A Blazing Grace / John Coltrane homage, Remix

LinearLineman

The beauty of surrender to the universe is that we give up the guilt of responsibility. At least in the art of creation. John Coltrane knew this as much as anyone possibly can. He expressed the shit out of that freedom. He followed it wherever it led him. Even if it meant leaving his audience behind.
Even if it meant leaving when there was more fun to be had,

When he disappeared into a room in his home for two weeks, I imagine he had a new direction in his heart and soul. He was eminently prepared for the journey, and yet for such a journey, the trick is to be unprepared. I believe he got out of the way of all that had gone before. He was born anew.
I'm not sure what he walked out of that room with, but it became A Love Supreme. He was forever changed and so were we. He became a light, supreme.

Pianoteq 8, BeatHawk Total Bass and SWAM Tenor Sax.

Remix…

hes

Wow. Beautiful and interesting piece.

Only thing I would say is I think the sax could be a lot more realistic. I don't think any sax player would play with that kind of attack so consistently. I think Swam can get you there, if you get more skilled at using mod wheel to adjust breath, or just use a breath controller device.

myapologies

Adventurous yet mild and relaxing. Glad I tuned in

Paulieworld

I haven’t listened to A Love Supreme since college. I did a bit of reading and discovered a few things that I didn’t know. The session was recorded in a single take! What a lineup, Trane, McCoy Tyner, Jimmy Garrison, and Elvin Jones. It brought back some nice memories. I think you did a great job of capturing the spontaneity of the session. I think @GeoTony would have fun with this. Just a thought.

LinearLineman

Thanks @myapologies @Paulieworld
Totally agree @hes I’ve been trying to use a pedal for attack but haven’t got it yet. Will keep at it.

LinearLineman

@hes pls give a listen to this remix. I used Blue Mangoo’s Attack Softener and also cleaned up the sax line a bit and adjusted instrument levels. It’s about as good as I’m gonna get, but I’m still very pleased with it. Thx for the nudge, bro.

hes

@LinearLineman I did give a relisten to original and new version. Not really sure about anything. I would say new version sounds a little more realistic, attacks a little softer and more natural. But, really, even the original sounds quite good and I'm not even sure my initial response wasn't colored simply by the fact that I knew you were generating the sax with a keyboard. The sax style, like your piano style, is one that I would call 'choppy'. I don't mean that in a derogatory way, can't quite think of the better-sounding term to characterize your style. I can only think to say "choppy", but that it's a choppy that somehow works to make beautiful sounding music. I think with Swam sax best way to get sound you want would be to listen to an actual sax recording that you like the style of, then figure out how to reproduce it as closely as you can given tools you're working with. I expect you're getting pretty close to what you want.

LinearLineman

Thanks for the thoughtful response @hes. Maybe “percussive” is what describes some of my music. I think I lost sight of the strong attacks I did here too often. I’ve listened to other sax lines I’ve done and they are not so exaggerated. I used to not allow for breaths, too. Not so much anymore. All part of the learning curve.

hes

Yes, "percussive"! With regard to attacks, kind of the opposite of a slur. It works for you, obviously.

GeoTony

I think there’s a risk that superb keyboard players sound like superb keyboard players irrespective of what sounds (in this case sax) are popping out of the speakers.
Having said that I think this is pretty darned good , more light and shade and breathing space than in some tracks from a while ago.
Great work 🙏

LinearLineman

@hes yeah, the beauty of the piano. Tough and soft. Mean and sweet.
Thx @GeoTony agreed. It’s the learning curve.