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Finally finished. I'm The One
I am using the new 1040XTRAEZ form this year. It has just 2 lines.
1. How much did you make in 2023?
2. Send it to us.
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I like it quite a bit.
1. There is a hum. You hear it at the start. Whack that hum.
2. Vocals, push them harder.
the harmonies are cool.
The bit around 3:00 is very realistic. I'd try to get that sound more often in your mix. Could even be a shorter version.
BUT WAIT: You were the new guy we tried to calm down and suddenly you post great music and you have over 1000 posts and are an EX-purt. Great going.
So if you were messing with things and there was no pg-music around, when would you have gotten a song like that this far?
John Conley
Musica est vita
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eddie, you may want to scribble this on the "oothoos" wall because i agree with john. the vox is buried in there somewhere. the backing tracks seem heavily squashed (compressed) so don't apply more compression there, just your vocal track. nice voice, by the way. if you agree that the vox needs to be out front more then just redo the vocal track and repost. the song is a smidgeon long but lady antebellum has several that are 5+ minutes and it hasn't hurt her even a little bit. it's not so long as to be fatiguing to the listener's ears.
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Quote:
Don: ...but lady antebellum has several that are 5+ minutes and it hasn't hurt her even a little bit. ....
Which ones are over 5 minutes? I just brought up most of their "top tracks" portfolio on Rhapsody and I only see one listed that is over 5 minutes . It is "Hello World" and I don't think it was a radio single. The "Hello World" song sounds pretty good! I had never heard it before -- it is sung by the male singer in the band.
Kevin
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We're not ganging up here, Eddie. I like the song . . .very reminiscent of the Marshall Tucker Band, except you have no flute. You need some clarity in your voice - maybe try rolling off under 125. What I do is test my mixes using Windows Media Player and its graphic equalizer, making sure to roll-off rather than add on frequency clutter when I try to pick out problem areas. You once said you did not have a country voice - sounds authentic Mason-Dixon line. Liked the song and solos you've edited. Happy New Year - Ian What a shock on your link page! I actually saw your picture again - what an improvement over that checkerboard door on the PG Forum. 
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Geez Ian, I thought you'd recognize a snow storm on the Ottawa River. I wish I could still skate. Everyone should skate on the river/canal in Otter wah.
John Conley
Musica est vita
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That QR code is still there only because no matter what I try, the function in my settings panel will not change it. I have tried to upload a real picture at least a dozen times and it appears to go through but the avatar never changes.
I am using the new 1040XTRAEZ form this year. It has just 2 lines.
1. How much did you make in 2023?
2. Send it to us.
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I had to make the picture smaller than the size it mentioned.
John Conley
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I took it down to as far as 10x10 and can not get rid of the old one. This has been an issue I have seen reported many time since I joined the forums. I even took my avatar off, logged out, logged back in, uploaded the new one, and the old one came back.
I am using the new 1040XTRAEZ form this year. It has just 2 lines.
1. How much did you make in 2023?
2. Send it to us.
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Weird or what.
I'll try. I think also there was sumpin about bmp / jpg / jpeg but I can't scratch my head too much I might lose hair (insert MORE there).
John Conley
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Quote:
Which ones are over 5 minutes? I just brought up most of their "top tracks" portfolio on Rhapsody and I only see one listed that is over 5 minutes . It is "Hello World" and I don't think it was a radio single. The "Hello World" song sounds pretty good! I had never heard it before -- it is sung by the male singer in the band.
Kevin
there was a thread on the subject of acceptable song length on this forum about a month back. i listen to lady antebellum a lot on pandora and had noticed several 5+ minute songs but i have already forgotten the titles or albums. my point was: a 4+ minute song need not be its death nell. look at ccr's "hoid it true da grapevine." iirc, the uncut version was over 11 minutes but that was in the days of vinyl and the all night djs would spin that then head for the oothoos so it got an inordinate amount of air play. nab cartridges ended that game then canned (tinned) digital discs drove the final nail in the coffin.
today, the ideal song length is a function of "cyber acoustics" (qv). in other words, when do the listener's ears begin to tire and want to move on. john may argue that beethoven's 5th symphony is 50 minutes long. however, it provides a constant change in acoustic stimuli.
young listeners seem content with trace-like music that is very repetitive. i don't think that's what you are trying to do with your music. so, the question remains: what is the ideal song length?
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The right length? One famous Nashville writer whose name escapes me once said: Only a fool takes longer than 3 minutes to tell a story. No malevolent intent here, Eddie  I think it flows nicely. Don, I think the length is somewhere between "Hey I want to hear that again" and "Phew . . . it's over." Ralph Murphy would say: whatever holds the listener between the Coke commercial and the McDonald's commercial in drive-time radio. In other words - there's no set answer. Google Ralph Murphy and read his columns that you find - interesting reading . . . if you're creating for Nashville. Also Shortcuts to Hit Songwriting by Robin Fredericks. Happy and Successful New Year, folks. Ian
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It just came to me. Ian and John. 2 Deaf guys giving advice on a music mix. Ain't we smart.
Having songs a certain length varies in history.
Many gatherings had a time limit.
At a dance every tune had to be dancible, and if it was fast it couldn't be too long, the square dancers got dizzy going round so why where they square?
Anyways DJ's loved the long songs, it was same pay less talk.
And the commercials dictated length.
Taste. It has to sort of come close. Don't let it get too hairy, and make me want to hear it again and again...right?
