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Posted By: BlueAttitude How can you talk? - 11/02/18 12:26 PM
How can you talk?

Interesting story behind this one, interesting for me anyway! I learned a new trick that might be helpful to someone else. This started out as a piano demo Chris sent me in 6/8 time, 75 BPM. We ended up not using the piano part, but I still needed to create a backing track in 6/8 time.

Problem is BIAB does not offer much in the way of tracks in 6/8, and I wanted to use a BIAB electric bass player and organ player. To make it work in BIAB I reduced the tempo to 50 BPM (75 * 2/3), 12/8 time, and reduced the number of bars by two, i.e. 2 bars of 'A' became 1 bar of 'A'. Lines up perfect with my reaper project, which is set for 75 BPM, 6/8.

How can you talk (Christiane Spruit, 2018)

V1:
You said you know me
if you ever had to know me
how can you talk
how can you talk like this at all

V2:
When you meet me
eye to eye
you are smiling in a way
so how can you make up all these lies.

V3:
when you told me
that it was over
Did you ever hear a bad word
all I could do is, say good bye

Bridge:

You were the one who has gone and all came undone
saying that she will be the one
who will bring back the sun
so you left, went and gone
and now telling That I was the one

V4:
You ought to know me
and if you ever had to know me
do you believe and get some relief,
by repeating all these lies

The band:

RealTracks in song: 1922:Bass, Electric, TexasBluesRockSlow12-8 Sw 060
RealTracks in song: ~675:Organ, B3, Background Blues Monday Sw 065

I used EZDrummer2 to build the drum track and I'm playing the two guitar parts.

Mixed with reaper using plugins from Ozone and Waves, mastered with Ozone 8 and LMC.

I used a strat for the guitar parts and processed them with S-Gear and CLA Guitars.

Also up on soundcloud, here: https://soundcloud.com/blue-attitude/how-can-you-talk

As always comments are welcome!


Posted By: David Snyder Re: How can you talk ? - 11/02/18 02:05 PM

Righteous tune, Dave. Great vocals and guitar.

Excellent write and totally pro mix. You have this mixing thing down cold now. Or should I say down hot.

Thanks for the tip on Vocal Rider, the way. It solves A LOT of problems in one fell swoop.

smile
Posted By: Al-David Re: How can you talk ? - 11/02/18 03:25 PM
Hi Chris & Dave,

Didn't get a chance to hear the last minute or so - Di needed some attention. Will listen to entire track tonight. But you guys did a marvelous jon on what I heard. Chris' vocal is outstanding, your guitar work shines (as usual) and this is put together so danged good! the couple of minutes I listened to were simply magic!

Alan
Posted By: Tangmo Re: How can you talk ? - 11/02/18 05:04 PM
Went to church with this one. Love the backing track. The guitar moans, and the vocals exude that burning anger and disappointment present in the lyrics. Just great.
Posted By: Noel96 Re: How can you talk ? - 11/02/18 06:07 PM
Dave,

Once again, you and Chris show us all how it's done.

This style/genre sits so very comfortably with the both of you that it's easy to hear it's a personal favourite.

And David Snyder is correct; you've got mixing totally tamed nowadays (I'm envious)!

A terrific listen!
Noel
Posted By: PeterF Re: How can you talk - 11/02/18 07:02 PM
Dave

A lovely subtle blues song. The organ sounds great Chris' vocal is excellent and you play some very tasty guitar parts throughout.

The 6/8 - 12/8 tempo stuff made my head hurt a bit this early in the morning!

Excellent work.

Peter
Posted By: rayc Re: How can you talk - 11/02/18 07:59 PM
The bridge part is superb.
A very cool piece.
Really nice guitar & vocal tones Dave & Chris.
Posted By: Scott C Re: How can you talk - 11/02/18 08:24 PM
Boy do I like this. First the backtrack has such a cool feel to this. Chris's vocal was excellent. Lots of emotion to the vocal. That Hammond was very neat sitting in the back. Love the way it props up the song. You guitar was fabulous. Weaved in and out of the backtrack. So cool. Well done Chris and Dave... Love the story of how you put the song together. Very creative and original music...
Posted By: Will Josef Re: How can you talk - 11/02/18 09:13 PM
I like the blues music. I love this track! I adore the vocals. It's such a joy listening to this song.

Is Christiane Spruit the name of the vocalist? She is absolutely amazing.


Will
Posted By: Steve Young Re: How can you talk - 11/02/18 10:15 PM
Very nice! Clever, how you made the tempos work. Love the organ. As always, the guitar sounds superb, and the vocals are really nice on this one. Loved it!

Steve
Posted By: Rustyspoon# Re: How can you talk - 11/02/18 11:05 PM
jealous...

Nice work!
Posted By: bluage Re: How can you talk - 11/03/18 01:34 AM
"BlueAttitude"...

