HAPPY NEW YEAR, everyone! May it be filled with wondrous music and everything else that you wish for!!!

Here's my first "effort" of 2020 ... I hope you enjoy. Thanks for listening and for any feedback! :-)

https://jamesdelsono.bandcamp.com/track/divinity


THE BAND:

RealTracks in style: 2365:Piano, Acoustic, Rhythm CelticAir Ev 085
RealTracks in style: 1814:Guitar, Acoustic, Fingerpicking CelticAir Ev 085

Another nice one James...
And I'm wishing you a Merry Christmas on the last day of Christmas...
And I hoping you & yours will have a prosperous New Year!

Very pleasant sir.
The stereo image presented by BIAB piano is rarely successful as the higher notes establish placement and that leaves the low notes giving few spacial clues.
I've found that rendering the piano or organ tracks to mono means the instrument can be better placed in a mix.
That would leave space for another colour or other mix options.
The gentle, relaxed melody is occasionally hiccoughed by a not so smooth phrase change by the program - not bad but enough to lift the head to.
The only way to deal with that is to generate another run through - hoping it doesn't do it agina and splice the smoother ones in.
BIAB doesn't really make that an easy task.
Very calming, reflective and pleasant.

Jim: thank you! The very same to you and yours!!!

rayc: yep, you're once again spot on. The transition elements are not easy to do, as you say, and yes - the only way to "cure" that is to generate another run through and splice the smoother entries in. I guess I just didn't have the patience for that on a first go, but will get to it at some point! The other thing I did was to disable "natural arrangement", so as to get the exact chords I wanted. I can try to enable it now and see what it does ... whether it maintains (more or less, at least) the harmonic progression I want with a more natural-sounding arrangement. The mono idea is very interesting - it never occurred to me! I'll give it a shot and see what happens!

Thanks again and, once more, HAPPY NEW YEAR to one and all!

Hi James,

This is very relaxing and soothing journey.

I can hear that you've been experimenting with some of the less well known chord progressions. I, too, like to play around and experiment with chord movement because it's like an aural jigsaw puzzle for me. And I love jigsaw puzzles since my mum first introduced them to me When I find a chord sequence that sits nicely on the ear, it brings me a pleasant feeling of accomplishment.

I love the sound of this piano Realtracks and the key that you've written in is a perfect choice for it.

Nicely done!

I hope that 2020 brings lots of good things your way,
Noel

Hello James,

that's a really, really nice one - very soothing, very mellow. May 'your' 2020 reflect exactly these feelings.

All the very best to you and yours,

Stefan

Thank you Noel and Stefan! Yes, I've been trying to experiment with other chord progressions :-) I find that, over time, certain chord progressions crystallise in my writings, so my tracks start to sound similar to each other and maybe even predictable? so this was a deliberate effort to try something new!

Have a wonderful New Year, both of you - and, indeed, all of us on this forum and the wider human family - goodness knows we all can always do with more good news to offset any negativity that always seems to hang around us humans. Enjoy every single day and create more music if you can :-)

I'm not fussed on the "natural arrangement" thing...as it is BIAB sees some simple chords as complex and allowing it to simplify/make natural renders any melody using suspensions, 9th etc. wrong.

Happy New Year - and nice work on this. Love the laid back, easy going vibes on it. It makes for a nice relaxing listen. Thanks for sharing

Hi James,

The song has a nice sweet melody. It were indeed those 'surprising' chord progressions preventing the song to becomes predictable, as you stated yourself in reply to Noel and Stefan. that keeps holding the attention. Nicely done!
I also want to mention that the arrangement stays very clear and nice (to my ears at least). That isn't so simple as one thinks it will be in a instrumentl song. I noticed what Ray wrote about that, though I would never choose an option 'monofying' a piano. It flattens its sound too much.
But I was thinking how this song would feel when there are vocals in it. Not with lyrics, but as a background, or as some kind of soloist 'ooh'. What will that do to this song, I asked myself. But you have your own style of course. I don't want to alter that (just a little...).

Hans

Very pretty music James!! Happy New Year!! Take care. Greg

Deryk, rayc and Greg: thanks!!!

Hans: yes, believe it or not, I had exactly the same thought about the vocals. I was thinking that maybe a background "ooh" vocal would be nice in the second half of the song, perhaps? As you can of course tell, the song's chord progressions repeat themselves at the halfway point, so that's where I thought I'd insert the voices. Why didn't I? Honest answer (don't laugh): in the heat of writing things, etc., I just forgot. But ... I will see what happens if I try that! Thanks!

Lovely!

Very nice flow indeed.

Enjoyed it!

J&B

PS: And, yep, "comping" (cut/paste) a solo track is often
the way to get it fine tuned to your expectation. We
often have a single solo or solo-accompaniment track that
is made from many regens of the RealTrack or MST. Not
frequently but sometimes we comp a rhythm track.
Time consuming and a bit tedious but ultimately
rewarding.

PPS: Regarding what Ray said - I don't know what DAW you use
but with Logic Pro there is a "direction mixer" plugin that hugely
helps in working with stereo tracks that aren't balanced. BTW, our
experience has been that if you have some good piano sounds
the MST equivalent (if there is one) of the RT often seems more
balanced. Perhaps just me

Thanks Janice & Bud! Yes, Ray is spot on. Trouble with me is: a) time; and b) I do these things purely for pleasure, with no pretence or expectation that it is more than what it is ... some tracks put together for, and out of, love. So, when it comes to doing what to me is more advanced and time-consuming production work, I tend to shy away from it. That said: I ought to just get my head down and do it, with no grumbling about it, etc., haha ... the end result is worth it. Just a question of getting some spare time which I can devote exclusively to that, then ... I'm always tempted to use any spare time I have to try to write new material, but hey.

Anyway, I digress. THANKS again for such kind words! "Direction mixer" ... I've written this down :-) Again, THANKS :-)