Song of the Month Club - March 2016

Bluepunk

@theconnactic You most certainly are a prolific songster Dimitri. A trio of happiness this month (so far). Congrats. Another well played, mixed, produced piece. The bass break is lush. Great tone to it as well. Is that all guitar work from 3.18 to 3.51? Got some nice bendy, twisted sounds in that part.
I'm trying but I can't stop singing "Howzat" by Sherbet during for example parts 1.06 to 1.15, 1.23 to 1.30, 2.13 to 2.20. I'm not sure I should be admitting that, street cred n all that Please everyone, tell me I'm not alone in thinking/humming that. Certainly very catchy.
I enjoy listening to your stuff, especially on a Friday. It emphasises the feel good factor of the approaching weekend. Great work again.

LostBoy85

@aaronpc hey man,I liked your piece a lot.Lots of interesting elements.Great mix imo.I love the weird dolphin noises and of course that delicious vocal...you have one hell of a falsetto mate!!;D any chance you could please tell me where you got the vocal from...I need it!!!!
Cheers
Leo

aaronpc

@LostBoy85 said:
@aaronpc hey man,I liked your piece a lot.Lots of interesting elements.Great mix imo.I love the weird dolphin noises and of course that delicious vocal...you have one hell of a falsetto mate!!;D any chance you could please tell me where you got the vocal from...I need it!!!!
Cheers
Leo

Thanks much! But now you're making me give up all my secrets. That is actually a Kontakt Instrument called Clare Solo from Ivy Audio. It's very convincing, no? There's a limited free version you can mess around with. I don't do anything exclusively on the iPad, so hopefully that is not an impediment.

theconnactic

@Bluepunk said:
@theconnactic You most certainly are a prolific songster Dimitri. A trio of happiness this month (so far). Congrats. Another well played, mixed, produced piece. The bass break is lush. Great tone to it as well. Is that all guitar work from 3.18 to 3.51? Got some nice bendy, twisted sounds in that part.
I'm trying but I can't stop singing "Howzat" by Sherbet during for example parts 1.06 to 1.15, 1.23 to 1.30, 2.13 to 2.20. I'm not sure I should be admitting that, street cred n all that Please everyone, tell me I'm not alone in thinking/humming that. Certainly very catchy.
I enjoy listening to your stuff, especially on a Friday. It emphasises the feel good factor of the approaching weekend. Great work again.

No, that part between 3'18'' and 3'51'' is a synth solo through some FX: I recorded it using my UMX 610 controller, which has a quite useful pitch bend wheel, hence the bends you heard.

Nice to know you enjoyed the choruses, even comparing them to a cool older band (I didn't know them, but I couldn't help it and did a little search on Youtube for the song you mentioned, and enjoyed it quite a lot).

Thank you so much for your words, @Bluepunk! Have a nice weekend indeed.

Dimitri.

LostBoy85

@richardyot Hey man,well straight off the bat I won't comment on the mix because I know you do things a bit unconventionally,but I will say that in its unorthodoxness I thought it sounded nice actually.And ultimately,well,that's all that matters right? Man,I love the chord sequence in the chorus,unexpected and for me really enjoyable.Nice melody,well sung.I also enjoyed the moving bass line.
All in all a thoroughly enjoyable listen for me and it grabbed me like "sinking slowly" did.
Well done mate!

rickwaugh

@theconnactic, "Frenzy" is an appropriate title. I was tired by the end of it. I think the guitar could have come up a bit in the mix, seemed a bit bottom heavy to me. Brazilian fusion is a great way to think of it for me, too. Love the bass solo, came at a good point to break things up a bit.

rickwaugh

@aaronpc, I really enjoyed it, up until about a minute left when you brought in what sounded like a string instrument as a solo. The timing of the playing just didn't sit well with the piece, sounded a bit off. The rest of it, very cool vibe, and I love the mix. That would be good movie/credits music.

rickwaugh

@High5denied, high 5 denied 2.0, some of it worked for me, some not. The vocals need to come up in the mix, and need a bit of love. They sound kind of squashed to me. And while I love offbeat breaks, the breaks just didn't quite work for me, something not quite right in how it flowed. Just my personal opinion of course. Lead guitar was very Tony Iommi in his prime sounding to me, which is a good thing.

rickwaugh

@richardyot, that's a great tune. I disagree entirely on removing anything from the vocals. I think the tone and effects were spot on, and their presence in the mix was perfect. I think the drums needed to come up a bit - there was something bothering me in the mix, which was a pretty good mix, everything sat nicely, but I realized I was losing some of the percussion. A bit of screaming guitar would be nice to alleviate some of the softness, and I think would work over that background, al la Pink Floyd.

rickwaugh

@TGiG, huge potential there. I love what you did at the start, with the filters running over the piano. I'm with @richardyot, I think the strings are too linear. Over top of that great piano, providing some rhythmic variety would have been great - create a melody and play with it. The build is very good, the tension is very good.

