Wagtunes Production Music

[wagtunes]

Regardless of what you might have written, regarding my "issues", let me ask you a question.

Do you think a 62 year old feels the same as a 20 year old? Don't you think the years that pass changes someone?

I think in your case the answer to these two questions is "yes" to the 1st, "no" to the 2nd. I check out your tunes here regularly - some I like, some have made me cringe (the robo-voice stuff). But you have the fire in your belly to make music and have people hear it, and you hustle like a young gun.

Somebody can still love making music and not give a crap about the business aspect of it anymore. Those two things CAN be mutually exclusive.

[Benedict]

Oh Wags

No one can ever easily answer Who Am I? It is a trick Q. A Zen kind of thing.

You already know who you are (and therefore are not) but instead you run around wagsing (hihi) your head worrying about getting approval from others.

What if you dropped all that worry and simply made a record that was the authentic Wags doing what he feels he needs to say to the world, wrapped it up with a nice cover and put it on Bandcamp for only those who want to listen to such waggery? What would that be?

You always seem on the verge of getting it but then back away.
Don't worry, I ain't much better myself. I always wish someone could help me see my trap so I could fly free.

[wagtunes]

Oh Wags

No one can ever easily answer Who Am I? It is a trick Q. A Zen kind of thing.

You already know who you are (and therefore are not) but instead you run around wagsing (hihi) your head worrying about getting approval from others.

What if you dropped all that worry and simply made a record that was the authentic Wags doing what he feels he needs to say to the world, wrapped it up with a nice cover and put it on Bandcamp for only those who want to listen to such waggery? What would that be?

You always seem on the verge of getting it but then back away.
Don't worry, I ain't much better myself. I always wish someone could help me see my trap so I could fly free.

Interesting question. What would that be?

Quite honestly, I have no idea. I am very fond of a number of different genres.

Prog Rock - Grew up listening to Yes, Kansas, ELO, ELP, Renaissance, Triumvirat, Starcastle, Genesis and others. Some of my favorite songs of all time are prog rock tunes. The other day I listened to "Watcher Of The Skies" and I was in heaven.

Bubble Gum - Always had a thing for those sugary songs and groups like The Archies, 1910 Fruitgum Company, Partridge Family, Monkees (Daydream Believer is one of my all time favorite songs) and others.

British Invasion - In 1964 I was not quite 7 years old when I was sitting in front of the TV and saw The Beatles on Ed Sullivan. You can't begin to imagine the impact they and many of the British bands had on my life. Favorites included Herman's Hermits, Honeycomb, and Dave Clark Five. Many people have in fact compared my music to The Beatles.

Broadway - Around the same time as The Beatles, my mom introduced me to Sound Of Music, My Fair Lady and most of the class Broadway shows from the 40s and 50s. I even did my own "Broadway like" soundtrack called "Once Upon A Time." There are days when I will turn on station 442 on cable and listen to nothing but show tunes. Listing my favorites would take a week.

Easy Listening - In 1970 I heard Karen Carpenter and fell in love. The Carpenters were the start for me but it didn't end there. The number of easy listening acts and artists that I've loved over the years would fill up a library by itself. I still wish I could play the guitar solo to "Goodbye To Love" to this day.

Hard Rock - I developed a love for hard rock in my teens. Groups like Led Zep, Bad Company and so many others made me wish I could play guitar well. When I listen to Lone Star's "Lonely Soldier" 40 years later, I still get chills.

Okay, so I have eliminated a large number of genres that would be out of the running like dance, rap, hip hop, disco, R&B, Jazz, Country and on and on.

But ask me to pick just ONE song out of that list above that I would present as the definitive Wags? Forget it. There is just no way I could do it.

And maybe that is my biggest problem of all. I am so in love with so many genres that my attention is split. I've never really learned to "perfect" any one of them. And to say which one I am "best at" would be a matter of opinion and something that I am sure not everyone will agree on.

So to answer your question, sorry, no idea what I would do.

