FreeEarCandy Posted April 16, 2023 Share Posted April 16, 2023 Hello! I hope everyone is doing well. My last post here was a tune I put together back in 2016. The title of said tune is Puppets. I got a lot of nice reviews and some very helpful feedback. When I first created the tune back in 2016, I had two ideas rolling around in my head, and I was sort of torn between which way I wanted to go. After considering both roads, I thought to myself, Why make a choice? So, rather than throw away what I thought was a good idea, I went ahead and made two versions of puppets. This post is the alternate idea I had at the time. As I'm not very good at identifying genres, I'll just say this version is a bit more edgy and leans towards rock. Maybe folk rock—I don't know. It is what it is, and I hope you enjoy it. The link to the first version is posted along with this version, or you can scroll down a bit here at bandlab song forum and find it. Thanks for clicking. Dean. 5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jesse Screed Posted April 19, 2023 Share Posted April 19, 2023 Cool! Nice guitar work. A real nice arrangement, ebbs an flows. I really like the vocals. I prefer upfront vocals. The solo, it follows the melody nicely. The git i the vocals at 3:21 is nice and then you finish with a flourish. Again, nice arrangement, great to hear from you. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FreeEarCandy Posted April 20, 2023 Author Share Posted April 20, 2023 7 hours ago, Jesse Screed said: Cool! Nice guitar work. A real nice arrangement, ebbs an flows. I really like the vocals. I prefer upfront vocals. The solo, it follows the melody nicely. The git i the vocals at 3:21 is nice and then you finish with a flourish. Again, nice arrangement, great to hear from you. Hello Jesse! Thanks! This version has its moments, but I personally like the acoustic version the most. The acoustic version seems to capture the theme better in my mind. Nevertheless, I thought it would be interesting to pursue the rock-ish interpretation and also share it for whatever its worth. I too prefer the up front presence of a vocal performance, but often widen it with harmonies if they add to the feeling and ambience. Sometimes just to add emphasis. A lot of experimentation that often ends in a lot of editing out as the project reaches its final phase and the full context is realized. Glad you found something in this you liked and enjoyed your feedback. Stay well, Jesse! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
noynekker Posted April 20, 2023 Share Posted April 20, 2023 Hey Candy Man . . . really enjoyed this ! . . . rocking bolero building thing that it is. Certainly is great at keeping a listener's interest with all you have going on, the way you introduce different instruments is quite effective, element of surprise, and love the guitar work. Did you ever play with a band called Kansas, maybe a fan ? Ha, reminded me of them a lot. Again, super enjoyable listen ! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jack c. Posted April 20, 2023 Share Posted April 20, 2023 pink floyd?all around great recording.jack c. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FreeEarCandy Posted April 21, 2023 Author Share Posted April 21, 2023 21 hours ago, noynekker said: Hey Candy Man . . . really enjoyed this ! . . . rocking bolero building thing that it is. Certainly is great at keeping a listener's interest with all you have going on, the way you introduce different instruments is quite effective, element of surprise, and love the guitar work. Did you ever play with a band called Kansas, maybe a fan ? Ha, reminded me of them a lot. Again, super enjoyable listen ! Thanks! You are very kind. "Rocking bolero"? Had to look that up and got a good chuckle imagining myself in very tight pants with one arm arched over the head. Kansas was a very popular band in my area, so yeah, I'm a big fan. Your mentioning it made me think where that may be coming from, because I never really tried to play any of their tunes, but now that you mentioned it I do hear it mostly in the acoustic guitar. The electric guitar arena mostly favors David Gilmour, because I used most of Pink Floyd tunes to learn how to play guitar. @jack c. picked up on it. To some very small degree I sort of regret it because its hard to shake the habits I developed while learning from their collection. I also use to play to some OZZY tunes to help with speed and power cords. So every once in awhile a little Ozzy pops through too. Somewhere in it all I think there's a little bit of me in there too, which may only involve how I arrange and meld it altogether. Very pleased you liked the work and thanks for the belly laugh! Dean @jack c. Thanks Jack! Very glad you liked the work and letting me know in your comment. Very much appreciated! Dean Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Larry T. Posted April 21, 2023 Share Posted April 21, 2023 On 4/16/2023 at 7:55 AM, FreeEarCandy said: Hello! I hope everyone is doing well. My last post here was a tune I put together back in 2016. The title of said tune is Puppets. I got a lot of nice reviews and some very helpful feedback. When I first created the tune back in 2016, I had two ideas rolling around in my head, and I was sort of torn between which way I wanted to go. After considering both roads, I thought to myself, Why make a choice? So, rather than throw away what I thought was a good idea, I went ahead and made two versions of puppets. This post is the alternate idea I had at the time. As I'm not very good at identifying genres, I'll just say this version is a bit more edgy and leans towards rock. Maybe folk rock—I don't know. It is what it is, and I hope you enjoy it. The link to the first version is posted along with this version, or you can scroll down a bit here at bandlab song forum and find it. Thanks for clicking. Dean. Hi Dean. Very nice work. The performances and vox are great. Very powerful in the right moments. Just my 2 cents as every one of us would mix any song a different way, the mix sounds a bit compressed and not a lot of wideness is the audio spectrum. Maybe the Soundcloud processing???? The ending was too fast???? 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
noynekker Posted April 21, 2023 Share Posted April 21, 2023 2 hours ago, FreeEarCandy said: Thanks! You are very kind. "Rocking bolero"? Had to look that up and got a good chuckle imagining myself in very tight pants with one arm arched over the head. Kansas was a very popular band in my area, so yeah, I'm a big fan. Your mentioning it made me think where that may be coming from, because I never really tried to play any of their tunes, but now that you mentioned it I do hear it mostly in the acoustic guitar. The electric guitar arena mostly favors David Gilmour, because I used most of Pink Floyd tunes to learn how to play guitar. @jack c. picked up on it. To some very small degree I sort of regret it because its hard to shake the habits I developed while learning from their collection. I also use to play to some OZZY tunes to help with speed and power cords. So every once in awhile a little Ozzy pops through too. Somewhere in it all I think there's a little bit of me in there too, which may only involve how I arrange and meld it altogether. Very pleased you liked the work and thanks for the belly laugh! Dean Hi Dean . . . I was actually referring to a musical style . . . the bolero (not the dance style) "Boléro, one-movement orchestral work composed by Maurice Ravel and known for beginning softly and ending, according to the composer's instructions, as loudly as possible." . . . but glad you had a good laugh 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
daryl1968 Posted April 21, 2023 Share Posted April 21, 2023 very cool FEC - I really enjoyed it. Vocals sound great mate 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FreeEarCandy Posted April 21, 2023 Author Share Posted April 21, 2023 11 hours ago, noynekker said: Hi Dean . . . I was actually referring to a musical style . . . the bolero (not the dance style) "Boléro, one-movement orchestral work composed by Maurice Ravel and known for beginning softly and ending, according to the composer's instructions, as loudly as possible." . . . but glad you had a good laugh I was certain you were not talking about the dance, but it was very late when I wrote the comment, and my mind went in a silly direction. I totally agree! The tune does just that (from soft to loud). So Rock "Bolero" is an appropriate assessment. I actually like the term better than "Ballad". I heard the term before but couldn't put my finger on exactly what it was referring to, so I looked it up and found something about Bolero dancing, and from there my tired mind took over. Nevertheless, Thank you for lending the term and explaining. Dean! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FreeEarCandy Posted April 21, 2023 Author Share Posted April 21, 2023 7 hours ago, daryl1968 said: very cool FEC - I really enjoyed it. Vocals sound great mate Its a pleasure to share it with you and I'm very glad you enjoyed it! Dean. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FreeEarCandy Posted April 21, 2023 Author Share Posted April 21, 2023 12 hours ago, Larry T. said: Hi Dean. Very nice work. The performances and vox are great. Very powerful in the right moments. Just my 2 cents as every one of us would mix any song a different way, the mix sounds a bit compressed and not a lot of wideness is the audio spectrum. Maybe the Soundcloud processing???? The ending was too fast???? Hello Larry! While the music is free, I'm always glad to accept a few pennies worth of advice and how others may have approached the work. Indeed. The SoundCloud upload did something to my cymbals. They seemed louder after the upload, which then brought my attention to the drums. The drums do seem a bit narrow to me (the toms are not spreading out), and I will likely explore widening them more. The compression you mentioned I'll have to also look at and consider while I'm in there tweaking the drums. I probably should have gone a few more bars at the end, but in my earlier days I had a bad habit of being long-winded when playing lead. Now I shorten them for fear of becoming boring. I suppose it's better to leave people wanting more. Larry! Great comment, as always. By all means, don't hold back! Such critique is a great benefit to me and is always welcomed. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Johnbee58 Posted April 22, 2023 Share Posted April 22, 2023 Loving the use of the deep strings on the guitar. The attacks strike me the most (no pun intended). It sounds as if you're playing some string instrument other than a guitar (dulcimer maybe). Also love the imagery in your lyrics. ?John B 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bajan Blue Posted April 22, 2023 Share Posted April 22, 2023 This is a really good track - love your vocals and guitar - definitely hear the Gilmore influence - I think I agree with Larry about the mix being a bit compressed and I definitely agree with him, it's too short - wanted more! Cool stuff Nigel 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FreeEarCandy Posted April 22, 2023 Author Share Posted April 22, 2023 21 hours ago, Johnbee58 said: Loving the use of the deep strings on the guitar. The attacks strike me the most (no pun intended). It sounds as if you're playing some string instrument other than a guitar (dulcimer maybe). Also love the imagery in your lyrics. ?John B Thanks John! There are several acoustic guitar tracks, each with different effects and automation. The intro acoustic uses an Eq'ed delay and ends with some automation to create a slow opening gate effect before the finals notes. Glad you like the imagery! Dean Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FreeEarCandy Posted April 22, 2023 Author Share Posted April 22, 2023 14 hours ago, Bajan Blue said: This is a really good track - love your vocals and guitar - definitely hear the Gilmore influence - I think I agree with Larry about the mix being a bit compressed and I definitely agree with him, it's too short - wanted more! Cool stuff Nigel Thanks Nigel! Thanks for the conformation regarding the compression issue mentioned., and I'm glad you liked the track. Dean Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Makke Posted May 4, 2023 Share Posted May 4, 2023 Nice song and arrangement. Good vocs and guitar vork. Sounds good. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lynn Wilson Posted May 7, 2023 Share Posted May 7, 2023 Wow! I love this song! I heard it before, but it still sounds fresh. The intro drew me in like a moth to a flame, and your vocals really caught my attention. This is so artfully arranged, kinda like a Roger Waters tune. Your EQ profile on the mix is bright to my ears, though it would sound good in a variety of listening devices, I'm sure. Otherwise, this is stellar! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FreeEarCandy Posted May 12, 2023 Author Share Posted May 12, 2023 On 5/4/2023 at 10:14 AM, Makke said: Nice song and arrangement. Good vocs and guitar vork. Sounds good. Thank you Makke! On 5/7/2023 at 1:06 PM, Lynn Wilson said: Wow! I love this song! I heard it before, but it still sounds fresh. The intro drew me in like a moth to a flame, and your vocals really caught my attention. This is so artfully arranged, kinda like a Roger Waters tune. Your EQ profile on the mix is bright to my ears, though it would sound good in a variety of listening devices, I'm sure. Otherwise, this is stellar! Thanks Lynn! Especially your thoughts about the EQ. You are not the first to point out the brightness, and I'm now paying special attention to this issue in my future mixes. Glad you enjoyed the tune enough to double dip. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jwnicholson78 Posted May 13, 2023 Share Posted May 13, 2023 Very nice. I didn't hear the original, but I enjoyed this one. Vocal's sound great. Jeff 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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