First new tune in months

[sammydix]

Looks like cleaning up the guitars and re-stringing them worked for motivation. Kinda rusty after not writing anything new in so long, but I came up with this earlier this week.

https://www.dropbox.com/s/oa10qxr93u...0Down.wav?dl=0

It's pretty much me on everything. I want to get the strings on each guitar broken in, so I purposely used them all in this (bass, acoustic, elect).
I've always liked the free U-he's for synth stuff. They're easy enough for even me to use.
The only thing not me is a piano loop in the middle of the song, and of course, the drums.

[toleolu]

Nice job, vocals were really good. Even sounded good on my iPad.

[msundh]

I always like your stuff, but this one I REALLY liked!
Like the arrangement and room sound.
I like the string noise in this one
One thought.
Around 2.00 there was a choir sound.
I can hear this crescendo'ing in high tones, could be great.

[morgon]

+1 The turnarounds really get me, a good case study in resolution/cadences. Chill grooves Sammy style, well done, cheers.

[sammydix]

Originally Posted by toleolu

Nice job, vocals were really good. Even sounded good on my iPad.

Cool. I'm glad it passed one listening media test. Thx man.

Originally Posted by msundh

I always like your stuff, but this one I REALLY liked!
Like the arrangement and room sound.
I like the string noise in this one
One thought.
Around 2.00 there was a choir sound.
I can hear this crescendo'ing in high tones, could be great.

Seems having a long break gets the juices going again after coming back. I'm not sure which specific sound you meant by the 'choir' sound.

Originally Posted by morgon

+1 The turnarounds really get me, a good case study in resolution/cadences. Chill grooves Sammy style, well done, cheers.

Yeah, I figured I'd better ease back in and get used to playing and singing again. I guess I wanted to "celebrate" by having this be the first song done with Reaper6.
I came up with another harder song while I was putting this together.
You up for another?

[toleolu]

Originally Posted by sammydix

You up for another?

Does a fat puppy poop???

[sammydix]

Originally Posted by toleolu

Does a fat puppy poop???

!

Too funny! But I was mainly asking Morgan if he could play guitar on the next song.

[msundh]

[QUOTE=sammydix;2216473 I'm not sure which specific sound you meant by the 'choir' sound.
[/QUOTE]
around 2:04

[morgon]

Originally Posted by sammydix

I came up with another harder song while I was putting this together.
You up for another?

Yeh sure. The bpm info [if the track's done to a grid] often comes in handy, for changing the move order of phrases sometimes etc.

[bucca]

taindedmaninc.

[zeekat]

Brilliant, great big dynamic sound and lots of catchiness. I was wondering at the beginning how will using different guitars hard panned work out, but works just right in the arrangement.

[azimuth]

Nice job Sam, enjoyed listening to it, great groove. Dug the Beatles hook in the lyric. Can't comment on mix, listening on earbuds but did not sound bad at all.

[pbattersby]

Nice mellow rock vibe. It reminded me of the style of "Soak up the Sun" by Sheryl Crow. Not that it sounds like a copy of that song, just that it has the same mellow, lazy summer afternoon listening to the radio feel for me. I like that feeling.

[sammydix]

Originally Posted by msundh

around 2:04

Oh yeah. Sometimes I do like the old days and "bounce down" and commit. The synth parts were bounced down, so that little part isn't isolated. I mainly keep the lead vocal, guitars, bass, and drums un-bounced since those may have to be changed or made better.

[sammydix]

Originally Posted by morgon

Yeh sure. The bpm info [if the track's done to a grid] often comes in handy, for changing the move order of phrases sometimes etc.

Thanks! I still have to write some lyrics and sing, but I'll send you a scratch project soon.

[Sambo Rouge]

Hey Sammy!

Nice to see you again.

I too had a bit of a hiatus and finally got back to it.

I really like this one. Very real mix and the vocal harmonisation really works.

As usual, the lyrics are cool and the overall production is terrific.

I really enjoyed this one Sammy --- don't stop! --- keep going.

