The Wagtunes Corner

[wagtunes]

This is not the first time I've commented on your music. You responded with anger & insults previously so I didn't bother again til now.

The trick is to criticise the music, and not the artist, personally.

If you go back through this thread, you'll find Steven to be perfectly gracious in accepting criticism of his music, even if the comments are very harsh. Steven hates political correctness so you'll just annoy him if you don't just say what you feel, so you don't even need to expend the effort to make your criticism constructive.

I'm not good at picking up on it but I think that was sarcasm. LOL. Ha, ha. Very funny.

Anyway, FWIW, I went back to the other thread, listened to the entire album and tried to give constructive feedback without being a jerk. Another member even agreed with my comments.

Believe it or not, I'm not a total bastard and there is hope for me. I can be a better person. The problem is, some people here will never let that happen. They will dissect every word I say and try to find something that they can criticize me on. I have to be better than perfect.

It's okay. I'm pretty used to it by now.

The truth is, the best that I can hope for from this forum (from certain people) if I were absolutely perfect and everything I said was positive and constructive would be to be ignored.

Maybe I should just hope for that and be grateful for it.

Have a nice day.

[enroe]

"By Any Other Name" is a well entertaining pop-song. Good composition,
indeed: The theme which introduces the song is nicely repeated. I would
place the vocals more in front by removing some reverb. Why bury the vocals
in reverb? I mean: It is good already, but your song could sound even better!

There's actually very little reverb on the vocal but I will take your suggestion under advisement. Thank you for the listen and the feedback.

Yes, I still hope for less reverb (because I like your songs).

[wagtunes]

8th track from my upcoming CD "Chroma"

With this entry, the CD is now half done. This track is a blues progression based dance track and, if I'm honest with myself, is nothing special. It's pretty much filler material. It was derived from "You've Lost That Lovin Feeling" by the Righteous Brothers. I even used the first line of the song as the title. Some of the synths sound cool but musically, meh. Didn't quite come together the way I had hoped. And my singing needed major pitch correction on this as well. For some reason, I just could not sing this melody on key.

Anyway, here it is, though there's not really much to listen to here.

You Never Close Your Eyes

You never close your eyes
No, no, no, no
You never close your eyes
No, no, no, no
It comes as no surprise
You never close your eyes
Baby I can see you don't love me no more

You never kiss my lips
No, no, no, no
You never kiss my lips
No, no, no, no
Can't feel your fingertips
You never kiss my lips
Baby I can see you don't love me no more

Instrumental Break

You never give your love
No, no, no, no
You never give your love
No, no, no, no
I might as well give up
You never give your love
Baby I can see you don't love me no more

Outro

https://soundcloud.com/steven-wagenheim ... -your-eyes

[el-bo (formerly ebow)]

This is not the first time I've commented on your music. You responded with anger & insults previously so I didn't bother again til now.

The trick is to criticise the music, and not the artist, personally.

If you go back through this thread, you'll find Steven to be perfectly gracious in accepting criticism of his music, even if the comments are very harsh. Steven hates political correctness so you'll just annoy him if you don't just say what you feel, so you don't even need to expend the effort to make your criticism constructive.

I'm not good at picking up on it but I think that was sarcasm. LOL. Ha, ha. Very funny.

Anyway, FWIW, I went back to the other thread, listened to the entire album and tried to give constructive feedback without being a jerk. Another member even agreed with my comments.

Believe it or not, I'm not a total bastard and there is hope for me. I can be a better person. The problem is, some people here will never let that happen. They will dissect every word I say and try to find something that they can criticize me on. I have to be better than perfect.

It's okay. I'm pretty used to it by now.

The truth is, the best that I can hope for from this forum (from certain people) if I were absolutely perfect and everything I said was positive and constructive would be to be ignored.

Maybe I should just hope for that and be grateful for it.

Have a nice day.

Not ignoring this. just need to be careful with the response

[wagtunes]

9th track from my upcoming CD "Chroma"

My sincere thanks to Aloysius for coming up with a killer title. Really inspired me on this one.

Song was derived from "Rocket Man" by Elton John. Made this as hook laden as I could. In fact, it's pretty much one long hook from beginning to end. Might be a bit over the top but I love this stuff.

Mix was a royal pain with all that was stuffed into this. The amount of surgery I had to perform was exhausting. Vocals are not up front because I opted for the big sound instead. Those of you who like up front vocals, don't even bother listening to this one.

Finishing this, I realized that collaborating (as minimal as the collaboration was) can bring about interesting results that you might not come up with on your own. I can only imagine how this might have turned out if we could have gotten a few people in on it.

Somebody who can sing
Somebody who can really play guitar
Somebody who can really play drums
Somebody who can really mix and master a song

I think the foundation of this song warrants it being done by people who can really do it justice.

Maybe someday.

