Sailor55

Can't you can add or subtract various types of time ruler with the plus and minus boxes as shown... ?

Supported software is always better than unsupported software. Cakewalk by BandLab is now exceedingly well supported (even better than SONAR was). I thank my lucky stars the DAW interface I spent so many years learning did not fall into obscurity.

Billy backed down (fortunately). He eventually moved to Texas. I hear he's happier there. I can't say I missed him much. What I really want to know is what happened to Diva after saving my butt. She'd be about 65 by now.

Here's a tune with a story. Some people like a story, I'm told. Some of this actually happened. Some of it didn't. - Dan http://www.taggerband.com/Music/DBH/BillyAndDiva.html

Brilliant man! I just don't know what else to say. It would take serious ambition to take this kind of thing on. You have covered it better than I though it possible for one person. I plan will forward this link to some friends who love Floyd (and have tried to play some of it). They will be impressed. - Dan

I once though this wasn't really my kind of thing but I've changed. Really. And you've done it. The production is so good and the arrangement so tight I simply get pulled into total appreciation mode. When I see a batsbrew posting I know it's going to be impressive. Thanks for sharing your stuff. - Dan

I am one of those who's complained about this. More than 50% of my workflow is editing (either audio or midi). Aim-assist is absolutely essential to my well-being. I've been frustrated ever since those position numbers were added. I keep trying to see beneath them to the ticks on the timeline which is, of course, impossible. It's my fondest wish that they would either become an option or, better still, be moved somewhere that they don't obscure the timeline. Slightly below? slight above?

Yep! Done. The best support too. There should have been a separate category for that too.

I don't think that's a good idea. Any dragging movement has a horizontal and vertical component (even if one or the other is very small) . What the shift key does is ignore any horizontal component while dragging vertically. It would be maddening to have that as default behavior thus requiring the shift key to move freely in any direction. You could argue the horizontal component should be ignored unless it is significant. But who is to say what's significant? I tried to reproduce this problem when this post first appeared but could not. I now realize I always do keep the shift key down until after the mouse click is released. It's not a conscious thing. I guess I've always just done it that way.

My band suggested I try to create something that can be played with two guitars, bass, drums & vocal. In other words, what we have, not what we wished we had. No dulcimers, funky horns, fat strings, female choruses, grand piano or zither. None of that. Okay. Here's what I came up with. The only synth is Addictive Drums 2. I played all the rest. http://www.taggerband.com/Music/DBH/TinySquares.html

I just noticed this today. I'm running the very latest hotfix (2019 07 build 79). It used to be when I was editing audio and wanted to make a cut, I'd hit the F8 key until the editing cursor changed to a "scissors" symbol. Now the symbol does not change, until I move the cursor just slightly. Generally speaking, any changes to the editing mode via the F8 key do not immediately reflect in the cursor style. But they used to. A bug? Or have I set something wrong?

Bass now fixed, or hopefully, better anyway. Thanks for the input. Much appreciated. - Dan

My heartiest thanks to freddy, Joad, Tom and paul for the great responses. To be honest, I was afraid this one might just slip away. Just too odd, maybe. It was pieced together from little bits over several months, although the lyric was a poem of mine written quite while back. For Tom, all the gory details are below. Skip if you find this stuff tedious. (I probably would). And, once again, thanks Tom for your well-considered feedback. It definitely does steer me. Cheers to all... - Dan -------------------------------------- The Electric Piano is from the Cakewalk SI suite. The pre-set is “Classic Rhodes”. There are no effects in the bin other than the EQ setting in ProChannel and the controls on the instrument itself. To reproduce it exactly: SI Piano (Classic Rhodes): Drive = 7.0%, Chorus = 32.5%, Tremolo Depth = 1.9, Tremolo Rate = 39.5%, Tone = 75.5%, Pan = 0%, Volume = 70.5% ProChannel EQ: HP freq = 143 Hz (rolloff 24 dB), LP freq = 2538 Hz (rolloff 24 dB), Hi-mid notch: @ 553 Hz, Q=2.2, Gain = –9.2 dB The Vocal FX is a new ‘Waves’ plug-in I just got on sale (only $29.00). It’s the “Chris Lord-Alge CLA Vocal Processor” using the ‘Body Double’ pre-set with very minor tweaks, mostly to reduce the amount of doubling slightly. There’s a lot of hype about this plug-in, and to be honest, I thought the YouTube video by it’s namesake was a bit cheesy. But, you shouldn't judge a plug-in by it’s author. I very happy with it so far. Works as advertised. There are two different Guitar Rig 5 effects on the guitar (occurring at different times). The opening hook effect is ‘Breath You Hold’ and the rest of the lead is ‘Van 51 Crunch’. They are both tweaked in minor ways but probably no one could tell the difference in an A-B test. Drums are AD2 in a very ordinary mode. Nothing special there. Being a drummer, you’d think I’d have cluttered it up a bit more. Your comment on the bass is interesting. I originally had a midi bass but because a friend lent me one of his basses I decided to give it a try myself. I’m no bass player and I had to build the track up by many pieces. (I’m a much better wave editor than I am a bass player). Horns are ‘Session Horns’ played in Kontakt player. Guitar is by my buddy Lawrie, and harmonica by another friend, Kevin. It’s the three of us who decided we don’t stand a chance against Big Brother.

