Hi all, have recently bought BIAB and this is my first attempt at using it. Really impressed with the software and looking forward to getting into it properly.

The song is called "Puppets and Clowns", musically not sure how I would describe it, bit of a crossover with horns and pedal steel, lyrically it's a bit of a rant about things in the UK - seems apt to post it on election day here!

The lyric is in the link, feel free to sing along in the chorus :-)

https://www.djhsongs.co.uk/osl-puppets

Cheers,
David


Style is _CTRYROK.STY (3 Guitar Country Rock)

RealTracks in style: ~~684:Bass, Electric, PopHalfNotesSync Ev 120
RealTracks in style: ~~405:Guitar, Acoustic, Strumming Ev 120
RealTracks in song: 2110:Horn Section, Background, R&B Ev16 110
RealTracks in style: ~~522:Guitar, Acoustic, Fingerpicking Ev 120
RealTracks in song: ~~621:Pedal Steel, Background Easy Ev 136
RealDrums [in style:NashvilleEven8^5-a:Snare, HiHat , b:Snare, Ride

Nice one David,
That's a nice calm response to circumstances you're now in.
The arrangement is good, the use of stops etc is good.
All I'd suggest is to look at the vocal processing to reduce the soft edges a little - the warm, gentle vocal is a little absorbed into the mix and might do better a little louder or EQd differently to cut through.
The Murdoch press really did a savage hit job in the last few days.
Oh well, you've joined the US & Australia in the primate cage.
Cool song.

Thanks for that, I don’t really have the voice I want for this type of song – not edgy enough so did keep the vocals low, but will try playing with the EQ a bit.

The Primate Cage - great name for an album :-)

David,

This is very good.

An excellent write. A solid lyric and good prosody throughout.

A nice production. The horns are really well done - they blend in so well - supportive without drawing attention to themselves. Really nice mix.

I like the vocal. It could use a small touch of EQ bump (maybe) in the upper range to lift it slightly, but it is qutie good as is...

Welcome to the Showcase. A good entry.

fj

Love the Lyrics - Very nice bit of work!

If you have time - can you please post the lyrics?

Thanks!!!

David - First of all - I really enjoyed that song, and the lyrics are very well done and share the quality of being relevant and speaking a truth, which is an of element of many great songs. Musically, I really like the way the song just jumps right in and hits you with a nice hook and chorus right off the start - no waiting around for that big moment that never arrives with some songs . So overall, well done and very enjoyable, and quite catchy, and for me a chance to gain just a bit of insight into the political climate there in the UK.

Now, if you're looking for small things to improve, I can offer a couple, and I'm totally willing to take it as well as dish it out. The horns might be toned down or softened just a bit - I felt they were just a bit too forward. The vocals sounded good to me - I think the effect is a good one and keeps the vocals nice and round but defined, and they suited the tune just right. One last thing I would offer is that you could mix things up a bit more throughout the song by changing up the BIAB tracks in certain bars, or even adding some little flourishes here and there with drums or cymbals or the like - just very subtle. Now that's easy for me to say but I'm new to BIAB and I don't yet have a good handle on those techniques but I'm sure that others can offer some insight and you probably need a chance to dive into that as well.

Last thing - a general comment - I've found that when creating music, for me its better to just try all sorts of crazy things and make a ton of mistakes along the way rather than to try to methodically create something. I often end up throwing out a lot of junk, but every so often I stumble across a phrase or sound that I had never expected, and those are often the best. Everyone has to find the approach that works best for them, so keep on creating and having fun!

Very cool song. Love the vocal delivery. Simple, bare and powerful at the same time. Well timed lyrics. Well done and welcome to the forum

I love the sound that you created with the BIAB instrumentation. Catchy and toe-tapping tune. I have a friend in the UK who isn't happy with the election results. I am quite surprised myself as an observer here in the colonies.

David,
Nice work on first BIAB tune!
Strong, thought out arrangement. Vocals fit very well, but I agree with Ray.
Something in EQ/FX has to be done to bring them out somewhat.
Good stuff! Thank you for sharing.