On Edit: Forgot to mention, the drum sound is not natural, a bit to frenzied. Not sure if a real drummer would sound better, or could play at that rate. I'd cut the real fast repetitions in half, as in, if they are16th notes, make them 8ths.

rickwaugh

@theconnactic, Polaris is a bit of a departure. Doesn't feel so Brazilian - funk, with a pop rock chorus. I like the pinch harmonics, but they sound like you were maybe trying to force them in a bit too much. Song had my head bobbing and feet tapping, which is always a good thing.

theconnactic

Thank you very much, @rickwaugh, for both reviews!

aaronpc

Thanks, too, @rickwaugh for coming through with the critique, rather than just praise. I agree that the last minute is mostly me sliding back into my comfort zone. That whole last bit is a bit of a give up, IMO. I like it, but I would, wouldn't I? The whole thing is a bit repetitive, in truth, so thanks for the kick in the pants.

crouchie

@theconnactic said:
Well, seems I'll again be the first:

"Quid Pro Quo" is a latin expression that has a different meaning in Portuguese and English: in Portuguese, it means a misunderstanding, a mistake, while in English is just an exchange of one thing for another, "tit for tat".

Enjoy the listening, and have a fantastic week!
Dimitri.

V impressive as always. A more laid back groove to this one and I prefer it. Guitar great and distinctive. My only complaint is over the rather mushy crash cymbal sample, but it's a tiny thing. Good work!

crouchie

@JohnnyGoodyear said:
Early in the month, but this is a draft that I hope to make progress with in March. It was inspired (in the doing of it) by @Bluepunk.

I am probably bidialectal at this point with an accent that falls somewhere between London and Texas (plus a long stop off in New York), but Mister Punk’s loud/proud English example has brought me (at least in this draft form) somewhat back to my roots.

The words (see below, if required) are heartfelt and that’s about as much as I’m going to say about them at this point. I don’t intend to change them because they say what I need to, but I am thinking of redoing the vocal to something more mournful, the song being that (in many ways), but it’s also –at heart- angry. I’m torn.

Guess we’ll see.

This Is How A Lullaby Sounds (Love song for Lee Miller)

By the side of my grave
Sits an old memory
Her name is Lee Miller
And she’s staring back at me

She died July 21
1977
And I can’t say for certain
If she made her way to heaven

Or if she cared pretty much
About it either way
But there was a boy who was 16 in London
And remembers well that day

Forgiveness and remembrance
And more than anything some meaning
As our days run out of certainty
It’s on those posts we’re leaning

For a purpose and a value
But especially some grace
And that’s exactly what I see
When I look at Lee Miller’s face

She lay in Hitler’s bathtub
And before that she was Man Ray’s muse
Later on she drank too much
And forgot all she had to lose

But when I think of her it’s not as broken
Or old or gone to seed
But a woman out of time
And a calling beyond need

And now I’m older also
Been through some bitter times
The clock is nearly vertical
I can hear those final chimes

For a purpose and a value
But especially some grace
And that’s exactly what I see
When I look at Lee Miller’s face

[This is how a lullaby sounds
to a father who’s seen his baby die.]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lee_Miller

Has lots of positives but this is not one of my favourites. The accent/delivery just feels a bit forced. Lyrics good as always. I know it's a work in progress so I'm intrigued to hear where you take it from here. I must say that I like the delay on the vocal however, and it helps start to generate the atmosphere ur tunes always have.

crouchie

@orchardman said:
Hi all, thanks for all the feedback over the past couple of months, I have tried to take on board some of the constructive criticism I have received.

Some more folky goodness from us this month with an indian vibe. Its been the wettest, darkest, most miserable winter I can remember here in south Wales so we have tried to channel our inner hippy to bring some sunlight back. As usual, mostly IOS into loopy and than exported to Live for vocals, mixing and mastering. As always all feedback welcomed.

Like that folky feel. Vocal stronger in the middle than earlier on. I like the songs structure, u keep changing things around which kept me interested. Really well put together, although I'd just like a bit more bass in the mix. Really good mind!

crouchie

@Igneous1 said:
Here's my entry for this month. 'Endless Square'

This will be my final SOTMC entry with my Formbank stuff. I've decided to look to finalising the tracks I've done so far, so I won't be doing any new tracks. Without wanting to sound self-promoting, there's some other recent tracks on my Soundcloud page, as well as the SOTMC contributions, which will be included in an upcoming album of some kind .

