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Posted By: RnAM World of her own - 08/23/14 12:33 AM
Hello everyone,

Our new song:

World of her own

A rough edged song about the 'flashing' nightlife from a young man's point of view.
Approach mechanisms of men versus filter mechanisms of women.
Wanting and needing, but at the same time trying to keep your self-esteem.

Play it loud!

As always, comments are welcome.

Style:
MTSW120.sty
used real tracks:
388 bass electric metal ev 120
1804 synthpad pop-uplift ev 120
391 guitar electric rhythm metal ev 120
1167 guitar electric soloist rock ballad Brent ev 065
646 guitar electric rhythm pop rock brit edgy ev 120
1267 synthpad pop shining a-b ev 120
real drums:
C Rock 16-a^5 (third-party real drum)
Rockhard even8^1

Lyrics are in the video

regards,
R & AM

Posted By: Noel96 Re: World of her own - 08/23/14 02:16 AM
Hi Rob and Anne-Marie,

I commend you on such a visually vivid and professionally sounding production. I found this a very enjoyable listening experience.

Regards,
Noel
Posted By: Greg Johnson Re: World of her own - 08/23/14 02:40 AM
May be my favorite of yours so far (which is saying a lot since they're all top notch)!! Great arrangement, great vocal. Really dig that kind of 80's edge (Bowie, or Frankie goes to Hollyood). Excellent work, AGAIN!! Take care. Greg
Posted By: Charlie Fogle Re: World of her own - 08/23/14 03:24 AM
I agree this was another very professional write,recording and production. It would be interesting sometime to hear about your equipment and recording process. You and Anne- Marie achieve impressive quality in your productions. Audio and video.

The only glitch I ran into with this song is that as a simple man who lives on a farm and whose only familiarity with flashing lights come from either a police car racing up behind me or immediately after a getting a whack up side my head and not knowing of the flashing lights of city night life, the lyrics completely blew by me. This is due to my lack of sophistication and nothing of your ability to turn a wonderful phrase. The good part is that I was able to focus on the production and talent. The song was quite enjoyable.

Charlie
Posted By: PgFantastic Re: World of her own - 08/23/14 03:45 AM
Great job, nice mix and performance; thanks for sharing!
Posted By: RnAM Re: World of her own - 08/23/14 11:28 AM
Hi Noel,

thank you! This is quite different from what we usually record. We were glad that we could freely use Ssoosays pictures for this.

regards,
Rob
Posted By: gibson Re: World of her own - 08/23/14 12:28 PM
Rob and Anne Marie,

There was a strange high frequency on the words dream with me.
But otherwise it was a good song with a strong vocal.

Your use of the word "flashing" confused me a bit but then I understood. Maybe because in the local night club 2-3 weeks ago there were a few lads flashing/ exposing their "bits and pieces" at women which caused an unholy fight and many arrests.

Good song

Alyn
Posted By: Pat Marr Re: World of her own - 08/23/14 12:45 PM
1) great production!

2) good use of visuals, and interesting that you were able to find enough similar artwork to build a theme with it

3) I REALLY liked the point-counterpoints of view... two minds seeing the same situation quite differently

4) Listening through your songs I am impressed by your use of chords... all very interesting progressions , developed and resolved naturally. None of your chord progressions sound contrived, yet they avoid clichés (not an easy mark to hit song after song)

5) As Charlie observed, some of the terminology you used to develop the male's point of view did not resonate with me. I could tell you were carefully choosing your words to communicate a specific observation... but it must be a point of view or way of thinking that never crossed my mind.

regarding ALL of your songs: you are clearly a gifted song writer! Every song is crystal clear and sonically interesting... you can definitely sing and craft clever lyrics... your use of instrumentation is also interesting and well-done... you know how to add hooks and use them to provide a signature feel to the song

all in all, I am very impressed!
Posted By: gruverider Re: World of her own - 08/23/14 01:48 PM
sweet rock groove!

well produced and written

much enjoyed!
Posted By: JCJazz Re: World of her own - 08/23/14 03:05 PM
Very nice job great production . Very well written and i like how you put the video together top notch.
Posted By: Charlie Fogle Re: World of her own - 08/23/14 05:15 PM
Originally Posted By: Pat Marr
1) great production!

