The Wagtunes Corner (Featuring My Best Yet)

[wagtunes]

25th track from my upcoming CD "And Now For Something Completely"

Wagtunes does the Bee Gees. LOL

https://soundcloud.com/steven-wagenheim ... a-have-you

You're like the Rutles of the Bee Gees. Great arrangement and mastering. Really nicely balanced. I know how difficult that is. I felt like putting on a gold chain and unbuttoning my shirt... except I don't own a gold chain and I'm wearing a Totoro teeshirt.

My one complaint, and I completely fail at this as well, is that I'm wishing you ran the vocals though Melodyne. They're sometimes off in just the right way to make it hard for me to listen to... which is why I also always run my vocals though Melodyne before I release them. I'm OK in a certain range, but that range is small, and above and below... I'm always off. Don't feel bad, I feel the same way about Frank Sinatra. (my distant cousin!)

I just checked out Melodyne. Way too much for just editing vocals. I can't justify the expense.

I just use the Melodyne Essential version, which is fine for me. $99. You might find it cheaper in the market thread.

https://www.sweetwater.com/store/detail ... -essential

Anyway, I don’t want you to have hard feelings about this. I curse my voice everyday. I’ve worked hard on it, and no matter what, I’ve never been able to extend the working range that much. I’m always flat at the top of my range and sharp at the bottom. I accept it like I did my clumsy hands, which excludes me from being able to shred, like a proper modern guitarist. Now I’ve abandoned even pitch correction for Synthesizer V synthetic voices, as they’ve become so good.

I’ve realized my talent has always been in song writing and I think I have a good grasp of interesting song arrangement. I’m ok at the mixing and mastering, though not at your level. I accept this. The proof of the pudding is in the eating, as the saying actually goes, so I’m not as fussy as I used to be about the process, which the audience couldn’t care less about.

Just watched some Synthesizer V tutorials. Sounds good. Appears you can take your singing and import it into it and create a vocal from that. Yes? If so, this makes it much easier than Vocaloid where you have to type in the lyrics and create each note manually.

[zerocrossing]

25th track from my upcoming CD "And Now For Something Completely"

Wagtunes does the Bee Gees. LOL

https://soundcloud.com/steven-wagenheim ... a-have-you

You're like the Rutles of the Bee Gees. Great arrangement and mastering. Really nicely balanced. I know how difficult that is. I felt like putting on a gold chain and unbuttoning my shirt... except I don't own a gold chain and I'm wearing a Totoro teeshirt.

My one complaint, and I completely fail at this as well, is that I'm wishing you ran the vocals though Melodyne. They're sometimes off in just the right way to make it hard for me to listen to... which is why I also always run my vocals though Melodyne before I release them. I'm OK in a certain range, but that range is small, and above and below... I'm always off. Don't feel bad, I feel the same way about Frank Sinatra. (my distant cousin!)

I just checked out Melodyne. Way too much for just editing vocals. I can't justify the expense.

I just use the Melodyne Essential version, which is fine for me. $99. You might find it cheaper in the market thread.

https://www.sweetwater.com/store/detail ... -essential

Anyway, I don’t want you to have hard feelings about this. I curse my voice everyday. I’ve worked hard on it, and no matter what, I’ve never been able to extend the working range that much. I’m always flat at the top of my range and sharp at the bottom. I accept it like I did my clumsy hands, which excludes me from being able to shred, like a proper modern guitarist. Now I’ve abandoned even pitch correction for Synthesizer V synthetic voices, as they’ve become so good.

I’ve realized my talent has always been in song writing and I think I have a good grasp of interesting song arrangement. I’m ok at the mixing and mastering, though not at your level. I accept this. The proof of the pudding is in the eating, as the saying actually goes, so I’m not as fussy as I used to be about the process, which the audience couldn’t care less about.

Just watched some Synthesizer V tutorials. Sounds good. Appears you can take your singing and import it into it and create a vocal from that. Yes? If so, this makes it much easier than Vocaloid where you have to type in the lyrics and create each note manually.

That’s there other product. I don’t know how that one works. It’s new. The one I use sounds like it works like Vocaloid. It’s sort of tedious, but the results are great.