Well, now, I guess we all know where you got that handle from cool !!!

"How Can You Talk" is drenched, dripping, drowned, saturated, soaked, sopping and wringing-wet with the feel of "the blues". If the tempo had been any slower, our hearts would have stopped. This is a dark, dank, subterranean kind of blues that never sees the sun. It's like listening to a damned soul descending seemingly endless numbers of stairs to...the "hot" place. mad !!!

Seriously, though, "How Can You Talk" is heavy-duty musicianship, "BlueAttitude". The heartbreak in the lyrics is amplified mercilessly by the slow-drag rhythm, by your despairing, "grinding our faces in it" guitar work, the doom-laden bass line, and Ms. Spruit's unleashing of her misery through her vocal. That B3 organ RealTrack didn't hurt, either, as it brought forth the church (hearin' ya' loud an' clear, "Tangmo"!!!) congregation into the mix - amen, amen, brothers n' sistuhs!!!

So good, it's "ba-a-a-a-d to the bone"!

LOREN (a.k.a. "bluage")

Posted By: rsdean Re: How can you talk - 11/03/18 07:57 AM
Dave / Chris,

You are turning out some great music... Love the song, vocal and mix. Love the backstory on the tracks.

Excellent all around.

Bob
Posted By: BlueAttitude Re: How can you talk ? - 11/03/18 08:40 AM
Originally Posted By: David Snyder

Righteous tune, Dave. Great vocals and guitar.

Excellent write and totally pro mix. You have this mixing thing down cold now. Or should I say down hot.

Thanks for the tip on Vocal Rider, the way. It solves A LOT of problems in one fell swoop.

smile


Thanks, David! I really enjoy mixing, I look forward to when the song gets to that stage.

Yeah, vocal rider is great! Best $29 I ever spent.

Love your new one!
Posted By: BlueAttitude Re: How can you talk ? - 11/03/18 09:09 AM
Originally Posted By: Al-David
Hi Chris & Dave,

Didn't get a chance to hear the last minute or so - Di needed some attention. Will listen to entire track tonight. But you guys did a marvelous jon on what I heard. Chris' vocal is outstanding, your guitar work shines (as usual) and this is put together so danged good! the couple of minutes I listened to were simply magic!

Alan


Thanks, Alan!

Best wishes to Di!
Posted By: floyd jane Re: How can you talk - 11/03/18 10:04 AM
Dave & Chris,

Nice opening - both the drums AND guitar!

Chris' vocals get better with each new song - so strong, so confident... this is superb - spine-tingling...

Dave, your leads seem to sing more and more with each new release. Gorgeous!

The mix is impeccable.

Awesome listen.

fj
Posted By: BlueAttitude Re: How can you talk ? - 11/03/18 05:16 PM
Originally Posted By: Tangmo
Went to church with this one. Love the backing track. The guitar moans, and the vocals exude that burning anger and disappointment present in the lyrics. Just great.


Thanks for the listen and comments, happy you liked this one!
Posted By: RnAM Re: How can you talk - 11/03/18 07:54 PM
Wow guys, this is something else!
Everything you'd expect from a bluesy song.
Strong vocals and an absolute top notch guitar work (love that Strat sound!).

Rob and Anne-Marie
Posted By: BlueAttitude Re: How can you talk ? - 11/04/18 08:46 AM
Originally Posted By: Noel96
Dave,

Once again, you and Chris show us all how it's done.

This style/genre sits so very comfortably with the both of you that it's easy to hear it's a personal favourite.

And David Snyder is correct; you've got mixing totally tamed nowadays (I'm envious)!

A terrific listen!
Noel


Thanks, Noel!

I find mixing a fascinating subject and I spend a lot of time trying new techniques. Always trying to make the songs sound more professional!

The last few songs I've used stereo delay on the vocals, and I think it was you that turned me onto that a while ago smile
Posted By: BlueAttitude Re: How can you talk - 11/04/18 10:53 AM
Originally Posted By: PeterF
Dave

A lovely subtle blues song. The organ sounds great Chris' vocal is excellent and you play some very tasty guitar parts throughout.

The 6/8 - 12/8 tempo stuff made my head hurt a bit this early in the morning!

Excellent work.

Peter


Yeah, the math made my head hurt too! Formula is pretty easy once you know how, took me a while to get there though!

Thanks, Peter!
Posted By: Belladonna Re: How can you talk - 11/04/18 01:22 PM
Touches the soul down and deep. Beautiful!
Posted By: Greg Johnson Re: How can you talk - 11/04/18 01:47 PM
Originally Posted By: floyd jane
Dave & Chris,

Nice opening - both the drums AND guitar!

Chris' vocals get better with each new song - so strong, so confident... this is superb - spine-tingling...

Dave, your leads seem to sing more and more with each new release. Gorgeous!

The mix is impeccable.

