Hi all
Inspired by some uplifting comments by another forum member who's work I admire greatly (Noel96), I post one of my more recently "created" tunes. It's all instrumental and it's all done by BIAB. Harmony, chords, melody, solo. Simply amazing! I had very little to adjust to my liking in the MIDI tracks (piano). I do hope G. Shearing doesn't hear this. No vibraphone, not enough real swing, no jazz chord sequence, too compressed and on top of it a mandolin chopping away. Yuck (he-he). But IMHO the actual programming of the typical Shearing style is very well done by PG Music.
Sir George Shearing will be turning 91 on August 13th.

Any comments/suggestions are welcome

Daniel

http://www.songramp.com/mod/mps/viewprivtrack.php?trackid=56718

edit: oh I forgot to mention that once the tracks were created, I moved them over to Samplitude (Samp11), the DAW I'm used to workflow wise. http://www.samplitude.com/en/products/samplitude/samplitude_11_introduction.252.html



***** Song Summary *************
Title: Hot Day in July
Key=Cm , Tempo 165, Length (m:s)=4:43

Melody harmony is George Shearing Quint (20)
Soloist: G Shearing Quintet (40) [harmony switched off]

Style is _BAGGM_B.STY (Bouncy Pop Swing (165 RS))

Instruments are :
RealTracks in style: ~537:Bass, Acoustic, Pop Sw 165
RealTracks in song: ~813:Guitar, Electric, Rhythm Western Swing Sw 165 (A:bs-crd)
RealTracks in style: ~373:Guitar, Acoustic, Strumming Hank Sw 165
RealTracks in style: 616:Mandolin, Rhythm Bouncy Sw 165
RealDrums in Style: PopBouncy^2-SideStick,Ride

MIDI piano is the Ivory Italian Grand from Synthogy

Used some reverb on most tracks and compression on bass and piano and (since it's not going to be mastered ) on the 2bus. But very lightly - RMS is still around -15db

Some of the plugins used are:

BX Cleansweep (free)
http://www.brainworx-music.de/en/plugins/bx_cleansweep_v2

Ferric TDS and
NastyCS.
Both are free together with some other goodies on the download page
http://varietyofsound.wordpress.com/vst-effects/

You Wa Shock (free) - as always, used with caution (easily overused)
http://www.winamp.com/plugin/you-wa-shock-/221523

sounds good to me Daniel!

Thank you Pat.
I'm not sure if I should bring the piano more into the foreground (louder). It's difficult not to loose perspective when you work alone for quite a while on the same tune. Guess there's a lot of us who know this.

Regards, Daniel

PS: no - I'm not a bedroom musician. I work in the living room

Hi Daniel,

I'm glad that you've found your way over to this forum. I've got to say, you really have an excellent sense of music. Congratulations on a terrific effort. It's a tough call posting work for others to listen to. This composition of yours has a terrific groove. I found my foot was tapping and I didn't even know!

I just read your thought about bringing the piano a bit further forward. If I were you, I'd try it and see what you think. I find mixing incredibly difficult. These days, I make a change or two and then take a break from the song for 24 hours. When I come back to it after the break, my ears are much more objective.

Overall, though, I thoroughly enjoyed my journey through this song.

All the best,
Noel

Hi Noel
Thank you for your thoughts. I've got to test the mix in the car first - after taking a break from it as you suggested. I too find mixing very difficult. Especially when work is compared to professional work. and one is not as experienced as one would like to be. A lot of trial and error here on this side.
Cheers,
Daniel

I like your melodic sense Daniel, did grab my atention from start to end. Excellent use of Biab resources. Thanks for sharing.

Carlos

Hello Carlos

Thank you for your words. I'm constantly re-mixing some of my tunes. I've just uploaded a better mix and hope I'll still like it tomorrow

Daniel

First let me agree with my peers on this board in your talent of making BiaB hum along! Excellent.

I also want to comment on something you said and how it tied into a conversation I had just last night about musical influences. A friend of mine was in despair for his teens not having anything out there musically (commercial that is) that has any staying power as it once had. I told him though the conversation can take many directions one place I would take it is to the internet. Today, we have the ability to share our music more than ever in history with people from all over the world! And there are even occasions where an unknown commercial artist can actually influence another. And you noting Noel was a perfect example of that discussion.

These forums are cool. For example, I enjoyed your arrangement of this composition. That enjoyment may find its way in perhaps coming up with something that is influenced by that joy. And so it goes.

Kudos to all the musical contributors here. And it is also a great place for someone to start in the journey as a songwriter here as well!

Quote:

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I like your melodic sense Daniel, did grab my atention from start to end. Excellent use of Biab resources. Thanks for sharing.

Carlos

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A BIG +1

Outstanding work here. Great job.