noynekker

Nicely done Jack . . . this one really does capture a great Christmas spirit, enjoyed it. Posted a bit late, but all is forgiven . . . belated Merry Christmas to you as well !

Hey Tom . . . I finally ventured to watch the video, after totally enjoying just the music part last week . . . boy I hate the cold season, but this brings warmth, I saw it as a moving winter painting . . . also, noteworthy is your presentation, well done . . . there might be a tiny marketing person in that vast musical talent you have there afterall.

Great mix, amazing tune ! Excellent all star collaboration from the sound of it all . . . c'mon just form a band, go on tour, I would stand in line for this.

Nigel . . . such great vocals, and really bending the drama of pop music with the interesting chord progression, and the video compliments all that, so well done !

Musically, I really like this ! . . . though, I wonder about the bass. Makes the overall mix sound very thick, because of the bass long sustain ? I just had to turn the volume down because of that, but the acoustic guitar and flute solo part work very well.

Love how you captured that period of music instrumentally, especially the piano ! . . . of course the effects you added bring it to the modern era, very interesting and energetic piece Steve !

Somebody's havin' too much fun in their basement , , , and everybody gets to have their turn, nice work Bill ! Somehow I was reminded of George Thorogood, and his cut loose pop rock stylings . . . well done sir !

@Tim Smith . . . thanks for your positive comment, to clarify, this was posted here on the Cakewalk forum recently by Mark Skinner as a guitar groove mix . . . called "Winding Down" . . . I offered a vocal and lyric idea to him, we shared some tracks, and Mark was able to arrange it into this song idea.

YA ! Made me smile ! . . . very clever and fun lyrics . . . got the crispy edgy guitars. Like others, I'd like to hear some gang vocals on the "Never Enough" line of the chorus. Keep 'em coming . . . what else you got in that treasure chest ?

Mark . . . it was just a pleasure contributing on this one . . . no doubt inspired by all the great music you've posted here in the last few years, and all your unique creative approaches ! Also, thanks to Gary for lending a hand !

Steve . . . don't have a lot to add to the other great comments here . . . just really love the song, brought a tear for me . . . didn't really watch the video too closely, I think the song says it all, thank you.

Tom, some very interesting form choices in this one . . . yeah, I love that chord progression, piano chilled me right out . . . hope you didn't overpay the drummer for his brief appearance in the middle, then you take it orchestral, with some bending . . . just great stuff ! Oh . . . and thanks for that fade out ending, where you remind us that the problems of reality are still existing. I found that very interesting, when music speaks to you like that. I especially like the overall concept you've accomplished in this piece, cool and unpredictable as always . . . I haven't ventured to the video yet, just savoring that for another day.

Who says Christmas and the blues don't go together ? Well done and fun production, Merry Christmas right back at you !

Mark . . . such youthful energy for the big 68 ! Happy B'day. There's lots of action here, popping guitar strings, nice underlying theme that recurs. Tom fills, lots of different tom fills . . . very nice. So, yes . . . G flat, not usually a guitar friendly key . . . can you assure us that no capos or alternate tunings were harmed during the creation of this ? In other words, WOW, great stuff as always.

Hi Kurt . . . great swatch of blue you've painted here ! The electric guitar work sounds very pro, and I really like the palm mute bass picking sound you've captured, especially when you play on the off beat. The things that stand out in this version of your mix is that perhaps the crash sounds overwhelm for an instrumental, and personally I prefer the kick to have more boom to it . . . unless you're catering to that mobile phone crowd, where it don't much matter. Otherwise, the relative instrument levels sound good to my ears, an enjoyable listen. You've mentioned a classic issue with mixing . . . it sounds so great on headphones, but the monitors are coloured differently . . . yikes, the room, the volume, the time of day, ambient noise, fresh ears, wasted ears . . . so many variables. I like to check final mixes on the big 5 . . . headphones, mid quality ear buds, small speakers, near field studio monitors, car stereo (mixing for club system is another skill altogether)

Hi Jerry . . . an enjoyable listen on my Saturday night ! It has great dynamics, and I really appreciate all the thought and pre-planning you must have to do, to accomplish these pieces. Since you've invited questions, I've always wondered about your create process . . . how do you start a symphonic movement like this . . . do you start with piano composition mapping the themes, or do you just start playing sampled instruments and piecing it together . . . perhaps there is a visual component in staff view ? However the method, the results are always astounding. You write in the style of the classical composers, but also introduce some electrical components, like you did in this one. Always great to hear your postings here Jerry !

