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Ionia (_ambient pop music_)


Larry T.

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****updated february 20, 2022**** greetings....this is the updated version with the biggest change being the excellent suggestion by PhonoBrainer to remove the hi hat, which really was functioning like a metronome, and gives the arpeggiated guitar notes the rubato space they need (yes, i had to look up the meaning of rubato and i am now a better person for doing that!! 😀....thanks so much Tom!!!! 👍🎵), so, without further ado....

link: https://larryterrano.bandcamp.com/track/ionia-ambient-pop-music

*******************************************************************************

 

Greetings!!....here is a re-recording/redux of the first song i posted here back in september of last year....Ionia (ambient pop music)....observations, critiques, questions and comments appreciated 🎼🎸🎹🔊:

^^please use above link^^

Ionia large pic.jpg

 

DAW: Cakewalk by Bandlab

 pc: windows 10, i7-4770 CPU @ 3.40 GHz, 8GB ram, acoustic and electric guitars, bass guitar, focusrite scarlett solo, arturia minilab mkII, arturia analog lab 4 lite, CbB effects

reference speakers: M-Audio BX3

Special Thanks to Mike at Creative Sauce on You Tube whose incredible videos on how to use CbB made this possible

Edited by Larry T.
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Lovely and very relaxing journey. I felt a few times that the strums or the plucked notes had timing just a hair off. I tend to fix those in my songs with melodyne, and maybe spend too much time doing that ha. Anyways, I didnt hear the original version but this one is nice.

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Larry, I think I remember this one from the first time around.
Very nice mood enhancer but I got distracted by the repeated phrase with the same five or six notes. Probably only noticed it because I was in critique mode. Other than that I enjoyed the listen.
-Bjorn

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On 2/13/2022 at 4:11 AM, Bajan Blue said:

Hi Larry

I liked this - the repetitive Bass motif  drew me in - personally i think i might have made that a little more prominent. The only other thing was the mix seemed a little quiet, but that might have been where I was listening

Cool

Nigel

 

Hi Nigel....thanks....the bass in the song was played live and consists of only two different parts: an alternating G note to G# note  back to G note and a D# note hammer to E note....the musicality of those parts of the song with G and G# notes is a result of the alternating G to G# bass notes simultaneously sounding with descending midrange guitar notes thereby creating real chord voicings....i did try to increase the bass but was unable to keep it tamed/overwhelming....so i tried adding a synth bass pad but it just didn't fit in....the only other bass i could add was the cello parts....the rest is pretty much midrange....cheers!!!! 🎼🎶🎵🔊

Edited by Larry T.
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On 2/13/2022 at 9:58 AM, David Sprouse said:

Unique choice of harmony..kind of ala metheny in place  (that's not a bad thing).  Pleasant listen.

Thanks David....the harmony/chord voicings in the song are the result of the alternating G to G# bass notes simultaneously sounding with descending midrange guitar notes....usually, i try to choose notes that fit but aren't the first notes one might think of playing such as Donald Fagen does so fabulously....thanks for the Pat Metheny comparison, his 2020 album "From This Place" is absolutely brilliant....cheers!! 🎵🎹🎷🎻

Edited by Larry T.
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On 2/13/2022 at 12:53 PM, treesha said:

Lovely and very relaxing journey. I felt a few times that the strums or the plucked notes had timing just a hair off. I tend to fix those in my songs with melodyne, and maybe spend too much time doing that ha. Anyways, I didnt hear the original version but this one is nice.

Thank You treesha....the plucked notes consist of two live guitars, one on the left and one on the right and they do have a few missteps that i wasn't able to hide, lol!! cheers!! 🎶🎧🎹🔊

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On 2/13/2022 at 4:02 PM, bjornpdx said:

Larry, I think I remember this one from the first time around.
Very nice mood enhancer but I got distracted by the repeated phrase with the same five or six notes. Probably only noticed it because I was in critique mode. Other than that I enjoyed the listen.
-Bjorn

Thanks Bjorn....yes, the repetitive notes are a somewhat subjective audio taste as not everyone enjoys that type of playing throughout most of a song....i tried it at various audio levels and to my ears i went with what i thought was the best volume....cheers!! 🎶🥁🎷🎸

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Quite beautiful piece, Larry. I think the repeating motif is find, but would agree that some variance would add some movement.  Maybe vary it with inversions of the chords or playing in octaves. One of my favorite things to do is to use passing tones as I move to different voicings of the same chord.

Really nice piece of music and well executed, mis-step or not (which I didn't hear).

I *thought* I heard some slight discordance in the arpeggiated parts which may or may not be tuning issues. lol, how's that for decisiveness!

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4 minutes ago, Kevin Walsh said:

Quite beautiful piece, Larry. I think the repeating motif is find, but would agree that some variance would add some movement.  Maybe vary it with inversions of the chords or playing in octaves. One of my favorite things to do is to use passing tones as I move to different voicings of the same chord.

Really nice piece of music and well executed, mis-step or not (which I didn't hear).

I *thought* I heard some slight discordance in the arpeggiated parts which may or may not be tuning issues. lol, how's that for decisiveness!

Thank You very much Kevin....i have been spoiled by listening to an abundance of ambient/minimalist/electronic music lately which does tend to repeat motifs at the expense of dynamics/musical variations/creativity....repetition in music is so unpredictable, sometimes it works and other times doesn't....generally, the things i have been writing i use to help keep myself relaxed and not so stressed....cheers!!!! 🎶🥁🎸🎷

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I liked the tranquility and the tones! As for the timing of your guitars sliding around a bit, it's only noticeable because you have the metronome of that percussion hit, sounds like a hi hat or cymbal, it's on the 2 and 4 most beats. You might get rid of that completely, and then your guitar meanderings will just seem rubato. Does this piece really need a metric timekeeper?

I also had to turn it up, it's a pretty quiet mix but maybe that's what you were going for. Very dreamstate guitars with that chorus and mesmerizing arpeggio.

Cool!

cheers,

-Tom

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14 hours ago, PhonoBrainer said:

I liked the tranquility and the tones! As for the timing of your guitars sliding around a bit, it's only noticeable because you have the metronome of that percussion hit, sounds like a hi hat or cymbal, it's on the 2 and 4 most beats. You might get rid of that completely, and then your guitar meanderings will just seem rubato. Does this piece really need a metric timekeeper?

I also had to turn it up, it's a pretty quiet mix but maybe that's what you were going for. Very dreamstate guitars with that chorus and mesmerizing arpeggio.

Cool!

cheers,

-Tom

Hi Tom, Thanks for your kind words on this tune....appreciate your listening to this song and suggestions....i'm going to see how it sounds without the hi hat percussion hits, i think that's a geat idea, and bring up the volume a dB or so....cheers!!!! 🎶🥁🎸🔊

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