My Imaginary Enemy

They're all closing in
It's how it begins
Can't find any way to get out
Got me in their sights
They haunt all my nights
They get in my head and they shout
And all I can do is shout back
But they carry on

And so I fight the good fight
And roll with the punches
I battle all day and all night
And go with my hunches
It feels like it never ends
I keep searching for a friend
And my nights I find I spend
Punching it out with my imaginary enemy

They come from all sides
There's no place to hide
And time's running out to stay sane
They're stronger than I
Not much more to try
But I stand my ground in my lane
And all I can do is stay strong
While they carry on

Repeat Chorus

I wish I could just find a way
To drive them out of my brain
Maybe the day will come
When I'm not so damn insane
But until that day

I'll go and fight the good fight
And roll with the punches
I'll battle all day and all night
And go with my hunches
It feels like it never ends
I keep searching for a friend
And my nights I find I spend
Punching it out with my imaginary enemy

https://soundcloud.com/steven-wagenheim ... nary-enemy

[aaron aardvark]

wagtunes,
Thank you again for resurrecting one of my old threads, and for your comments. I know it can be difficult to decipher some of my lyrics because of all of the effects I use on my vocals. Regarding my song "Duality of the Snake", there is something lyrically that you may have, or may not have noticed: my song title has to do with something that I think is rather odd in the scriptures. People tend to think of the snake as always representing the devil, yet in Numbers 8:11, the snake represents the exact opposite; hopefully you see what this is foreshadowing (we can further this discussion in a private message if you wish). Anyway here are my comments regarding "My Imaginary Enemy": in some ways the lyrics remind me of "Dream Police" by Cheap Trick, even if that seems a bit of a stretch. Once again, I can easily picture this song in a musical play. Instrumentally, everything sounds solid, and I like all of the melodies in the song. Audio quality is good. Guitar playing sounds good to me. The piano is a big part of the song, a la Elton John. Nice song!

[aaron aardvark]

wagtunes,
Now I'm commenting on "You Never Close Your Eyes": I think the synths are actually pretty cool. I can picture, in a fantasy situation, where Donna Summers belts out some stellar vocals (like "I Feel Love"; by the way I did a cover of that song with a female singer back around 1985; she didn't sing quite as well as Donna Summer, but still pretty darn good). So yes, your synths reminded me a bit of "I Feel Love", one of my all time favorite synth songs.

[Aloysius]

9th track from my upcoming CD "Chroma"

My sincere thanks to Aloysius for coming up with a killer title. Really inspired me on this one.

[wagtunes]

@Aaron - Thanks for the listen and the feedback. Really appreciated it.

@Aloysius - I'll take the thumbs up to mean you liked the song, If not, feel free to correct my assumption.

[excuse me please]

I like the singing in Imaginary Enemy. But the accompagniment - I don't if I spelled that right - sounds like a backing track. Kinda artificial.

[wagtunes]

I like the singing in Imaginary Enemy. But the accompagniment - I don't if I spelled that right - sounds like a backing track. Kinda artificial.

Honestly, I don't even understand what this means so I can't respond to it. But thanks for the listen and the feedback.

[wagtunes]

10th track from my upcoming CD "Chroma"

This one was derived from "Your So Vain" by Carly Simon. Obviously, no way I can sing this song given the subject matter so I had the female Vocaloids do this one. So if Vocaloid isn't your thing, feel free to just skip this one.

Can't A Gal Get A Break

Everyday the same old thing
Guys who don't have a clue
I don't need no diamond ring
All I need is you
To hold me
To love me
To always be thinking of me

Can't a gal get a break
Seems it's sad sacks everywhere
Can't a gal get a break
Or don't you guys even care
I got feelings yes I do
I got feelings just like you
But I need to find somebody new
Can't a gal get a break

Instrumental Break

Been this way for a long long time
Guys who don't give a damn
They don't care about my needs
They don't care who I am
I'm giving
I'm loving
So what more could they want

Repeat Chorus

Somebody's gotta write a book
And then these guys gotta take a look
A little effort is all it took
To be the right one for me

Repeat Chorus

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

[aaron aardvark]

I drove by this place in Los Angeles yesterday (I hope you find it amusing):

https://wagville.com/

[wagtunes]

I drove by this place in Los Angeles yesterday (I hope you find it amusing):

https://wagville.com/

Fitting, as kids would tell me to wag my tail when I was a kid.

[wagtunes]

11th track from my upcoming CD "Chroma"

This one was derived from "Playground In My Mind"

Anyway, here's what's going on with me. Got really sick and lost my voice. As I refuse to let that stop me from doing my music, will be going back to Vocaloid until my voice comes back, if it comes back. So you all will probably want to just skip everything I post until then. Not in the mood to hear anybody complaining about me using Vocaloid again. Don't like it? Just ignore it and move on to another thread. There are plenty of them in this forum.

Mike And Cindy

My name is Michael
My name is Cindy
Let's both get naked
It's way too windy
You know I want it
I know you're horny
How bout the bushes
They're way too thorny

How bout a movie
I hate what's playing
Some conversation
Hate what you're saying
You're being picky
I know what I like
How bout you try it
How bout you take a hike

I guess we're oh too different
To feel the same
I guess we both should say goodbye
And end this game

Oh well it's been fun
Maybe for you boy
You're not so bad girl
I'm not your play toy
You might have liked it
I doubt it greatly
Can I try again
You'll never date me

Outro

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