I had a few friends over a while back. We decided we were powerless against Big Brother. We came up with this... http://www.taggerband.com/Music/DBH/TheNewIlluminati.html

Fabulous production. I agree with others about the vocal. Top notch. Great drum mix and satisfying arrangement. You should be proud of this. (BTW, I only listened to V3). - D

Brilliant. Got Chris Isaac written all over it. Great steel. As country as it get. - D

Set the first beat to 'Ping Low' at -3.0 dB and Other Beats to 'Ping Low' at 0.0 dB. That seems to work for me. If you don't lower the First Beat to -3 dB below the Other Beats it will sound twice as loud.

I support this idea very strongly. The aim assist line is great, but the aim assist info box is very frustrating, the way it obscures the timeline tick marks.

Unusual bit of music. I listened to all three versions, in reverse order. At first I thought it was an odd premise for a lyric, but after a while, I got it. The idea grew on me and it makes good sense now. I'm listening to the latest version for the second time as I type this... ...and I've now decided... I quite like this. It has the potential to become an ear-worm. In fact... too late. Like you, I was making instrumentals in the early nineties with whatever I could get my hands on. I was using a Peavey DPM-3 sequencing keyboard (which I still use to this day, but only as a midi keyboard), It was touted as the keyboard that, thanks to perpetual firmware updates, would never go obsolete. Big surprise! It's now completely and utterly obsolete. I think I may have one of the last three left in the world. Then in 1992 I started using Cakewalk for DOS (because I had some kind of a vendetta against windows then). I drove the sounds in the DPM3 with it for several years eventually moving to newer versions of Cakewalk and then to SONAR, and finally, 'Bandlab Cakewalk'. Although I've saved a lot of stuff from that time there's nothing I'd want the world at large to hear. Your original instrumental is a few steps above anything I had achieved at that time. It throws a lot of light on your development process. I appreciate that. Thanks. - Dan

Many, many thanks Lynn & freddy j. I'm delighted you found it entertaining. That is the song's only purpose. Entertainment. Sheila's Last Night Out is certainly not everyone's cup of tea. My wife, for example, thinks it's good poetry but it's embedded in the kind of music that drives her out of the room. (Fortunately, she supports me in most other efforts). These days I tend to be careful who I play it for. That's somewhat in opposition my one of my heroes, Frank Zappa, who never cared in the least whom he might offend. I tried getting several other vocalists to do this, but they just couldn't seem to get my drift. I suppose one tells their own story best.