Anyway, all done in Gadget (again), but this time using the truly useful compressor and the Eq in the new version. 'Endless Square' veers between 4/4 and 6/8, which may account for it's oblique 'feel'. Title comes from Gadget's brill auto-naming feature.

As always I am really impressed by your structuring and musical know how. All way beyond me as evidenced by my v basic offerings. My only reservation is that it's just a bit too smooth. I keep wanting something a little rough to come out and grab my attention, but that is a taste thing and takes nothing away from your excellent tunes. Great stuff

crouchie

@crony said:
Hello,

I've missed february for 4 days
So here's my new track.

I'm listening to tracks of this month and post feedback very soon.
Enjoy!

Oh now I liked this a lot! Lovely little micro house/dubsteppy stuff going on, liked that heavily side chained pad in the middle, the vocal sample. Properly kicks off loud. V impressed!

crouchie

@Halftone said:
here's my entry for this month - I was extra ambitious and made a quick video for this track (my first video for a song ever!). I just gathered some free stock footage from various places and quickly edited them together.

This song started last summer with the electric piano chords created in Garageband. I exported that loop into Loopy and added a drumloop, bassline (from Tera Synth I think, or maybe Thor), and a few other synth loops. Then the song sat unfinished for a while. I found the vocal sample after that and added - but still the song went nowhere. With the latest update to Garageband in January, I thought I'd bring things full circle and took all the loops from Loopy I'd made and brought them back into GB. I decided to take out my initial drum loop, and used a GB Drummer track. I took away a few loops, and added a few new ones (piano and horns, a pad synth) from internal Garageband instruments. I wasn't expecting the mix to turn out as good as it did coming from GBand... So I'm extra happy with the final results.

here's the youtube video link:

and the soundcloud version:

m

It's when the piano comes in that I get into this one. Nice vocal too. I am a little turned off by the horn sound, just too synthetic, but the piano (again), lovely!

crouchie

@JohnnyGoodyear said:
The Missus is away (in Hawaii no less, lucky bugger ) and so I spent some time revisiting an old flame (kinda) this afternoon. Story-wise anyway. It's a spoken piece about AI etc.

Blimey, I struggle to keep up with the reviews and now everyone's starting with the 2 a month entries!

crouchie

@Bluepunk said:
Im retraining to become a drug and alcohol counsellor ( The counsellor bit. Ive already got a masters degree on the drugs n alcohol side of things ) So inspired by this heres a happy, uplifting song... Not!

I can't make any adjustments to levels as this is the only audio file of it I have left. I stupidly deleted all other versions from Cubasis. Nightmare as there are some hotspots that will have to stay. Im uploading right now so I don't bugger things up even more.

I like it, not my usual cup of tea. Would like the vocal up a bit but I hear what u say about the loss of files. I like the wall-of-guitar sound to the track, with the punk delivery which at times gets close to but never quite arrives at parody. Well done mate!

crouchie

@High5denied said:
Ok, so I've still got some more listening to do. This is a song a submitted a few months ago. I re-worked it, re-recorded the vocals, remixed, re-mastered(I use that term very loosely.). Would love to get your thoughts again on it.

I hope it's close to being semi-done-ish.

I've listened to the song in my car, on apple earbuds, my Audio-technica HeadPhones, several stereo systems,and a few different PC's. On one PC here at work, there are a few times in the song where it seems like the drum fill gets drowned out or looses it's OOMPH......or volume. But, only when I listen on the one Computer, doesn't matter if it's with earbuds, phones, or a mini speaker system.

Here is the song the first time around, if you would like to compare. If you don't want to subject yourself to it 2X's in a row, just listen to the 2nd link, that is the newest version of da song. Thanks!

New Version ------->>>>

That's an enjoyable blast! It's picked up from the previous incarnation. My mixing insight it limited with electronic music and non-existent with regard to guitar based stuff so sadly I think there is little I can say except that it sounds good to me, particularly liked the solo near the end.

JohnnyGoodyear

@crouchie said:

@JohnnyGoodyear said:
Early in the month, but this is a draft that I hope to make progress with in March. It was inspired (in the doing of it) by @Bluepunk.

Has lots of positives but this is not one of my favourites. The accent/delivery just feels a bit forced. Lyrics good as always. I know it's a work in progress so I'm intrigued to hear where you take it from here. I must say that I like the delay on the vocal however, and it helps start to generate the atmosphere ur tunes always have.