2) good use of visuals, and interesting that you were able to find enough similar artwork to build a theme with it

3) I REALLY liked the point-counterpoints of view... two minds seeing the same situation quite differently

4) Listening through your songs I am impressed by your use of chords... all very interesting progressions , developed and resolved naturally. None of your chord progressions sound contrived, yet they avoid clichés (not an easy mark to hit song after song)

5) As Charlie observed, some of the terminology you used to develop the male's point of view did not resonate with me. I could tell you were carefully choosing your words to communicate a specific observation... but it must be a point of view or way of thinking that never crossed my mind.

regarding ALL of your songs: you are clearly a gifted song writer! Every song is crystal clear and sonically interesting... you can definitely sing and craft clever lyrics... your use of instrumentation is also interesting and well-done... you know how to add hooks and use them to provide a signature feel to the song

all in all, I am very impressed!



Exactly. But stated more eloquently by Pat than I was able to.
Posted By: RnAM Re: World of her own - 08/23/14 06:58 PM
Hi Greg

thank you! I'm glad you like the song.
Definitely 80s influences here, it's my main reference for pop music, since I grew up between the 70s and 80s.
let's hope our next song will again be your favorite smile

Regards,
Rob
Posted By: RnAM Re: World of her own - 08/23/14 07:50 PM
Hi Charlie,

Ha ha, no flashing nightlife in your town I take it? whistle
Thanks for your comments. You're probably right, the 'flashing' word should be something else, like vivid or trendy or something (I'm Dutch grin ).

The lyrics then. Yes, maybe some more explanation.
These were written about 9 years ago. They are about a young man who is talking to a beautiful woman in a trendy and noisy bar. The woman is clearly aware of her beauty and also of the fact that there's 10 other guys just waiting to make a pass at her. She's secretly flirting with one or two of them, but at the same time wants to maintain the conversation with the young man because she is 'kind of' interested
Now suddenly the young man, who was listening with much interest to her stories about the fact that she so eagerly wanted by men in general, takes off and is nowhere to be found. This leaves her in a powerless situation (at least for a short moment).

Although I have been in very nice relationships for most of my adult life (and therefore shouldn't complain), there always were those 'in between' periods when you are single and trying to meet women. The thing that constantly bugged me, was that it's always the guys 'role' to initiate contact with women. Although there have been some exceptions, it's usually the way it works here in Holland. If you don't do it, 10 other guys will. At the end of the evening it's back to your place, by yourself....
If you are kind of shy (which I was back then), you become painfully aware that you are simply 'offering ' yourself. With a reasonable chance of rejection.
Since most bars here are stuffed with guys, and relatively few women, you can picture the ''power" that's being thrown into a woman's lap (whether they asked for this or not). I've seen lots of guys around me ''throwing'' themselves in front of women (with usually no success). I definitely admired their guts but I've never been able to do this. It felt terribly wrong to me. Almost like begging.
This concept has frustrated me for years and years, often ruining the chance to a nice night 'on the town' for me.
It wasn't until I read Joshua Pellicer's book 'The Tao of Badass' that things finally fell in place for me. It's a great book that gives you all the insights in women you need, including every social situation involved. More important, it also taught me a lot about myself. Not long after the purchase of the book I got into a very satisfying relationship which I'm still in today.

Quit a story ey?

I'll get back to you on your question about our equipment later this week.

Regards,
Rob



Posted By: floyd jane Re: World of her own - 08/23/14 09:09 PM
Rob and Anne-Marie...

What a great rock song! Stunning production! (and video!)

A terrific combination of instruments for a sound that is both modern and grounded in the past. Impressive.

Awesome drums.. Excellent solos... the "air" that you put in the middle before the first solo was very well done. And the harmonies/interlude prior to that was spectacular.

Love the effect that you've added to the vocal. Makes it sit perfectly in the mix and in the music. A really good combination of guitars surrounding it all.

It was difficult to take in the lyric (would like to see them posted as a whole) but it didn't much matter - the whole package was STUNNING. Beautiful. Pro sound all the way.

