Happy New Year, all! I've finally had some solid time to get back to music making during my year-end shutdown this last 10 days. I finished two songs today with my friend and producer Roger (the other song is also on SC but it's all Roger and me, no BIAB, quite rocking).

In November, I sang with my brother and a friend in a Bee Gees tribute concert. Mostly BG covers, but Doug and I decided to add two BG-inspired harmony-heavy originals. This was one, with lyrics inspired by my late October walks around London.

https://soundcloud.com/flyingsinger/foggy-morning-london-town

I really liked the way the 2335 strings worked in this song. I wrote most of the lyrics, my brother Doug most of the melody. We were definitely going for a 1967 feel. All the voices are mine except for one part on the chorus that my daughter sang.

Thanks for any thoughts or suggestions!

-Bruce

BIAB Details:
Key=G , Tempo 94, Length (m:s)=3:16
Style is _POPH085.STY (Slow Rock Ballad (85 RS))
RealTracks in style: ~518:Bass, Electric, Pop HalfNotes Ev 085
RealTracks in style: ~365:Guitar, Acoustic, Fingerpicking Ev 085
RealTracks in style: ~362:Guitar, Acoustic, Strumming Ev 085
RealTracks in style: ~542:Guitar, Electric, Rhythm Dreamy Ev 085
RealTracks in song: 2335:String Quartet, Rhythm PopHall Ev 085
RealDrums in style: NashvilleEven8^1-a:Sidestick, HiHat , b:Snare, Ride

Foggy Morning, London Town

Foggy morning, London Town
Footsteps falling without a sound
Memories linger
Like the smell of an early rain

I move slowly through
Westminster squares
Their cobbled lanes and homes so fair
Feeling every bit a part of the history

chorus

Foggy Morning, London Town
The streets are empty
The building shapes so dim

Foggy Morning, London Town
I fear I won't see you again
Foggy Morning, London Town

Wandering places we used to go
That zebra crosswalk on Abbey Road
We were just as fab
And you were matching your steps with mine

chorus

There’s a sadness all around
But no one sees the tears that I cry
No one knows the loneliness
I feel inside
Foggy Morning, London Town

chorus

Music/lyrics by Doug and Bruce Irving (C) 2014 (BMI)

Very nice. This is quite professional sounding. Good write, mix and performance. You did a superb job on the vocals and capturing the Bee Gee's feel in the song. Thanks for posting.


Charlie

Catchy song with an effective chorus. The additional voices are quite nice, and (as you noted) the strings are lovely.

My only complaint is with the sound quality - it sounds like a low quality MP3 in places. I suspect that SoundCloud is to blame, not you.

Thanks for posting, I enjoyed the song a lot.

-- David

Really pretty song!! Love the vibe, the vocals, the strings, the whole nine! Great work! Take care. Greg

Hi Bruce,
Definitely a BG style classic.
Nice composition, good harmonies. I agree with David On the MP3 quality.
Still... Good songwriting !
G
F

"Wandering places we used to go
That zebra crosswalk on Abbey Road
We were just as fab
And you were matching your steps with mine"

What a terrific verse!

I did not get a BeeGee's feel at first, but when you hit the chorus..Man! it was perfect!

Good write. Good arrangement and an excellent mix. The quality (mp3) sounded great to me. Like a good radio mix...

Very enjoyable.

floyd

Bruce,

The BeeGee vibe hit me at almost the 1st note as I immediately thought of Massachusetts BUT as the vocals started the song took on a life of its own with the brothers Irving in charge

Nice harmonies.

I lived in London for nearly 20 years and so did not see the romantic side but my old band did the Abbey road walk (and picture)

A great song, I look forward to more.

Alyn

Hi Bruce,

a great vibe.
Good arrangement and mix. I had no problem with the quality. Maybe some are disturbed by that flanger like effect on the vocals.
Awsome harmonies! Very enjoyable listen.

Guenter

Hi all,

Thanks for the feedback and kind remarks! On the MP3 quality, I can't speak for anything that might be happening with SoundCloud. To me, the WAV file and MP3 sound very close on my system, and the mp3 sounds the same on several other systems I have tested. But...

There is deliberately a large amount of effects on the whole track (apart from the chorus effect on the solo lines of the chorus). I discovered "effects chains" in Sonar X3 and tried a bunch of their pre-made examples. The one I used is called "Nice AND Naughty" and it includes something called Alias Factor ("Alias Factor combines bit crushing and low pass filtering in a unique way" - I am non-violent and am horrified by the thought of crushing defenseless bits!), parametric EQ, and the z3ta+ synth used as an effect. We toned down the feedback and noisy high end, but there is a wash of echoes that was intended to be "vintage" but may sound muddy or bad to some. I will review this soon with Roger. Maybe we can use something cleaner.

Thanks for listening!

Bruce