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Posted By: rayc Silent Waltz - Pygmy Beat Expanded - 04/27/18 08:41 PM
https://soundcloud.com/rayc/silent-waltz-pygmy-beat-expanded-featuring-miriam-webb
This track was 1st recorded about a decade ago but my parts were pretty messy and, having been recorded to cassette 4 track, fairly "lo fi".
I took the original tracks - transferred them to Reaper, re recorded the guitars, edited the cellos and added BIAB drums as well as organ.
I specifically bought RealDrums 07 for this project - and that set specifically for RealDrums:Swing8Waltz.
Organ: background B3.
Miriam Webb sang and played the good cello parts as well as writing the cello arrangement & vocal melody.
Gerry Steele of The Hamilton Steele Band played the lovely dual guitar solo.
I played the bad cello, bass, 12 & 6 string acoustic guitars.
The bass was DI.
The cellos were recorded with a Sony Electret 19b microphone.
New guitar parts recorded digitally with an MSH-4 which is a small diaphragm condenser with a built in micro-tube, (hand made at Naiant Studios), into a Focusrite Scarlett
Mixed in Reaper using
ReaComp
ReaVerb (imported convolution file - Wide chamber)
ReaEQ
PSP Vintage Warmer 2
Mastered by Fran Ashcroft of Happy Beat Studio.
https://soundcloud.com/rayc/silent-waltz-pygmy-beat-expanded-featuring-miriam-webb

Silent Waltz
Silent morning memories
of evening and of pain,
presence in old yesterdays
of day old drops of rain.
Silent circus masquerades
of such pleasantries,
painted on another face
of different histories.
magic morning miracles
of daylight in the rain,
tree and leaf and painter
beyond the window pane.
Silent old apostles
forgetful of their words,
peak hour pedestrian audience
of silence naught is heard.
Farewell parting speeches
of what cannot be said,
distant recollections
of memories almost dead.
magic morning miracles
of daylight in the rain,
tree and leaf and painter
beyond the window pane
Silent clay cast gentlemen
of nothing much to say,
routine morning daydreams
dreaming of the day...
magic morning miracles
of daylight in the rain,
tree and leaf and painter
beyond the window pane
Yet almost silently the day breaks…it breaks…it breaks


Posted By: floyd jane Re: Silent Waltz - Pygmy Beat Expanded - 04/27/18 09:02 PM
ray,

that was a most interesting listen.

An "artsy" song and recording. Could have come out of San Francisco in the early 70's... Miriam has a vocal similar to early Joni Mitchell (For The Roses era).

The stream-of-consciousness lyric occasionally lost me, but the music never did...

fj
Posted By: rayc Re: Silent Waltz - Pygmy Beat Expanded - 04/27/18 09:27 PM
Originally Posted By: floyd jane
ray,

that was a most interesting listen.

An "artsy" song and recording. Could have come out of San Francisco in the early 70's... Miriam has a vocal similar to early Joni Mitchell (For The Roses era).

The stream-of-consciousness lyric occasionally lost me, but the music never did...

fj

Thanks fj,
I was quite influenced by a Tolkien short story when I wrote the lyrics, (in about 77). It's an almost unknown but significant story called Leaf by Niggle. It's about social/community obligation.
Yes, Miriam does have a Roses quality. I don't know if she plays or sings currently as she's busy with two youngsters. Sadly the chap who made the mic, Naiant, no longer ships outside continental North America.
Thanks for your generous words.
Posted By: rsdean Re: Silent Waltz - Pygmy Beat Expanded - 04/28/18 08:44 AM
Ray,

I really like this. I agree with Floyd on the overall sound - you have really captured it well here.

Very nice job!

Bob
The voice and the lyrics go really well together. The voice is more like an instrument here, and I, too, sometimes let the meaning of the words disappear and just listened to the sounds.
Posted By: Scott C Re: Silent Waltz - Pygmy Beat Expanded - 04/28/18 09:39 AM
Loved the backtrack and vocal on this tune. Well done. Love the feel to this song. Well done.
Posted By: rayc Re: Silent Waltz - Pygmy Beat Expanded - 04/28/18 09:50 AM
Originally Posted By: rsdean
Ray,

I really like this. I agree with Floyd on the overall sound - you have really captured it well here.

Very nice job!

Bob

Thanks Bob,
Nothing like some tape, some digital, some BIAB & some weird little mics to make a vibe.
Posted By: rayc Re: Silent Waltz - Pygmy Beat Expanded - 04/28/18 09:52 AM
Originally Posted By: Marty Sorensen
The voice and the lyrics go really well together. The voice is more like an instrument here, and I, too, sometimes let the meaning of the words disappear and just listened to the sounds.

