My British mate Alyn asked about how one goes about making a tune like THE MOONTRANE. I promised to post something about this, alerting him by using his name in the post.

Alyn, I realized too late that BIAB cannot handle a tune like MOONTRANE and, except for RealTracks percussion, it wasn't used at all! The sound you just heard was me slapping my forehead.

In this case, BIAB's unique strength - entering chord symbols as input - turns out to be an essential weakness. The only fake book version of MOONTRANE that I know of has incorrect chord changes. No surprise there. And even capable musicians blunder around on this one. Case in point: Listen to 0:41-0:46 of this performance of MOONTRANE on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cnGPJRXOyjQ&feature=related

Ouch!

So what do you do when you don't have the chords to enter into BIAB? Well, you go back to the original recording and try to "hear" the changes directly off the record. That may or may not be easy. With MOONTRANE, not.

So I decided to post a tune that I suspect you'll like - I think it's Henry Mancini's most gorgeous creation - and send the technical details of how to "trick" BIAB into producing the voicings you want to the Tips and Tricks Forum.

I hope all Forum members enjoy DREAMSVILLE https://soundcloud.com/aleckrand/dreamsville

Dean Clark (aka Aleck Rand)

Aleck(Dean),

This is stunningly beautiful. My favorite of anything you've ever presented here. Both the bass and guitar playing exude emotion. When I first saw it, I thought ooohh that's kind of long... then I enjoyed every second of it.

Cool. Jazzy. A pleasure.

floyd

Wow!

Nice!

I'd actually picked JABB with the hopes that I'd be able to coax some cool Mancini sounds from that library, but no such luck. But I hope someday to get a bit closer to that magic sound.

Anyway, very cool.

I enjoyed that mellow musical excursion into jazz.

Dean (Aleck)

WOW that's beautiful.
I just sat at the ending and stared at the screen, silence was the only way to fully appreciate that. And then I almost expected the tumultuous applause to start

Thank you

Alyn

This is excellent all around!

Bob

Hi Dean,

very, very beautiful.

Guenter

Hi, Dean !

That bass goes right thru my head
from ear to ear ! wow !!:))
I can hear that everything is
okay again !:))

Cheers
Dani

I agree with you Floyd. It's my favorite too. And thank you for listening and commenting so favorably.

Dean

Hi Alyn,

I'm so glad you liked DREAMSVILLE. Of course, the stunning complements make my day. Sometime you'll have to explain why they call it the M4 Boogaloo. I know what the M4 is, but what about the Boogaloo part?

Dean

Hi Dani,

I wonder if this name rings a bell: Phineas Gage. He was, I believe, a railroad worker on the job when an explosive charge caused a piece of iron pipe to strike his jaw, enter his brain and emerge from the other side of his skull. And there it remained as doctors studied him intensively. At first, Gage appeared to have suffered no ill effects, but eventually (the pipe had damaged his frontal lobes) he begin acting erratically, making bad decisions, etc.

Now, you might wonder why I am telling you this story. Well, it's this quote of yours:
I'm just glad that you mean that figuratively, my friend. Otherwise, it would be an amazing new take on the story of Phineas Gage. I can see the headlines now:

................MAN SURVIVES FRETLESS BASS THROUGH SKULL
............,,,,...........Doctors marvel. Only effect appears to be .............................................................................,,,,,,,,,....''''''.................
...........................''........[a deepening of the voice by several octaves

And, of course, thank you so much for the generous compliments.

Dean

Hi, Dean !

Please, help me ! I have laughed
so that my belly turns inside out .......:))
I can imagine the guy with the bass
through his ears................huh....
and the only consequence is a deepening
of the voice by several octaves......:)))
I think we have accidentally invented the real
treatment for guys who want to go deeper ?:))

Cheers
Daniel

Pete,

That one word comment makes my day. Thanks pal.

Dean (Aleck)

Dean,
I wrote a poem in 1985/6 which eventually became a song about my move from London to South Wales.
At that time I was listening to "non mainstream" songs, on cassettes in the car, from the 1930's to 1960's as I drove to work each day and I can only assume I picked up that word from those songs.
In my mind it described perfectly my manic way of driving up the M4 motorway as I drove to see my parents! Hence "I got the M4 Boogaloo".

Other than that I have no idea!

Alyn

Dani my pal!

I just knew I would get you with that headline ...

Dean