Keith Wilby

I like it as it is. Hints of Oasis, The Verve and Tomorrow Never Knows (Beatles) on the arrangement. How do you get those awesome guitar sounds? Whenever I try to record a guitar it sounds awful.

Just to show life isn't always doom and gloom 🙂 https://www.bandlab.com/post/578e8785-0b14-ed11-bd6e-281878315d59

As with a lot of what I write, there are elements of me in it 🙂

Thank you Nigel. The drums are Addictive Drums 2 with each channel separated out "post fader" and with plenty of "room" ambience. There are some "extra" snare and tom sounds too sampled from my trusty 90s vintage Yamaha PSR-SQ16. Yes it is long but I like that solo (believe it or not, there used to be another chorus after it and before the final verse, so I sacrificed that) but what I intend to do is a fade out from about 4:20 to 4:50, thus trimming off another 20 seconds.

Many thanks Larry. This is a sensitive subject I know, but if it made you feel that way, firstly I'm sorry, but then I must have set some sort of mood so, in that respect, mission accomplished.

With apologies in advance, this is the second "downer" in a row that I've posted. Well, life can't always be about happy toe-tappers I guess. This one explores the delicate topic of the hospice, an institution I hope I never end up in 😬 I'm not so sure about the use of the word "baby" in the chorus. It's a bit cheap and throwaway for the weight of the subject matter. Any suggestions on that one would be appreciated. Thanks.

I really enjoyed reading your post, most entertaining 🙂 The sax sound is from my 1990s vintage Yamaha PSR-SQ16. I tried the TTS-1 one and it didn't cut the mustard, so I reverted to type. There really are some great sounds in that old thing 👍

Sorry for the long post but this is a long song, and I thought filling in the back story might help. Once upon a time, there was a 62 year old man whose wife had died two years ago at the age of 59. They had been married for 30-odd years and had two children but, throughout the marriage, the man was convinced that he had married “rebound girl” and privately, he had pined for his "first love" from his teens for the whole of that time. This had the effect of the man holding back on his affections for his wife, since he did not want to betray his “first love”. Since his wife’s death, he had time to reflect on the effect that his futile interest in his “first love” had had on his marriage and, over time, he came to realise that she had been a “poison” inside his mind all along. He hadn’t willed it, he wished she’d never been there, but there had been nothing he could do about it. It was like some sort of morbid obsession outside of his control. He realised that had it not been for this “poison”, he very likely would have had a much closer and more loving relationship with his wife. Because she had passed away before he could discuss it with her, he has an imaginary conversation with her to explain himself and to offer something of an apology in an attempt to achieve some closure. That conversation is this song. As always, comments invited and thanks for sticking with me thus far.

Thank you John, I'll take a look.

Hi all, After watching some excellent tutorials by John Vere (sorry I don't know how to embed a tag) I decided to have a play with LoudMax. I think I'm right in saying that John refers to LoudMax as a "pre-mastering tool". My question is, would you use LoudMax on your master bus and then master the exported file in Bandlab Unlimited? I've tried that with one recording that I'd previously mastered without LoudMax and it sounds awful by comparison. Should one use either/or? Thanks.

Mine has quite a few battle scars. I've had it since about 1979 and I've used it a lot, but then I made a recording using my son's Epiphone electro-acoustic and it sounds so much better, so I've retired the EKO from recording, I just busk in the kitchen with it 🤣 As for the room, it used to double as my office when I was working from home owing to COVID, but now I've retired it's a dedicated (very small) studio. I test my mixes with my cheapo Samson studio monitors, my rather expensive Beyerdynamic cans, and my even more expensive home theatre in the living room. That's as good as it gets for me and I'm fairly happy with that since this is my hobby and not a profession 🙂

Awesome sound, I wish I could get my stuff sounding that good. Is that an EKO acoustic in the pic?

I might just give that a whirl 🤣

So-called because I've always imagined this being performed in an illegal drinking establishment in a smoky 1920s basement by a jazz quartet (that just happens to have a full string section with them) 😁 https://www.bandlab.com/post/e77d9ed4-4704-ed11-b47a-281878315d59

Thanks Steve. I've never heard of that technique before so I'll give it a go. Always willing to learn new stuff 👍

Thanks Andy. I'm going to have to look up what these mean now 🤣

Here's the remix. I've taken some bottom end off the organ to give the bass a chance, also I've swapped the order of the 2nd and 3rd verses. I'd be interested to hear what you all think of that and whether or not the story still flows. The idea is that I now have "pregnant silences" followed by the stop - I considered moving the stop instead, but I think that might be too early in the song to have one. Any thoughts? https://www.bandlab.com/post/17b3b057-9102-ed11-b47a-281878315d59

Thanks Jeff. I agree and I've added some EQ to the organ now that should take care of it for a remix 👍

I took early retirement (I'm 62) in January and my songs have become my new "job". I'm lucky enough to have a decent sized spare room that I can use as a studio. It's much more interesting and satisfying that being an electronics engineer and dealing with all of the corporate BS that goes with working for a defence company. 🤣

Thank you so much Mark, you have much more confidence in my vocals than I do 🤭

Nice playing indeed and a great song, and your voice reminded me of a cross between Glen Campbell and Ian Anderson (Jethro Tull). Have you considered putting some subtle drums on?

I don't often stray from 4/4 time but I've had a go with this one: https://www.bandlab.com/post/4b5776c9-b901-ed11-b47a-281878315d59 Some lyrics adapted from the 1972 film "Sleuth" (well it was good enough for Morrisey) and also from "A Few Good Men". Comments welcome as always. EDIT: link corrected - this is the version that I meant to post and has a lead guitar solo. EDIT 2: Here's the remix. I've taken some bottom end off the organ to give the bass a chance, also I've swapped the order of the 2nd and 3rd verses. I'd be interested to hear what you all think of that and whether or not the story still flows. The idea is that I now have "pregnant silences" followed by the stop - I considered moving the stop instead, but I think that might be too early in the song to have one. Any thoughts? https://www.bandlab.com/post/17b3b057-9102-ed11-b47a-281878315d59 EDIT 3: @jwnicholson78 I've added a leslie organ to the middle 8 and coda as suggested. https://www.bandlab.com/post/e8fc39df-d205-ed11-b47a-281878315d59

Sounds a lot better for it to me, nice one 👍

Yes indeed, this is my hobby now that I've retired. I'll have a go at some backing vox and see how it sounds. Thanks 🙂

Very odd, and I love odd 👍