Marty,
I don't think the singer was born when I scrawled the lyrics but she was/is a perfect fit. As much as I love lyrics they are a carrier for the signal more than anything else.
Posted By: rayc Re: Silent Waltz - Pygmy Beat Expanded - 04/28/18 09:54 AM
Originally Posted By: Scott C
Loved the backtrack and vocal on this tune. Well done. Love the feel to this song. Well done.


Scott,
You're very kind. This remake is much dreamier than the original - for a start I excised the strident cello parts - as much as I liked the aggression and slight discord of them they jolted in and out of the dream state.
Posted By: Joe -PG Music Re: Silent Waltz - Pygmy Beat Expanded - 04/28/18 03:34 PM
Fantastic work rayc! Really dig the chord progression and the tremolo guitar. The vocals are great too. Thanks for sharing! smile
Posted By: MarioD Re: Silent Waltz - Pygmy Beat Expanded - 04/28/18 09:15 PM
Rayc, this is a very interesting well composed song. The vocals were just perfect as was the guitar lead.

This reminded me of songs from the late 1960's.

This is very well done!
Posted By: rayc Re: Silent Waltz - Pygmy Beat Expanded - 04/28/18 10:22 PM
Originally Posted By: Joe -PG Music
Fantastic work rayc! Really dig the chord progression and the tremolo guitar. The vocals are great too. Thanks for sharing! smile

Thanks Joe,
I was tempted to cut the trem guitar as it was in a bust space but panned it out of the jumble and it sounds cool I agree. Ah, as a bassist I know only a few chords so am lucky that those I know cobble well.
Thanks for your kind words.
Posted By: rayc Re: Silent Waltz - Pygmy Beat Expanded - 04/28/18 10:24 PM
Originally Posted By: MarioD
Rayc, this is a very interesting well composed song. The vocals were just perfect as was the guitar lead.

This reminded me of songs from the late 1960's.

This is very well done!

The late 60s is a lovely reference point - I was 12 in 69.
The solo is cool - Gerry Steele is a superb player and has contributed about 90% of solos on my songs.
Thanks you very much for your generous assessment.
Posted By: tommyad Re: Silent Waltz - Pygmy Beat Expanded - 04/29/18 09:09 AM
That definitely has the feel of a 70's dreamscape type of song. The vocal has a really nice delicate and soft quality about it. I like how the rhythm guitars drop out for the solo. The lyrics are so poetic and stream of self consciousness that it reminded me of waking up and remembering a dream you just had and thinking " What does this mean?" Therefore it stays with you a little bit and that is a good thing. I enjoyed it, Tom
Posted By: Robertkc Re: Silent Waltz - Pygmy Beat Expanded - 04/29/18 07:21 PM
Ray,
Tom summed up my thoughts on the lyrics - on a song like this you let them drift around in the dreamlike feeling.
I really liked the melody on this and use of cello as a rhythm instrument.
Lovely vocals, as others have mentioned. I was reminded of Rennaissance ( Brit. prog rock band).
Well worth your efforts to revive and massage the original recordings.

Robert
Posted By: PeterF Re: Silent Waltz - Pygmy Beat Expanded - 04/29/18 07:33 PM
Ray

Excellent work - evocative and quite distinctive. Agree with most of the prior comments. Nicely done and an interesting recording process. (I think there are a number of us here that were 12 in 1969).

Peter
Posted By: rayc Re: Silent Waltz - Pygmy Beat Expanded - 05/03/18 08:45 PM
Originally Posted By: tommyad
That definitely has the feel of a 70's dreamscape type of song. The vocal has a really nice delicate and soft quality about it. I like how the rhythm guitars drop out for the solo. The lyrics are so poetic and stream of self consciousness that it reminded me of waking up and remembering a dream you just had and thinking " What does this mean?" Therefore it stays with you a little bit and that is a good thing. I enjoyed it, Tom

Thanks Tom, you're very kind.
The arrangement decision for the solo was easy to make - It sounded so perfect I wanted it to shine and not be crowded. Gerry has done wonderful solos across a range of genre for me in the last 15 years or so.
Lyrics - I enjoy writing them - some are worked on and ground out otehrs, like this one, arrive fully free formed.
Posted By: rayc Re: Silent Waltz - Pygmy Beat Expanded - 05/03/18 08:48 PM
Originally Posted By: Robertkc
Ray,
Tom summed up my thoughts on the lyrics - on a song like this you let them drift around in the dreamlike feeling.
I really liked the melody on this and use of cello as a rhythm instrument.
Lovely vocals, as others have mentioned. I was reminded of Rennaissance ( Brit. prog rock band).
Well worth your efforts to revive and massage the original recordings.