I've been using Melodyne for many years now. I need it desperately because I'm quite a mediocre singer. However, I've produced some damned good singers and still found uses for Melodyne. It isn't all a matter of pitch. I use it extensively for word by word volume control. Yeah, I know there's vocal followers to do that automatically, but I don't like them. If a singer goes to a low note that's perfectly in pitch but lacks power, then that note only gets boosted. No guessing and hoping a plugin algorithm will fix it without wrecking anything else. A deep-dive analysis of one's own vocal is a wake up call for most of us. There's all manner of bugs in there you wish didn't exist. Do it over again and there will be a different set of glitches. Now, a few bugs are just part of the human signature. A lot of bugs gets starts to get irritating. I record my vocals line by line. I have no choice. When I sing a line I'll know if its worth looking deeper as soon as I finish. Usually I tell myself I can do better and blow away whatever I've done (all the while, worrying that I've never do it that well again). Ya gotta have faith I guess. When I really think I've nailed a line I'll analyze it with Melodyne. If it's close I won't fiddle with it. If there's only one or two little tweaks, I'll do them. Then I decide if I'll stay with what I have. Sometimes Melodyne tells me it's better to just try again. It's a good thing it's only me in the room. Anyone else would go nuts listening to me nitpick over and over. Often it isn't even the pitch, volume or vibrato. It's just a poor delivery. Nothing fixes that. Here's the deal, as I see it. No matter how well you think you sing on pitch you need to ramp up to a note. It takes a few milliseconds. The lower the note, the longer the ramp. That ramp up can be a real mess. The human voice is not a synth. It can't be at pitch instantly. Melodyne is only to happy to show you how long it takes you, personally, to do this. If you take too long to ramp, Melodyne will make a separate note out of the first bit then show the rest of the note an octave (or more) higher. Frustrating, but if the note sounds good anyway then its best to just leave it alone. Melodyne is a marvelous thing, but it's not very good at removing the 'smacks' and 'knocks' you are complaining about unless those are very separate entities or you can cleanly slice the note at the point where they occur, mute that part and still be left with a usable note. What I often do is edit out junk first, or fade in a phrase before I go to Melodyne. Melodyne does many great things but it's quite poor at fading notes in or out. So... all that may be of no specific help to yo,u but it might help your understanding of the situation. Cheers...

Many thanks Tom & Bjorn. Tom... once again, you've nailed a few issues. I've made and uploaded most of the changes you suggested: Vocal is down 1.5 dB. Bass is a little meatier throughout. The ripped off Hendrix riff doesn't start until after the first verse (it's also 1 dB lower throughout). The percussion fills (when the main drums break) are brought up. Horn reverb remains the same, though. All good stuff and I thank you. BTW, that Hendrix riff was purchased from Big Fish Audio. It was in a collection called 'Soul City'. I figured if they can sell it, I can use it. A weak rationale, I know, but these days everything seems to get spread everywhere. I never twigged that the character name 'Jimmy' was the same as the riff's creator 'Jimi'. Good call. I used that name became I liked this line: After all, it's only fair Jim gets a little trim For example, this wouldn't have worked: After all, it's only fair Bob gets a little trim The incident described actually happened (although a few embellishments were added). The real Jimmy will be up for his first parole hearing in 2024 . I've always felt a bit 'guilty' about using it as the subject of a song (it started life as a longer poem) but I spent 40 days in court while every minute detail was laid bare. The lyric was painstakingly composed to give as much information in the shortest time, yet still tell a cohesive story. Cheers...! - Dan

There was a court case. I was a juror. To say it effected me is an understatement. Warning: It ain't pretty. http://www.taggerband.com/Music/DBH/BabsAndSheila.html

Hi Michael. This is a great song and there's not much to criticize from my point of view. My loudness meter tells me the integrated LUFS of the song (when normalized to -1 db) is about -17 dB and that seems to be just about right for a piece in that style. (Myself, I shoot for -14 LUFS, but what the heck). I think the mastering service you used did a good job. The problems (if any) lie in the mix. The vocal is taking somewhat of a back seat to all the synths. It's a great lyric with heartfelt delivery but it's a bit buried with very slightly unclear diction. I'm not talking about big issues here. It's minor stuff but you shouldn't have to strain at all to hear a clean lyric in a quiet tune. The drums are also a bit low and lack some crispness. But still. It's excellent work and I'd listen to it just as it is, and so would a many others, I think. Thanks. - Dan

Love it! Was waiting for drums... then figured it out. No drums, and that's fine. Thunder & wind chimes actually do suffice. Beautiful chords, great vocals and, how can I say it, spooky feel. Well no, spooky is not the right word, but this piece transports me to an exotic place and I quite like it there. Thanks. - Dan