Lee Shapiro

Thanks Wookiee, I'm enjoying the hell out of EZ Bass. And the NI Session Guitarist - Picked Acoustic plugin sounds incredible, with lots of new strumming/picking patterns. I'm a keyboardist and could never quite master the guitar, but it's fun playing guitar parts via my MIDI keyboard and having friends say "When did YOU learn how to play guitar?" Thanks David, I'm always delightfully surprised when someone compliments my vocals, easily my weakest component. Thank goodness for Melodyne and all the other vocal efx.

Thanks Bjorn. The EZBass was keyed off the piano part I made. I haven't tried keying it off the drums yet, but that's next on my to-do list. For me, one of my biggest goals, is getting a perfect blend of kick drum and bass, to where it almost sounds like one instrument. I'm still having trouble finding a really good bass sound from EZBass (something that will really punch through the mix), but I'm sure its in there somewhere. For years, my go-to bass has been Scarbee's Rickenbacker Bass. I've been able to create some great drum/bass sounds with it. But finding the right kick drum (From Superior Drummer) is also part of the equation. I just started using Melodyne 5 (I have been using Melodyne 4 Studio for years), at first I was a little disappointed with the latest version because I was expecting more dramatic improvements. The reason I upgraded was for the new chord feature. I thought it would be easier to create harmony vocals with my lead vocal track. I'm still trying to figure out just how the new features work. I should probably read the manual. LOL! Thanks for listening, and thanks for the feedback!

A quickly composed "test" song to showcase some new virtual instruments. (I wrote the "junk" lyrics in under 5 minutes.) Some of the new virtual instruments added to my arsenal include: Toontrack's highly anticipated EZ Bass, Toontrack's Rooms of Hansa Drumkit (with rototoms and octaban toms), NI Session Guitarist - Electric Sunburst Deluxe, NI Session Guitarist - Picked Acoustic Celemony's Melodyne 5 Studio (just released new and improved version) All used in this composition. This Is Only A Test

Thanks Steve, much appreciated. Maybe it's because I've been listening to a lot of Petty lately (Live Anthology), or maybe it's just that nasal Dylan/Petty thing I have with my vocals. 😁

Thanks Tom. All of the instruments used are virtual instruments, which is why some things might sound a bit synthy. For the lead guitar I used Orange Tree Samples, Evolution Infinity guitar.

Thanks for listening and your comments, I appreciate it. I'm working on a remix, and I'll check out that glitch you mentioned and see if it can be fixed.

Hey, thanks for the feedback. I really appreciate it. And I'm glad you liked it. I get the most interesting comments about my vocals. I'm not a good singer by any means, and rely way too much on Melodyne. But I've gotten a variety of comparisons on my vocals from Dylan to Tom Petty. And I've written several country-rock songs where I just naturally start singing with a "cowboy accent". So I think some of that snuck into this song. Which is odd for a Jewish boy from New Jersey...transplanted to Washington State. Thanks again!

This song was probably rushed too quickly into posting it publicly. There are quite a few layers of instruments, which I tried to find a place for them sonically, but some instruments didn't come through as clearly as I would have liked. So I guess you can consider this a first draft, since I'll probably go back and remix it. The song is a continuation in a long running theme of expressing memories, regrets, feelings and wishes. I often go to this place, and this time I gave it a name... "Geetar Street". Thanks for any comments, suggestions or critiques. Geetar Street

