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What CD Would You Like To Hear Me Do?

Modern Pop (Katy Perry, Taylor Swift, etc.)
8
5%
Classic Rock (Stones, Beatles, Who, Zep)
9
5%
Prog Rock (Yes, Genesis, Kansas, etc.)
18
10%
Show Tunes Style (Sound Of Music, My Fair Lady, etc.)
5
3%
Country (Alan Jackson, Garth Brooks, etc.)
4
2%
Disco (Bee Gees, Tramps, etc.)
24
14%
Metal (various sub genres)
16
9%
EDM (various sub genres)
24
14%
80s (various genres)
14
8%
Your Music Sucks. Please Stop Making It
52
30%
 
Total votes: 174

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PRODUCTS

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Bansaw wrote: Thu Apr 04, 2019 11:40 pm I like Losing Your Mind a lot. The opening actually reminded me of a Queen-like progression. I like the lyrics of At The End of the Day, but I think you need a thicker arrangement to support your voice.
Some of the stuff you do is like, "Wow, thats unique and very well written" and other stuff is like "meh" its like Russian Roulette what will come down the pipe next.
Thanks for the feedback. End of the Day I just wanted vocal and piano and nothing else. Wanted to see if I could carry a song without all the fluff.

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1st track from my upcoming CD "Still Out Of Sync"

A little background on the song, the CD and why I'm doing it.

In 1985, I did an album as a tribute to one of my favorite bands of the 80s. Unfortunately, back then I was just dreadful as a musician, producer, everything and the album wasn't very good.

Well, it's going to be 35 years in 2020 so I thought I would give this another shot. The album was called "Out Of Sync" so the sequel is called "Still Out Of Sync" and will be in the same style. You may or may not be able to guess the group. I don't know. I think it's obvious but you can never tell.

Anyway, it's going to be a 16 song CD.

On this particular song, production wise, I went back to heavily processed vocals and was a little heavy handed with the reverb. Just felt like going in that direction.

For the drum kit I had to think a bit outside the box. I normally use EZ Drummer for rock tunes because it has built in overheads. But I really wanted to use my Tama kit (especially the snare) and the only way to do that was to import some samples that I got. Unfortunately, there are no overheads and I don't have any sample playback for drums that has overheads. So I had to do some hocus pocus to simulate overheads for this track. I think they came out decent considering. There are a total of 38 tracks on this tune including tons of vocals, both real and synthesized.

All in all, it took me 9 days to finish this. For me, that's a hell of a long time. I like the way it sounds but I've long learned that my taste is vastly different from most people's here so I'm not expecting any rave reviews. But this is a CD I've wanted to do for almost 35 years so let the chips fall where they may.

The title track from "Still Out Of Sync"

Still Out Of Sync

I'm not right in the head
Some would say I'm better off dead
Teachers try to explain
What is wrong with my brain

Round and round it goes
Where it stops nobody knows
Please try not to blink
I'm still out of sync

I've been this way for years
Helps to ease the pain of my tears
Head shrinks claim I'm okay
But I'm here again today

Repeat Chorus

Instrumental Break

Maybe I can get well
Either that or end up in hell
Choices that we all make
Time to give and time to take

Repeat Chorus

Out of sync
Out of sync
Out of sync
Out of sync

To Fade

https://soundcloud.com/steven-wagenheim ... -bg-vocals

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Nice. Parts of it remind me of E.L.O.
Would be interesting to know what your vocal chain fx was for this.
Interesting lyrics. Liked it overall.

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Bansaw wrote: Wed Apr 17, 2019 6:44 pm Nice. Parts of it remind me of E.L.O.
Would be interesting to know what your vocal chain fx was for this.
Interesting lyrics. Liked it overall.
The vocal FX chain, which varied slightly depending on the track, was essentially this.

Lead Vocal

Fabfilter Pro-Q 2
Soundtoys Microshift
Melda Productions MUnison
Fabfilter Pro-C
Fabfilter Pro-L
Izotope Neutron
Waves Vocal Rider

Lead Vocal Send

Valhalla Plate
Fabfilter Pro-Q 2
Fabfilter Pro-C

Background Vocals (Real & Synth)

Antares Harmony Engine
Fabfilter Pro-Q 2
Soundtoys Microshift
Melda Productions MUnison
Fabfilter Pro-C
Fabfilter Pro-L

Background Vocals Sends

Melda Productions MTurboReverb
Fabfilter Pro-Q 2
Fabfilter Pro-C

All background vocals sent to group channel with Waves Vocal Rider.

And that's about it.

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Still Out of Sync is pretty musical. The lead guitar interjections are crucial afaic, it would kind of lack otherwise. Quite good I think.
The drums sound fine, although I get no perception of overheads. Your MO seemed dodgy to me but there is no kind of problem actually.