(By the way if you'd care to listen to my latest --- a tad different to my usual ---)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KVVJP7NdTv8

All the best mate,

SR

[sammydix]

Originally Posted by bucca

taindedmaninc.

Hey Bucca. What's that in English?

Originally Posted by zeekat

Brilliant, great big dynamic sound and lots of catchiness. I was wondering at the beginning how will using different guitars hard panned work out, but works just right in the arrangement.

It did sound a bit weird at first to me too, esp since it was electric on one side and a counter-acoustic on the other, but I turned off the 'critic' and did it anyway.

[sammydix]

Originally Posted by azimuth

Nice job Sam, enjoyed listening to it, great groove. Dug the Beatles hook in the lyric. Can't comment on mix, listening on earbuds but did not sound bad at all.

Cool. At least I didn't lose it all because of the hiatus.

Originally Posted by pbattersby

Nice mellow rock vibe. It reminded me of the style of "Soak up the Sun" by Sheryl Crow. Not that it sounds like a copy of that song, just that it has the same mellow, lazy summer afternoon listening to the radio feel for me. I like that feeling.

A positive feeling works for me.

Originally Posted by Sambo Rouge

Hey Sammy!

Nice to see you again.

I too had a bit of a hiatus and finally got back to it.

I really like this one. Very real mix and the vocal harmonisation really works.

As usual, the lyrics are cool and the overall production is terrific.

I really enjoyed this one Sammy --- don't stop! --- keep going.

(By the way if you'd care to listen to my latest --- a tad different to my usual ---)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KVVJP7NdTv8

All the best mate,

SR

Every time I hear something by you it surprises me. I remember that happening with the last song I heard you post (not sure if there's been others in the interim). What did you use for the bagpipes? A synth?

[Sambo Rouge]

Yes, bagpipes are a bit tricky.

If I remember rightly, I made them out of a voice from Synth 1.

I recall hunting around for bagpipes and finding that a lot of them didn't sound that accurate --- a bit too "droney". So I did the drone separately.

Thanks for listening Sammy.

[Jorgen]

Solid work with a relaxed flow. Good vocal work. Is that Addictive Drums?

[foxAsteria]

Really good, spacious mix. I like the dissonance in the chords. Can you tell me how you got that nice stereo spread on the acoustic. Also, this is just a really good song, great voice. The drums sound a bit rough at times, but even that works.

[sammydix]

Originally Posted by Jorgen

Solid work with a relaxed flow. Good vocal work. Is that Addictive Drums?

Addictive started sounding too sterile and pristine to me, to the point I couldn't stand listening to them any more. So I searched for other drum vsti's that used more raw, unprocessed samples and Superior Drummer came up. I demoed and now Addictive is officially retired.

Originally Posted by foxAsteria

Really good, spacious mix. I like the dissonance in the chords. Can you tell me how you got that nice stereo spread on the acoustic. Also, this is just a really good song, great voice. The drums sound a bit rough at times, but even that works.

Both the electric and acoustic tracks are mono stems. I don't know what to say outside of just panning--but I do use a touch of delay on both.
The drums were me trying my new Superior toy for the very first time. I'm getting used to using it now (I hope).

[Jorgen]

Originally Posted by sammydix

Addictive started sounding too sterile and pristine to me, to the point I couldn't stand listening to them any more. So I searched for other drum vsti's that used more raw, unprocessed samples and Superior Drummer came up. I demoed and now Addictive is officially retired.

Toontrack, right? I had a hunch. Something about the room sound reminded me of EZDrummer. I demoed AD some years ago and found that I had to remove all processing, like compressors and eq, to get a sound that suited me.

[sammydix]

I did the same thing. Even on Kontakt libraries (drums or not) I remove all their internal plugins because they sound like...well...plugins, and in just about every case, my own preferred plugs sounded better.

But even after doing that with AD2, the base "raw" samples have processing. You can hear it. They sound "too good" to be truly raw, and that made it harder for me to shape the sound the way I wanted. Even the base SD3 samples may have some processing, but far less than anything else I've heard.