John Conley
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Thanks for the hearty chuckle my friend. Shhh! No-one else has to know. D'ya think we oughta post a warning with our sound advice???? Used to be in the 60s that I know of that any song over 3 min got additional royalties from radio play - which the stations hated to pay. Are you still at the lake, John?  See any brass monkeys running around screaming???
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Very nice song! Way to start out the new year! Thanks for sharing! My Music
My TunesPsalm 57:7 My heart, O God, is steadfast, my heart is steadfast; I will sing and make music.
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Nope: Back in balmy London where it's 41 on the foreign heat scale. My grandson who's not yet 3 messed with my indoor outdoor electronic gizmo and now it's in F. I have to ask him back to fix it, I can't figure it out. Seems I'm dumber than a 2 year old.  Hey Ian an high Jack! for sure eh: Association of Adult Musicians with Hearing Loss Check that out.
John Conley
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Apologies Eddie. Ian  Hey, your visage has returned - good to see you again!
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Quote:
Finally finished. ...
When you say you are "finished", does that mean that you don't want suggestions/comments? As always, when you get opinions on songs, they will be all over the map -- you have to pick and choose what makes sense for your needs. Here are might thoughts on this tune.
I know I can come across as too negative, but I really hope it is considered more "clinical". I know your stated goal is to get a "cut", so I approach a critique on your stuff from that perspective -- where everything has to be pretty much perfect. But like I tell everyone -- I am not hit writer or super songwriter. So use my advice at your own risk.
1.) You do a mighty fine job blending instruments together. Nothing is too dominating and the lead parts are well placed.
2.) It can't be "finished" with the click start still in there -- ha, ha!
3.) How many tracks are in there -- and what is your panning? Everything seems sort of centered to me. Go here, http://www.billboard.com/charts/country-songs#/charts/country-songs -- these are the top country songs on the billboard charts. Listen to as many as you can (some you can't play here). Notice how far apart some of the instruments are, so they easily stand out. Of course, there is probably some serious EQ sculpting going on also, so the instruments don't collide with each other in the sonic spectrum.
4.) Remove all the effects from your lead vocal -- it sounds like you are in a tin can and it pushes the vocal too far to the back. If you want effects, copy your lead vocal, pan it a bit, add effects to that, offset it ~20-30 ms and turn the volume way down on that track. This will add depth and effects without being "too" much". Again listen to where the lead vox sits on those country hits. That's what folks expect/like to hear.
5.) Shoot the drummer (ha, ha). What happened at 0:59, 1:35-1:36 and every stop in the music? The drummers clunks one a little out of time every time (lot to be said for consistency -- and a lot of it is bad)
6.) Are those auto-harmonies starting at 4:08? -- remove them, they just don't fit in that I can tell. Your "real" harmonies sound good -- keep doing that.
7.) Yup, try and shave another minute off us this one.
8.) OK, my main issue with this tune is that there seems to be way, way too many words -- do you ever take a breath??? The lyrics aren't here, so I can't point out some examples -- but it is almost all the way through. You probably should consider going through and cutting out 1/3 of the words (which will help with the length).
Just a few ideas, Use as you see fit.
Kevin
P.S. Just don't look at my songs to see if I follow these rules -- it's easier to tell someone else to do these things than to actually do them yourself!
Last edited by Kemmrich; 01/01/12 12:34 PM.
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Quote:
Used to be in the 60s that I know of that any song over 3 min got additional royalties from radio play - which the stations hated to pay.
ian, i think that you may have nailed it! it's all governed (prime ministered) by the almighty looney!
another thing that takes the song's length out of the "composer's" hands is the internal mathematics of the overall process. a 32-bar tune at 85 bpm and 3 choruses is about 4 minutes in length and that's more-or-less written in stone. not much we can do about that.
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Quote:
When you say you are "finished", does that mean that you don't want suggestions/comments?
Only a fool closes his mind and ears to suggestion and constructive criticism.
Quote:
It can't be "finished" with the click start still in there
Finished as in "All the parts together in a semi intelligable collective"
Quote:
How many tracks are in there -- and what is your panning? Everything seems sort of centered to me.
8, and everything is indeed dead center.
Quote:
Remove all the effects from your lead vocal -- it sounds like you are in a tin can and it pushes the vocal too far to the back.
This track in this take suffers from "equalizus over effectsus" disease. I tried to EQ the vocals using a plug in effect. This was before I have my MOTU working and can now mix outside the software like I want to. Unfortunately there is no "remove all the bad attempts to EQ" button on Real Band that I am aware of. I plan to someday sing it again dry and direct into the interface.
Quote:
Shoot the drummer (ha, ha). What happened at 0:59, 1:35-1:36 and every stop in the music?
Those pick ups ARE a little late. My fingers on the drum machine keys ain't what they used to be.
Quote:
Are those auto-harmonies starting at 4:08?
They are indeed vocoder.
Quote:
Your "real" harmonies sound good -- keep doing that.
Those were also vocoder.
Quote:
My main issue with this tune is that there seems to be way, way too many words
I will respond to this section by recalling a scene from Amadeus where Mozart was told that there seemed to be "too many notes" in one of his pieces. He presented the score to "his majesty" and asked "Which ones would you like me to take out?"
The story of the song is what it is, and I can't take words out of a story.
By the shores of Gitche Gumee
By the shining Big-Sea-Water
Stood the wigwam of Nokomis
Daughter of the Moon, Nokomis.
Should we shorten that to "Down by the big lake was a tent with a broad in it"?
I am using the new 1040XTRAEZ form this year. It has just 2 lines.
1. How much did you make in 2023?
2. Send it to us.
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