So here we are near the mid of May and still we've been having snow in the air. Even for Iceland, that's pushing it

That's basically the sentiment from which this song comes from (another 'co-written' by BBox & myself piece); sitting at the frosty window on a chilly but calm evening, with that longing for winter to be over.
I give you: WHEN WINTER LEAVES... - Enjoy!

Formalities:

Style is _WINTER.STY

RealTracks in style: ~2311:Bass, Acoustic, JazzBalladRonA-B Sw 085
RealTracks in style: ~743:Piano, Acoustic, Rhythm Jazz Ballad Sw 060 (A:simple)
RealTracks in song: ~1499:Guitar, Electric, SoloAccompaniment JazzBallad Sw 060
RealTracks in style: 2792:Horn Section, Background CroonerBallad11-Part Sw 060
RealDrums: RealDrums in Style: JazzSwingLewis

Other instruments performed by yours truly.


p.s. Yes, I'm aware of the double-meaning of 'winter leaves', I can be clever like that

Cool idea - I reckon you should double the horn section - add a harmony or almost duplicate group and throw them on the other side with a good chunk of reverb across both.
The horn solo is fine but seems odd not having the centre of the stereo image when the vibes - whilst stereo, seem centred.
The main melody is a little bright and could use a little top end roll off.
Nice work.

Sounding very festive. Rob

Eddie,

Great - a very rich and melodic sound. Pro mix.

Bob

Beautiful melody and tranquil arrangement interpreting nicely the longing for the end of winter. I can still remember 1.5 months ago when I was longing the same thing here in Finland. Now it's great spring here, I really hope it will arrive there too very soon

Janne

Thanks for the constructive observations, Mr. Ray, Let me just give my take on these:

"you should double the horn section - add a harmony or almost duplicate group and throw them on the other side with a good chunk of reverb across both."

Absolutely not, for that would completely overpower the intended 'tranquil' sentiment! Besides, I'm a huge believer in the 'less is more' principle, which I certainly feel is warranted here.

"The horn solo is fine but seems odd not having the centre of the stereo image when the vibes - whilst stereo, seem centred."

I actually went back and forth on this, but the basis for my choice here was to minimise the risk of clashing with the similar sounding horns (which are in fact also panned a tad off centre, but to the opposite side). Also, in a live setting, these two instruments, trombone and vibes, wouldn't both be at the centre, that's just practically implausible, and I tried to reflect that... but maybe I overdid it, it's a mileage-may-vary case for sure.

"The main melody is a little bright and could use a little top end roll off."

I suspect speakers & ears on each end are a vital factor here, but fair enuff. I was aiming to contrast the booming low end of the bass (and guitar to some extent) and may have overdone it. Also, I used some EZ Mix, a set of plugs/effects that I only recently bought and am still finding my ways with, on this project to give the lead a slight 'ethereal' sound, which maybe worked and maybe not so much. So I'll give you this one.... maybe

Thanks for taking the time to give advices & feedback

Thanks for that sentiment, and I'm happy to say it's now turned to proper rain over here...so we're getting there, day by day

Much obliged, and after just a quick peek at your channel, you've made a 'follower' out of me already

Nice work here You definitely captured wintery vibe. It has a very chilled out atmosphere to it. Very easy on the ears, and very delicate and pristine sounding.

Thanks for sharing!

Thanks likewise for listening, let alone commenting...Nice little pun in there, btw, loved it

Wonderful tune!! I could listen to this for an hour! Take care. Greg

Wow, for an hour?!

Man, I don't know if to thank you or pity you, hah

Hey Icelander, definitely my kind of tune as you probably know if you have listened to my stuff. I loved it, period. On a side note; don't you love it when your tune gets stripped right and left and then "it's all good though ". Just saying.

Mike B.

hehehe, I know exactly what you're talking about there

But actually I don't mind these inputs at all. It often takes other people's eyes & ears to spot the many path choices one could've taken and plain missed. Ok, so it can also sometimes turn into little more than an ill-disguised "I know better than you do", but that sort of thing I find easy to brush off. The pro of other people's insight outweighs the con... most of the time

Here it just gave me a chance for a followup post to share my thoughts on why I made the choices I did, without making my initial post too long (or come across as unwanted information overload).

So I guess in this case it really is "all good"

p.s. glad you simply liked the song, btw

I'm just making suggestions based on what I heard.
That is the point of sharing isn't it?
Each listener will filter a song according to their own notions and either ignore their thoughts and congratulate you or congratulate you and make suggestions according to those filters & notions.
The downside of this Showcase forum is that it is, essentially, for "finished" songs. there's no intermediate forum for tracks "in progress". I'm keen for suggestions for my work.
One universal suggestion though:
As is often recommended - listen to your mix in mono - if the levels and tones are spot on then it's time to pan instruments into a stereo field.
I'd add:
In your case, given your desire to replicate the live situation & era, why not mix to mono like an old 78? Plenty of plugs out there to add crackle & pop too.