Misha.

Thanks Jim, as requested:


PUPPETS AND CLOWNS

So finally it’s here
I’d hoped it’d never come
The moment when you realize
These things can’t be undone
There is no turning back
To the way it was before
We had our chance to save it
But the warnings were ignored

The writing on the wall
Clear enough to see
Written in the blood
Of a dying democracy

The lines are being drawn
Time to choose your side
The puppets and the clowns
Or the ones who stand with pride

The things that I have seen
I would never have believed
Old lady getting knocked down
By a thug from the police
A man who read aloud
The words that Churchill wrote
Dragged away to jail
For the hurty words he spoke

And it makes no sense to me
How far we’ve gone astray
We used to be Great Briton
But they threw the great away

There must have been a plan
To get us to this point
With the puppets and the clowns in charge
And the media they bought

Chorus
Don’t be afraid to see just what you see
Tell it like it is coz that’s what you believe
They’ll try to put you down with their isms and their ists
But facts don’t care for feelings when the truth
Is what it is

This is my voice - These are my words
This is my truth
From what I’ve learned
This is my truth - These are my words
This is my voice
Will it be heard

And the men who went before
Who sacrificed their lives
Fighting for the freedoms
That these people so despise
What would they think to see
The state we have become
Ruled by foreign powers
As if they hadn’t won

They say the people get
The government deserved
But all we get are quislings
Is that really all we're worth

There must be someone better
Who can turn these things around
Or are we doomed just to be ruled
By the puppets and the clowns

Repeat Chorus

When young I swore allegiance
To the country and the queen
To honour and defend this land
From our enemies
I never used to doubt
That we would stand and win
But now I’m not so sure
Since the enemys within

They stalk the halls of power
As their numbers start to rise
Take away our freedoms
With their deceit and lies

History will show you
Their evil knows no bounds
They’re liars, cheats, the hypocrites
The puppets and the clowns

Repeat Chorus

Thanks FJ, it's a pleasure to be here and I will have another go at the vocal processing to lift it a bit. I tend to consider my voice as a guide vocal and so keep it lower in the mix.

Thanks Ed, really appreciate your comments. I must admit to be being very proud of the lyric - now included in an earlier reply.

When you say "changing up the BIAB tracks in certain bars" I take it that means changing the styles. I have only really scraped the surface of what BIAB can do, so much to learn but so much fun to be had!

Thanks Scott, much appreciated and think I might have to have a bit more faith in my vocals :-)

Thanks, it's incredible what it can come up with, once I've got to grips with it properly I think it's going to push me to do much more.

Politicians are all as bad as each other really - we need to get a businessman as a leader!

Thanks Misha, I'm looking forward to working on the EQ/FX (the dark arts!) next week to try and give it a final polish.

Great first attempt at using Biab...
In our country, we would call it a protest song...
And we had a lot of practice writing them...
I'm not really up on the politics of your country...
We've got hands full over here...
But I not really sure what our hands are full of

Anyway I enjoyed listening to your song.

Wow! Great entry to this forum.
Very nice written song... although the lyrics make me a bit sad, because they are so true...

You did an excellent job with BiaB and I look forward to hear more songs from you.

Will

I liked it a lot and you did everything well, so kudos. How did you get the horns to crescendo when you needed? I have a hard time with that.

Hi David, welcome to the forum. Pretty good first at it. Nice vocals and arrangement. I normally do not give advice on how to do things here but in my humble opinion the background accompaniment sounds a little muted an can benefit from cranking it up a little so we can appreciate better the horns. At least that's how thy sound in my cans.
Other than that, nice composition.

Best regards

Mike B.

Hi David,

Welcome to the forum!

There's no doubt about it, Britain has certainly been pulled left, right, up and down over the last couple of years. It must be quite frustrating for many ordinary people.

This is a really good song. The groove appealed to me and the overall vibe that you created was very easy on the ears.

I'm looking forward to hearing more from you.