Robert

Robert,
A comparison to Renaissance? I'll happily take that generous assessment. My cello is out of its case, on a stand and stares at me - condemning me for it's inaction of late. I'll have to loosen the shoulders and spend some time getting to know it again.
Posted By: rayc Re: Silent Waltz - Pygmy Beat Expanded - 05/03/18 08:51 PM
Originally Posted By: PeterF
Ray

Excellent work - evocative and quite distinctive. Agree with most of the prior comments. Nicely done and an interesting recording process. (I think there are a number of us here that were 12 in 1969).

Peter

Hello Peter,
'69 - ah, the days of relative innocence, a life of creeks, cartoons and having no understanding of the world.
Thanks for your kind words.
Posted By: Janice & Bud Re: Silent Waltz - Pygmy Beat Expanded - 05/08/18 03:03 PM
We thought about the Rose album also. Our favorite of hers.

We like Tom's word "dreamscape." That says a lot in two syllables.

It is remarkable that you were able to update this so well...we have a LOT of those 4-track Tascam cassettes around but have only tackled a few revisions.

The performances are outstanding. Wish y'all could do more.

Thanks for the song and the backstory!

J&B
Posted By: Jim Fogle Re: Silent Waltz - Pygmy Beat Expanded - 05/08/18 03:48 PM
This ia an ambitious and impressive effort. Excellent recording and the mix sounds good. I like how Miram Webb's voice fit into the mix.
Wow - I actually really enjoyed this smile The lo-fi effects really help breathe life into it. I reminds me of some trip-hop stuff from the 90's like Massive Attack and Portishead with the vocals. Those vocals are so haunting to me, for some reason. It has an otherworldliness to it.

Really well done! Thanks for sharing smile
Posted By: cliftond Re: Silent Waltz - Pygmy Beat Expanded - 05/09/18 11:27 AM
Just an exceptionally good song, the vocals are song well done here. love all the instruments, so well placed in the song.
Posted By: Greg Johnson Re: Silent Waltz - Pygmy Beat Expanded - 05/11/18 02:30 PM
Originally Posted By: floyd jane
ray,

that was a most interesting listen.

An "artsy" song and recording. Could have come out of San Francisco in the early 70's... Miriam has a vocal similar to early Joni Mitchell (For The Roses era).

The stream-of-consciousness lyric occasionally lost me, but the music never did...

fj


Agree with Floyd! Very nice. Definitely a trippiness to the song. Cellos and arrangement in general brought back some Magical Mystery Tour vibe. A wonderful listen!! Take care. Greg
Posted By: Tano Music Re: Silent Waltz - Pygmy Beat Expanded - 05/15/18 05:18 PM
I saw this get posted while I was on vacation--now that I'm back, I'm glad I went back and listened. I love songs like this that get tied back to some other work of art, such as you've done with the story. It sounds like you get to do a lot of recover/renovation to bring it current standards, and it turned out great. Your vocalist's style fits perfectly--wonder if she stylized her vocal herself or was following your planned lead. Liked the cello part! And letting the voice take it out sounds just right!
Posted By: rayc Re: Silent Waltz - Pygmy Beat Expanded - 05/16/18 07:58 AM
Originally Posted By: Janice & Bud
We thought about the Rose album also. Our favorite of hers.

We like Tom's word "dreamscape." That says a lot in two syllables.

It is remarkable that you were able to update this so well...we have a LOT of those 4-track Tascam cassettes around but have only tackled a few revisions.

The performances are outstanding. Wish y'all could do more.

Thanks for the song and the backstory!

J&B


It was a chore originally getting the 4 track tapes to Cakewalk PA9 and, eventually, Reaper as I only had a stereo input in a cheap gaming sound card back then BUT I managed. The mix results in Cakewalk weren't great - it's a bit of a clunky program in UI terms. Once I'd managed to get my brain around keeping what worked and redoing what didn't things improved and Reaper's stock plugs helped a great deal. The one plug/VST that seems to have helped most is the Free PSP Vintage Warmer 2. It added some "warmth" and tape like compression to the news components allowing them to fit into the mix better.
Thanks very much for your kind words.
I don't think I have anymore material featuring Miriam. I will have a squiz though.
Posted By: rayc Re: Silent Waltz - Pygmy Beat Expanded - 05/16/18 08:03 AM
Originally Posted By: Jim Fogle
This ia an ambitious and impressive effort. Excellent recording and the mix sounds good. I like how Miram Webb's voice fit into the mix.

