of Strangers" and during my time here I've found this to be an excellent description. If anyone remembers saying this, please own up and take the credit. So, in a rush of sentimentality, I wrote the song. It's all done in PowerTracks, so everything is played in by hand. The piano is Forte, the Hammond is Organised Trio and the strings are Edirol Orchestral. Drums are my own samples played back through the Bigbadabom sample player. Guitar and bass are old Fenders which I've had long enough that I didn't pay collectors prices for them! Credit for all the vocals goes to a seventeen year old who I teach by the name of Josh Kenyon. http://soundcloud.com/music-prof/small-family-of-strangersThanks for listening. ROG.
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Hi Rog,
Really like this song.
Music is good.
I like how it swells when it reaches the chorus.
Vocals are also good.
All in all a very good song.
Regards
George
Windows 11 64 bit, Biab 2023 1006, Realband 2023 (1)
i7 Desktop Computer 16Gb Memory
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Roger,
Very well done my friend. The chorus sticks with you after listening. Two thumbs up.
I recall someone saying "small family of strangers", but I don't remember who it was. Pat Marr would be be guess.
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Very well composed, played, assembled and mixed.
I hope there is more of this to come.
Guenter
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Puts me in mind of England Dan and John Ford Coley's stuff.
And it has me singing Bread's "Goodbye doesn't mean forever" in the chorus.
This kid can flat out sing. I have heard his work before on some BGV Rog had him do, and this is a talent waiting to be discovered by a major player. His voice is pleasing to the listener's ear and his pitch control is great. His ear for harmony is keen, as I saw when he did BGV for my remake of Walk On By, and am eager to hear more of him.
I have one in the hopper waiting for collaborators to find some time to do their parts, and it sounds like it is going to be a winner once I get these parts plugged in.
Okay writers, we have an outstanding singer here. Now write for him!!
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I read the other topic when you mentioned the title and I agree it is a good title for a song idea. You've put a good song together here. I never know if people are interested in my mix comments, but here they are (they are just opinions, so feel free to ignore them). 1.) The mix seems to be heavily "centered". I would experiment with a more LCR concept. Moving those BGV's left and right would help a lot. 2.) The piano keeps banging away throughout. Look at the video that BobC posted here. I would cut some of the backing out during the verses. 3.) I think there is too much reverb in the lead vocal. I would tone it down, especially in the first verse. 4.) I would also consider doubling the lead vocal line to fatten it up a bit. 5.) there is a lot of "sameness" to the instrumentation from verse to the chorus. More variety = more better.
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Roger,
Kevin, (aka Kemmrich), has given you some really good tips. I really liked the song and commented accordingly, but Kevin’s tips could help you make it even better.
He did a better job of analyzing the song than I did by listening to the particulars. I do think his critique has merit.
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It's nice. Great vocals. I like the instrumentation tracks.
I still feel like a stranger at times on this forum. I post a lot of comments on other songs and I only receive a few at most on mine. I like this forum but I think it is rather cliquish perhaps.
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Roger,
Very nice!
I especially like the great intro leadin.
The break with you playing at 1:39 is top notch.
The young mans vocal are excellent telling your story.
The expanded ening(if thats correct term) is excellent.
That took lot of work to create.
Think you folks called it the "hook", but the title really
works well in the music.
Thanks for both of you for your hard work and sharing.
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Thanks, Rog. Really enjoyed this one.
John Laptop-HP Omen I7 Win11Pro 32GB 2x2TB, 1x4TB SSD Desktop-ASUS-I7 Win10Pro 32GB 2x1.5TB, 2x2TB, 1x4TB SATA BB2024/UMC404HD/Casios/Cakewalk/Reaper/Studio One/MixBus/Notion/Finale/Dorico/Noteworthy/NI/Halion/IK http://www.sus4chord.com
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Hi ROG, I loved it! Listened twice on headphones. Did not find the mix too centered. I thought the changes in the arrangement were really nice as it moved along and gives it a great rich retro feel. The guitar was really nice and the bgv and lead vox were spot on. I might have fattened his voice up a little or brought it up a hair but that's subjective. Overall I really like the feel of this - really nice sounds. Two thumbs up from me. 
