Larry T.

Thanks Mark. Appreciate the help. I'll try to explain. I'm playing syncopation on the piano, going off beat deliberately. The piano is not meant to stay on beat. My thinking when doing the piano was the loops aren't going out of time, they're quantized. So the piano is going to try some syncopated melodies. Like the riff at 00:17 seconds. Think of Jimi Hendrix's Woodstock version of the Star Spangled Banner. I know some folks who can't listen to it as his playing is mostly all syncopated, but I get the feelings and emotions he's playing. Looks like I went too far as well as I'm hearing the melodies in the context I intended but they're not being heard the way I intended or hear them. Sorry to take so long on this. Thanks again Mark and Jack for your valuable input????

Mark, I added the Cakewalk plug-ins Depth and Channel Tools and a bit of re-eq'ing to widen and, hopefully, improve the piano. Thanks for the listen???? Jack, I don't hear where the drums are misaligned. If you have the time let me know exactly where you hear this. Thanks for the listen????

Never got into Zappa so I'd never heard the original. Listened to yours first, then Frank's, and was pretty much blown away by both versions. So, my impressions are both your and Frank's pieces are ridiculously complicated in a great way and over the top in so many great ways....as far as writing it (Frank), let alone playing it (you and Frank's crew for that piece) I'm sure it took a huge amount of work. Mixing both pieces ....I can't even begin to imagine how that must have went. Great work Steev????

Thanks for listening Jack. I'll give it another listen ????

Thanks Bjorn. The vst for the percussion is the Sonitus Delay, one of the presets....rhythm #1 I think????

Thanks Mark. First song I did completely on piano, using piano roll. Since it's just piano and percussion I eq'ed the left hand of the piano a bit high to have some low end presence. In doing so I forgot to give enough listening to the right hand. Will see about doing some re-eq'ing????

Greetings All. Here is a piano and percussion song called "Life". Nits and crits welcomed???? *remix* link: https://larryterrano.bandcamp.com/track/life DAW: Cakewalk by Bandlab pc: windows 10, i7-4770 CPU @ 3.40 GHz, 8GB ram, arturia minilab mkII, arturia analog lab 5 lite, CbB SI Drums, CbB Sonitus Delay reference speakers: M-Audio BX3

Excellent jazz/funk work out. The sophisticated musical changes appeal to my mind while the rhythms appeal to my body. What's not to like??????

Pretty darn nice. This piece has a lot going on. Lots of different EQ ranges to optimize, I can imagine the fun (i.e.: lots of work) you had to get everything sounding as good as it does. More instruments (horns, organ, percussion) would add to the impact and musicality. Real nice as is????

Excellent. No nits nor crits. I'm hearing a production that has realized exactly the mood/texture it set out to create. Another winner?I'd like to respectfully recommend a listen to the Everything But the Girl song "Driving" as a song with some of the same uplifting musical areas Sub Vibe deliver so well. Please, carry on????

Great job. Good song, arrangement, performances, recording and mix. Your voice is really good. You guys found the groove for this piece and delivered it perfectly. The video was really cool too????

This is great. The band sounds all on the same page aiming for all the right hits and landing bulls eyes. The girl has a great voice, a natural that is 100% recording friendly. Agree with Tom that there is a bit too much sibilance in the recording, that's about the only element I'd adjust. Oh, maybe add another horn or two to give those horn sections a bit more powerful delivery????

This is some serious stuff. The musical world you created excellently conjures the ethereal mindscape of an old man's dream as do the images of his life at all the different stages of it. It sure gave me a nudge to pause and reflect on my experiences????

This is a really great song. I don't hear songs like these on the radio anymore. Captures the spirit of the late sixties and early seventies perfectly. The horn parts are great. Vox are great. All instruments clear and well defined. My only crits and nits are a bit over use of the horn hook throughout the song and would've liked a smoother rain sounds edit at the ending????

Very nice piece. Captures the spirit of Irish/Acadian music excellently. Well written, arranged, played recorded and mixed????

Very enjoyable tune Jeff. Nice melodic flourishes through out????

Yes, this arrangement/mix is better. Her and your vox are clearer (although your vox could be turned up a wee bit in a few places). Loved the instrumental section from 2:55 to 3:25????

Hi Lynn. Excellent blues rock song. Well arranged, played and great vocals. It sounds really good despite what I've found to be a noticeable YouTube processing degradation. I'm guessing the keyboards (especially around 1:15) were a lot clearer prior to the YT upload., I may be off on this but it always happened to me when I used to upload songs to YT but since I've changed to Bandcamp the processing degradations are minimal. I'd say the processing didn't effect your lead vocal much at all but the bg vox and keyboards could be clearer and a touch louder, again I don't think it was your ears when doing the mix but the YT processing. Good stuff????

Thanks Jeff. Yes, if the way the song is going doesn't hold my interest I'll write a different part until something worth keeping appears????

Thank You for the listen and kind words Eric????

Thanks Jesse. Appreciate the kind words and listen. This one was written, rewritten, rewritten again, changed, changed again....just constantly reworked until I can listen and say to myself "this is as good as I can afford to get it"????

Very nice piece. Lots of changes. Excellent mix, all instruments clear and well balanced. Agree with the message of the lyrics, gotta shine through a whole lot of uselessness that is thrown at us in life????

Thanks Steve. I'm still using a 10 year old pc with 8GB of ram to do the songs. So keeping the instruments working is a constant consideration. The SI-Drums are ram friendly as are direct injected guitars and basses. Kontact is too big to run on 8gigs of ram and so is Addictive Drums, Izotrope and all the other stuff I'll get pretty soon????

Thanks Bruce. Yes, the SI drums are actual recordings not synthesized renderings, so they do sound real. I've found that by using auxiliary sends and then adjusting each individual sends eq I can get some halfway decent sounds. Using eq adjustments for volume control also. And, our cat's name was Charly. Boom Boom popped into my head when I heard the bass drum in the song. Cheers????

Exotic soundscape that totally works. Great writing, production, playing, mix as usual. Enjoyed very much????