Regards,
Noel

In a couple of recent songs I wanted more "edge" to a vocal in the chorus so use a "drive" VST in a separate track and sent some of the main vocal to it- this EQ's the vocal, (usually by lopping off some bottom end and increasing so of the top end,) as well as adding some distortion. There are also good compressors that do something a little similar - the Distressor is one. Using the send track to add just the right amount to blend with the main will allow a lot of flexibility. I did similar with a BIAB cello track recently and it REALLY gave it edge and cut through the mix.

David,

I enjoyed your first song on the forum.
A cool mix of toe-tapping music, backdrop to the biting commentary of your well written lyrics.
Some great folks to learn from here- Welcome!

Robert

I'm trying to recall the song this reminds me of..... maybe it'll come to me.

This is good first entry song into the forum.

I love me a good political song. I've written a few of my own.... this goes on quite long.... reminds me of Bob Dylan's songs..... lots of things to say. And I can agree, when I was writing some of my political songs, there was a lot of commentary left out for length, and they were still pretty long overall.

Very well done. I'd bump the EQ to brighten the vox a bit and maybe nudge a dB or two more out of the fader.... if the lyrics weren't displayed and printed.... I'd be wondering what the song was about.

Yeah... that's some nit picky stuff..... overall, like I said a good first BB song.

Way to go!

Excellent write (puppets and clowns indeed) and production.

Nice supporting "band" choice also.

Welcome aboard and happy holidays.

Enjoyed it.

J&B

Well done song!! Very well written and arranged. Nice vocal. You did a great job with this!! Take care. Greg

Hi David,

an awesome entry to the forum - thanks a lot.

Having followed that sad spectacle of the last months (mostly with my mouth wide open)I agree with what John Bercow said after his demission: The biggest mistake since the war.

I think we all (well, obviously not all...) had thought that we had come further by now. Great lyrics. Good stand. Good song.

Cheers,

Stefan

This had some brilliant lyrics and a catchy sound, nicely done and so true a theme for a song can be.

Thanks

So sorry it's been so long since my last reply, will try and multi quote:



Thanks Jim, it's now my 3rd recent 'protest' song, but I've nearly run out of things to be peed off about :-) I'm not really into the politics at all but at least you've got someone who (I believe) cares about his country and the people, for all his faults!



Cheers Will, I must admit it was quite a downer writing it, as they say the truth hurts!



Thanks TuneMonger, I think that's all down to BIAB, I ran it through several times then played around with editing it in Reaper so was more luck than judgement.



Thanks Mike, I'm still finding my feet with it all, trying to get the balances and EQing etc which I think is a skill in itself and having rubbish ears (tinnitus and half deaf) doesn't help :-)



Thanks Noel, it seems everywhere is going through similar upheavals but we the people will win!



Thanks Rayc, that's a really helpful tip and hope to look into that sort of creativity as I progress.



Cheers Robert, much appreciated.



Thanks Guitarhacker, yes it's hard when there's so much you want to say, I did think about trying to reduce the verses but didn't think it would work as well.



Thank you - happy holidays seems so long ago now!



Cheers Greg, thank you very much.



Thanks Stefan, much appreciated.



Cheers Beatmaster, thank you.



Once again sorry for the delay in responding and thank you all so much for taking the time to listen and give such positive feedback. It really is appreciated.

I will put up a couple of the other songs that I have been working on in BIAB but in the meantime should anyone want to listen to another I wrote in a similar vein (not recorded by me) it's at: https://www.djhsongs.co.uk/osl-theressomethinggoingon

Cheers,
David

Hi, David !

Welcome also from me !
This is an impressive write
and it is so sad that you
probably are right with
your jeremiad ! Really, David
your first Biab tune is
very good in every aspect !
Enjoyed my listen very much !

Cheers
Dani

Thanks so much Dani, and "Jeremiad" - what a wonderful word! I've never heard it before but if I don't use that for an EP of my other similar songs then I shall use it as a pen name :-) Thank you!