Bravo.

floyd
Posted By: RnAM Re: World of her own - 08/23/14 09:14 PM
Thank you Robert, much appreciated!
Regards,
Rob
Posted By: RnAM Re: World of her own - 08/23/14 09:24 PM
Hi Alyn,

Oops, another meaning of the word `flashing`, didn´t realize that blush Always nice to learn new meanings of a word, again, I´m Dutch whistle
The two female samples in the song are E-Jay samples.
They sound quite clear by themselves and I thought it best they should stay that way. The words said are meant to be quite present in the mix.

Thanks!
Regards,
Rob
Posted By: Sundance Re: World of her own - 08/24/14 02:15 AM
Very pro sound. And as good as you are at your music, I must tell you that I'm always so impressed by your videos. I don't know how you do it all so quickly. You are certainly prolific. Kudos!

Josie
Posted By: RnAM Re: World of her own - 08/24/14 01:33 PM
Hi Pat,

Thank you so much for your positive comment!
Also appreciate you took the time to listen to some other tracks.
As for the lyrics: I already cleared up some of it in reply to Charlie's post.
Funny you noticed my counterpoints of view, I like to use them wherever I can (preferably when it is not too obvious).

Thanks again.
Regards,
Rob
Posted By: RnAM Re: World of her own - 08/24/14 01:38 PM
Hi Lawrence,

Thank you for your nice comment.
By the way... we checked out your acoustic version of Too Close to the Moon.
You might want to give one of the "unplugged" styles a try.
I just finished a song with one of these styles. They also include a mandolin which gives quite a nice effect on the chorusses.

Regards,
Rob
Posted By: boehm Re: World of her own - 08/24/14 04:39 PM
Hi Rob and Anne-Marie
Originally Posted By: Greg Johnson
May be my favorite of yours so far (which is saying a lot since they're all top notch)!! Great arrangement, great vocal. Really dig that kind of 80's edge (Bowie, or Frankie goes to Hollyood). Excellent work, AGAIN!!


+1 from me.

Guenter
Posted By: RnAM Re: World of her own - 08/25/14 07:04 PM
Hi JCJazz,

Thanks you for your very nice comments!

Regards,
R & AM
Posted By: RnAM Re: World of her own - 08/25/14 07:10 PM
Hi Floyd,

Thank you!
We were very glad to be able to use parts of the Ssoosay's picture collection for this.
As for the vocal, I've done my utmost to make it sound "rough" (I'm not really a rock singer grin)
We used the Cubase guitar amp simulator for this.
About the lyrics, I did some more explaining about this in response to Charlie's comments.

Regards,
Rob
Posted By: RnAM Re: World of her own - 08/25/14 07:13 PM
Hi Josie,

Thank you, creating the videos is another hobby of mine.
Glad you like them. I hope to make many more in the future.

Anne-Marie
Posted By: RnAM Re: World of her own - 08/25/14 07:14 PM
Hi Guenter,
Thanks for the "1".
Regards,
R & AM
Posted By: Guitarhacker Re: World of her own - 08/27/14 01:07 AM
Well, I didn't like it when it started. The distorted guitar...I've played around with that very real track and to me it sounds so canned.

HOWEVER...... when the pad synth came in, it seemed to temper the sound of the rhythm considerably. the more the song went on the better the mix was.

So in the end, it was rather well done. I like this song a lot.

You guys really have a talent for writing and recording good stuff. I'm a fan.
Posted By: dani48 Re: World of her own - 08/27/14 07:19 AM
Hi, Rob and Anne-Marie !


+ 1 from me too (chuckle) !!!

Cheers
Dani
Posted By: RnAM Re: World of her own - 08/28/14 11:00 AM
Thank you Dani,

every + helps ! smile

Regards,
Rob
Posted By: RnAM Re: World of her own - 08/28/14 11:14 AM
Hi Herb,

Thanks for your comments.
I agree, the metal realtracks have kind of an 'artificial ' sound.
We also had the problem that every now and then they suddenly sounded too sharp (kind of depending on which bar they were placed). We put some subtle eq on them to cover this up.
And yes, the sound suddenly changes when the pad comes in. Than it becomes more like 'a love like blood' from killing joke (I find that such a cool song!).
The next challenge was to make the vocals sound kind of 'rough'. Since I'm not exactly a rock singer this took quite some vocal processing!