Uhm..is it!? I can't quite tell if you're actually asking me or just telling me. After all, they say 90% of all questions are actually statements
===
Glad to hear it. How that pertains to me and my work, however, I do not know - and no, I'm not asking.

p.s. I will however give you credit for mending your post from how I read it in my email just now. A very wise move.

I think I'll just accept that we, generally, disagree.
Let your music, or perhaps the P.S. in your original post, speak for you.
I don't need your credit just as you don't need the suggestions I had made in, and then excised from, my reply.
I'll keep my distance.
Hafa gott líf.

This is a very pretty tune. Forgot how nice the xylophone sounds. Thanks for sharing...

Thanks likewise for listening

Nice and mellow, a pleasant listen.

Is this your response to "Autumn Leaves"? Will be get the full Four Season suite? Maybe "Vivaldi Leaves" or something...

It could be my speakers, but it sounds like there's some sort of compression artifact going on between the brush and the snare. It's probably something SoundCloud is doing, I doubt it's something in the original mix.

Hi Eddie,

Really enjoyed this. The horn solo was by FAR the musical centerpiece. The vibe is nice by not that special. But the horn solo is expressive and musical. IMO you need some tastier vibe bits or something to make the vibe compete better with that really expressive horn. Also, the best bit (the horn) is buried in the middle of the tune.

Well mixed IMO. Overall is has a really pleasant groove.

Peace,

Ian

Nope. I myself was in a similar position as you not to long ago.

This is a safe and friendly place where BiaB users can post their songs.

If someone isn't specifically asking for feedback, you can assume that they are happy with everything about their song, and have posted it simply for people to enjoy.

Now, some people post songs and include statements like "Feedback welcome" or "Have at it!", which invites feedback.

But if that's not stated, assume they aren't actively seeking "corrective" feedback - i.e. telling them how it could be made better.

You might mention their vocals are buried in the mix, or that the drums could be turned up.

But don't be surprised if their response is that they are happy with everything exactly the way it is.

Oi, what are you doing?! Surely you know that anyone who ends their latest with the phrase "Have a nice life" is dead set on being the the one who will have the last word

Now he's gonna have to come back - again!

Well, obviously the PG artist behind that trombone is a seasoned pro, far beyond what I (hopefully) have ever presumed to be, so this sentiment doesn't come as any surprise to me. The melody part is really not supposed to be anything but precisely that, a 'no-frills', by-the-notes melody provider. That's also why I opted not to even attempt to use that instrument for the soloing... and judging by the feedback you just gave, it sounds like I made the right call
Anyway, glad you liked the song, despite it not being all you would've wanted it to be. I guess that has something to do with it being my song and not yours...just a hunch

Trying to out-clever me now, eh? How dare you

Let's hope so. I do use a compressed format for my SC uploads for space savings, maybe that and my experimenting with that new EZ thing I just got have something to do with it.
Then again, maybe I plain messed something up, wouldn't be the first time either...or the last

Cam we please make this in to a jazz standard? This is so great for Ella Fitzgerald or Louis Armstrong to sing with. Lead sheet please.

Nice to see that when you like things, you do so with the same displayed passion as when you dislike things

Thanks for listening, let me see if I can do something about notes for your generous compliments...

Right, this was such an unusual request that I just couldn't turn it down
So I've tried to attach a very basic screen cap, if it's too small just right-click the picture and "open image in new tab", that should give you a larger view:

Excellent music very relaxing and well mixed-
A great soundtrack!

Sergio

Thank you. I must admit I hadn't really considered this one in the context of "soundtrack" or "score", but now that you mention it...

Icelander,

I feel you have conveyed perfectly the intended sentiment with this piece! There is a melancholy vibe here that makes the listener feel that the musician/composer has resigned himself to "wait things out". Nice work! Thanks, Torrey

That's so well put, wish I had thought of it!
Our 'dark months' period is actually one of the longest in the world (roughly 8 months), so "waiting things out" is something we are all too familiar with in that sense.

Thanks for the nice feedback.

BTW, a while back I did a lot of research on the best format for uploading to soundcloud. The general consensus was to upload at least a 16bit wav as SC's compression algorithms (as can other sites) get a bit weird when compressing compressed files. FWIW. On the other hand my old ears can't discriminate between a wav or a mp3

It sounds great on our monitors. I'll stream it later this evening on our "big" system.

We really like the aforementioned melancholy feel that Torrey mentioned. We can definitely understand how "waiting out" skills would be appreciated with eight "dark months!"

Really a memorable tune both in production and performance.

J&B

Thank you for this insight. It never occurred to me that the SC upload would further compress or rework an already compressed format like that. I thought that any compression they would make would be only on completely uncompressed files.Appreciate that, thank you.

Enjoyed the arrangement...is that you playing the trombone? Sounds great!
Nice, relaxed, restrained track overall, with very classic big band changes.
Loved the sound! Thanks for sharing.

Not me on that trombone no, sorry, that is one Dennis Esson, courtesy of BBox performers (I think I neglected to say in my initial post).
Thanks for the complimentary comments otherwise, particularly the use of the word "restrained". A very good word there to describe my typical 'style' in arrangements in general, so I just may start using it myself from here on