Awesome listen.

fj


YES!!!! I was hooked from the first KICK!!!.....could feel it reverberate in my gut!! As Floyd said, Chris is really killing it, and the guitar riffs are SWEET AS HONEY!!! Great stuff guys!! Take care. Greg
Posted By: BlueAttitude Re: How can you talk - 11/05/18 06:04 AM
Originally Posted By: rayc
The bridge part is superb.
A very cool piece.
Really nice guitar & vocal tones Dave & Chris.


The bridge is my favorite part too.

Thanks, Ray!
Posted By: BlueAttitude Re: How can you talk - 11/05/18 10:48 AM
Originally Posted By: Scott C
Boy do I like this. First the backtrack has such a cool feel to this. Chris's vocal was excellent. Lots of emotion to the vocal. That Hammond was very neat sitting in the back. Love the way it props up the song. You guitar was fabulous. Weaved in and out of the backtrack. So cool. Well done Chris and Dave... Love the story of how you put the song together. Very creative and original music...


I used two instances of the B3, one normal and one set to simple, and then brought one in or the other depending on what the song needed at the time. I do that quite often with organ tracks, gives you a bit more control that way.

Thanks, Scott, happy you liked this one!
Posted By: 44kfl Re: How can you talk - 11/05/18 01:56 PM
Your math is sound!

glad that it wasn't me doing the calculations

gritty guitar is awesome

solid and effective vocals

love it!

Kenny
Posted By: BlueAttitude Re: How can you talk - 11/06/18 09:02 AM
Originally Posted By: Will Josef
I like the blues music. I love this track! I adore the vocals. It's such a joy listening to this song.

Is Christiane Spruit the name of the vocalist? She is absolutely amazing.


Will


Hi Will,

I'm glad you liked this one!

Yes, Christiane (Chris for short) is the vocalist. She also writes most of the lyrics and plays piano on some of our songs.

We have been working together since 2015 and have done 30+ songs together so far.
Posted By: Skyline Re: How can you talk - 11/06/18 09:43 AM
Dave & Chris, what a terrific song. Excellent vocals and Strat work (nice bends sir!).
Nicely engineered too. Love this.
cool
John
Posted By: Noel96 Re: How can you talk ? - 11/06/18 10:23 AM
Originally Posted By: BlueAttitude
The last few songs I've used stereo delay on the vocals, and I think it was you that turned me onto that a while ago smile

That Reaper video I discovered and posted a little while back was great. Until then, I never appreciated just how effective slapback delay was on vocals. I'm glad you got some use out of it! It's helped my work, too.
Posted By: Deryk - PG Music Re: How can you talk ? - 11/06/18 11:41 AM
Wow - is this ever one solid tune smile Love the slow, gentle groove. And both the vocals and progressions were top notch. The whole thing flows like butter. Really easy on the ears, and nicely catchy as well.

You should be proud of this one - thanks for sharing!
Posted By: Janice & Bud Re: How can you talk? - 11/06/18 02:01 PM


Wow! Blues rock with some serious Motown soul thrown in. Wonderful combo!

Your mixes have moved from good to good as it gets IMO. The drums are tremendous. I'm working with an organ SMT now but no way is it gonna sound this good.

Chris's vocal is our favorite of many, many strong performance. Throw in your perfect guitar tracks and a fine write and it all adds to a killer tune.

Y'all have set the piano on fire and walked off the stage! (Did I say that the last time? smile )

Congrats to the two of you!

J&B
Posted By: Guitarhacker Re: How can you talk ? - 11/06/18 04:19 PM
Nice work..... too short in my opinion.... love some blues now and then.
Posted By: BlueAttitude Re: How can you talk - 11/06/18 10:45 PM
Originally Posted By: Steve Young
Very nice! Clever, how you made the tempos work. Love the organ. As always, the guitar sounds superb, and the vocals are really nice on this one. Loved it!

Steve


Thanks, Steve!
Posted By: BlueAttitude Re: How can you talk - 11/06/18 10:50 PM
Originally Posted By: Rustyspoon#
jealous...

Nice work!


You are a good songwriter in my book, I enjoy your music. And your production skills are getting better all the time. Nothing to be jealous about smile
Posted By: dcuny Re: How can you talk - 11/07/18 04:37 AM
Scrolling through the comments, I see everything I could have said had already been written, so I'll just say: Wow. That was a treat. smile
Posted By: BlueAttitude Re: How can you talk - 11/08/18 07:40 AM
Originally Posted By: bluage
"BlueAttitude"...

Well, now, I guess we all know where you got that handle from cool !!!

"How Can You Talk" is drenched, dripping, drowned, saturated, soaked, sopping and wringing-wet with the feel of "the blues". If the tempo had been any slower, our hearts would have stopped. This is a dark, dank, subterranean kind of blues that never sees the sun. It's like listening to a damned soul descending seemingly endless numbers of stairs to...the "hot" place. mad !!!