Thanks again for all the great feedback. I can't tell you how much I appreciate it. Here's a little "inside scoop" about writing this song. I've always been a huge fan of Rickie Lee Jones (not Chuck E's in Love, but her other stuff), particularly her Pirates album. I love the dynamics of her songs, they go from quiet and mellow, to a louder and catchier beat, then back to quiet and mellow. Listen to any of her songs on Pirates and you'll know what I mean. With a few exceptions, I always attempt to write songs with those kind of varying dynamics. I try and stay away from normal "verse, chorus, verse, chorus, bridge, etc" types of song constructions. But I don't usually succeed. In fact most of my songs usually end up nothing like what I originally envisioned in the RLJ style of writing. But THIS song came pretty darn close. It's one of the few songs I wrote that actually ended up sounding like I planned. You can hear a little RLJ in the piano parts and percussion specifically. So I'm pretty happy about that. The other thing about RLJ songs are her lyrics. She writes about friends and places that are very personal and tell a story. Kind of mysterious because you don't really know who or what she's talking about, but she also has a special way with her lyrics that paint a picture you can see in your mind. This song also attempted some of that but it was really the music that succeeded better than the lyrics. One quick example of RLJ lyrics. In her song "Living It Up" on the Pirates album, one verse goes: You might meet me tomorrow As all the lights are blooming green And you're feeling a little lonely, A little sad, a little mean. If you ever drove in Manhattan, and stopped at a traffic light along a long straight avenue, where you can see all the traffic lights for many, many blocks. They are synchronized and timed to turn green one after the other, with 2 or 3 seconds delay. So as you look down the avenue you can watch the lights as they all "bloom green" one after the next. Just a little example of her clever and picturesque way of writing lyrics. Again something I often try to emulate. Sorry for the LONG post, but thanks for reading it. And thanks for letting me share what often inspires me!

Thanks Steve. Yes the process of writing the lyrics and recording the song is very therapeutic. And when it's all done I feel like a lot of weight has been lifted off my shoulders. Especially when I'm feeling overwhelmed with what's going on in the world and in my life, it seems the only way I can get through it sometimes is to work it out in a song.

Thanks Tom, I appreciate it. In some movies, there's sometimes a scene of a live band heard playing in another room. It's got that distant, echo-y sound. I like that sound (but obviously not exactly for a finished track) Anyway, I tried to recreate that sound for the drums. I use Breverb - the preset is "Drums -> Alive" It duplicates that live band sound. I set it at about 50% for the drums. Although sometimes less if I want to have the kick drum and bass guitar sound really punchy. I find a happy medium. Oh yeah, and I use Superior Drummer 3. Also mixed in is NI's West Africa percussion.

Thanks Mark, I appreciate it. Thanks for listening.

Thanks Dan. All of the instruments are "virtual". I've got a pretty decent collection of VSTi's. For this song I used: Superior Drummer 3, Scarbee Rickenbacker Bass, Pianoteq Stage Piano, Orange Tree Evolution Rock guitar, Blue3 Hammond Organ, MusicLab's RealGuitar, and NI's West Africa percussion. And I play them all on my M-Audio Oxygen 88 keyboard (touch sensitive, weighted keys) 😁

Another new song. This year hasn't started out so great. Between politics and medical issues, I wanted (needed) to write a song that purges some of these negative emotions, in a cathartic kind of way. The song has kind of angry, depressing lyrics, but I think the music (instrumentation and arrangement) turned out pretty well. It's a long song, with some jamming at the end, weighing in at a whopping 7 minutes and 30 seconds. (I never could write short 3 minute songs) (You can read the *lyrics on the song's info page) *Explicit Lyrics - NSFW In 2020

Thanks, I really appreciate it. And they can feel free to mess around with the melody line, add harmony parts, or whatever they want. My vocals are just a rough sketch, mostly to get the timing right.

Thanks Gary, I appreciate it. You can download the wav files of both the song with temp vocals, and without any vocals here: https://www.bandlab.com/leee292 If you can find anyone to lay down vocals for me, I'd appreciate it if they could record the vocal (and backing) tracks on separate tracks from the music. Here are the lyrics and the timings for the vocals: “A Lifetime of Love In My Heart” LYRICS and TIMING SHEET INTRO 0:00 – 0:16 VERSE: I got that feeling deep in my heart 0:16 - 0:32 Whenever I think of you Even though we’ve been years apart It’s that feeling I know to be true PRECHORUS: - 0:32 – 0:48 Every time I hear your name Or see your face in my mind It fans that burning flame In my heart all the time CHORUS: 0:48 – 1:05 You give me – A lifetime of love in my heart You give me – A lifetime of love in my heart VERSE: 1:05 – 1:21 Oh I know we both have moved on Living our separate lives But the love we shared isn’t all gone I can’t forget no matter how I tried. PRECHORUS: 1:21 – 1:37 So much love, so long ago Enough to last a lifetime I know you wish it wasn’t so Well baby so do I CHORUS: 1:37 – 1:53 You give me – A lifetime of love in my heart You give me – A lifetime of love in my heart BRIDGE: 1:53 – 2:10 I know I carry a torch One that won’t go out Time passes more and more But the love never fades out. SOLO 2:10 – 2:42 Chorus (2X) 2:42 – 3:15 You give me – A lifetime of love in my heart You give me – A lifetime of love in my heart Ooh Yeah – A lifetime of love in my heart Ooh Yeah – A lifetime of love in my heart SOLO 3:15 – 3:47 Outtro 3:47 – 4:08 (out) [Improvise chorus]

