jwnicholson78

That's some fine blues guitar with a great message.  Thanks for sharing.

Jeff

That was unexpected.  I loved the interplay between the synths, guitars and sax.

Very nice. I particularly liked the transitions where the piano came in and then later around 3:45 with the synths.

4 hours ago, Sabby Brown said:

It's hard to offer adjustments to a piece of music written with a loved one in mind. For me when my Dad passed I dug a huge hole in the back garden and made a fish pond from it with a waterfall ... that was my way to ease the loss ... I have listened to this twice with that thought in mind to give a balanced opinion, and the only thing I would say, with respect, is that the drums need to inject a grater feeling of, say,  a parade ground, so the listener feels that everlasting rhythm carrying through, while the cellos, oboes and strings along with the piano play their part of sadness ...

There are some tech things with the mix like pinching notes but hey .. it's for your Dad so ..all good.

 

S

 

Sabby,

Thanks.  Obviously this is a very personal piecefor me, which is why I let it rest for a year or so.  Now that I've come back to it, I'd like to make it is good as I possibly can, so comments on tech things are welcome.  I've gone through this many times fixing things note by note, but there's a lot of notes, so it's easy to miss something.

I felt like in the original version the drums were up too high.  Maybe I over-corrected now and pulled them back too far.

Really appreciate the feedback.

Jeff

Update 2 - brought the snare up further, more tweaks to EQ and individual notes.

Updated - tweaks to the overall eq, fine tuning of lot's of individual notes, and brought up the levels of the percussion

I wrote this song for piano and orchestra about a year ago after my father passed away.     I recently got the BBC Symphony Orchestra Core from Spitfire Audio and wanted to use this track as a test run for it.  Comments and suggestions on how to improve the mix are greatly appreciated.

Here's the updated version.

On 9/25/2020 at 6:46 PM, Bapu said:

Love me some Longhair and with COVID I now have long hair but that's not the point. Excellent playing. Loved it.

Thanks!  I really appreciate you taking the time to listen and comment!

On 9/25/2020 at 6:44 PM, Bapu said:

I really liked this even without knowing the piece in it original form. Well played IMO.

Thanks so much!

8 hours ago, Evan Hayley said:

Frickin awesome!  Also awesome that you seized the day that you had in order to do this, esp after 10 years! 🤠

 

 

Thanks for comment, Evan!  Gotta take the opportunity when you get it, right? 

Jeff

9 hours ago, Wookiee said:

You are a brave man playing with the wife's new toys before her 🤔Nice playing too.

She had the chance to snap a few shots before she had to go run some errands.    I seen my opportunity and I took it!

Jeff

4 hours ago, DeeringAmps said:

Well played! Much enjoyed...

t

Thanks for the feedback, Tom!

Jeff

16 hours ago, Wookiee said:

That is definitely gentler on the furry ears, though I would still like to hear an EP version, just my furry ears, this is a pleasant tune that makes my furry ears smile.

Aaj Jaane EP.mp3

By popular request  here's an EP version for those with furry ears.  I played with it a little to clean it up, but I think to really do it properly, I would have to go in and work on the pedaling and some of the voicings.   I've never really played much EP, but it seems that what works on a piano doesn't necessarily translate directly to an electric piano.

Jeff

On 9/11/2020 at 10:07 AM, thegaltieribrothers said:

Hi Jeff,

Wish I could play piano like you - well done, great performance.

Thanks for sharing.

Good Job!

regards

paul

 

Thanks, Paul!

Jeff

On 9/11/2020 at 8:53 AM, Kevin Walsh said:

Awesome! The sound is really nice too, thanks for doing this!

Thanks, Kevin, for taking the time to listen and comment!
Jeff

On 9/11/2020 at 12:59 PM, bjornpdx said:

Sounds very good to me. Great keyboard playing.

Thanks, Bjorn.  I really appreciate the comment.

Jeff

On 9/11/2020 at 12:53 PM, Hidden Symmetry said:

Enjoyed this, thought if flowed nicely. Has a George Winston vibe, love that little section at 0:38, reminded me of John McLaughlin. -great job.

Thanks so much listening and comment.  I appreciate it.

Jeff

14 minutes ago, markno999 said:

Didn't hear the original version before your updates, but this one sounds really good.    Not familiar with the original song either but really well done.

Regards

Thanks, Mark!

There are like a billion versions on Youtube of this song but many of them (especially the older ones) I frankly find difficult to listen to.  The one below however is excellent, and the one I used as the jumping off point for my arrangement.  The lyrics are, roughly, about two lovers not wanting to part from each other.

1 hour ago, David Sprouse said:

This is brilliant.  Must have taken awhile to nail down.

Thanks!  I guess I've been playing this song for ten years or so, so yeah, you could say that  I've been meaning to record it for a while....

Jeff

11 hours ago, DeeringAmps said:

Copy that!

tom

Thanks, Tom!

Jeff

On 9/10/2020 at 12:09 AM, Barry Seymour said:

Not just great playing, but stellar sound quality on the piano. Nice stuff!

Thanks, Barry.  The piano is a Yamaha Clavinova CLP 685 digital piano.  We got it about 6 or 7 months ago.  It truly is an awesome instrument!

Jeff

On 9/10/2020 at 4:10 AM, Philip G Hunt said:

From the opening, you had me.

I love need some piano. Lovely variation and phrasing. Def some Jarrett in there somewhere.

Great job. 👍

Thanks so much, Philip.  I really appreciate you taking the time to listen and comment.  And the Jarrett reference! 

Based on the comments, I made some changes to the piano sound and midi velocities, and let the final note fade out.  Thanks everyone for the very helpful feedback!

4 hours ago, markno999 said:

Nice, very enjoyable listen and fantastic playing.

Regards

Thanks.  I appreciate you taking the time to listen and comment!

5 hours ago, Douglas Kirby said:

Thanks for listening.  The drums are Addictive Drums 2 - I did the best I could with programming the drum track.

As a non-drummer, myself, I can sympathize.  I find getting a good groove with the drums that sits well with what I am trying to achieve one of the hardest things to do right.  If I could be be more specific about suggestions, I would but I'm not even sure how to express it.

2 hours ago, mark skinner said:

I don't think I could tell the difference between this , and a composition by a paid professional. Very impressive ..   mark

+1.  When I first replied, I thought this was a professional piece. I've tried a couple piano/orchestra pieces myself, but I thought what you accomplished was much higher quality.  I'd be curious to know more details about how you processed this (reverb used, compression if any, mixing, etc.).  Thanks!

37 minutes ago, Wookiee said:

@jwnicholson78 have you considered trying on an Electric piano, that softness that @mark skinner suggests might come naturally there.

nicely played by the way.

Interesting suggestion.  Thanks!  I was thinking of trying different piano presets in Kontakt to try and soften the sound, but this is also something I will give a go.  Thanks for the feedback!

Jeff