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Florida Man (Original Song) (CbB Plugs Only)

CSW

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CSW

CSW

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Hi,

My Girl and I wrote and recorded this song several months ago. I had a couple of friends play keys and slide guitar. We did the rest.

I wanted to challenge to mix with Cakewalk  stock plugs only. Here's what I came up with after 4 mix revisions.

I would appreciate your comments and critiques.  

This song was inspired by an Iron worker that I know along with the FloridaMan website.

Regards

Robin and Craig

 

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PhonoBrainer

PhonoBrainer

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I like the way the parts all slowly fold in. The guitars in that arrangement and blend are quite good. Lyrics of course are a treat, and the mix is very clear. Maybe the piano sounds a bit reverbed back, compared to the other elements. But that's okay. I love this song. The vocal mix and arrangement is super creative.

cheers!

-Tom

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CSW

CSW

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On 9/26/2021 at 9:11 PM, PhonoBrainer said:

I like the way the parts all slowly fold in. The guitars in that arrangement and blend are quite good. Lyrics of course are a treat, and the mix is very clear. Maybe the piano sounds a bit reverbed back, compared to the other elements. But that's okay. I love this song. The vocal mix and arrangement is super creative.

cheers!

-Tom

Hi Tom,

Thank you for the comments.  When I received the piano track from my friend he sent it over wet with reverb and I was pretty much stuck with the reverb. I think he recorded it directly in or from his digital piano.  He's a kind of mysterious guy and I was not able to get back in touch with him after I received the file ... I didn't want to be too picky so I pulled what I thought were the best parts of the track and placed them where I could. No matter what I did with it..... it just seemed to sit in the same place in the mix and I was limited on getting the clarity without it being too loud. The piano solo is from another internet musical acquaintance who is very easy to work with. I tried to somewhat match the 2 piano sources so there's more reverb that I would like and they are both digital.  Most of this happened during the lockdown...it's funny how it affected people in different ways. 

My favorite thing to fool with is vocals. My Wife Robin is a very versatile singer. I'm lucky to have her on call. ?

 

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CSW

CSW

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On 9/27/2021 at 9:41 AM, mark skinner said:

 Very Powerful song ! Fantastic job on all the vocals. I thought that was also a very nice use of the harmonica. Nothing seemed over done or lacking.  Great job ,  loved it ..   mark 

Hi Mark, 

Thanks for the encouragement and I'm thrilled that you like the song.  I purchased a bunch of harmonica loops on the internet and had to pitch correct to get them to fit the song. It did take away some of the  "authenticity" of the harmonica sound but it was the only way I could get it to fit..... man it was tough trying to fit those loops without it sounding odd or repetitive.  I tuned the back ups a little with some melodyne but nothing too crazy. These days I'm trying to do as little pitch correction in the singing as possible. Overdone pitch correction has pretty much ruined pop music for me. Robin and I try our best to get a good take or at least a healthy comped take and then maybe just a touch of pitch correction only if needed.

Craig

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CSW

CSW

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8 hours ago, markno999 said:

Very good work.    Good song, performance and production.    The lights and shades make it a very engaging ride.   Great listen, a couple times through:) 

Regards

Thanks Mark.    I'm really trying to focus  on the subtleties from the source performances  these days and trying to use less effects and really focusing a making better static mixes with no plugs instead of piling on the plugins.....(then I  pile on the plugs!)

I've remixed some of my old stuff and this seems to be working out well. I'm getting some cleaner mixes. 

Craig

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CSW

CSW

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8 hours ago, Lynn Wilson said:

This proves that one can write and record a hit song using only CW tools.  I wish this was on my car radio, I might start listening to radio again.  A+

Hi Lynn,  

Thanks man. I wish that were true....on the bright side it is the number one trending song in my truck!   

I think I recognize your Avatar from the old forum? 

Craig 

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Lynn Wilson

Lynn Wilson

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15 hours ago, CSW said:

Hi Lynn,  

Thanks man. I wish that were true....on the bright side it is the number one trending song in my truck!   

I think I recognize your Avatar from the old forum? 

Craig 

I don't remember if I used this Avatar, but I was on the old forum for sure.  All the best, Craig!

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CSW

CSW

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5 hours ago, jwnicholson78 said:

I really enjoyed that. Sounds ready for the radio to me!

Thanks Jeff!

 

3 hours ago, David Sprouse said:

The first singer reminded me of Denny Laine a little.  Such great voices all around.  This is one of the most original and polished songs I've heard here.  Did you really use Cakewalk software?

Hi David,

Thanks for the encouragement and kind words  I did actually use Cakewalk to mix this. I also gave the SoundCloud mastering service a go and it seemed to work pretty well. 

     I recorded the instruments with Studio One because at the time I had given up on Cakewalk after the Gibson fiasco.  Sonar Platinum was my first DAW and I really enjoy the workflow and the workspaces.

    I could have easily tracked this in the latest Cakewalk as Bandlab has made great strides in eliminating bugs and adding new features and minimizing audio engine dropouts. The comping is easy and intuitive as well. I hope someday there will be zero drop outs but I very rarely get them. I have used the "mask engine dropouts" set to true setting and that has really helped.

   I can't say enough about the arranger tracks and the new export feature is out of this world! So far I'm finding it better than the Studio One arranger track tool.   One of the main reason's I stuck with Studio One is because of the arraigner tracks functionality...it's a super tool for song writing and quickly hashing out ideas. Also the Studio One audio engine is very very fast and stable which I hope someday Cakewalk can be optimized to that level. I had my doubts about anyone being able to resurrect and improve the Cakewalk audio engine but we're seeing that happen right before our eyes. How far they can take it remains to be seen.

     While I haven't created a song from scratch with the new Cakewalk yet, I will be doing this with my Robin over the next several weeks and I will put the Cakewalk's arranger track feature to the test. So far what little testing I've done with it has left me very impressed.... super easy to use.

My favorite feature in Cakewalk is the Mix Recall utility. Back when it was first released (Sonar) I had glitchy issues with it and gave up on it.  After running it thru it's paces recently I can't stump it..... it's literally bullet proof so far and coupled with the new export features it's really something special...  I don't know if there's any other DAW with that kind of combination that works so incredibly well. 

I've always loved the pro channel and let's not forget the track templates... another feature that blows my mind and works incredibly well for me.

Since I returned to Cakewalk it's been like a little Christmas to me. I've always loved the interface..... it's feels like home.

They still have work to do but so far I'm very impressed with what I'm seeing happen with Cakewalk.

Regards

Craig

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