Hi all:

I hope everyone had a great holiday and that all came well into the New Year. Here's my first offering for 2023. From a production standpoint, I’m sure you will all have plenty of additional suggestions on the mix and otherwise--heck, I'm not even sure I'm quite done playing with it--and so they are very welcome. In my head, I had grander designs, but my goal is always to make the song as listenable and as close to what I intended as I can, and I think this is as far and as close as I can take it for now.

Thanks in advance for the listen!

My best to you all,

Deej

Here is the song:

EVERYTHING'S GONNA BE GOOD AGAIN

Here are the lyrics:

Dark days spawning
The want and warrring
The kings in their towers
Turned the gold rule to rust
But their hold is breaking
Their fates forsaken
Our hopes reawakening
And shaking the dust

Yeah, they ran our ships aground
But can’t you feel the tide
How it’s turning now

Everything’s gonna be so good again
Everything’s gonna be so good again
Everything’s gonna be so good again, ah-huh
And we’ll wrap ourselves in love
The paradise we’re dreaming of

There’ll be skies a-clearing
Crowds a-cheering
Children a-singing like angels on high
And our hearts long yearning
Will soon be burning
With the fever of love
We’ve kept true and alive

And we’ll sail to better shores
It’s that brave new world
We’ve been waiting for

Listen
Can you hear that wind
The song it’s carrying
It’s a joyous hymn
Every one of us can sing

Every now and then
There’s a moment when
Every dream we’ve dreamed
We can dream again
And believe enough
And the dream will grow
If we don’t give up
We can make it so

And here is the band:

RealTracks 1523: Bass, Electric, PopPower
RealTracks 676: Guitar, Acoustic, Strumming FolkRockBritEighths
RealTracks 1761: Guitar, Acoustic, Strumming Pop16ths
RealTracks 1948: Mandolin, Rhythm PopUpliftingAndy
RealTracks 1275: Piano, Acoustic, Rhythm PopUpliftHeld
RealDrums: PopRock8ths^02-a:Closed Hat, Snare, b:Ride, Snare
Acoustic Guitar: Deej
Claps and Tambourine: Logic Pro X

I think this is very good. Conjurs an image of young folk in tie-dye, dancing in a circle, on a summer's day in a field.
Good lyrics, and vocals . . . 2 thumbs up.

Nice song! Loved the oomph the bass added to the mix.

As usual, excellent, emotional vocals.

Happy and upbeat with a jangly mandolin.

Nice one Deej,
my only thoughts are that the intro guitar part should be centred.
When you say listen, (& the spaces you provided thereafter), the mandolin needs to be louder so it means we are listening to rather than listening for.
Nice ending.

This song has a real anthem quality to it, I can hear it being sung at football stadiums just like "We will, we will rock you." You are so good at writing bridges and the one on this song is killer. And then the ending is pretty darned good as well. Excellent work here.

Another great song DJ!
"I had grander designs" you say.
Although this one is a really good song, I'd like to hear the "grander design" you had in mind

But.... I enjoyed this one very much!

Anne-Marie

Hey DJ,

Really great and cool song.

Very uplifting.

Love the vocals and the mix.

BassThumper, David, ray, TuneMonger, Ann-Marie, and David S:

Thanks for the listens and feedback--very much appreciated. A few responses on the specific comments.

Ray: Great suggestions! I have originally had that guitar centered, but then moved it a bit right for whatever reason. I agree it sounds better in the middle and have made that change. My guitar still struck me as a bit too tinny and loud, so I Eq'd it a bit more and tweaked the volume levels. It may be a bit too low now, not sure. I also raised the mandolin volume 2 dbs in that first bridge--another good change I think. Thanks much!

Anne-Marie: Sigh . . . grander designs . . . I guess I was just hoping to do something . . . well . . . more with it. There are elements of the production that I'm not too thrilled with. For example, I'm not crazy about the sound of my guitar on this. I may end up re-doing it as I think I had the effects dialed up unknowingly on the guitar and it sounds more electric than acoustic--not exactly the sound I was going for. I would have liked the BGVs to pop more, though I did clean them up a bit more in this latest version so they are a bit less muddled. Ideally, a children's or boy's choir would have been great for it, but not in the budget, LOL! But on the whole, I'm left wondering what a more creative, skilled producer could do with this . . . as it is, I've done the best I can with it.

Thanks again, all--

Deej

Good song Deej! I really liked the mix and that bass was terrific. Very catchy chorus and I liked how the bass changed between the chorus and verses - great stuff.

Brad

Don't touch a thing as this is a great song!

Great vocal and lyrics
Super mix
Sounds like a song out of the 60s and that is a good thing.
Everything is good with this song.

Nice start for the new year with such a positive message. Catchy title and the chorus especially is a great sing-a-long one.
Very good arrangement, your guitar fits nicely by strengthening the sound.
Nice hand claps work very well, I was hoping to hear even some foot stomping and a big crowd singing
Excellent vocals and backing also.

