Hi everyone,

I'm glad I am here again and also with a new song: https://soundcloud.com/user-296497130/if-only-i-could-make-a-wish

I left you some months ago for several reasons, but none had to do with you.
In case you missed me; I'm back. But anyhow, this song took me some time and I changed it all the time in whatever way. The story is simple; I fell in love with a painting and so on...
But then some weeks ago my cat dissapeared. Haven't seen him since then. Then I thought to change the lyrics for this, but I didn't. I only added his picture on the cover with a baloon. So if you have seen him, give me a call.

Some days ago I got Ozone 10 and I'm experimenting with it. So I'm very curious what you think of the sound of this song.
And I also promise to catch up with your songs if all goes well again.

The lyrics you can read on SoundCloud, here is the technicall stuff:
Style: DIGRESS.STY (Digress Songwriter Night Ride)
Key: A,tempo: 95
Used instruments
Bass, 2939: Frettless
Piano, 1262: Acoustic
Guitar, 2718:Gitaar, Nylon, Fingerpicking
Guitar, 1118 Acoustic rhythm 12 str.
Guitar, 3351 Baritone (Swampy Blues)
Synth pad, 1841
Solo guitar, 3353 Electric, (Swampy Blues)
Drums: Moody Songwriter Pop [Multi]
Keyboard: Native Instruments, Session Instruments, El. Mint

Mixing in Logic ProX, Mastering with Ozone10

Tell me what you think of it,

Hans

Man, I am so glad you're here, too, Hans. And what a bang of a gift you brought with you. Yeah, if my wife had one wish it would be to have our cat Stevie come home. She left with her brother Stash in July. He came back after 3 weeks. Yes, I've missed you... well, let's say more than I miss Stevie.

I gave this beauty a few spins and really like the song a ton --a metric ton. For my taste it seems a bit... well, I'd add a Master Rebalance at the start of the chain and bring down the drums a bit, or at least add a Vintage EQ and cut the highs just a bit. Sorry, I have no more help than opinions.

Hey, but this is just the first welcome-back-Hans comment. The others know a lot more than I do.

Hey man, if health is one of the reasons we do hope that all is well and that you're stronger than ever.

Nice use of BiaB, great vocal delivery and interesting lyrics.

Hi Hans ...

welcome back! I was gone for several weeks - just got back 2 days ago. It;'s good to have you back posting.

And this is a wonderful sonmg. Great concept and production. Really, really nice! Always enjoy your music a lot.

Best regards ...

Alan

Hans,

Vocals sound good. BGVs, too.
Instruments are crisp and clean.
Good arrangement.
A good sound. Good mix.
Solid.

fj

Hey Hans, you have your own style that shows through on any song you present here. This song reminded me of the movie "Laura." If you like noir, it's a good film. Vocals sound great on this. Lyrics have that mildly enigmatic quality you usually have. Glad you're back, so sorry about your cat. Hope he's okay.

Welkom terug meneer,
A terrific song to drop in with.
It made me think about the many pronunciations of "portrait" amongst other things.
Your voice is cool - it seems to have far less processing or, at least, far less obvious processing.
Dit is een goede!

This was popular when I was a teen...

Really great song Hans.
Very powerful and very well sung.
Love the music too.

Ik luisterde met oortjes in en dan zijn de instrumenten die links en rechts gepanned zijn iets te luid, want ze overstemmen je zang daar. Dit kan ik beter omschrijven in het Nederlands dan in het Engels

Groetjes,
Anne-Marie

PS ik stuur je nog een mailtje

really like the emotion in the vocals.

nice instrumental stops and guitar work.

also liked the synth work at the back of the song.

lovely guitar work closeing out the song at end.

i salute your talent mate.

best

om

Good to hear for you Hans. Super strong song to come back with. Excellent vocal and powerful energy in the choruses. Really well done.

Welcome back, Hans! And what a comeback, absolutely stunning work! Interesting subject on different kind of love given super treatment. Nice name dropping, although I'm not sure even Einstein could fly through time The chord progression in minor is perfect, straight to my heart. And the sad melody supports the story exactly. Good intro and a beautiful way to end.

What an excellent arrangement, so much happening all the time, really like a painting with lots of details and beautiful emotional voices in the center. Those guitars are very well chosen, the nylon guitar takes back many centuries and then the baritone, you can always trust its power, then the blues solo guitar is perfect fit to give blues mood. Strings sound excellent - really lush.

I bought also Ozone 10, I tried to use it on my recent song, but decided not to, because it sounded overcompressed.... well, maybe tweaking Maximizer might help. But you have done really good job with it, I didn't hear any compression issues. Very spacious mix, nicely panned.

