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Granular Love - new mix

Lynn Wilson

By Lynn Wilson
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Lynn Wilson

Lynn Wilson

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Hello to all my CW friends!  It's been a long 6 months since I've had much spare time, but here I am with a new song.  I recently purchased Waves Harmony and used it on this song to experiment a bit.  It's fresh off the press and can be found here:  https://soundclick.com/r/s8mawa

I managed to listen to some of the new songs here from time to time, and I've been very impressed.  I would like to have commented many times, but time has been precious this year.  Thanks in advance for your time and good ears!

Lynn

9/28/22  Thanks to my co-producers here, I remixed the percussion, smoothed a few rough edges, and slightly rearranged the beats.  I also lessened the f/x on my vocals a bit and raised the bass gtr a tad.  I think this helped to get me closer to the end.

Edited by Lynn Wilson
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mark skinner

mark skinner

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 Lynn , I knew I would Really like this from the very first opening notes. The percussion instruments were Very nice including the bass , sounding somewhat like a tabla drum. Cool !  I have a rack mount TC Helicon Voice Works that can generate 4 nice harmony's and it's a "blast" to sing thru. It's a pain to set up and I only use it for special effects once in a blue moon. The main thing I've found is that it's Real easy to overuse. I learned to copy the main centered vocal and process it a little differently than the stereo track containing the main and all the harmony's.  This really helps tame the phasing sound a lot of harmony generators can introduce.   Great song and production , I Really enjoyed it ..

mark

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Lynn Wilson

Lynn Wilson

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19 hours ago, steve@baselines.com said:

This is great Lynn - all of it!  Welcome back.

Thank you, Steve, it's good to be back!

 

18 hours ago, Dream Art Scientists said:

Nice job, and cool vocal sounds using Waves Harmony! 

Thank you very much!

 

14 hours ago, DeeringAmps said:

Sometimes life just gets in the way.
Worth the wait!

Drop a "like", let us know you're out there...

?

t

Tom, you hit the nail on the head.  Some family members and friends finally got caught up in the covid web, and I made an offer to help out,  where and if I could.  As they say, no good deed goes unpunished :)  I did drop a few "likes", but not nearly enough.

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Lynn Wilson

Lynn Wilson

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On 9/7/2022 at 9:18 AM, mark skinner said:

 Lynn , I knew I would Really like this from the very first opening notes. The percussion instruments were Very nice including the bass , sounding somewhat like a tabla drum. Cool !  I have a rack mount TC Helicon Voice Works that can generate 4 nice harmony's and it's a "blast" to sing thru. It's a pain to set up and I only use it for special effects once in a blue moon. The main thing I've found is that it's Real easy to overuse. I learned to copy the main centered vocal and process it a little differently than the stereo track containing the main and all the harmony's.  This really helps tame the phasing sound a lot of harmony generators can introduce.   Great song and production , I Really enjoyed it ..

mark

Mark, thanks for your time and ears!  That low drum is a cajon from SD3's percussion kit;  I like it, too, and have never used it before.  I used a similar technique on the vocal that you describe, using a clean vocal track and combining with the processed sound.  In Harmony, setting up is as easy as pie.  Most of the presets need only a little tweaking to get a cool sound.  But, MUST NOT OVERUSE IT!

 

23 hours ago, Bajan Blue said:

Hi Lynn

We've missed you!!

Great track, remined me of a Peter Gabriel track, which is excellent!!

very interesting vocal effects - do you know how the Waves VST compares to Zplanes Vielklang? https://products.zplane.de/products/vielklang/

Cheers

Nigel

 

 

Nigel, thank you for your kind words!  I took a look at the Zplanes and noticed that Waves is about$100 cheaper.  Otherwise, I don't know unless I get it in my hands.  I may demo this.k  Good luck with your new album!

 

19 hours ago, Eric Parsons said:

What a cool tune!  The harmony effect really works for this tune.  I will have to learn

more about it.  I also dig your selection of instrumentation and the mix.  It seems very dreamlike.

Nice work.

Thank you so much, Eric.  Your time and words mean a lot!

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David Baay

David Baay

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Hi Lynn, I've been ignoring the songs forum for quite a while (makes me feel guilty for not posting anything myself recently), but happened to check this out. I really like it overall - interesting composition, good lyrics, singing, instrumentation, mix, etc. - but I'm surprised to see no one else mentioning... the timing seems a bit wonky (the technical term). Is it just me?

As far as I can tell, the individual tracks have pretty solid timing internally, but the sync between them seems off - beyond anything I would consider to fall within the realm of "playing behind the beat" or "syncopation".  It's actually hard to decide which part to use as a reference - maybe it's just that some of the percussion is ahead of the beat or has too much 'swing'? I think I'd have to be able to solo tracks and see where everything is relative to the grid to figure it out.

I do like it a lot otherwise, so please take this as a constructive. 

 

 

 

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Johnbee58

Johnbee58

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Lynn,  Welcome back.  Was getting worried you dropped off the face of the planet! ?