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I love a well put together pop song, and this is a prime example. The background vocals in particular are amazing. The only thing I could suggest would be to have it mastered by a specialist, specifically to bring the lead vocal out a bit more, but also for whatever expertise they might offer. I heard a track recently on another forum that was taken from a good basic mix like this to something that would stand up on radio against anything out there. This is in the same class.
Well done, friend.
"My primary musical instrument is the personal computer."
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Hi Rog,
Nice work! Small family of strangers is such a good hook. The song sounds like it should be a theme to a TV show. Please pass on my kudos to Josh, too. He's got a great voice!
All the best,
Noel
MY SONGS...Audiophile BIAB 2024
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Thanks for all the nice comments, especially about Josh's vocals.
When I came to mix this track, we were running sixteen tracks of Josh's voice! In the chorus, he's singing three parts with each part tracked-up three times and panned hard left, center and hard right. One of the hardest things about this is getting the phrasing exact over the nine tracks - if there's the slightest variation you end up with S-S-Small F-F-Family. Then the top harmony, which is an octave over the tune and up to top "C", threw him in and out of falsetto.
Add in six tracks of oooh and aaah, plus the main vox and you're up to sixteen.
It just shows how good this lad is and how lucky we are to be able to use him for session work.
ROG.
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Great work Rog! An excellent song with vocal and instrument skills to match. The arrangement and hooky chorus held my interest all the way. And I loved the tasteful guitar solo! Nitpicks? We all mix differently so these are just my personal ones. Reverb on the bass. That's an unusual thing to do: it really diffuses its solidity underpinning the song. I'd take a tad off the organ reverb also. The final mix could do with some mastering to bring out some punch, sweeten the overall EQ and add compression and limiting, for example: Mix with some mastering added.Obviously I did that without the WAV file so the quality isn't all that good, but you get the idea. I really enjoyed listening to this top class track! John
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Hi John.
Thanks for the comments and suggestions.
Actually, there's no reverb on the bass - it's absolutely dry. I think what you're hearing is some of the low strings which are there to support the bass in certain parts. It's very much a technique from the 80s, which is the feel I was going for in this song.
There's already quite a lot of upward limiting and tape saturation added. I found that if I went any higher the hi-hat started to splash, which I think is happening in your version. I traded off a couple of db gain for a more open and airy feel.
As you say, we all do things differently, but I welcome all opinions.
ROG.
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ROG - nice song. the overall "sound" is very nice. the oohs and ahhs are a very nice touch. I enjoyed it.
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Rog, I don't hear any kind of misalignment in that song (that I can;t stop listening to). For me, I spend a lot of time doing what I have termed "snip and slide" on BGV tracks to get them to line up. When I did 634-5789 99% of them were in time. That last 1%, right at the second key change, were late at the pickup and I had to slide them around. I had to do that a tiny bit with the girls on I'm The One. They had a bit of a gliss/grace note in one spot that didn't match up with the lead after I re-sang the lead vocal, so I just snipped that 1/4 of a beat out and slid the rest over and it ended up matching perfectly.
That was the song that was recorded so poorly at the start, with the vocals just WAY over the top with reverb and EQ, and it was OUTBOARD reverb and EQ so I couldn't toggle it off. I wanted to change some of the phrasing anyway. And by also adding a mixing tip from one of the Graham Cochran videos, it ended up sounding much better.
I am using the new 1040XTRAEZ form this year. It has just 2 lines.
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This song has such an easy flow and all that it makes me think it may have been one of those that just fell out of you in like 30 minutes. Was that the case when you started writing it? I have had them where I struggled for days to get the lyrics just right and songs like The One That Got Away just wrote itself. This one here is just plain smooth and I sense it just fell out.
I am using the new 1040XTRAEZ form this year. It has just 2 lines.
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Quote:
I love a well put together pop song, and this is a prime example. The background vocals in particular are amazing. The only thing I could suggest would be to have it mastered by a specialist, specifically to bring the lead vocal out a bit more, but also for whatever expertise they might offer. I heard a track recently on another forum that was taken from a good basic mix like this to something that would stand up on radio against anything out there. This is in the same class.
Well done, friend.
+1, but I just could not hear the vocal as much as I would like to. But that could be my problem.
Congrats on this very good production.
Later,
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