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"Ginger's Song"-Original Instrumental


Johnbee58

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A song for my late doggie.  I just lost her in January.  I miss her terribly. ?

I don't know if I'm happy with the mix.  I just got the Electronic piano expansion pack for EZ Keys.  I started the idea with acoustic grand piano but I thought I'd plug in the electronic one to see how it works.  Not sold on it yet for this one, but changing out this one for the acoustic one is a very easy task.  My problem with it is it seems to get extremely loud on the last verse.  Open for suggestions to tweaks.  Just don't expect me to hire a real orchestra for the "fake sounding strings".  I just got Session Strings Pro 2 and there's a learning curve to it.

EDIT-Made some adjustments to it this morning (6/27/19).  So if you checked it out prior to 6/27/19 @ 8:55 AM EST, it's (a little) different now. ?

https://johnbowen.bandcamp.com/track/gingers-song

?John B.

 

 

Edited by Johnbee58
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John
The piano and flute  work together well to bring out the melody (great melody!).
The strings came in at the right time. I did notice a volume change around 3:30 when Session Strings (?) came in but not really distracting. Not sure if you even need those pizzicato sounds there or that synth around 3:50. Nice job on arranging the piano, flute and bg strings. I like this one a lot!

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Absolutely beautiful!  ‘Sorry for your lose.  Over these many years I’ve lost several “pets.” To me, they were family members and it is always hurt.  Your song captures the emotion of losing a loved one.  Thanks for posting.?

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Lovely song John Well written arrangement and it all works well together. For me listening on my system here at work, there were some volume jumps that I noticed.  In the beginning when the flute comes in, that was noticabley louder on my system than the piano. I was listening to the piano work and when the flute came in I lost the focus on the piano.

The melody of the flute is really nice. To me it conveys a message of love. The harmony parts of the flute was a good touch. Again nice work there.


When the strings come in I really liked that. Sounded good. At 3:26 or so when the strings come back in, I think if that was lower in volume and had some reverb added to that part it wouldn't stand out as much as it does now would support the song better. For me here on this system I am listening on they are too up front.

Is that a real bass player playing the bass? Sounds really good and smooth. And that little melody part at the end around the 3:55 is a really nice little add in. That finishes the song off very well.

All in all great work. Good job John!

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Bjorn, Joad, amiller and Grem-

Thanks all so much for listening and commenting.  I just did a second mix.  I usually go by how it sounds on my Walkman w/ my Beats headphones.  I have to give my ears a rest over night and listen on my morning walk tomorrow.  The first mix had the flutes MUCH too loud so I brought them down and also rolled off some upper mid range.

I also re did some balance on the first string ensemble and added a few notes to that.  I may do another mix if my ears dictate it.  Thanks for your observations. I will take them into consideration as well.

Yes, @amiller -Losing a pet is exactly like losing a family member because they are  family members.  I love dogs.  All kinds of dogs, big and small.  I'm a dog fan for sure (but I love pussycats too).  My little Ginger graced and blessed my life for almost 15 years.  I feel as if I owe her much more than this song.

@GremThanks for the kudos on the bass.  Actually, it's a Trilian bass module but I've kinda mastered the use of the slide (after three years of using it).

?JB

Edited by Johnbee58
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I think I got  the final mix.  I put a third harmony to the first string part and ended it a bit differently.  I also brightened up the e piano by boosting the high end and the second string part was brought down a bit in volume.  Of all the tweaking I tried on it, this is the best I can get it. 

?JB

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Hi John,

  I had no idea how you were gonna convey  the loss of your  Ginger .

When your songs melody came in it was dripping with deep emotion . I felt it right away  ..

The  Flute was a good choice ..

Overall I  enjoyed many of the elements of your song  . The style of Bass  playing , the tunes harmonic chord changes , the piano and later on the  string section ...

Sorry about your loss , I have been there myself . Getting your feelings out with music is a gift ...

I wonder, when the animals we love cross over to The Rainbow Bridge , can they still hear us pouring out our hearts to them through our music  ?

 

all the best,

 

Kenny

Edited by Kenny Wilson
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13 hours ago, Kenny Wilson said:

Hi John,

  I had no idea how you were gonna convey  the loss of your  Ginger .

When your songs melody came in it was dripping with deep emotion . I felt it right away  ..

The  Flute was a good choice ..

Overall I  enjoyed many of the elements of your song  . The style of Bass  playing , the tunes harmonic chord changes , the piano and later on the  string section ...

Sorry about your loss , I have been there myself . Getting your feelings out with music is a gift ...

I wonder, when the animals we love cross over to The Rainbow Bridge , can they still hear us pouring out our hearts to them through our music  ?

 

all the best,

 

Kenny

Thanks, Kenny!  My last words to Ginger were "I love you" and I remember the look of pain in her eyes but I could still see the love in them.  Makes me cry every time I think of her.  I had to go through it twice in my life (with a pet).  I lost another dog previous to her in 2003.  Same way, same reason.  Pets should be able to be with us forever.

