noynekker

Thanks for the listen David . . . I will forward your cudos to the lyricist Carroll Kiphen . . . glad you liked my melody . . . envy energy gratefully received :D:D

Some excellent guitar playing here John . . . you always seem to have that "never know what's coming next" thing happening in your projects. Mix is really easy on the ears too, all clear no mud. Like the gentle fade intro . . . and wild climax. Great stuff, as usual.

Real sonic feast Bjorn, always that question, all the way through . . . I think your decision to add the vocal part was very well inspired, it really adds an extra dimension to the piece, liked listening to this a lot . . . will swing by again for sure.

RexRed . . . simple, beautiful, effective. Your vocals and harmonies are always spot on, and fit inside the instrumentation perfectly. Are you using some virtual instruments here ? . . . they are well done . . . sounds like like you hired Kenny G for the session (but maybe nobody here can afford that) . . . the ending is very smooth . . .

Oh Yeah . . . of course you're going to keep it ! Nice one, and thanks for describing your creative "digital" process . . . the end result sounds like some folks just jamming with a great feel. I was listening close, and don't think you repeated many guitar patterns, just a free for all . . . very relaxing piece.

I read some song lyrics by a guy named Carroll Kiphen, who has written a ton of song lyrics . . . and immediately heard a song idea. I've just been inspired by folks here on the Cakewalk Forum to try different things, so this one was something different for me, since I usually write the lyrics. It's great when you have the road map of a song already, made the process smoother to complete it, maybe less personal attachment helps ? Who knows, just go with the flow . . . thanks Carroll. As usual, I trust you'll let us know if anything jumps out ?

jack c. . . . this one's kinda' catchy, nice groove, drums and synths . . . though, mix is a bit over cooked as far as compression or limiting. ? Seems you have something to say, but I can't quite make out all the vocals. Would love to hear this with more dynamics.

Douglas . . . had a listen, and I'll say I always appreciate all your songs posted here . . . but this on has a little extra shine to it (for me). I'm really liking the rhythm guitar in the verses especially, think you've done something different here. So good, so well done !

Lynn (and friends) . . . very cool song and collaboration project ! You've tackled something super important that gets lost from the mainstream news, with all that other stuff going on. The bees and their tie to agriculture are a crucial part of the fragile ecosystem that sustains us all with those healthier foods. There is some very interesting bee footage in your video, so well done . . . all of it. Hope this creates a real buzz, it deserves it :)

Mark . . . I'm OK with this the way it is, endless tasty guitar interludes . . . you could just market it as chill out music, because that's what it did for me. If you must turn it into a song with lyrics, you'll have to decide which tasty interludes will go to the back, and for me, those would be hard decisions. In my head I can sing almost anything against this, because if it's sheer musicality, but I don't hear a chorus part . . . maybe that's all you need to make a "song" from it, and I can see why you may have wrestled with lyric and song choices on this one . . . will be very interested to see if it becomes more like a song, but for now, I'll keep coming back for more listens when I need to chill.

David . . . I never know how to critique the "Classical" stuff . . . so, I'll just say I had a few listens, and enjoyed both of them. Sounds well orchestrated, and balanced . . . you've changed up and moved through the orchestra sections to make it interesting. You mention using VSL, and there are a few places where the strings get very intense, and I can hear the "digitality" of them . . . so wonder if you've ever experimented with any analogue, tube, or console emulator tricks to mitigate that ? I only ask, since I've noticed it in some of my compositions, and sometimes in Jerry Gerber's posts of his midi / digital symphonic projects. Regardless . . . I always like the projects you post here, you have quite a range of styles you're involved with.

Tom . . . so much fun ! . . . perhaps more fun than humans should be having ? Oh well, we deserve it after last year. A few days ago I just listened to the music, then tonight had a go at the video . . . and I must say I got the same sense, as with many of your other projects online, that I would be coming back again and again for many other listens and viewings, you've got a lot going on in this one, just excellent. Now those horns, why so much louder > dang, there's the phone . . . likely my neighbors calling to complain about the volume (again) The whole thing seems a very interesting poke at modern society. Your educated "rap" is unlike any other I've heard . . . and I knew it was you singing when you went for that low growl around 2:24 . . . reminiscent of your other projects. Sounds great on my big speakers, my small speakers, and my studio headphones, you've mostly got it covered . . . except for the dreaded Ford Ranger stereo highway test, I'll let you know how it goes . . .

Wookiee . . . it was a moving meditation ! (except for the traffic sounds panning in and out - outside my window) . . . in the middle section I saw some whales, hope that's normal, maybe just in Canada. Your 8:11 was the most relaxing part of my day, maybe I need to stay in more ?