Janne

Cool song!!!! Your vocals are always great, and this is no exception!! Very good arrangement/production!! Sorry to hear about your cat. My favorite cat (who was clueless outside the house) disappeared many years ago.....still miss him! Nice song!!! Take care. Greg

Hans...great track...well sung...very interesting and engaging song...really fine production!

The mix and mastering sounds good. I am still using Ozone 9; I haven't sprung for the upgrade yet.

The lyrics are top notch, and your impassioned vocal carries the already good song.

Hans,

So good to see you back on the board . . . and more importantly to hear something new from you. Creative write and that chorus is powerful, some beautiful harmonies accented by the strings . . . and then that rockier shift in the second verse. And, wow, love the delay/reverb in that third verse. Great arrangement, mix, and production. Terrific listen!

And sorry about your cat—I’ve got two and if one slipped away I’d be devastated. Maybe he’ll find his/her way back yet.

Impressive tune!

Stay well—

Deej

Hi Marty,

As always I enjoyed your comment.
But let me tell you how it went. I was not feeling well and went to bed very early. Around 4 in the afternoon.
Then read your comeent, listened to my song on my Ipad and heard it was all true what you wrote. Althought I thought I'd checked it all.
I jumped out of bed, changed things in the song, got that vintage eq in my mastering and brought it out again. And it was late, I felt well, so you cured me (I think...)
That's why no one after your post mentioned the things you did. What a help!

And about the cats. Mine never returned again or was detected. He must be dead. I had an apointment with the veth 20 minutes later than he dissapeared. He was sick, but a young strong animal. I was 20 minutes to late. and I begged for a miracle like with your Stevie. I would call him Stevie Wo.. (ah, you now what I would say!)



Have a nice day, Marty
Hans

Hans,

This is truly an outstanding song... Love the vocal and arrangement. The song really builds and has some nice layers.

Much enjoyed!

Bob

Hi Bass thumper,

Thanks a lot for your concerns and compliments.
Health is sometimes a problem, but I still can smile, make jokes and songs. So that's a nice thing.

I like to experiment on little things to make my music.
This song took me at least 3 months. Every time I thought, "now it's ready" but then decided to change it, sing it differently or whatever. Never had a song taken so long. Ok, the heath things and so also took time.



Have a very nice day,
Hans

Hi Al,

A very nice comment you gave! And my song came to the forum just in time... You also were away.
Let's hope we can continue making songs for a long time, Al
All my best to Di




Let's look at the sun,
Hans

Hello Floyd, TuneMonger and Ray,

Of course I am a little slow in replying, but I had an excuse; got ill on severall days. Think because of the bad weather or the war in Ukrain, or whatever.

Floy posted this:


I really liked what you wrote, Floyd! I was a bit afraid some tuning wasn't right, because working with Ozone 10 needed some practise. Thanks.

And TuneMonger wrote:


I didn't see 'Laura' but it must have been amazing ;-) And yes, I think noir movies I like, but only when followed by some funny stuff!
I was intrigued by what wrote about the lyrics, but I like using metaphors in my writing. And the cat: never heard of him since. A tragedy, or maybe I'm too weak. People often say; "well, it's only a cat". But thanks for your compliments and attention.

And there was Ray:


Oh Ray, I knew you had Dutch roots (or maybe it was Google translate). I listened back to my pronouncation of all the portraits ,but they sounded more or less the same. But I have no English roots, of course! About the processing; the song had taken me longer than any other song. And it did well, I notice.
Oh, and thanks for sending that very long australian song about the cat. I loved the story. But what a long song for that time!


Have a very nice day,
Hans

Hey there Hans, welcome back! Really good mix and the guitars you used were great, the drums worked well in this as well.

A cool lyric idea behind your rocking ballad, Hans! I like the way you developed the opening verse to bring in other luminaries.
The change from lush strings to the band worked well and your vocals, as always, have a distinct, edgy character.
Very good!

Robert

Hello again, Hans. YES!! It sounds terrific --even better now. Just wanted to mention that the very night I gave you my first comment to this song our cat Stevie was seen (and great photo taken) by a neighbor. Our neighbors aren't so close --about a half mile away. We think she is living in an abandoned barn behind their house. And this song sounds so much better.

We certainly hope things continue to go well for you, Hans, and you have been missed.

Michelangelo, Rembrandt and Einstein ... how cool is that? Very.

We enjoyed your passionate vocals and the very good dynamics in the song.

And that is a LOT of tracks ... too many for me to mix


Well done!

J&B

PS. We hope your cat returns.
PPS. We're getting adjusted to Ozone 10 Adv and have found a couple of the new modules to be very impressive.