Regards,
Rob
Posted By: Janice & Bud Re: World of her own - 08/28/14 06:05 PM
"Approach mechanisms of men versus filter mechanisms of women.
Wanting and needing, but at the same time trying to keep your self-esteem.'

Well that alone is enough to invite a listen! I'm light years away culturally from the night life (city or small town) but I can appreciate many genres of music and there is a LOT to appreciate here. The vid is very supportive of the song and the entire product, audio and video, has an extremely polished and finished feel. I may have said this before about your productions....but they are a showcase for the power of BIAB in the right hands when accompanied by good writes and vocals.

Outstanding.

J&B
Posted By: RnAM Re: World of her own - 08/29/14 03:58 PM
Thank you J & B,

Well, these two mechanisms have been revealed to me about three years ago, before that, I kind of was 'in the dark about all these things', of course I was vaguely aware of them. But still... I was pretty much unable to 'bend them' properly, in the sense that it was to my own benefit. Thanks to Joshua Pellicer this finally changed. But I take it you guys don't go out much? whistle
The music then. Yes, before the final mix down of our songs it is all a matter of listening, listening again, and again and again. Sleep on it, then listen again the next day, then listening again preferably at my own place (the vocals are usually being recorded at Anne-Marie's place). Doing lots of tiny adjustments in the meantime. I myself prefer to not use headphones. When you listen to a mix through your speakers the sound is different and develops more, depending in which room your listening. At my own place the sound is very dry, virtually no natural reverb. These are the best mixing conditions.
We use Cubase essential 5 and Cubase 7 elements for recording. We have both grown into this program. I think it is the best DAW for home recording.
Personally I like a very polished sound, but this is of course just a matter of taste. Also, I'm not exactly new to this, have been doing home recordings for over 20 years now. Besides that, I've never been able to listen to (whatever) music in a normal way. I was always busy analyzing every song. What's the drum doing, the bass, keyboards, guitar etc. Why does this arrangement work etc.

thanks again, for your support.

Regards,
Rob
Posted By: RnAM Re: World of her own - 08/29/14 04:31 PM
Hello Charlie,

I just responded to a comment of Janice & Bud on World of Her Own.
I told a little about about our way of recording. Since you asked for some more info on this previously, here are some more details:


When we've created something in BIAB (we either use the melodist or enter chords by ourselves) we export every track as a separate wave file. Next we import all of them individually into Cubase.
There we can do some subtle but very precise editing of every track. Add vst FX, eliminate tiny mistakes etc. This part is actually most of the work. Since we are both perfectionists.
For the vocals recorded at Anne-Marie's place we use a Shure microphone (don't know the exact type, it's actually meant for recording acoustic instruments). At my own place I use a AKG D310 microphone.
The other tough part is the mixdown, but I've already explained something about this in my reply to J&B.
Although most used tracks are real tracks or user tracks, we also use MIDI tracks sometimes. We both purchased the Forte DXI synth which definitely enhances the midi quality. The piano on Through the Years is the DXI Forte grand piano. On top of that we sometimes use GM Soundfonts for MIDI tracks, like we did in London Town. Biab won't let you export MIDI tracks which are routed to a Sounfont, but you can save to entire song as a Midi file and then import this into the program Synthfont 2 (which I purchased - there is also a free version). Next you can export the midi tracks to wave at a 192.000khz/32-bit format.
Another reason why we sometimes export in midi is the fact that we can change the sound using various VST instruments.
On mixdown we always export at 96.000khz/192.000khz with a 32-bit (float) bit rate. Although our BIAB version only exports at 16-bit 41.000 khz this higher bit rate does seem to have an effect, at least on the vocals anyway.

If you have any questions on this, let me know.
Regards,
Rob
Posted By: Charlie Fogle Re: World of her own - 08/29/14 09:43 PM
Thanks Rob for the additional information. It's very helpful as well as interesting getting insight on how such professional results are achieved.

