Glasgow Blue

[TracingArcs]

Christian Henson of Spitfire/Pianobook in his series Nerding for the weekend No5. Picked a track from the Blue Nile (Let's go out tonight). I have been an admirer of the Blue Nile since they emerged. And always fancied doing something like this. So here's my homage to them. Using the Mason & Hamlin Model A piano freely available at the pianobook community. It's as if the 80s/90s never went away !

[DeeringAmps]

A+ on the production here.
But, I'm really seeing this as the demo.
If I'm producing I feel like we need to "tell a story, where are we going with this?"
4:35 of pretty much the same thing over and over.
It's beautiful, but I think we need a little more to hold the audience's interest.

Maybe its just me today...

t

[TracingArcs]

Hi DeeringAmps. Firstly thanks for listening. It is really just a demo. I wanted to put typical Blue Nile elements into it.If you're familiar with their work some things will make sense. I unfortunately have no voice. As that is what is needed. For 20 years I worked with a pro lyricist, backing singer (Eurythmics, Van Morrison, Eddi Reader, amongst others). And I would present a demo like this to her and in no time her singer sensibility would get it into a shape that I could then expand on further. And make into a "proper" song. It was intersting to look at exactly what are the elements that constitute a Blue Nile song. And a good voice and lyrics are the glue.

[bjornpdx]

Love the title. Beautiful and a very pleasant listen. Guess I was waiting for a bit more structure or a theme to grab on to. You did mention that a voice is needed and I would agree. If I were more familiar with Blue Nile I would most likely have been more into it.

[TracingArcs]

Thanks bjornpdx. I love Glasgow (a great music scene).  I would recommend you check out The Blue Nile. Very much regarded as the songwriters, songwriters.

Here's an example where a good vocalist/lyricist works with your material. Tracing Arcs - Homecoming (The Girls Mix) | Jamendo Music | Free music downloads

[Keith Wilby]

"Using the Mason & Hamlin Model A piano freely available at the pianobook community."

Sorry to hijack the thread but how do you install instruments from that site please?

[TracingArcs]

Hi Keith. It is a NI Kontakt instrument. There some SFZ across the site. But you do need Kontakt (the player will give you just 15 mins before you have to restart). If you have Kontakt you can place the file wherever you want and navigate to it through "files" in Kontakt.

[Wookiee]

As Tom notes it feels very much like a work in progress, it does have a good sound.  Will keep the furry lugholes out for the development.  Thanks for sharing.

[Keith Wilby]

1 hour ago, TracingArcs said:

But you do need Kontakt (the player will give you just 15 mins before you have to restart).

I do have the player, the full version is a bit pricey ?

[TracingArcs]

Hi Keith. I used the demo version of Kontakt for quite some time until I was able to afford the Komplete package. It makes you  concentrate on making decisions when you have a limited time. But there is another way now. I understand that if you download a freebie from Embertone (can't remember which one).  You can register that in Native Access as it is designed for Kontakt Player.. And then NI will offer you a upgrade which is much less than the retail price.  Another way is to see if someone is wants to sell their copy of Komplete 11 -12. Then you are sorted as you get all the updates automatically.

[Bapu]

A+ on the bass tone.  Nice start of a piece, can't wait to hear the completed piece.