Hans,

You always post high quality work! And I always like everything you post! Your vocals are always emotive and delivered with power! This is a great sounding song and I enjoyed it!

Thanks, Torrey

Hi Anne-Marie en Rob, OM, Scott and Janne,

Thanks for your nice replies on the song. It took some time for me to reply, sorry for that. [*****] reasons...



Hoi RnAM; (in Dutch) bedankt, ook voor je aanwijzingen. Ben er nog niet aan toegekomen het te wijzigen. Reden staat in eerste zin ;-)
Heb je lieve mail beantwoord.



Hi Mo, you make me blush, and that on my age... Thanks a lot, Hopefully I can continue this winning streak :-)




Hello Scott, so nice to read your post. As I said to MO, I hope to continue receiving these compliments from you!




Hi Janne, Wow, what nice words! And I was hesitating about Einstein too, but there was no one else to use in the song. I also had another Italian sculpter than Mischelangelo, but noone know that man. So what to do? Using my fantasy...
But the sad story was dealing more and more with my lost cat. I loved that animal. Never heard of him since.

With Ozone 10 I had the same experience as you described, but then did some adjustments on my volume (audio interface) and managed to get a far morte better sound. But I used very bad words before I solved the issue. I also used Ozone 9 as a stand alone, but that is gone now. Also used bad words for that!


Thanks everyone for listening, advicing and commenting,
Hans

Hi Hans
Very cool song
Great melody
Brilliantly sung
Absolutely brilliant background track with great stereo effects
The strings are the icing on the cake
Great work Hans
Many greetings
Andi ;-)

Hi Greg, Firesong, Ezekiel and Deej,

Thanks a lot for commenting on the song in such nice words.



Hi Greg, Nice comment on the vocals. They are becoming more of a concern to me as I get older. But my wife says they're good enough, like you said. That's reassuring (I think). And the cat and yours too. You have terrible cats, nice cats and cats you love. I think your missing cat was of the latter category. like mine. And missing is worse than dead. I just made a song about him...



Hi Firesong, that a very nice comment, with a lot of dots too ;-)



Hello Ezekiel, thanks for your nice comment. I'm starting to get used to OZ10 now, but still find it strange that the mastering is in the mix. I always had that separated. But it does save a lot of time!



Hi Deej, thank you for your words. I still have a grin on my face now that I'm answering you.
And about the cat; I have a mother cat and two children. There was some big trouble at the birth of them. Mother went crazy, still not allright and the sweetest cat is gone. Presumably death. I just wrote a song about it (a bit of grief processing I think). So, like in your penultimate sentence; That's what I am.

Wish you all a very pleasant day,
Hans

Hi Bob, thanks for your so nice comment on this song. You gave me a warm feeling...



Robbert, I had to check what a edgy vocal is and it looked like a good thing...
Thanks what you said about the build up of the song. It took me much more time to develop this song then I thought.



You didn't expect me to listen to you Marty??? I wouldn't dare. Beside that, you were right too ;-)



I hope you all have a very nice day,
Hans

Hello, Janice, Bud, Torrey and Andy,

You are the last but not the least I have to reply on this song. I quess...
I'm sure everyday you looked if I answered yet, but just before you want to give up, here it is!

Thank you so much for your so nice replies.



Hi J&B, I'll start with the ps: No, he's gone. I expected to smell him, because he almost can't be alive by now, but nothing. I live in a fairly large city and my neighborhood contains many large houses. So he should have been found. Truly a cynical riddle. But I made a song on him now. Will be on the forum soon.

The pps: Yes, I had the same experience. I only did mixing and mastering seperately and now it's all in one. Still have to get used to that.

The lead reply: Well, I needed to travel through space and didn't know what figure couldd have been of nay use with that. At the same time my son had a date, but the girl said they had no 'click'. And she compaired it with Einsteins' formula E=MC2. In a short cut, that brought me to him.
And about the quantity of the tracks... it weren't that many. You would have managed that with a finger in your nose (as we say).




Hello Torrey, I must have learned some of the build up in my song(s) from you. I always like how you go from verse to chorus. But I believe the emotion was extra strong because of the cat story. I'm weak concerning a lot of animals (not snakes). Thanks a lot!




Hi Andi, you were away for some time as well, I read somewhere. Was your cat gone too?
Thanks for your very nice comment and so nice to see you mentioned the strings. On YouTube I learned something about handling the volumes of the strings during the track (a kind of peaks and valleys with concave or convex lines in between, if you understand what I mean). It worked out well here.

I hope you have a nice day today, it's getting colder now here,
Hans