Hi Folks.
Here is one of the latest tunes that I have done in collaboration with Ray (Rayc on forum). This was recorded in January, but was not fully complete and shelved for health reasons.  I finally got around to re-recording my vocals and work on the mix . Still a bit too dynamic, because of blend of synths and Real Tracks, but more or less audible. Constructive critique is always appreciated.  Thank you for listening!

How Did We Forget

Lyrics:
How did we forget,
How to share bread  with the needy in sorrow.
A walking heartless clone.
Blindly searching for our gods
In empty houses of stone.

Chorus
You know there was a time
When time was all we had
When we laughed aloud
When time was all we needed
With hopes unbowed
When time and time again
There was a time
Yes, there was a time


All those things we said
Striding recklessly through ages
Turning pages
Now silence stalks the space
Between the closing walls.

Chorus
You know there was a life
When life is all we had
when we talk out loud
When words were all we needed
Self belief unbowed
When time and time again
There was a life
Yes there was a time


How did we forget
How to laugh and how to smile
Darkness hides facts
We ignore the closing door
In detention camps they’re packed.

Chorus
You know there was a time
You know there was a life
When we laughed aloud
When love was all we needed
With hopes unbowed
When time and time again
There was a time
Yes, there was a time

How did we forget
how to care for one another:
Sisters, Brothers
Look... Eternity is laughing
 from dark skies

Tech stuff.
Lyrics & Vocals: Ray Cochrane & Misha.

BIAB:
 2958:Bass, Acoustic, SmoothCoolNeil Sw16 075
3526:Piano, Acoustic, Rhythm GospelCool Sw16 075
1829:Guitar, Electric, Rhythm PopModernGrooveBrightArp Ev16 075
Loop in Song: Chillout\Chillout - day dream_80_percussion_g_minor ev16.wav
3750:Guitar, Electric, Rhythm PopFunkySoulLowSingleNoteChorus Ev 095
3751:Guitar, Electric, Rhythm PopFunkySoulRiffsChorus Ev 095
RealDrums: NashvilleSwing16^1-a:Snare, Hihat , b:Snare, Ride
Extensive use of new BIAB feature Utility Tracks to audition and generate tracks.

vArranger MIDI, Synths of Kontakt and Halion. Mixed in Cakewalk.

Great lyrics, as always. Cool music. The chorus reminds me of David Bowie. Very original and well produced song.

An interesting dark tune, but maybe with a glimmer of hope. I'm not very taken with the overabundance of the delay/echo on the spoken word portions. It's not that I don't "like" the effect or the artistic reason for it, as I might faintly understand it. It's just that I think the passage might be better served by the effect enveloped up & down to be less pronounced on certain words and more pronounced on others. You'll either agree or not. It's constructive critique. You have no need to explain your rationale, just understand it didn't move this listener.

Very cool tune. Loved the different effects. Really cool production. Super vocals Misha and Ray

Nice work Misha. Enjoyed my listen.
Rob4580

Good to see so many collaborations happening. Very creative work by you both on this very well written song, but I must admit there's a little too much echo on the spoken vocal section for my taste.
Regards,
Leon

I like the groove, but the vocal is a hard to make out. Definitely "immersive" - sounds cool on my headphones. Interesting ending.

OK, listening a second time through, this time reading along with it. Funny how - when the lyrics are in front of me - I can hear the words clearly.

Cool song.

Man, such an imagination!

I agree with the other comments, I think it would be a stronger piece if the spoken word bit wasn't drenched in delay, it should be clear and distinct IMHO. But! That's an easy fix

Just a brilliant piece of music, well done Misha and Ray!

Man, if you guys came out with this in the 60s, there would've been a lot of hippies that wouldn't've survived. But, since I did, I listened again. Then again. That's wild. I tried to understand the words the echoy chorus, and learned the trick --course it helped when you have them written for me to cheat. I really like the lyrics, and the production (as mentioned) was quite engaging. "Eternity is laughing"
from dark skies

Misha,

I always look forward to hearing your creations. Your musical imagination is to be envied by all! (I also enjoy ray's contributions).