Once again, I wrote this song specifically for a friend of mine who is a pretty decent female vocalist. Unfortunately she had to back out for personal reasons. So I have this song, with my scratch (scratchy) vocals, just sitting there waiting for a talented vocalist to do it justice. I tried using Bandlab as a collaboration tool, but female rock/pop vocalists are in very short supply in that group. So if you know of a decent female vocalist willing to work with me on this song, please let me know. THANKS! https://soundclick.com/share.cfm?id=13977870

And that's just volume 1 of a 10 volume set! 🤣

I guess that's true. But it's like a woman looking at your impressive "manhood" and saying, "Oh that's so cute." 😫🤣 But, I guess I'll let it go (after I ask her what she meant by calling my song "cute") 😉

Perhaps. And as I said, I'm probably just being too sensitive. But I don't think anyone ever described any of Dylan's songs as "cute". (Not that I'm in ANY way comparing myself to Dylan....just saying.) Puppies and kittens are cute.

I'm probably the first to admit that I'm sensitive about my songs, probably over-sensitive. But I am working on a new song with an old high school friend (she has a great singing voice, but anyone does compared to mine, LOL). Anyway, she also sang on a song I wrote about 4 or 5 years ago. She told me she listened to the old song for the first time in a while and said, she thought it was "cute". But it wasn't a cute or funny song, it was a song about a bad relationship. It was a serious song. So her calling it "cute" kind of rubbed me the wrong way. That's not a word you often use to describe a serious song. Alvin and The Chipmunks songs are cute. Should I feel insulted?

Okay, thanks again for your help!

Thanks, I'm going to have to print that out. I've studied this type of information many times before, trying to get a solid handle on the practical application of these settings, but my old brain doesn't always retain all of it. I was always bad with numbers. LOL. Any suggestions for an inexpensive 1 or 2 input interface? I'd settle for anything that works properly with Win 10.

Thanks for the warning about Windows and Focusrite. I've been thinking about getting a new interface because this one has always given me problems. For example, many times switching from using my DAW to listening to audio online, will cause the interface to screw up and I won't hear any audio. I have to repeatedly reset the unit and reboot. Anyway, I tried switching the sample rate. Right now it's set to 48/16 with buffer set back to 512. I hardly heard any pops with that setting. But you suggested staying with 24bits. Would a configuration of 44000/24bits be worth trying? And why do you suggest staying 24 bits as opposed to 16? Thanks for your patience and help. I appreciate it. Even though I've been at this for many many years, all these settings still confuse me. I understand what the numbers do in theory, but all the various setting (in combination with each other) can be overwhelming to me sometimes.

Yes, I was able to remove the MAGIX driver. The other thing is, I used to have all my project settings at 44000 Khz/16 bits. But lately I have it set to 48000 Khz/24 bits because I read it's a better setting for less digital distortion at louder volumes. Maybe I should just go back to the lower sample/bit rates? The one thing I tried so far that helped reduce most of the clicking is turning the Mixing Latency Buffer Size all the way up to 2048 samples (where I normally have it set to 512). the Effective Latency at 48KHz is 42.7 msec. I honestly don't know if that's good or bad. I'm just trying to get through a project without all the clicking/popping.