I just bought Waves Harmony too.  I'm trying to figure out how to make it work with single note vocal harmony.  My harmonies don't move in strict thirds or fourths, so I've been trying to find a way to make it do that.  It's cool that it can follow your chords like that though.  Do you use the Generate Note feature or the MIDI?

This is a neat experiment.  I like the different percussion loops you got going on.

?John B

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Lynn Wilson

Lynn Wilson

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21 hours ago, David Baay said:

Hi Lynn, I've been ignoring the songs forum for quite a while (makes me feel guilty for not posting anything myself recently), but happened to check this out. I really like it overall - interesting composition, good lyrics, singing, instrumentation, mix, etc. - but I'm surprised to see no one else mentioning... the timing seems a bit wonky (the technical term). Is it just me?

As far as I can tell, the individual tracks have pretty solid timing internally, but the sync between them seems off - beyond anything I would consider to fall within the realm of "playing behind the beat" or "syncopation".  It's actually hard to decide which part to use as a reference - maybe it's just that some of the percussion is ahead of the beat or has too much 'swing'? I think I'd have to be able to solo tracks and see where everything is relative to the grid to figure it out.

I do like it a lot otherwise, so please take this as a constructive. 

 

 

 

David, thank you for your constructive words!  This was one of the questions I had when I posted this.  What I think you're hearing is this:  I used preset beats from Superior Drummer 3's percussion program.  I started with the cajon, and then, layered congas and bongos over it.  I experimented a bit with polyrhythm by combining straight and swing beats in the same measure (something I picked up from listening to King Crimson and Bill Bruford).  I recorded everything else to these beats.

Whether this works or not depends on the listener, ultimately.  It takes good ears to catch nuances like this, so, well done.

20 hours ago, Johnbee58 said:

Lynn,  Welcome back.  Was getting worried you dropped off the face of the planet! ?

I just bought Waves Harmony too.  I'm trying to figure out how to make it work with single note vocal harmony.  My harmonies don't move in strict thirds or fourths, so I've been trying to find a way to make it do that.  It's cool that it can follow your chords like that though.  Do you use the Generate Note feature or the MIDI?

This is a neat experiment.  I like the different percussion loops you got going on.

?John B

John, it's good to be back.  Thanks for your ears!  As for Harmony, I found a minor chord preset that seemed to fit and recorded it live rather than adding it afterwards.  I felt that hearing the effect while recording made me use my voice more as an instrument to find those sweet spots. 

It's interesting that you heard the different percussion loops, too, as it was a question mark.  To you and David, so noted.  Thanks guys!

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markno999

markno999

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Lynn,

Good to see you back.   I like the song and overall production, very well done.     Not a fan of Waves Harmony though, I think as an occasional "effect" or buried under real vocals, these types of tools can be effective but you can't beat real vocals at the end of the day.     Tried many of these tools but end up mostly reverting to Melodyne for harmonies these days (or EW Hollywood Backup Singers).    Waves Harmony, et. al., are great for sketching ideas though, no doubt.

Definitely hear the Steve Miller vibe on this one.     The drums and bass are super tight, great work on those.    Had a couple listens through, good stuff.

 

Regards

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Lynn Wilson

Lynn Wilson

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On 9/9/2022 at 2:14 PM, markno999 said:

Lynn,

Good to see you back.   I like the song and overall production, very well done.     Not a fan of Waves Harmony though, I think as an occasional "effect" or buried under real vocals, these types of tools can be effective but you can't beat real vocals at the end of the day.     Tried many of these tools but end up mostly reverting to Melodyne for harmonies these days (or EW Hollywood Backup Singers).    Waves Harmony, et. al., are great for sketching ideas though, no doubt.

Definitely hear the Steve Miller vibe on this one.     The drums and bass are super tight, great work on those.    Had a couple listens through, good stuff.

 

Regards

Mark, thanks for listening to this and your wise words,  I understand what you mean by being careful with the use of this software.  I consider it another "spice" in my spice rack.  I do, however, like spicy food ;)  Ever since hearing Imogen Heep's  "Hide And Seek", I've been a sucker for f/x like this, and I finally got to have my turn.

 

On 9/10/2022 at 2:31 AM, bjornpdx said:

Great to hear your voice again Lynn!  Love the song, the performance and production of it. Sounds really good.
-Bjorn

Thanks so much, Bjorn.  Congrats on the songs you've been putting out, lately!

 

On 9/10/2022 at 7:42 AM, Wookiee said:

Good that you got a chance @Lynn Wilson I do understand about time being precious this year.  Sounds good here.

It always pleases me when you give me a good review.  I know you have some of the best monitors and ears around, and I've learned much from you.  Thanks a million!

 

20 hours ago, antler said:

Great song Lynn. I saw the comment above about sounding like Peter Gabriel and completely agree (in a good way). Very creative song and arrangement.

Well done!

Thank you for your kind words and time.  PG may have been in the back of my mind when arranging this song, as he's been very influential to me.

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