Cool sounds and rhythms that keep the ear engaged.

I listened through once without reading the lyric and had a hard time understanding many of them. A lot happening in the mid-ranges. Listened again, reading. Excellent, interesting lyric, as always...

fj

Yep, as Floyd said, without the lyrics I would have not been able to understand the words at all.

It's a cool, creative song. But right now, you have some mix issues to fix. I'll give you my two cents for what it is worth.

The synth that starts it tends to be a bit loud in the song. I turned the volume down thinking maybe that would help.... not much. Lower that synth in the mix.

On the vocals, they could come up a bit but they really need to be thinned out and de-muddied. Try setting an EQ slope to a high pass, starting at 100hz on each vocal track. Make it steep. That should eliminate a lot of the mud that is making it hard to hear the vocals clearly. You might have to experiment a bit to see if the cutoff needs to be higher or lower than 100hz. Right now, there's way too much going on in the mid range of the vocals. It sounds like there's two voices happening in the chorus.... pan them and high pass them both. You might even consider an old time telephone voice on that part. It was really hard for me to hear exactly what you had going on in there. I'd also back off the reverb or echo a bit when you are reworking it. Dry it up, and then add it a little at a time until you get to where you think it sounds good. Get good separation and intelligible lyrics and then add the FX back in.

You can also consider.... although I did not hear this as a problem, but it could have been contributing to the mud..... you can do a less extreme high pass on the bass. Something in the range of 40 to 60 hz with a less steep slope. It removes the rumble and low stuff that contributes nothing useful to the mix.

Hope you find this useful. Play with the mix a bit more, and repost the next version.

We had no problem understanding the lyric. The effect makes you
focus more on them actually. Mission accomplished.

"How did we forget,
How to share bread with the needy in sorrow."

That had us locked in from the get go. Excellent write.

And speaking of excellence we'll include the vocal performances,
the band (nice synth use), the arrangement and the mix.

Great listens,

J&B

PS Video coming?
PPS Great that you beat C-19!

A wonderful synergy of sound that only the inventive meeting of minds of a Misha/RayC creative collaboration could produce. I love this quirky , out of the box production which I certainly won't forget !
cheers
Gary.

ps Wishing you a speedy recovery Misha.

jptjptjpt,
Thank you for listening and your feedback!

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Tangmo,
If I was a crybaby, I would not request a critique
First of all, Thank you for listening! And a BIG thank you for truthful and constructive critique!
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Scott,
Thank you for listening and your feedback here and on SC!
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Rob,
Thank you for listening!
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Leon,
Thank you for giving this time, your feedback and truthful critique. Much appreciated!
You are right, some fantastic collaborations are happening lately.
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David,
Thank you for tuning in and your comments! Reading feedback from different people gives a MUCH better sense what has to be adjusted.
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Dave,
Thank you for listening and your helpful feedback! Got carried away with FX a little
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Marty,
Thank you for listening and your fun and constructive comments!
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FJ,
Thank you for giving this time and your helpful comments. I appreciate it very much!
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Herb,
Wow! Thank you for taking time to listen and detailed suggestions. Took me several reads Many are right to the point!
Great stuff! "old time telephone voice" interesting thought.
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J&B
"The effect makes you
focus more on them actually." LOL You are being extremely polite. Thank you for giving this time and your awesome and kind comments!
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Gary,
Thank you for listening and your feedback!
P.S. I am out of it for the most part, just minor side effects persist.

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With good amount of constructive feedback, I spent some time today, remixed tune and replaced it on Sound Cloud (March 2). Thank you all who contributed, hopefully re-mixed version is a bit clearer

Misha.

Yeah! Love the new mix, Misha.

Man, what a song!

