jwnicholson78

Tom Thanks so much for the listen and the suggestions. Good catch on the piano. When I did this song originally, all the instruments were from Kontakt and had a similar reverb level. BBC Core symphony has a single mic with built in reverb, but I forgot to adjust the piano, which is the Grandeur from Kontakt. I agree with you on the tippy taps. I brought them up on the most recent version. And I also adjust the low end on the piano. Really appreciate the feedback! Jeff

Love the energy of this, but the bass is what really got me. It's got a great groove. Well done!

Nice! I particularly enjoyed the electric piano.

Well done! I really enjoyed the mixture of synths and orchestral instruments.

Fred, thanks so much listening and for the suggestions. I really appreciate the detailed tips. I had watched a couple of videos on the Spitfire Audio Youtube channel on working with orchestral VSTs, so I was already aware of things like pushing the samples forward to take into account the lag of the samples. I spent quite a bit of time recording and fine-tuning the expression and volumes to get dynamic swells and changes in timbre. The suggeestions on layering synths to fine tune the attack and on panning are new to me though, and greatly appreciated. Thanks again!

Very evocative. I love the constant propulsion that the synths provide.

Really nice arrangement. Very thoughtful and contemplative. For me the transition in volume around 2:20 was a little to abrupt, but overall really well done.

Chord progressions shmord progression. Kept me entertained through the end. I'd totally listen to this while playing some old 8-bit platformer.

That's some fine blues guitar with a great message. Thanks for sharing. Jeff

That was unexpected. I loved the interplay between the synths, guitars and sax.

Very nice. I particularly liked the transitions where the piano came in and then later around 3:45 with the synths.

Sabby, Thanks. Obviously this is a very personal piecefor me, which is why I let it rest for a year or so. Now that I've come back to it, I'd like to make it is good as I possibly can, so comments on tech things are welcome. I've gone through this many times fixing things note by note, but there's a lot of notes, so it's easy to miss something. I felt like in the original version the drums were up too high. Maybe I over-corrected now and pulled them back too far. Really appreciate the feedback. Jeff

Update 2 - brought the snare up further, more tweaks to EQ and individual notes. Updated - tweaks to the overall eq, fine tuning of lot's of individual notes, and brought up the levels of the percussion I wrote this song for piano and orchestra about a year ago after my father passed away. I recently got the BBC Symphony Orchestra Core from Spitfire Audio and wanted to use this track as a test run for it. Comments and suggestions on how to improve the mix are greatly appreciated. Here's the updated version. And here's the original version, which I made using the Kontakt 5 Orchestra from the Factory Library.

Thanks! I really appreciate you taking the time to listen and comment!

Thanks so much!

Thanks for comment, Evan! Gotta take the opportunity when you get it, right? Jeff

She had the chance to snap a few shots before she had to go run some errands. I seen my opportunity and I took it! Jeff

Thanks for the feedback, Tom! Jeff

Aaj Jaane EP.mp3 By popular request here's an EP version for those with furry ears. I played with it a little to clean it up, but I think to really do it properly, I would have to go in and work on the pedaling and some of the voicings. I've never really played much EP, but it seems that what works on a piano doesn't necessarily translate directly to an electric piano. Jeff

Thanks, Paul! Jeff

Thanks, Kevin, for taking the time to listen and comment! Jeff

Thanks, Bjorn. I really appreciate the comment. Jeff

Thanks so much listening and comment. I appreciate it. Jeff

Thanks, Mark! There are like a billion versions on Youtube of this song but many of them (especially the older ones) I frankly find difficult to listen to. The one below however is excellent, and the one I used as the jumping off point for my arrangement. The lyrics are, roughly, about two lovers not wanting to part from each other.

Thanks! I guess I've been playing this song for ten years or so, so yeah, you could say that I've been meaning to record it for a while.... Jeff