PG Music Home Forums General Discussion User Showcase Stranded On East Wittering Beach

This relatively new song has taken almost 11 months to complete, including changing the key several times, tweaking the Real Time tracks quite a bit, and putting all the rest of the effort on top.

The song is about the grief and sorrow you often feel, when loosing friends and family that you never had the chance to tell your last goodbye (which quite a few has dealt with during the pandemic). I often reflect over life and death, when I'm all alone by the sea, and in this song I imagined sitting at a beach I never even visited - just to take the lyrics to a more imaginary place.

Real Tracks used:

518 - Bass, Electric, Pop HalfNotes Ev 085
2905 - Guitar, Electric, Rhythm Bright BluesyPopColin Ev 100
3162 - Guitar, Baritone Electric, Rhythm BluesyPopHeldEmbelBrent Ev 100
2505 - Piano, Electric, HeldChords Ev 085

As always - feel free to provide any kind of feed back - positive as well as negative.

Stranded On East Wittering Beach

Lyrics:

The tide rolls in
At the first morning light
Wave after wave arrives
From The Isle of Wight
It's the rhythm of nature
Reaching it's very height
Now the seagulls begin to hunt
And they start to fight

Why did you have to leave?
You're high above the sky
And though I don't believe
I hope you have wings now

The fishing boats arrive
With the daily catch
Plunging through the waves
With their nets attached
The fishermen are struggling
To avoid the biggest splash
And to get their boat ashore
Looks like a wrestling match

Why did you have to leave?
You're high above the sky
And though I don't believe
I hope you have wings now

I never said goodbye
Before you disappeared
And as your image dissolves
I sense your deepest fear

I try to find some meaning
While starring at the sea
This emptiness is all I have
To a higher degree

Hmmm I'm stranded
Hmmm I'm stranded

Why did you have to leave?
You're high above the sky
And though I don't believe
I hope you have wings now

I never said goodbye
Before you disappeared
And as your image dissolves
I sense your deepest fear

Why did you have to leave?
You're far above the sky
And though I don't believe
I know you have wings now
I know you have wings now
I know you have wings now
I know you have wings now

Peter,
Very good write. Strong composition, kept me engaged for whole 6 mins. Vocals A+
Only critical comment, and it is very subjective, I think drums are a bit on a high side of EQ and a bit too upfront. I am not any kind of authority in mixing process, just an opinion. Thank you for sharing.

Misha.

Hi Peter
Sad but beautiful song
Very good songwriting and a great melody
The lyrics make you feel for the song
I know the feeling of not being able to say goodbye to a loved one
that's why you should enjoy every moment
And writing a song about such a pain helps you a lot in dealing with such a loss.
Great work Peter
Many greetings
Andi ;-)

Well done, nice moody feel and a sad narrative.

Good choice of tracks and well sung.

A good track.

Peter

Hi Misha,

thank you for listening.

With my mixing, it always feels like a compromise, because I wanted a more crispy sound, than it had originally, which made me yank the Eq High Freq up a judge or two. The good thing was, that I had separated all the drums into individual tracks - the bad thing was, that I never did it before, and probably overdid hi-hat and cymbals (and thanks to my temporary tinnitus), since I can't hear it myself.

I use iZotope Tonal Balance to verify that my mix is within Pop or Rock limits, but that of course doesn't show if the instrumental balance is off. I cherish your feedback, and I'll keep it in mind for the future.

Cheers
Peter

Hi Andy,

thank you for listening to my song, and thank you for your positive and kind words.

Cheers
Peter

Hi Peter,

thank you for listening to my song and taking the time to write to me.

Cheers
Peter (without F) :-)

Peter...I really enjoyed this...great use of BiaB...the track was really clean and tight...really loved your vocal performance and felt the angst and passion in it...tough subjects often create the best songs and the imagery of the lyric created that mood...there's something sad about the sea and something seemingly eternal as well so it lends itself to sad feelings...so well done...Dan

Good production. Good song.

Stereo spread and mix work. I like what you did with the instrumentation

Vocal sounds nice, especially when you are singing with your head voice.

Cool production and mix on this tune. Panning was very effective. nice build through the song. Baritone guitar was cool. Super vocal lyric.

Lyrics paint a very beautiful landscape which contrasts nicely with the sorrow and stranded feeling. The melody and chord progression together with the solid vocal performance have strong melancholy. Very good selection of instruments, I really like the bass and the baritone guitar.

Janne

A HUGE thank to Firesong, Ezekiel's Storm, Scott C and Jannesan for listening to my song and providing feed back.
It seems that paying attention to panning and EQ when panning, and mixing the song countless times was worth the effort.

A lot of you like the use of the Baritone Guitar - and I spent a couple of months to see, if I could do improve playing it myself, but I realized I never came even close to what Brent Mason has done with this Real Track.

In general - I really love to work with Real Tracks - they are so versatile