Philip . . . really love the song man, that acoustic guitar riff that recurs, like after "disappearing man" is so excellent, it's the main driving factor, and the lyrics and vocal are right there as well. The drama in the lyrics and vocal that you open with is bang on, and sets the tone for the rest of the song. My mix suggestion, since you mentioned Trilian Bass, would be to use a more percussive picked bass sound to cut the bass part through to be more obvious. What might sound great to your ear in Cakewalk 32 bit floating . . . well, by the time you upload to Soundcloud, it gets mudded, unless it's more percussive in the original mix, at least that's what I've found for projects like this one.

Pretty cool Gary ! Didn't you do this one last year ? Sweet production. Poof, another year on the Cake forum. You've certainly got another gear on those low notes that not many have, just like Bing did I guess, maybe that's why they named a browser after him, LOL. Thanks for kicking off that Christmas feeling for me ! . . . a very merry Christmas to you and yours. EDIT: The snowmen are my new desktop, classic fun.

Super song, like a psychedelic memory ! Mixing the vocal out front makes all the difference, and they are very interesting. Lots of different sections that are very memorable, hooky, and downright fun to listen to. I gather since you used spectralayers to boost the vocal, that this is an older recording . . . I'm glad to see it back out in the spotlight . . . really enjoyable !

O yeah ! . . . 'nother good one Paul. You've got the social commentary going on in the lyric, some good attitude in the vocal take. Song wise it's all there, and the drum feel (yup) works well too. Personally, I would keep the "Kum-ba-ya" ending, it brings an extra smile . . . unless, of course you may fear getting sued by the folks who originally wrote that ? Who would write that anyways ? Mix wise, perhaps bring up the presence range of the vocal a *&^# hair (3k,5k,8k ?) not all the lyrics are super clear.

Hey Mark . . . you are master of that smooth guitar groove. (Hey! I can totally use this for neck exercises after a stressful day, cuz' I'm just luvin' it, makes my head swivel) Your comment up top makes me think you want to add vocal to it, make it a song with lyrics . . . well, as you know there would be difficult decisions about which tasty licks to move back in the mix. I think it would work well as a song, or a guitar groove. Of course, I would lean towards making a song from it . . . maybe a repetitive groove melody (with harmonies) could work . . . it seems to suggest that to me. After the guitar intro . . . at 0.25 I tried singing some random vocals, and I found there is a very obvious vocal groove there, easy to find, very jazzy . . . I made it about "winding down" after a long day . . . this could totally be a chill out after a long work day commute, like it was for me Anyways, you did ask for suggestions . . it's so musical, it could be sung in a lot of directions, but I heard a jazz vocal, with lots of possibilities.

Well written song Paul ! . . . smooth feeling and groove, excellent guitars . . . vocals always a stand out. Especially like the guitar in the intro part. Heard a few early versions of this project, and I like where you've taken this to, well done to follow it through to this.

Hey Wookiee man . . . enjoyed this one so much ! One of my favourites of your many here recently . . . just something about it.

You could also try toggling the Global EFX button when you want to do your midi editing, might help, but you are asking a lot from your computer system !

Hi Max . . . I can't recall from the 1000's of Cakewalk by BandLab users which CPU you have, and which audio interface ? . . . let's assume they are really new and powerful, with ASIO drivers and buffers set up correctly, and you have lots of RAM to load the samples. Now, what other CPU hungry plugins might you be using, with lookahead capabilities, compressors, limiters, perhaps on the master bus ? It could be just one of those causing this.