[karbomusic]

Nice tune, welcome back.

[sammydix]

Originally Posted by karbomusic

Nice tune, welcome back.

...Thx

[bucca]

Originally Posted by sammydix

Hey Bucca. What's that in English?

hey sammy. you've made a song named so, remember?
back down brought it back to me. ^^

[morgon]

Originally Posted by Sambo Rouge

Hey Sammy!

Nice to see you again.

I too had a bit of a hiatus and finally got back to it.

I really like this one. Very real mix and the vocal harmonisation really works.

As usual, the lyrics are cool and the overall production is terrific.

I really enjoyed this one Sammy --- don't stop! --- keep going.

(By the way if you'd care to listen to my latest --- a tad different to my usual ---)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KVVJP7NdTv8

All the best mate,

SR

Yeh that's some really fine production as well, you're really onto something with the synth bagpipe imo, sounds great.

[sammydix]

Originally Posted by bucca

hey sammy. you've made a song named so, remember?
back down brought it back to me. ^^

I forgot my own language hah!

[Sambo Rouge]

Originally Posted by morgon

Yeh that's some really fine production as well, you're really onto something with the synth bagpipe imo, sounds great.

Thanks Morgon --- I'm always trying to explore new sounds as is Sammy.

[bucca]

Originally Posted by sammydix

I forgot my own language hah!

got you sammy. i face the same after a few shots.

[Dimaension X]

Someone else commented on the "Sheryl Crow" style vibe. It's definitely a song of that era. Sort of indie-rock-pop, but there's also some Steven Wilson in there too. Amazing what you can do with guitar, bass, drums, and vocals. Sometimes simple is so much better.

[sammydix]

Originally Posted by Dimaension X

Someone else commented on the "Sheryl Crow" style vibe. It's definitely a song of that era. Sort of indie-rock-pop, but there's also some Steven Wilson in there too. Amazing what you can do with guitar, bass, drums, and vocals. Sometimes simple is so much better.

That's my general philosophy. I get distracted TOO easily, so I have to keep myself limited on purpose. I still use the same four plugins on every track, only changing up here or there if needed to get the sound I want...but it's rare.

[Stinger]

Can't comment on the mix, but this is a really good song. It's one thing to make a great-sounding song, but another thing altogether to make a good song that's also great-sounding. Way to go.

I think the Sheryl Crow feel is from the harmony that shadows the lead vocal - she used to do that a lot with her lead vocal, although her "shadow" was often along a lower note line (I call it "under harmony"), whereas yours is above the lead.

[sammydix]

Originally Posted by Stinger

Can't comment on the mix, but this is a really good song. It's one thing to make a great-sounding song, but another thing altogether to make a good song that's also great-sounding. Way to go.

I think the Sheryl Crow feel is from the harmony that shadows the lead vocal - she used to do that a lot with her lead vocal, although her "shadow" was often along a lower note line (I call it "under harmony"), whereas yours is above the lead.

Ok, that did it. Gotta go to YT to check out the S Crow song. I'm not a big fan, so it's probably one of those songs I've heard 1000 times, but never paid much attention to who did it. Once I hear it, I'll probably go, "Oh, they meant *that* song."

[smueske]

The thing I love about your music is that it is always uniquely you and always sounds great. Love the singing and the guitar playing, the cool vibe, the unusual and fitting embellishments. I do think the drums could be shaped a little more. They sound great (of course), but the performance doesn't really feel nailed down.

Thanks for the chance to listen and respond! Always a pleasure.

[sammydix]

Originally Posted by smueske

The thing I love about your music is that it is always uniquely you and always sounds great. Love the singing and the guitar playing, the cool vibe, the unusual and fitting embellishments. I do think the drums could be shaped a little more. They sound great (of course), but the performance doesn't really feel nailed down.

Thanks for the chance to listen and respond! Always a pleasure.

Yeah man. I sort of bashed it out just to get back playing and putting something together again, about four days start to finish. Now that the initial rush is over, I can take my time. Thx for listening.