Seriously, though, "How Can You Talk" is heavy-duty musicianship, "BlueAttitude". The heartbreak in the lyrics is amplified mercilessly by the slow-drag rhythm, by your despairing, "grinding our faces in it" guitar work, the doom-laden bass line, and Ms. Spruit's unleashing of her misery through her vocal. That B3 organ RealTrack didn't hurt, either, as it brought forth the church (hearin' ya' loud an' clear, "Tangmo"!!!) congregation into the mix - amen, amen, brothers n' sistuhs!!!

So good, it's "ba-a-a-a-d to the bone"!

LOREN (a.k.a. "bluage")



That has to be possibly the coolest review we have ever received! Thanks for taking the time to do that, enjoyed reading it.

Dave (a,k,a, "BlueAttitude")
Posted By: BlueAttitude Re: How can you talk - 11/08/18 07:43 AM
Originally Posted By: rsdean
Dave / Chris,

You are turning out some great music... Love the song, vocal and mix. Love the backstory on the tracks.

Excellent all around.

Bob


Thanks very much, Bob!

Originally Posted By: floyd jane
Dave & Chris,

Nice opening - both the drums AND guitar!

Chris' vocals get better with each new song - so strong, so confident... this is superb - spine-tingling...

Dave, your leads seem to sing more and more with each new release. Gorgeous!

The mix is impeccable.

Awesome listen.

fj



Awesome comments, thanks, Floyd! Thanks from Chris also smile
Posted By: BlueAttitude Re: How can you talk - 11/08/18 07:45 AM
Originally Posted By: RnAM
Wow guys, this is something else!
Everything you'd expect from a bluesy song.
Strong vocals and an absolute top notch guitar work (love that Strat sound!).

Rob and Anne-Marie


Yeah, can't beat a strat for blues in my opinion. Thanks guys!


Originally Posted By: Belladonna
Touches the soul down and deep. Beautiful!


Thanks Donna, Happy you liked this one!
Posted By: Robertkc Re: How can you talk - 11/08/18 02:26 PM
Dave & Chris,

Yes to all the above accolades! Chris` vocals are clearer than ever here ( minimal effects needed, but that double or delay just adds a shine where its needed).The bridge is a lesson in how to do it right.
Better on the second listen!

Robert
.
Posted By: BlueAttitude Re: How can you talk - 11/09/18 10:56 AM
Originally Posted By: 44kfl
Your math is sound!

glad that it wasn't me doing the calculations

gritty guitar is awesome

solid and effective vocals

love it!

Kenny


Thanks, Kenny!



Originally Posted By: Skyline
Dave & Chris, what a terrific song. Excellent vocals and Strat work (nice bends sir!).
Nicely engineered too. Love this.
cool
John



Cheers, John!

Hey, about time you posted a new one I think? cool
Posted By: BlueAttitude Re: How can you talk - 11/10/18 04:04 PM
Originally Posted By: Deryk - PG Music
Wow - is this ever one solid tune smile Love the slow, gentle groove. And both the vocals and progressions were top notch. The whole thing flows like butter. Really easy on the ears, and nicely catchy as well.

You should be proud of this one - thanks for sharing!


Thanks for the listen and comments Deryk!

Originally Posted By: Janice & Bud


Wow! Blues rock with some serious Motown soul thrown in. Wonderful combo!

Your mixes have moved from good to good as it gets IMO. The drums are tremendous. I'm working with an organ SMT now but no way is it gonna sound this good.

Chris's vocal is our favorite of many, many strong performance. Throw in your perfect guitar tracks and a fine write and it all adds to a killer tune.

Y'all have set the piano on fire and walked off the stage! (Did I say that the last time? smile )

Congrats to the two of you!

J&B



Awesome comments, thanks Bud and Janice from both of us!

BTW I've used CLA Drums on the last couple of songs, a tip I got from you. It really helps bring out the kick without affecting the rest of the drums.

Originally Posted By: Guitarhacker
Nice work..... too short in my opinion.... love some blues now and then.


Thanks, Herb!
Posted By: BlueAttitude Re: How can you talk - 11/11/18 07:20 AM
Originally Posted By: dcuny
Scrolling through the comments, I see everything I could have said had already been written, so I'll just say: Wow. That was a treat. smile


Happy you liked it!

Originally Posted By: Robertkc
Dave & Chris,

Yes to all the above accolades! Chris` vocals are clearer than ever here ( minimal effects needed, but that double or delay just adds a shine where its needed).The bridge is a lesson in how to do it right.
Better on the second listen!

Robert
.


Hi Robert,
Yes, the bridge is my favorite part too. And for the vocals definitely it is a case of less is more, took me a while to figure that one out!
Thanks for the listen(s)!
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