The mix is great. The message too.
Good one.
Vic

Hi Rustispoon,

Well-written lyrics with a deep theme. The double voice lends itself wonderfully to the melody. The orchestration is well done and pleasant. I appreciated.

Kindly regard
Derochette
alais JaniJackFlash

New mix sounds really good. Night & day. Great job.

This sounds like an 80's song, my favorite decade, I cannot explain exactly why, but the spoken chorus and chording sound bit like Pet Shop Boys style. The instrumentation has very nice textures, rhythmical changes and interesting details in the mix. I like the melancholy nostalgia in the lyrics. Very good ending. Pleasure to listen to this great collaboration and immerse myself in your musical vision.

Janne

That's a HUGE improvement over the first one. You took the advice and wow.... what a difference!

I could hear that main vocal and the second vocal clearly. And the spoken part.... not quite telephone but far enough from the singer's timbre to really stand out nicely.

This has some serious Bowie feel to it. And a very nice job.

Misha and Ray,

What a great use of BIAB! There is so much going on in this song and it is all done in excellent fashion! Misha everything you do has such interesting melodic textures and chord structure! Ray, you are one busy fellow! Your contributions and help to so many forum members make you somewhat of an MVP around here! I admire that! Great job guys! Take care, T

Misha,
thanks for inviting me along for the ride.
I really enjoy getting inside your arrangement - there's so much interesting stuff happening and you challenge my very four to the floor sensibilities.
A great result all down to your ear and taste.
Excellent.

Misha & Ray,
I missed the first mix- this one sounds good.
Misha`s vocal style and accented English I think are a highlight- I read along at first and then get immersed in the RustySpoon creative soup!
I also like that Ray`s spoken word sections bring in another "voice" which matches the different lyric style.
Excellent collaboration.

Robert

Thanks Robert,
It's always fun to collaborate with Misha..a man of mystery and mercurial talent.

You definitely know who is singing which part. I love the contrasting accents between the two of you. The music is eclectic and exotic and captivating.

Misha and Ray ...

You guys gave us a real treat! I didn't hear the first mix, but this mix sounds good to me. Thge various affects kept me in anticipation all the way. I always enjoy expecting the unexpected! Cool lyric and a nice, full mix. Great message wrapped in an equally great texture of sounds. Good stuff, for sure! Best to you ...

Alan

I like it!

The change up in vocals kept my interest.

Nice arrangement and lyrics make you want to listen to the story being told.

The spoken potions sounded fine to me, I liked the extra wetness.

I'm listening on some good studio headphones, had no problem understanding the lyrics, although I do agree they need to be de-mudded a bit.
My recommendation would be twofold:
On the main vocal, try cutting the EQ at or around 150 -250hz and/or boost around 100z.
Also, on the main vocal, try some compression with a slow attack and fast release time.

moto

Super vibe!!! Throwback to a better time for music and mood.

I really enjoyed this!

Just caught up with the second mix, guys. Sounds really good.
Regards,
Leon

Dave, FJ, Leon, Herb,
Thank you for giving this second spin and your support with mix!


Vic,
Thank you for your feedback!
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Derochette,
Thank you for listening and your kind comments!
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Janne,
Thank you for stopping by! Ohh sweet 80s, good times Thank you for your support!
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Torrey,
Thank you for giving this time and your feedback here and on SC! Yeah, Ray was one of the first people on this forum to offer his help when I needed it and I am very glad I accepted it
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Robert,
Thank you for stopping by and your feedback! "creative soup!" LOL!
I was very curious how Ray would record his part, as this was not a hard lined project. When I got his tracks, I knew immediately it would work.
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Ezekiel's Storm,
Thank you for listening and your support!
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Alan,
Thank you for giving this ear and your warm comments here and on SC!
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Captain,
Thank you for listening and your support! Thanks for the "wet" comment. I decided to leave FX on second voice.
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Gruverider,
Thank you for listening and your feedback!


Misha.

Agree with all that!!! Super imaginative, creative piece!! Great job guys!!! Take care. Greg