[Morgaxx]

Again with the long dialogue to yourself, only to give the usual not doing it or cant do it. I dont believe you even got the question about an album of wagness. Dont pick a genre just write for you with all those influences with nothing specifiic in mind. An album of wagness for people that wanted it could be whatever you want. You are a rigid one to be sure.

[vurt]

woah! this guy gets it!
stop thinking in terms of genre and just do something! whatever the fingers decide or whatever the brain takes them. do it for the enjoyment of that moment, not whether it fits this albums theme or not.

[wagtunes]

woah! this guy gets it!
stop thinking in terms of genre and just do something! whatever the fingers decide or whatever the brain takes them. do it for the enjoyment of that moment, not whether it fits this albums theme or not.

What you're both not understanding is if I were to sit down and just do something, I have no idea what I'd want to do unless I don't care about the result or what people think of it. But if I want to do something that is truly me and best reflects what that is, I have no idea what that is.

But sure, I could sit down and crank out one song after another with no problem and hardly any thought.

Doesn't mean they're going to be any "good" or that anybody is going to like them. Of course if I don't care one way or another then I guess none of that matters.

[Benedict]

That is a scary place to be and honestly one very few ever manage.

Old ugly Zen dudes call it enlightenment. It takes em ~20 years to get there - and then they know it is just a beginning

But we keep doing what we can in the minutes when we let our fears drop enough to be ourselves.

Caring too much about what others might think is a trap. I know many won't care much for this track I mixed or even the mix itself but I did it as I think it is important work


What is important wagwork?
Generally, you only find it by setting off and doing what is in front of you as well as you can. Publishing it and doing it again.

Forget genre and all these childish post-90s reasons to avoid doing great work that dominates social media. I'm listening to George Jones right now. If I posted that on FB, I'd probably get panned. But The Possum still moves me as he did great work. That is what counts.

[wagtunes]

That is a scary place to be and honestly one very few ever manage.

Old ugly Zen dudes call it enlightenment. It takes em ~20 years to get there - and then they know it is just a beginning

But we keep doing what we can in the minutes when we let our fears drop enough to be ourselves.

Caring too much about what others might think is a trap. I know many won't care much for this track I mixed or even the mix itself but I did it as I think it is important work


What is important wagwork?
Generally, you only find it by setting off and doing what is in front of you as well as you can. Publishing it and doing it again.

Forget genre and all these childish post-90s reasons to avoid doing great work that dominates social media. I'm listening to George Jones right now. If I posted that on FB, I'd probably get panned. But The Possum still moves me as he did great work. That is what counts.

Okay, well this still brings use back to the music that "I" enjoy. And forgetting about what anybody thinks of my music, here are 3 different tracks from 3 different genres, that sound nothing like each other, that I loved doing, love listening to and thank God that he gave me the inspiration to write them.

Prog Rock

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

Broadway

https://soundcloud.com/steven-wagenheim ... pon-a-time

Pop

https://soundcloud.com/steven-wagenheim ... s/outtakes

Now, you might feel that one of these stands out above the others or maybe you think they all suck. But that doesn't matter. If you want me to just be myself, all of these are part of my soul and to just pick one style and say "This is me" you might as well ask me to tear my child in half.

I can't make it any clearer than that. Musically there is no ONE Steven Wagenheim.

And there never will be.

[Benedict]

You clearly haven't really listened to an Alan Parsons or Moody Blues record

If you hadn't told me those tracks were not supposed to be related, I would never have known. Matter of fact I absolutely don't believe you (in the nicest possible way) as these tracks all carry a certain Waggyness that very much makes them belong with each other. A lot like Nilsson's seemingly sprawling submissions.

They could use clearer mixes and maybe a nip & tuck here & there but if these are what you do when you are in your underpants when whis is whe Wagcord what weeds wo we wade.

[wagtunes]

You clearly haven't really listened to an Alan Parsons or Moody Blues record

If you hadn't told me those tracks were not supposed to be related, I would never have known. Matter of fact I absolutely don't believe you (in the nicest possible way) as these tracks all carry a certain Waggyness that very much makes them belong with each other. A lot like Nilsson's seemingly sprawling submissions.

