Hey Y'all I need a favor if you can spare me a few clicks. I have been working on soundtrack material using mostly Xtra styles and a few other things but playing the melody parts myself as is my style.

https://soundcloud.com/davidsfilmmusic

I am submitting this entire channel (all done with BIAB as a co-producer) to some contests and stuff. I wouldn't mind getting some "clicks" on the first five listed. Probably no reason to listen to the whole thing, you will get the point right away.

In terms of "film score" writing I think Band in a Box (real tracks and midi use combined) blows everything else out there away. Nothing else even comes close. Everything else sounds so copycat and generic, but BIAB puts you WAY ahead of that--so help a brother out if you can!!!

I will be more than happy to explain how I did any of this. The short version is that Xtra styles don't need a lot of EQ-ing. They come kind of Eq-ed right out of the box, so I took it really easy on the effects in order to get a high dynamic range, and that sound of warmth you get with Xtra Styles. Most of these have dynamic ranges in the 11 to 12 category thanks to Xtra Styles.I have found that too many effects can crush the warmth of BIAB real tracks real fast, so I am being very lenient.

Thanks for helping if you can mates!!

P.S. Another interesting thing: the classical album I put out in May using Band in a Box ("Soothing Classical Guitar") is getting a lot of streams on Spotify and people are actually downloading the entire album from iTunes and Amazon. My mom told me to record it and I guess I should listen to her more often. I went to my music bank account and was like "Whoah..you need to do some more soothing classical music bro."



Just sayin'! I think people are looking to be relaxed! Hint, hint.

Took a listen skipping around a bit and enjoyed all that I heard. Nice work.


Charlie

Dang! boy, you've been BUSY!!!

I listened to parts of all 29 tracks. The mix was good on all of them. And - WOW - what an amazing variety of styles of music. You have done them all convincingly.

Cool titles.

Have you got them in a library of some kind.... you should...

I did not recognize the acoustic RT (if it is one) in Stupid Happy - it sounds like "Wagon Wheel"... what is it?

You are a MUSIC MAN!!! An impressive collection!!

fj

Gotta agree, impressive collection - I listened to a bunch.
Good luck!

Floyd,

RealTracks in style: 625:Guitar, Acoustic, Strumming Rascal Sw 075

Rascal man! One of my favorites! Can't live without it!

Thanks!

Yeah, they are in a library. I am building a few more. Was in a really big one but it went bankrupt. Was in the news. Some major artists got...well, you know the word.

They are all in ASCAP though and categorized and filed, so I am going after more. Have about 200 of these so far.

Thanks Josie!!!

Thanks Charlie!!

David,

To an avid watcher of streaming tv series, I`d say you are upping the game by using the RT`s as so much of the scores now sound like sample pastiche.
Mandolin Bay really jumps out as a "theme"...all I listened to sounded very good and I wish you luck with the marketing.
I liked the way you used the pan flute on Mesa Verde.

Robert

David, liked what I heard. Lots of effort involved here. I was really impressed with "Small Town Diner Blues". I could really imagine that one in a film. Thanks, Torrey.

David
Some nice interesting stuff there. Good luck with them.

Peter

David,

Wow! Some really great stuff here!

Bob

Hey David,

Wow! You have covered a lot of genres. I have listened to about the first 10 so far and loved all of them.
Dead of Night was great!

I was a bit confused as I clicked on Americana and got "Like you own the World"; one of your previous non-film releases. Is that intentional or just how SoundCloud works?

Good luck with all of this,
Jez
P.S. Well done with your Classical Album! Muse in A Minor is rather nice and Romanza is one of the first Classical pieces I learnt so brings back memories.

Very nice body of work, David.
Quite visual, which is the main thing.
Bearing in mind, the sound mixing people, or, you yourself, have
flexibility to adjust the music (mostly in levels and effects) to fit the
mix (audio, video, text) my impression is that you have given them
a lot of room to work with. I know that they doing not want music that
overly draws attention to itself, any one part. That is one reason light
classical or pop classical is used so often.
Only one way to find out ! Get the word out to videographers.
You have achieved the tech mastery required, my estimation.

