noynekker

Thank you Leadfoot for your listening and comments . . . I've had some great input for ideas and mix tips from the song forum here (including yours), so I've posted an updated mix of this project, still a work in progress.

Oh very good Leadfoot ! . . . you've got your foot right down on this one. I found it very interesting to listen to with the different sections and chord changes. Also, the vocalist has great range, enough to get above the volume.

Thanks for listening again Bjorn . . . well yes, if someone else was mixing they would probably turn up the vocal more . . . but when I mix it, I never want it too up front, so that's always been a problem mixing my own stuff, thanks for the tip about that.

Mr DeeringAmps . . . once again thanks for your helpful listen, you certainly listen a lot closer than I do to the recording of things. This is an old beat up Yamaki Western acoustic guitar, the buzzing you hear is probably because I have never had the frets done on it. I hear it now that you mention it. It was done with two mics, a unidirectional right close to the sound hole, and an omnidirectional behind my shoulder . . . but I had to EQ back in a ton of 100 hz because it just needed to be there to sound right to me.

Thanks Tom . . . always insightful and helpful comments. Yes the toms are tubby, it's true, I was trying to get more what an orchestra percussionist would do, but I guess since it's a pop song I should try my acoustic kit on this. I'm going to try all your suggestions , because they are great ones !

Thanks David for listening . . . goosebumps are cool . . . but David Cassidy, yikes . . . a good laugh, I'm a long way from teen idol . . . but I do remember the Monkees, Lol

Mark . . . it's such an easy groove, that flows along with elegance . . . your guitar work, as always, is subtle and superb. My only song suggestion would be to accentuate the "Forever Man" (hook) more, make it stand out a bit more somehow . . . maybe a louder harmony vocal part, maybe a musical change up of some sort, away from the groove. I really like it simple the way it is, but casual listeners might need the hook to stand out more. Either way, I'm sure this song will do very well wherever it ends up ! . . . because it just sounds so great

Another idea I've been working on . . . just singing and playing acoustic guitar, then I hear the orchestra in my head . . . well, there goes the neighbourhood, had to add some strings, (since I can't afford the real orchestra, though, the samples are the expensive ones) . . . anyways, I'm not sure how to mix this any different, so I welcome any insights you may hear on your speakers ?

Hi David . . . I think I heard reflections of the Scherzo from the 5th when I was listening. It’s music I haven’t heard for a while, but always stays with me.

David . . . thank you for posting this. It's a very interesting, unpredictable listen, and I enjoyed it very much. I especially like the orchestration techniques you've used here. It made me think of one of my fav composers, Gustav Mahler

Hi Lynn . . . you're totally right about the vocals needing a boost in the mix, I've uploaded a new version with that (and a few other things) in mind . . . thank you so much for listening and commenting !

So Hot, such talent . . . in the words of Moby "I would stand in line for this" . . . in fact, I would pay some money for this, hopefully you are getting remunerated for this somehow . . . OK, I will do the search and support some amazing "out of work" musicians, that should never happen with talent like this . . . glad you've kept the music alive, and I'm also curious about the technology that makes this all "live" online . . . with seamless video ? Maybe this is the future.

Thank you Douglas . . . glad you liked it so far, I've been working on it some more and one thing I want to do is get the acoustic guitar tighter, without wrecking the tone of course ! Thanks for having a listen.

Hi Tom . . . thanks for the listen, so impressed by your very constructive comments, might just try those out . . . so how it goes. As for the Aprhodite bit at the end, well it's kind of the premise of the idea, not sure I can soften it to be "you're kind of like Aphrodite" . . . we're older, wiser . . . it is what it is.

Yes, thank you DeeringAmps . . . I've always subscribed to the rule "Art is never finished, only abandoned" . . . same goes for love I guess

Hi bjornpdx . . . thanks for your insights and encouragement. I’ll have a look at the panning issue, wasn’t intending for that to happen, though, I am always trying different vocal fx chain experiments.

Thanks for responding David . . . yes, FYI, the lead vocal took a lot of practice, and needed a few "tweaks" . . . the harmonies are extrapolated from that . . . it's currently at the demo songwriting stage, so the harmony vocals will eventually get done and sung again . . . if she really loves me . . . if not, might end up on the scrap heap with all the others.

Okay, possible 3 minute love song . . . but I'm not even sure she really likes me yet, Lol . . . but, would be great to hear your mix, song etc. ideas in case she does . . .

So fun . . . can't even come close to a crit for this, looking forward to the video ! (Now that will be tricky for this theatre of the mind type piece) The lyrics are a marvel of poetry. So well done (yet not overcooked) So glad I stopped by the song forum this Saturday morning, always a great place to come for inspiration such as this.

Have you tried opening these projects holding down the shift key, and bypass the loading of Kontakt 6 VST . . . then, at least you have the project open ? . . . and can re-add Kontakt 6 and go from there, maybe something to try. I use Kontakt 5, but I only have Kontakt 6 Player version, and that works fine in my latest Cakewalk Bandlab update, I'm assuming your issue is with the full version. Also, when you installed Kontakt 6, did you do a rescan / refresh of the user library ?

Hi, I REALLY liked this piece . . . and usually I don't go for hard drivin' stuff like this . . . but it so kept my interest, so aggressive and inventive . . . well played guitars, change ups, and interesting lyrics . . . stark video, yikes ! it's got it all . . . I am a fan of your art, thank you for sharing this on the Cakewalk songs site !

So cool, so fine . . . the vocals here are so well sung and recorded, I am most impressed by this cover, really captures the spirit of you, as well as those Beatles.

When I start a new project, I use my Normal template as a starter . . . only plugin loaded is a reverb on it's own bus. My 8 cores are always randomly spiking in the performance monitor for this Normal template. (removing the reverb bus, yes, cores are still randomly spiking) Actually, loading a completely blank project still has random core spiking. If I add a substantial plugin instrument like BFD3 drums . . . it loads up, and the cores become very balanced. Doesn't seem to matter if I have my Asio buffers set high or low latency, still the cores are spiking. Projects with tons of heavy plugin loads work fine, and show balanced cores. So, what is it about a blank project that would cause this to happen ? (I'm currently using an M-Track Quad USB interface)

I've always used Ctrl-Tab to switch between Track View and Console View (yes, the Windows 10 key combo to cycle through open windows in a program) This still works, I'm on the very latest Cakewalk version 2020-04, and Ctrl-Tab remains "unassigned" in my Cake Keyboard shortcuts. . . . only thing is . . . ever since they created the Lenses feature (now called Workspaces) . . . every time I open Cakewalk, I have to go to the Workspaces drop down menu, and select "None" (even though None is already checkboxed) . . . once you click "None" something mysterious flickers, and poof ! Ctrl-Tab now cycles between Track View and Console View, since all my projects have always been set up that way. Every time I start another new Cakewalk session, I have to do this to get it working again.

Hello . . . there's a drop down menu at the top of track view (next to the "+" track button) . . . I usually always just leave this set to view "All" . . . but if you don't have "All" or "Mix" selected, you won't see volume, pan controls.