Janne

Deej, great song! Your vocals are amazingly good and the bridge is fantastic. Good positive writing and mix. The acoustic does sound like an electric and that’s ok. It’s doing what you intended it to do. I agree with Mario. Stick a fork in it. Much enjoyed, Tom

Upbeat song. The chorus is a grabber--an audience participation song, for sure. Production sounds great. Vocal performance is spot on, as I have come to expect.

Deej,

An excellent write.
An excellent production.
Excellent vocals.

Really well done.

fj

I like your song as it is now, it's well structured, well sung and has a very catchy chorus.

The only thing I would probably change is the first 2 lines after "Listen", the pauses between the vocals are a bit too long in my opinion.

Deej...stellar song...its nice to hear a positive song...it has a classic folk feel about it...I really like the baritone guitar movements...your vocal is super as usual...great melody on the verses and the chorus has a sing-a-long enticing quality...loved it!

For once, I'm not going to provide a lengthy "analysis" of the song :-) All I'm going to say is this: I clapped my hands and tapped my feet throughout it. And that ending ... a genius idea, I think. I'm once again impressed by your versatility ... you have the proverbial "Midas touch" when it comes to music, no matter what style, and no matter what emotion you want to evoke out of the listener - and that's, as everyone knows, rare. Great job - hats off.

Deej

Sounds really good to me. Lovely emotive vocal and catchy - I too loved the ending.

Really well done.

Peter

I like this one Deej and I like the guitar intro and fills.
I noticed in "But can’t you feel the tide", that there may be a sour note on guitar or bass in there.
It sounds slightly off. BIAB sometimes does that.

Good song though.

Vic

Well, you certainly convinced us that everything is gonna be good again!
And for that we are most appreciative. Here's hoping.

It reminded Janice of a quote she read last week on her calendar:
“Dreams are the soul’s pantry, keep it well stocked and your soul will never hunger.”

Your vocals are stellar and the band is “happy” (as Janice says) and both ooze optimism.

The bridge is really effective as is the entire arrangement, your vocals and the mix.

Good start to the new year!

J&B

Hi DJ
Great song
Sounds great
Vocals and background vocals sound fantastic
Very nice lyrics full of hope
Very well done DJ
Many greetings
Andi ;-)

Hi Deej, really great tune. the vocal is awesome love the guitar work it was excellent just the right touch!!! well done Eric.

Happy New Year Deej. Super vocal and lyric. Loved the baritone guitar. Excellent backtrack. Well done

Brad, Mario, Janne, Tommy, Ezekiel, Floyd, B.D., firesong, James, Peter, Vic, J&B, Andi, FMM, and Scott:

Thanks to you all for the listens, kind comments and feedback. It’s much appreciated. Some thoughts on a couple of the specific suggestions:

Janne: One of the things I would have loved to have had was a crowd singing, or better yet a choir . . . but I only had me, and had to settle with that. But yes, that was the sound I would have liked to capture better.

B.D.: Good thought there . . . . and I did play with it being shorter. But as the song moves quickly, I wanted the song to have a bit more space in that first bridge (if nothing else, to give me time to catch my breath, LOL!). And I wanted the audience to actively listen, which is think is helped by a longer pause. But I hear you and appreciate your POV.

Vic: I’ll need to go back and give it a closer listen . . . it’s more likely my playing, and perhaps I unintentionally bent a string a bit on that last note on the run to make it sound slightly off. Might need to turn down the volume on it a tad if so.

Thanks again, all!

Deej

Oh, I really really like the sound of you vocals, Deej, and those harmonies are just perfect. What a wonderful write. You are consistent with excellent lyrics and melodies. I like how this builds to the chorus, and I have to agree "Everything's {IS} so good. Excellent dynamics, and a terrific Bridge. Dang, this is sucha good song.

"Listen
Can you hear that wind
The song it’s carrying
It’s a joyous hymn
Every one of us can sing"

Yeah, it doesn't get any better than that. Slot this one as cleanup in your lineup, Deej.

Nice way to start off the New Year, Deej!

I assume that is you playing the opening guitar theme that repeats throughout the song? Nicely done.

Good song, enjoyed.

Deej,

It's always great to hear something fresh with an optimistic outlook on life....too much gloom and doom going around these days! I really like all instrumental choices you made here! They all fit and sound good! Your guitar contribution here sound very good! Your vocals shine...you hit the high notes convincingly and with ease! Love that little breakdown in the middle section!

Thanks, T

Marty, Dave and and Torrey:

Thanks for stopping in and giving this a spin. Yes, Dave, I'm playing an acoustic guitar that sounds like an electric (not quite what I had initially intended)--essentially to add those descending runs, which I couldn't do just using BIAB. I'm an intermediate guitar player at best, so always an adventure when I try to record along with BIAB tracks. But hopefully worked well enough here.

Stay well all,

Deej