Thank you Robert. Great commentary. A million thank yous.

Thanks Torrey. I am glad you like Small Town Diner.

Very helpful. Thanks from the bottom of my heart.

Thank you Peter!

Thanks Bob!

Thanks Jez! I am so glad you found that album on spotify. Thanks for listening man!!!

Did you break out your classical??

Thanks Ed!

Extremely helpful observations. Thank you, thank you, thank you.

These pieces showcase a talented and imaginative composer. I particularly liked Mandolin Bay. Nice to hear a full drumkit going though its paces on a folk-driven tune rather than the incessant dull thump much popularised by Mumford and Sons.

Hi David, I actually found it here on Amazon. I might PM you about how you went about getting cover music on Amazon.

Sadly I don't have the classical any more. When I need one I use my Godin and GR-55 which has some very convincing nylon guitars or one of many sample libraries.

Cheers
Jez

So many gems in there, David. I could hear many of them in film scenes.... Do you submit them as a large body of work to music directors/supply houses for their categorization, so they can draw from each for sampling for scenes?

Will do....amazing diversity and I can't imagine the total effort put into this project given the high quaity.

Wow.

Bud

Thanks Bud!!!

And I mean that--literally!!!

Thank you Andy!

Yes, this will go out to a number of libraries, and that is exactly what they would do. It is my showcase for that purpose.

As folks like Herb Hartley here have proved, the sync licensing world is a great place to be--and in my opinion BIAB gives you a severe competitive edge.

If you listen to a lot of stuff people are posting as "scores" using various tools they are all pasting together the same samples and riffs.

Also C.bp is your friend. If you want to "arrange" a highly dynamic piece in Band in a Box you simply type a chord followed by a period followed by b for bass, p for what is in the piano slot, g for what is in the guitar slot and so forth. So you may do D.pb for a few measures, then Bm.bpg for a few measures, then leave off the dot and the whole band kicks in. It is worth mastering. Of course these "edited" tracks export to RB or as a .wav in their truncated forms for use in another DAW.

And as I said earlier, being able to draw upon millions of chords and thousand of instruments when a lot of other people are just pasting A minor loops of the same string patches....

Well, I think you get the idea.

I think the PG Music folks should get the Nobel Prize next year.

Some nice music, and highly varied. Is there a link to contests or should we just put some likes? Take care. Greg

Yep, you have some nice stuff there.

Thanks Greg, not at this exact second but I will let you know. This is mostly for film library stuff this month.

Thanks a billion!

Thanks Herb!!

Thank you Marc From France! That was really wonderful of you to say! What part of France do you live in. I love France!!

I listened to ten or so and hearted them. A lesson in music creation.

Thank you Marty!! That is so sweet of you to say!!

Hello, David

I was amazed by your great vitality on music!
I listened to first 5 songs.
Some nice interesting stuff in them all.
I was most impressed with "Small Town Diner Blues".
The chromatic line of the cliché of Tonic (5th - #5th - 6th - b7th) - IV - IVm is so beautiful and effective.
Enjoyed my listen a lot.

Best Regards.

Shigeki Adachi

Shigeki,

Thank you! I must say I am impressed with your musical kowledge.

I did not know that is what I was doing, but now I am glad I know!!



Thanks for such a careful listening. I really have been enjoying your new music as well.

There's some really pretty stuff in here Clicked!

Thanks Will!!!

That is some excellent music David. My favorite is Dawn's Last Dance

These are as good a quality as I've heard. They deserve to be successful. I particularly like the guitar and cello. Minimalist but full if you see what I mean.

Some great variation in styles too and excellent mixing and overall production.

Good luck with these.

Wait ... Mississippi Delta Graveyard Blues just coming on - great vibe.

Cheers.
Mike.

Thanks Scott!

Wow! Thanks Mike!! You really made my Thanksgiving! Thank you so much!!!

Lotsa different styles. Some really great playing and production on display. Good luck with some placements. Tom

Thanks Tom, and Everyone.

I posted a new one called Pont Neuf which is old school 40s Big Band.

My mother-in-law just told me it remind here of the good old days.



https://soundcloud.com/davidsfilmmusic/pont-neuf