Thanks Mr. Crouch. Of course I haven't made an ounce of progress as regards making any progress but I travel in hope (as ever). Good reviewing stint. Homework on a Sunday night

rkmonkey

@Bluepunk said:

@Bluepunk said:

@richardyot said:
Of course it wasn't just @Bluepunk who thought he could skive off February, @LostBoy85 was also absent. Were you both smoking behind the bike sheds or something?

Yep. Caught! I'm on line number 327 of the 1000 lines of self imposed punishment.

"I must not miss another month........" Wish we could've had copy & paste back in the day instead of tracing paper. Mind, all that writing lines stuff was good for wrist flexibility. ...... & I mean for practicing drum rudiments!

C'mon @rkmonkey I know you were puffing on one behind the bike shed with us as well! Own up

Explains why I can't keep up with the lot of you. Slow (lost) as fuck me is.... In this new land of prolifica!

Bluepunk

@crouchie said:
I like it, not my usual cup of tea. Would like the vocal up a bit but I hear what u say about the loss of files. I like the wall-of-guitar sound to the track, with the punk delivery which at times gets close to but never quite arrives at parody. Well done mate!

Thanks @crouchie I appreciate that. My files are on lockdown & a stiff lesson learnt (I hope).

Nice one on all your reviews sir.

Bluepunk

@rkmonkey said:

@Bluepunk said:

@Bluepunk said:

@richardyot said:
Of course it wasn't just @Bluepunk who thought he could skive off February, @LostBoy85 was also absent. Were you both smoking behind the bike sheds or something?

Yep. Caught! I'm on line number 327 of the 1000 lines of self imposed punishment.

"I must not miss another month........" Wish we could've had copy & paste back in the day instead of tracing paper. Mind, all that writing lines stuff was good for wrist flexibility. ...... & I mean for practicing drum rudiments!

C'mon @rkmonkey I know you were puffing on one behind the bike shed with us as well! Own up

Explains why I can't keep up with the lot of you. Slow (lost) as fuck me is.... In this new land of prolifica!

Ah, I thought I saw you on the Capstan Full Strength Maybe stick to Player's Weights in future. Less lung intrusion (just). At least there's 31 days this month mate.

rickwaugh

I'm most definitely not getting something in this month. Tried to start something in an odd scale, that ended up sounding campy. But something quite incredible happened. I hit a riff while playing last week, that I really liked. I entered it into Notion, got a concept, finished the guitar part, added a bass part, and a violin and flute. It's pretty much ready to transfer to Auria and begin the playing part. This is lightspeed for me. Not going to be done for March, but April should be doable. Maybe.

I seem to have hit on a workflow, on this lovely little device, that has improved both quality and quantity.

theconnactic

This reminds me the days I used to write my songs in Finale, @rickwaugh. Good luck, and I'm looking forward to listen to the new song!

crony

@richardyot ,
nice musical ambiance, even if it's too "classical" for my ears. I like the production of the guitar and voices, but not sure on all vocal takes, specially around 2:30, and last verse.

@TGIG ,
Like the production, quite original with the piano, not crazy about strings part, then it's very repetitive, and has no silences, needs some air sometimes.
Didn't like the ending in fade out, sounds a bit like a loop that you're not sure how to end to me.

@theconnactic
Funky way this time ! Production is clean, guitar is also good, but too much to me, even if I do understand that's instrumental music of course...

@crouchie
Thanks for the comment
Keep working on a new track

LostBoy85

Hey guys,
I'm super happy to present another collaboration with the amazing Marcel!! Woop woop! Last time I wrote on an already finished instrumental of his,but this time we did the whole track from the ground up.Me on lyrics and vocals,Marcel on the backing track and the guitars.This was a really fun project and we hope you like the song.All comments are welcome as always.

Lyrics.Kingdom come.

She found me washed up on the shore
A stranger lost,a shipwrecked soul
The life I thought I'd built on stone
Was drowning in the sand

Her eyes were warm and lighthouse bright
Her lips gave me the kiss of life
The words she spoke so musical
I longed to understand

Babylon,I see no hell fire here
My kingdom come,is in her eyes

My sweet Amalie,
if we only have this life,Your love is all I need
For so long I was just a skipping stone,trying to stay afloat
But you gave land to me & so I stay here
At your humble throne,my kingdom come.

She took me home through city walls
And lit a fire to warm my bones
And when she smiled a truth was known
I'd never be the same

Babylon,a revelation true
My kingdom come,she put me back together.