?JB

 

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15 hours ago, Johnbee58 said:

think I got  the final mix. 

Yep, I think you got it! Good job.

Did you do any mastering? Sounds cleaner than the first time. Could just be my memory too now! : )

Edited by Grem
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6 hours ago, Grem said:

Yep, I think you got it! Good job.

Did you do any mastering? Sounds cleaner than the first time. Could just be my memory too now! : )

The epiano sounds a bit muddy by default, so I brightened it up by boosting the high end 12db @10k.  On most anything else that's a pretty big boost but it gave the piano more presence.  I also brought the flutes down a bit in volume and rolled off a bit of mid on them.  The free dizi flute is a great plugin (especially considering it's free) but it can be piercing, especially on the higher notes.  Thanks for responding!

?JB

 

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If it's not asking too much, could I please ask for a few more replies on this song?  With total page views over 100 I know more than 5 people listened to this.

This is an instrumental.  None of my ugly vocals here. Also, I remixed it since I posted it last week. 

Thank you.

?John B.

Edited by Johnbee58
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Nice playing.  I felt that the staccato notes toward the latter part of the song stood out too much.  I'd push them back a bit.  I like the part.  It adds dynamics.  Just a bit too "look at me" if that makes sense.  The flute might still be too loud, but not sure.  Seems like that was my first reaction, but then my ears got used to it.  That's just my 2 cents.  ?

Edited by Myriad Rocker
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13 hours ago, Johnbee58 said:

could I please ask for a few more replies on this song?  With total page views over 100 I know more than 5 people listened to this.

It reminds me of the Six Pistols:P it sounds good, has a movie soundtrack feel to it.

the thing about page views is, some people are just blowing through this forum while they're waiting for a reply somewhere else.

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firstly, John, so sorry about your pal Ginger - not sure what I'd do without my best mate Sir Alex.

This is really nice John - very tasteful all ways round - and I like the electric piano.....except, it seems to get a bit 'clunky' around the breakdown section (2.26 to 3.06) - and the ending - maybe use a different piano sound (acoustic) just to underline those sections - something that works better in the lower register? 

 

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5 hours ago, daryl1968 said:

firstly, John, so sorry about your pal Ginger - not sure what I'd do without my best mate Sir Alex.

This is really nice John - very tasteful all ways round - and I like the electric piano.....except, it seems to get a bit 'clunky' around the breakdown section (2.26 to 3.06) - and the ending - maybe use a different piano sound (acoustic) just to underline those sections - something that works better in the lower register? 

 

Thanks, MR, Joad and Daryl.

I know what you mean about the epiano.  I guess I'll go in and try to adjust the velocity bars at those spots again.  It's either feast or famine with those.  If I try to quiet them down, they'd get too low, etc.  But I'll give it another go.

?John B

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Condolences on your loss, and the emotion of that is very present in your piece. I like how the bass is actually doing jazz moves - it sounds great in the mix, maybe you could add just a bit more low end bass back in on the bass guitar? The piano's bass is nicely controlled - overall your mix I think has a slight favoritism for the upper frequencies. Of course, flute leads do that! When you listen to it without the flute (mute the flute!) does the mix seem balanced between high and low? I suspect you might get away with popping in half a db on the bass guitar, around 150 or so hz, I wonder if that would help fill out the bottom a bit more? Or could you bring up the kick drum a tad, which I think usually has a fundamental slightly lower than the bass?

 

Or that's just me.

 

As for the flute, for me it's mixed just a bit loud, and just a bit dry. But this is 100% personal preference, it just depends how much of a feature or spotlight you want on it. It sounds totally valid as is, and I agree, for a freebie, that flute patch sounds pretty good, sort of in a pan flute direction. I'd probably add too much reverb and ruin everything - as you have it, it certainly has clarity.

 

Piano? Well then. With sampled pianos, every single different person on earth will give you a different opinion as to tone, velocities, eq, patch quality . . . my point is, get the piano to where it sounds good to you, put a little reverb on it,  and call it good. You can massage piano samples for days and days only to chase your tail. What you have (is it ez keys or some such?) does the job, pretty well actually, but you might look around for some of the kontakt pianos that might have a bit more 3D depth in the sound field. And if you get a better piano patch, it will still be tricky to mix. Fun, huh? Just my .02

 

 

cheers,

-Tom

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Thanks Paul & Tom!

Tom, as per your suggestions I did a remix this morning (7/5).

I boosted the bass as per your suggestion 1/2 db @ 150hz.

I brought down the lead flute part a bit in volume.

I increased the volume on the kick drum a bit.  There is a bit more presence in the kick drum, but not enough to make it distracting.

To my ears it seems to balance a bit more between the high and low end frequencies.

The new mix is at the original link, if you care to revisit. ?

Thanks!

?JB

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