Ross Smithe

Back in the 1990's, I played and recorded with a popular Christian artist Las Vegas, NV, by the name of Annie Meadows. She had a wonderful Christmas album she released at the time called Memories. This modern arrangement of the well known and beloved piece by J.S. Bach was the prelude for the album (arranged and performed on the album by an fellow musician from the area, Brian Hicks). I remember those days fondly, and wanted to re-record this piece for Christmas this year! All done in CbB as always, and I was really happy with the quality and realism of the piano samples (combination of Keyscape and my Korg Kronos). "Jesu, Joy of Man's Desiring" is the popular English title of this piece from an Advent chorale Bach composed in 1723. This enduring work is often heard at weddings, as well as during Advent, Christmas, and Easter.

Wow Steve, just a fabulous job on this! Seriously, you're like the "Fab One"! Really great production all the way around, but the vocal harmonies are especially impressive.

Hey Wookie, thanks for the listen and kind word here and on SC!

Hey Nigel, thanks so much for the listen and kind comment! The deep throating vocs are one of the Tuvan voices from Omnisphere. That is truly horrifying about the Rhino poaching! Kudos to you and your wife for the good work for that cause.

Thanks so much Bjorn for the listen and kind words! Good ear my friend, it is indeed one of the Tuvan singer patches from Omnisphere! I took a small bit and groove clipped it. The other voices are me tho, lol! Song title first, then the artwork (from Deviant Art)...

Thanks a bunch Mark! Appreciate the listen and kind words. Box hasn't blown up yet, but I'll keep trying. lol!

Thanks so much for the listen and kind comment

Thanks so much for the listen and the kind comment! I do go way back with Cakewalk, however this style/genre of music is definitely a new adventure. Just having fun experimenting and pushing new boundaries!

The ASIO driver mode only allows for one device to be connected at a time. You need to uncheck the Behringer in Preferences, and then you can use the Yamaha/Steinberg drivers. I have a Yamaha MOXF8 that also has the Steinberg drivers. I don't use those drivers, I just record the onboard sounds through my Focusrite 4i4, using USB midi, along with L/R audio cables.

Thanks so much, appreciate the listen and comment!! 👍

Just playing around with some sounds and stuff (mainly on Omnisphere and my Korg Kronos), and came up with this fun little piece! I saw Hans Zimmer live recently, and it kind of inspired me to have fun experimenting, and to not be afraid to venture outside of my usual little creative box! All done in Cakewalk by Bandlab.

Cool tune, very nicely performed and produced Nigel!

Cool tune, nicely performed and produced!

Very cool!

Cool soundscape Wookie!

Hey Nigel, thanks a lot from the whole crew, glad you enjoyed! I had never heard it either, and Tone, my female singing partner, suggested it. I loved it, and it kind of took off from there. We all had a blast doing it!!

Thanks so much for the listen and feedbasck!

Thanks so much for the listen and feedbasck!

Thanks so much for the listen and thoughtful feedback! Glad if you got something positive out of the shared process. Online collaboration certainly has gotten easier than ever now with platforms like BandLab. Still not an ideal scenario when you're dealing with a lot of recording variables between players, and just using finished WAV files to mix. It obviously would be cleaner to have Cakewalk project files from everyone, but then that adds a whole other layer to the process of finding the "right" players for the project, namely those who are set up and skilled in CW to provide that. Honestly, if that was the criteria with this group, we probably wouldn't be a group, lol! Believe me, I share the "Audiophile" tendencies with so many in the group here, and want my productions to be the best they can be. But I guess part of the point is, the process and finished product don't need to be ideal and perfect, and I don't want to let that hold me back from making music, having fun, and moving on to the next one! Regarding your CbB/Sonar question, I don't plan to switch over to Sonar via subscription model, and will continue riding CbB as long as my computer will let me! However, certainly the same type process/workflow would apply with new Sonar (or really any DAW for that matter).

Thanks so much for the listen and comment! Hope you can get your SC issues resolved :)

Thanks Mark, appreciate it my friend!!

Thanks Kevin, appreciate the listen and feedback!

Thanks so much my friend!

Hey Wookie, thanks for the listen and feedback! Good ear and good call on the kick drum! One of the challenges I've experienced with this type of collaboration production/mixing is that though many of these players are really good, they're all over the map on their recording skill. Some of them make really clean and balanced tracks for the project, and others not as much. Craig, this particular drummer, somehow or other records his acoustic drum kit, and just puts a complete WAV file in the project without the parts broken out. His recording quality is decent but not great, and the complete kit baked-in track makes it a bit harder to correct deficiencies, as you can imagine! I took a critical listen though, and I think the drums can definitely be improved, and definitely the lower end kick (cymbal crashes seem kind of harsh too). I'm going to throw on a Sonitus Multi-Band and maybe TDR Nova as well, and see if I can isolate and boost some of that low end without getting muddy. Or maybe Drum Replacer, I've never really utilized that. Thanks again my friend!

**UPDATED- remixed to try to bring out drum kick, as suggested by Wookie. Also tried to tame cymbal crashes a bit. Had a blast collaborating with some cohorts from Bandlab to create this version of the Jimi Hendrix classic Little Wing! This rendition is based on the Eric Clapton/Sheryl Crow live cover version. Off the charts effort by a truly international cast in putting this together: Fabian (Argentina)- Bass; Ross M (Australia)- Guitar; Craig (US)- Drums; Fiz (Italy)- Sax; Tone (Norway)- Female Vocals. I am on Vocals/Organ/Electric Piano/Synth/Mix. For workflow, I recorded all my parts in Calewalk by BandLab, and posted them along with a full scratch track in a project on BandLab. The collaborators then posted their individual parts in the project, either recorded directly on BandLab or in their own DAW and uploaded. I then downloaded their finished parts and brought back into CbB to mix and master.