Hi John . . . always a good listen . . . great piano playing and surprise instrumentation, and you sure do like that melodic Trilian Bass throughout. I haven't heard much lower bass / kick frequencies in your recent songs. Sure, clear sounding recordings, but not much low end punch . . . you might be missing a whole frequency range to add some extra drama to the overall feel. I like the stops you use here in a few places, effective, and helps the song breathe out a bit. You have a very unique sound in all your songs . . . that's a good thing, doesn't sound like anyone else. (okay, maybe occasionally Boz Scaggs)

Wow ! Great project accomplishment here . . . and this is such a great and groove friendly classic song, never heard it before . . . but you've surely restored it to all it's glory. Well done Steve, thanks for posting it here . . . funkadelic.

Hi Miguel. . . . Excellent song. My opinion is that the instruments do the job, but the vocals are so well sung, that’s the main attraction ! You asked about mastering online . . . it’s a generic formula of artificial intelligence, and works like a roll of the dice. If you master in your DAW, you control things better . . . then when you put it on Soundcloud, the down sampling and mangling of your art is minimalized. Just try to keep as much dynamics as you can, so it won’t get squashed too much ? Really like what you’ve done with this song, it sounds great to me (just listened on headphones so far) What a voice you have !

Interesting you have it working ! My VST3 efx seem to all be in c:\program files\common files\VST3 . . . my 3.5dotnet is up to date, latest Win 10 update patched.

Hmmm . . . when I saw "improved VST3 support" I hoped the bug regarding inserting Fabfilter Pro-Q3 VST3 had been addressed. (a reminder . . . insert FabFilter Pro-Q3 VST3 into the FX bin, on a new blank project - - -> instant Cakewalk crash) It's been a year and a half, is this on the radar ? I launched a ticket with FabFilter back when it first appeared, but they have not addressed it on their end ? Yes, the workaround is use VST2.

Tim, had a listen, I'm trying to get my head around this . . . you have 1:12 of overly compressed music, with the reverb set way too long, and you want us here on the song forum to write a useful melody (no lyrics) in Ab major for you. Correct ? Will we get any publishing co-writer credits ?

Hi AndyB01 . . . super well written ballad, comes across really clear. I always found the slower evolving songs harder to make work, but you've really done it here. I think you're saying the previous version had heavier drums, and I see why you scaled them back, the song doesn't need a lot other than that focus on the piano and vocals. The one thing that jumped out to my ear was right at the end, the lyric "so in love with you" has a noticeable kind of electronic gliss slide up sound in the vocal, not sure if that was intended. I like the way you mixed and conceived the harmony vocals, adds some interest, without taking away from the lead vocal. It's inspiring and easy to listen to, with great lyrics, sung from the core . . . very much enjoyed it ! Nice you are "revisiting some old stuff" . . . what else do you have in the vault ? ("Art is never finished, only abandoned")

RexRed . . . just had a listen to your new mix, and you've really nailed it for this song, sounds very balanced and professional. It's good to hear great songs get better, with great mixes

Mark . . . excellent piece ! . . . really hear the Bowie in your vocals here. The vocals seem quite low in the first part . . . then after your fade down, in the middle they are much more up front, then towards the end, kinda' low again. Might not be just volume, perhaps tweak some of the speech recognition range to the lead vocals, 6-8K ? Overall, it's a very fascinating sound array, different than your usual, but you're always trying something different, and always a great groove flowing along. I like the guitar FX a lot, not something I would have thought to try . . . so, very creative to get the off world effect you were going for. There is a very hooky guitar riff (descending chromatic) , you use it in the second section, then again in the brief guitar solo section . . . you might try it in the intro part ? cuz it's hooky.

OK . . . I get the reference to the Spielberg movie now that you've spelled it out, but JW ? No bell ringing here in my empty head . . . more of a trekkie, star warsy guy I guess.

Nice work Wookiee . . . I was expecting Warp 10 to be much faster . . . but I see now when "you are in all places at the same time" speed does not matter, since ubiquity is achieved by perception, and sound waves are transmitted in a different continuum than light waves. It's been a great ride, you've done some great synth work here, I enjoyed it all thoroughly . . . I'll search for the Warped CD . . . but the mystery remains . . . who is JW and what are those 5 notes ?

KW LIFER . . . all I can say is . . . IT'S ABOUT TIME YOU POSTED SOMETHING HERE ! . . . OK, might have more to say. Dang me, I used to sing this at weddings, so it's memory lane for me . . . you've done a great job here, and much respect to how you've done it differently than the original. Love your voice, and the virtual instruments you mention really work well. Come on . . . post those originals here, as you mentioned, would be great to listen to I'm sure, based on the quality of this piece.