Thank you Jim.
Miriam's vocal & melody are the principal features of the song - she was recorded with reverb printed to tape so I had to build the sounds to accommodate that more than anything else.
Miriam's cello playing is great so I worked to incorporate that as much as possible. My own cello playing is rather of the musical saw variety but I did manage to use a fair bit of it.
Old &/or fairly cheap mics did the trick for this. The guitars were recorded into a tiny condenser with a nanotube hand made by Naiant Studios - it costs about US$40 but the fellow doesn't make them anymore - he makes a range of excellent mics and such but has moved on in the decade or more since I bought mine.
Posted By: rayc Re: Silent Waltz - Pygmy Beat Expanded - 05/16/18 08:05 AM
Originally Posted By: Deryk - PG Music
Wow - I actually really enjoyed this smile The lo-fi effects really help breathe life into it. I reminds me of some trip-hop stuff from the 90's like Massive Attack and Portishead with the vocals. Those vocals are so haunting to me, for some reason. It has an otherworldliness to it.

Really well done! Thanks for sharing smile

Deryk,
yet again - thanks for your generosity.
I agree Miriam could have pulled off a couple of songs from Dummy quite well.
Phanque!
Posted By: rayc Re: Silent Waltz - Pygmy Beat Expanded - 05/16/18 08:07 AM
Originally Posted By: cliftond
Just an exceptionally good song, the vocals are song well done here. love all the instruments, so well placed in the song.

Cliftond,
Thank you & thank you again.
I'm in the process of pulling a video together but it'll sadly be without Miriam as she's long gone from my sphere.
Posted By: rayc Re: Silent Waltz - Pygmy Beat Expanded - 05/16/18 08:10 AM
Originally Posted By: Greg Johnson
Originally Posted By: floyd jane
ray,
that was a most interesting listen.
An "artsy" song and recording. Could have come out of San Francisco in the early 70's... Miriam has a vocal similar to early Joni Mitchell (For The Roses era).
The stream-of-consciousness lyric occasionally lost me, but the music never did...
fj

Agree with Floyd! Very nice. Definitely a trippiness to the song. Cellos and arrangement in general brought back some Magical Mystery Tour vibe. A wonderful listen!! Take care. Greg

Ta muchly Greg,
Working with Miriam was a buzz as the recording was incorporated into my cello lessons so I could learn something and try it in a new song and she would bring a fresh, youthful approach to my old progressions and lyrics.
I keep looking for opportunities to use my minimal cello skills in my stuff.
Posted By: rayc Re: Silent Waltz - Pygmy Beat Expanded - 05/16/18 08:17 AM
Originally Posted By: Tano Music
I saw this get posted while I was on vacation--now that I'm back, I'm glad I went back and listened. I love songs like this that get tied back to some other work of art, such as you've done with the story. It sounds like you get to do a lot of recover/renovation to bring it current standards, and it turned out great. Your vocalist's style fits perfectly--wonder if she stylized her vocal herself or was following your planned lead. Liked the cello part! And letting the voice take it out sounds just right!

Tano Music,
I'm very pleased that you thought to come back to the song. I'm inclined to get things fixed rather than toss/replace and am much the same with music. I knew there was value hidden away in the original aspects of the project - that value was Miriam's singing & cello playing. I didn't have a melody for her. I just handed her a very basic backing track and set of lyrics. She took those away and came back a week later with a vocal melody/delivery as well as the string arrangement. She had the vocal in two takes and her cello part in one. I took a couple of weeks to learn and record a decent take of mine. The new bass & guitars came together very quickly. BIAB did a grand job of fitting with the slightly wonky tempo to give me an interesting drum track.
Thank you for your kind words.
Posted By: Torrey Bliss Re: Silent Waltz - Pygmy Beat Expanded - 05/16/18 09:28 PM
Ray,

Wow what a fantastic vocal and melody in this song! The vocalist reminds me a lot of KT Tunstall "Other Side Of The World" and that's a very good thing. I love the contrast of the "loose" backing band with the smooth melody over the top of it! The chord changes coming out of minor sections back to a major really make this tune for me! This sounds really good and I dig it! Thanks, Torrey
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