https://soundcloud.com/phil-leith/im-alive-original

This song ... literally came to me in a dream. Like, last wednesday morning. Ok, sort of. What came to me was the "I'm Alive, I'm Alive blah blah blah blah" part. Complete with the melody and harmony for that snippet.

Picture yourself in a convertible, driving up the Pacific Coast Highway on a warm sunny day, reflecting on your life, when you listen.

Here's the cool thing about BIAB. Less than a week later... this. Not possible without BIAB. Not for me anyway.

Wrote, arranged, and produced, and sang all the vocals except for the quiet ooh's and aaahs leading up to the chorus ... I tried their ooohs and aaahs. Mechanical ... probably because they were sampled at 085 and my song is at 140 BPM, but at this volume, they work ok. I kept them pretty subtle.

I bounced all this off Bob Buford, who was adamant that I find filler instrumental for the breaks between lyrics. It's a thing. He was right, though, it's better. I was looking for a decent dobro soloist, but I ended up using the Knopfler style "Dire Bluesey" and I think it works. Very close to what I had in mind.

Lyrics are on SoundCloud.

****** Song Summary *************
Title: I'm Alive
File:I'm Alive.SGU
Key=E , Tempo 140, Length (m:s)=3:47
No intro. 131 bar chorus, from bar 1 to bar 131. Repeat x1 chorus
No Melody
Soloist track has 868 notes, Soloist harmony is < no harmony >(0)
Song is saved with Volume, Pan, Reverb, Chorus, Bank0,
Style is _BOWE110.STY (Acoustic Guitar w/ Even Bow Bass)

RealTracks in style: ~2488:Bass, Acoustic, Bowed Held Ev 110
RealTracks in style: ~405:Guitar, Acoustic, Strumming Ev 120
RealTracks in song: ~405:Guitar, Acoustic, Strumming Ev 120
RealTracks in style: ~522:Guitar, Acoustic, Fingerpicking Ev 120
RealTracks in song: 512:Guitar, Electric, Soloist Dire Ev 140 (Bluesy)
RealDrums in style: NashvilleEven8^3-a:Sidestick, HiHat , b:Snare, HiHat Open
RealTracks Vocal Oohs-Aahs, Rhythm Pop3-part Ev 085 David Wise/Shelly Justice

*******************

Produced in Reaper using Xcomp, ReaVerb, Acon Digital Multiplier, ReaTune. And Bob Buford to bounce it all off of.

I'm doing something else while I listen and the lyrics keep making me pay attention, the way the singer matches the rhythm and chord , the nice guitar work. Really nice.

Someday you'll learn to listen to me.

A fine job, indeed.

Bob

"I'm doing something else while I listen and the lyrics keep making me pay attention...."


Excellent! A lyric man. Then I have succeeded :-D

Thanks for giving it a spin!

Someday. :-)

Yeah, I really thought it would overpower the intentional pause in the melody, but it didn't. It does make it more interesting.

Cool tune Phil

Hey, Scott, thanks man.

Thanks for sharing the dream.

We enjoyed the upbeat feel of this via the lyric, vocal and arrangement.

Nice!

J&B

Song ideas that have come to me in dreams are usually very simple and that's why they usually work so well, like in your case. Very nice upbeat pop song with positive feel good message. Good production.

Janne

Phil,

A really nice "feel good" song. A really nice overall sound, an infectious melody.

The track works really well. And a nice mix. (at times I thought the bass needed to come up a hair).

Your background "aaahhhs" are terrific. Some of the best I've heard done here..they really made the chorus shine. Nice.

fj

Nice.....

Love the chorus.

Reminded me in places of John Denver.

Thanks, Floyd.

You and my wife would butt heads over bass. :-D When the bass is about perfect for me, it's a few db too high for her. I do want a nice solid bass in it. I was playing it in our living room and in our cars and it was overpowering so I dropped it 4 whole DB. But I haven't re-tested it in the car since then, I just uploaded it because it didn't sound too bad on my monitors.

I should do the car-stero test again. But I've been riding my bike to work, though.

Well, Guitarhacker, I am a big JD fan, to be sure.

If you can't tell, I'm also a big Beach Boys/Brian Wilson fan. And a Jimmy Buffett fan. And a Mark Knopfler fan. The way this song worked out, I think it sounds like Jimmy Buffet and the Beach Boys met at Mark Knopfler's house for a jam session.

I really wanted the harmonies in the chorus to hit you like a tsunami. Hope I succeeded!

Doesn't happen to me very often, jannesan, I have lost a few of them by not writing it down and recording the basic tune. I ALMOST lost the tune on this one, but it did come back to me eventually. It was just that one snippet "I'm alive, I'm alive blah blah blah blah blah ... " that I had anything for ... and why I'm saying blah is I had no words there at the time, just the tune.

This tells me GET UP and SING IT INTO YOUR PHONE or something. Before you forget!

Phil,

Some really strong work here—catchy melody that just flows, accentuated by some solid lyrics with great lines throughout. Terrific job on the harmonies. Very nicely done.

Best regards,

Deej

I fixed all the little issues I had with my vocal last night (I introduced one other, but I'll fix that tonight. Mixing issue) and I brought up the bass just a touch just for you :-)

Well, no, the "car stereo test" told me it could come up a smidge.

Phil, You can really sing! Great lead vocal and BG vocals. Nice job on the editing of the guitar parts. Mix sounds good. I seemed to be getting an imbalance on the bass. Maybe check to make sure it's centered and in mono. You are sounding good and getting the hang of everything very quickly. Glad you're here, Tom

Thanks again, Tommy.

I'm still trying to get used to people complimenting my voice. It's a pretty new concept to me.

Bass is (or was... sometimes a finger slips on a touchpad) intentionally set about 5-7% to one side for panning. I need to re-mix that "oo-oh" harmony in the first verse tonight (it is not balanced the way I want it - mistake I made last night). When I do that I will listen for that bass and see what I think. I did bump it up a bit at Floyd's suggestion. That may have made the panning more noticeable so it might need a tweak. I will likely leave it just a tad off center, like arranging a band on the stage.

The ending is the way the style played my chords I entered. I liked what it did so well that I wanted it in the beginning so they'd mirror each other. So I just went in and put the same chords I ended with at the beginning and BAM! Just what I was looking for. One of my favorite things about how it turned out.

Glad all of you are here. This is a neat community. I'm hearing some really good stuff and getting so much input.

Guess I should add, re: editing the guitar parts.... yeah, I generated the solo track for the entire song, and just edited it down to the places I wanted it. Had to fade the bits and pieces in and out sometimes (not always), but I am happy with the result.

Next time I'm going to use envelopes in Reaper. Bob just told me about them. I looked them up. Oh yeah! That's what I need! Those will be very useful. Where has it been all my life?

Phil,

This is a great song. I love the James Taylor / John Denver vibe. A very cool singer-songwriter piece.

Nice mix as well.

Bob