I think a really pro mastering of this would amount to a radio-ready pop song. You're surely be out of sync with the times, tho

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jancivil wrote: Wed Apr 17, 2019 8:33 pm Still Out of Sync is pretty musical. The lead guitar interjections are crucial afaic, it would kind of lack otherwise. Quite good I think.
The drums sound fine, although I get no perception of overheads. Your MO seemed dodgy to me but there is no kind of problem actually.

I think a really pro mastering of this would amount to a radio-ready pop song. You're surely be out of sync with the times, tho
Out of sync with the times? That's an understatement. My music is essentially anywhere from 30 to 50 years old in sound and style. Wait until I do my 60s Brit Rock Invasion CD. :lol:

No, I won't be winning any awards for modern "today's" music.

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I have only the sketchiest of notions about what is popular.

However yesterday I was in Starbucks and it was indie rock for a while, then they kinda returned to it after a long set of old jazz vocal numbers, Ella, Nina Simone, Billie Holiday. I'm pretty sure from the production the indie rock was newish at least.

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jancivil wrote: Wed Apr 17, 2019 10:02 pm I have only the sketchiest of notions about what is popular.

However yesterday I was in Starbucks and it was indie rock for a while, then they kinda returned to it after a long set of old jazz vocal numbers, Ella, Nina Simone, Billie Holiday. I'm pretty sure from the production the indie rock was newish at least.
Wow! No Starbucks around us plays that stuff. Must be the location.

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The song progresses nicely. I'm not huge on heavily processed vocals but it does fit the music pretty well here. What'd you use for guitars? The tone is just as smooth as the lead lines. Nice work there. As a guitarist, those parts caught my attention pretty quickly.

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It does sound like music from some time ago. I’ve listened to YT videos of relic bands that maybe had some measure success but never broke out. This could almost be one of their efforts minus the usual hippie/post hippie cultural jargon. The guitar work sounds pretty nice.

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wagtunes wrote: Wed Apr 17, 2019 10:22 pm
jancivil wrote: Wed Apr 17, 2019 10:02 pm I have only the sketchiest of notions about what is popular.

However yesterday I was in Starbucks and it was indie rock for a while, then they kinda returned to it after a long set of old jazz vocal numbers, Ella, Nina Simone, Billie Holiday. I'm pretty sure from the production the indie rock was newish at least.
Wow! No Starbucks around us plays that stuff. Must be the location.
This was pretty anomalous. Berkeley CA is the worst in my experience; this is out in the sticks, I wonder if the personnel in the venue determines what playlist. I usually have to leave right away, in fact I don't even use Starbucks typically behind it.

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guitarmiester wrote: Wed Apr 17, 2019 11:37 pm The song progresses nicely. I'm not huge on heavily processed vocals but it does fit the music pretty well here. What'd you use for guitars? The tone is just as smooth as the lead lines. Nice work there. As a guitarist, those parts caught my attention pretty quickly.
Thanks.

As for the guitars, there are two guitar parts, the rhythm and the lead.

Rhythm Guitar - Music Labs Real Strat VST

FX - NI Guitar Rig - Andy In A Bottle preset, TDR Labs Proximity, CNRS Analglyph, Fabfilter Pro-Q 2, Fabfilter Pro-C, Fabfilter Pro-L, Izotope Neutron

Lead Guitar - Music Labs Real Rickenbacker VST

FX - IK Multimedia Amplitude 4 - Brit 8000 AMP - Pro Junior Cab - Condenser 170 - MD1-b - Fabfilter Pro-Q 2, Fabfilter Pro-C, Fabfilter Pro-L

Sends - MturboReverb, Fabfilter Pro-Q 2, Fabfilter Pro-C

This is probably the most "guitar" processing I've ever done on a track. Naturally, using virtual guitars, I get a lot of complaints about them not sounding real. So I tried something different on this track. I figured if they didn't sound real, at least let them sound different.

Anyway, there you go.

Thanks again for the listen.

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fastlanephil wrote: Thu Apr 18, 2019 12:01 am It does sound like music from some time ago. I’ve listened to YT videos of relic bands that maybe had some measure success but never broke out. This could almost be one of their efforts minus the usual hippie/post hippie cultural jargon. The guitar work sounds pretty nice.
Thanks for the kind words. As you can see from the above post, I put a lot of work into the guitar parts. It's tough making virtual guitars sound good.

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Ok this is a pretty cool track Wags. I bit Bryan Ferry-ish. Great overall sound and really a good mix. I like the way your voice works in this one. Looking forward to hearing more...nice 80's vibe. I am a true Breakfast Club alumni so this is fresh among the majority of what I hear today.

So who is the tribute to?

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thejonsolo wrote: Thu Apr 18, 2019 2:28 am Ok this is a pretty cool track Wags. I bit Bryan Ferry-ish. Great overall sound and really a good mix. I like the way your voice works in this one. Looking forward to hearing more...nice 80's vibe. I am a true Breakfast Club alumni so this is fresh among the majority of what I hear today.

So who is the tribute to?
The tribute? Well, was hoping somebody would pick it up right away but apparently not. Maybe as the CD progresses.

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