They could use clearer mixes and maybe a nip & tuck here & there but if these are what you do when you are in your underpants when whis is whe Wagcord what weeds wo we wade.

Alan Parsons and Moody Blues are two of my favorite bands. They both have a very distinct sound, even though Alan Parsons has had so many guest vocalists. Alan Parsons' engineering IS the Alan Parsons Project. It doesn't matter what he does. It all sounds like him. I can tell an Alan Parsons song a mile away.

Moody Blues, same thing. And yes, they can go from "I'm Just A Singer In A Rock N Roll Band" which is a rock song to Ray Thomas' (may he rest in peace) "For My Lady". But at the end of the day, if you can't recognize a Moody Blues song, you're deaf.

But ultimately if you're saying that my stuff all sounds the same regardless of what genre I'm writing in because it all has a certain "Wagness" well, then we're still back at the same premise. It really doesn't matter what I do as long as it's something I love doing and it'll sound like me and it'll be as good or bad as however my stuff is.

It still doesn't help ME personally sit down and decide what it is I'm going to do because if I read your initial post correctly, you did say ONE song.

Well good luck getting me to decide WHICH that one song is going to be. I might as well just roll a 6 sided die.

1 Prog Rock
2 Broadway
3 Pop
4 Easy Listening
5 British Invasion
6 Roll Again

Maybe I'll do a whole album like that. Just roll a die and that's the kind of song I do for that track. Might be an interesting experiment.

[vurt]

woah! this guy gets it!
stop thinking in terms of genre and just do something! whatever the fingers decide or whatever the brain takes them. do it for the enjoyment of that moment, not whether it fits this albums theme or not.

What you're both not understanding is if I were to sit down and just do something, I have no idea what I'd want to do unless I don't care about the result or what people think of it. But if I want to do something that is truly me and best reflects what that is, I have no idea what that is.

But sure, I could sit down and crank out one song after another with no problem and hardly any thought.

Doesn't mean they're going to be any "good" or that anybody is going to like them. Of course if I don't care one way or another then I guess none of that matters.

it's called "freedom"

[wagtunes]

woah! this guy gets it!
stop thinking in terms of genre and just do something! whatever the fingers decide or whatever the brain takes them. do it for the enjoyment of that moment, not whether it fits this albums theme or not.

What you're both not understanding is if I were to sit down and just do something, I have no idea what I'd want to do unless I don't care about the result or what people think of it. But if I want to do something that is truly me and best reflects what that is, I have no idea what that is.

But sure, I could sit down and crank out one song after another with no problem and hardly any thought.

Doesn't mean they're going to be any "good" or that anybody is going to like them. Of course if I don't care one way or another then I guess none of that matters.

it's called "freedom"

Except we all know that around here, that's not allowed.

"You have too much reverb on the vocal."
"The vocal is too dry."
"You don't have enough pitch correct on the vocal."
"You have too much pitch correct on the vocal."
"You should quantize. Your playing is out of time."
"Your songs sound too quantized."
"The hi hat should be 1 db lower around 4k."
"The hi hat should be 1 db higher around 4k."
"Your snare doesn't have enough crack."
"Your snare has too much crack."
"The song is too long."
"The intro is too long."
"The song is too short."
"You shouldn't fade out your songs."
"You shouldn't use Vocaloid but sing yourself."
"You shouldn't sing but hire a singer."

I could go on like this for a month and not run out of "complaints" I've heard since doing this. Everybody is looking for perfection and no two people can even agree on what that perfection is.

So you know what? I'm just going to write whatever the hell I feel like writing and let the chips fall where they may.

[vurt]

so in essence, you agree.
do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the law.

let others say what they say, whether you act upon any suggestions is up to you or you can choose to ignore them. there is your freedom.

who is it you are trying to please? you or us?

[wagtunes]

so in essence, you agree.
do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the law.

let others say what they say, whether you act upon any suggestions is up to you or you can choose to ignore them. there is your freedom.

who is it you are trying to please? you or us?

The $64,000 question. I think every artist wants to please his audience while still maintaining his integrity.

Sometimes that's an impossible balancing act.

[vurt]

explains why my audience isnt very big i suppose