Your technique is similar to how I created practice tracks for a band I worked with until recently. (the band split up). I used a Tascam DP-24 to record practice sessions and used those tracks to duplicate the arrangements of cover songs the band performed using BIAB/RB and Studio One 2. My DAW of choice is Studio One 2 Professional. Each song normally took 3 to four days to complete. The thought was to have the playlist available to use for backing tracks eventually but we never got that far along. However, the songs accurately duplicated the band arrangement of each particular song.

I haven't had the same patience for original songs I post here on the forum. One issue has been the huge variety of styles available to preview. Another is the ease that chord progressions can be changed and experimented with. With only one exception, all of my original material has morphed into a song that is a lot different than the idea and song in my head.

What happens at that point is that rather than spending time polishing and correction, I usually create, mix, set levels, pan and use the reverb effects of BIAB and export a stereo file that I do very little post work other than balancing with the vocals recorded in Studio One and using the Project master feature of Studio One to eq this vocal/stereo music track and add a bit of compression and a limiter across the whole mix to bring up the loudness. Vocals and music many times are completed in one take. Sub-par, if one considers the tools available don't you think? Part of my excuse for that is that I convinced myself I was just learning my way around BIAB/RB/Studio One but I will soon be starting on my ninth month of using these programs and my songs are getting left in the dust by other artists so I actually resolved today to change things up on my original songs and put more effort into creating the song in my head rather than a cool style song I was influenced by BIAB to produce. Getting back to my roots in a manner of speaking. This is no way intended to disparage BIAB, the fact is the opposite is true. BIAB has given me the tools to produce music way beyond anything I could do otherwise at home. If I need steel guitar, Dobro, fiddle, mandolin, strings or horns they are all at my fingertip any hour and they don't charge by the hour.

At any rate, I enjoy the professional songs you and Anne-Marie submit and envy your work ethic and pride to push yourself to produce the best product you can. Your unselfish kindness in sharing some insight to how you do what you do is greatly appreciated.

Charlie
Posted By: David Snyder Re: World of her own - 08/30/14 12:45 AM
Hey there, I really like this song. And hello Herb Hartley, the guy who turned me on to BIAB!! smile Thanks to you Herb!

Pretty amazing tool set for laying down basic beds. I am finding it extremely useful as well to use real acoustics, and other live mic'ed guitars (using Real Band for the complete audio package which makes it a no brainer), or import sounds from other sample libraries. I totally freaked when I found that BIAB midi is compatible with the Garritan libraries for Finale as a VST plug-in. No Way! I said! Way!!! they answered. It opens up ENDLESS possibilities. For example, you can write and score your own drums in midi, run them in BIAB, with real tracks on different tracks we well, and then open up the drum kit in Garritan, tweak to your heart's content, or touch up with Ozone. Or, do the reverse: import a midi drum file you wrote yourself into a BIAB template, choose a real drum and BIAB real drums will say "Got it. Let me take it from here." It plays the drums you wrote with their kit. I don't think everyone knows that but it is an awesome feature. There is no a style restriction. There are so many ways to make your own styles and add in real audio that there really is no limit on the sound you can get of these tools.

Anyway, great song guys and a great mix.

David Snyder
www.reverbnation.com/davidpsnyder
Posted By: RnAM Re: World of her own - 08/31/14 06:12 PM
Thank you David!

We agree, Biab is a cool program.
We are looking forward to hearing what you create with it.

Regards,
R & AM
Posted By: Al-David Re: World of her own - 09/29/14 02:33 AM
Rob & Anne-Marie ...

We're trying to catch on listens on some of the songs we missed in our recent hiatus from the site.

Quite a bit different, as you mentioned. But different in the best of ways. Someone else mentioned the first thing that caught our attention ... the excellent blend of the 80's Rock sound along with strong hints of contemporary Rock.

Having grown up in a big city (St. Louis, Missouri) I (Alan) am quite familiar with the flash of colored, late night neon. Also, I played in bars and lounges for about 40 years. So, there was no confusion on my part about what you meant by the flashing lights.

Another great production of an equally great song. Super video, too! Best to you ...

Alan & Di
Posted By: dani48 Re: World of her own - 09/30/14 08:50 PM
Hi, Rob & Anne-Marie !


I´ll echo all the superlatives
said about this tune and your
songwriting and -performing
ailities ! Brilliant and impressive !:))


Cheers
Dani
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