[wagtunes]

25th track from my upcoming CD "And Now For Something Completely"

Wagtunes does the Bee Gees. LOL

https://soundcloud.com/steven-wagenheim ... a-have-you

You're like the Rutles of the Bee Gees. Great arrangement and mastering. Really nicely balanced. I know how difficult that is. I felt like putting on a gold chain and unbuttoning my shirt... except I don't own a gold chain and I'm wearing a Totoro teeshirt.

My one complaint, and I completely fail at this as well, is that I'm wishing you ran the vocals though Melodyne. They're sometimes off in just the right way to make it hard for me to listen to... which is why I also always run my vocals though Melodyne before I release them. I'm OK in a certain range, but that range is small, and above and below... I'm always off. Don't feel bad, I feel the same way about Frank Sinatra. (my distant cousin!)

I just checked out Melodyne. Way too much for just editing vocals. I can't justify the expense.

I just use the Melodyne Essential version, which is fine for me. $99. You might find it cheaper in the market thread.

https://www.sweetwater.com/store/detail ... -essential

Anyway, I don’t want you to have hard feelings about this. I curse my voice everyday. I’ve worked hard on it, and no matter what, I’ve never been able to extend the working range that much. I’m always flat at the top of my range and sharp at the bottom. I accept it like I did my clumsy hands, which excludes me from being able to shred, like a proper modern guitarist. Now I’ve abandoned even pitch correction for Synthesizer V synthetic voices, as they’ve become so good.

I’ve realized my talent has always been in song writing and I think I have a good grasp of interesting song arrangement. I’m ok at the mixing and mastering, though not at your level. I accept this. The proof of the pudding is in the eating, as the saying actually goes, so I’m not as fussy as I used to be about the process, which the audience couldn’t care less about.

Just watched some Synthesizer V tutorials. Sounds good. Appears you can take your singing and import it into it and create a vocal from that. Yes? If so, this makes it much easier than Vocaloid where you have to type in the lyrics and create each note manually.

That’s there other product. I don’t know how that one works. It’s new. The one I use sounds like it works like Vocaloid. It’s sort of tedious, but the results are great.

Thanks. I ran "I Gotta Have You" through vari audio again and fixed the really bad notes. I think it's much better if you want to give it another listen.

[aaron aardvark]

wagtunes,
Now listening to "I Gotta Have You": instrumentally, this sounds like authentic late 70's disco: very cool (yes, Bee-Gee-ish)! A few months ago, I came across a plugin that seemed to do a lot of disco instrumental stuff very well, though I don't remember the name of it at all. Makes me wonder if that's what you used, or your usual extensive plugin collection, or both. As usual, very good melodies and audio quality!

[wagtunes]

wagtunes,
Now listening to "I Gotta Have You": instrumentally, this sounds like authentic late 70's disco: very cool (yes, Bee-Gee-ish)! A few months ago, I came across a plugin that seemed to do a lot of disco instrumental stuff very well, though I don't remember the name of it at all. Makes me wonder if that's what you used, or your usual extensive plugin collection, or both. As usual, very good melodies and audio quality!

Thanks Aaron. I guess this means you've got a new track out there. Will check it out shortly.

[wagtunes]

26th track from my upcoming CD "And Now For Something Completely"

https://soundcloud.com/steven-wagenheim ... -the-night

[wagtunes]

27th track from my upcoming CD "And Now For Something Completely"

The stupidest, simplest song I've ever done.

https://soundcloud.com/steven-wagenheim/you-you-you

****************************************

28th track from my upcoming CD "And Now For Something Completely"

I wanted to do something a little different with the mix instead of the same safe old thing I usually do. Does it work? It might be a little mid range heavy. What do you think?

https://soundcloud.com/steven-wagenheim ... ep-for-man

[wagtunes]

29th track from my upcoming CD "And Now For Something Completely"

One Sandwich Short Of A Picnic

https://soundcloud.com/steven-wagenheim ... f-a-picnic

[wagtunes]

My friend Lenny wrote these lyrics about 50 years ago. I finally got around to doing them and it turned into a Wagtunes Country Classic.

30th track from my upcoming CD "And Now For Something Completely"

https://soundcloud.com/steven-wagenheim ... as-a-flash

[aaron aardvark]

wagtunes,
Now listening to "Quick As a Flash": I didn't think it sounded Country to me until about 40% into it. Then it sounded very authentic Country about 2/3's of the way into the song, for a bit. I felt tinges of the Beatles at times. The strings towards the end sound quite big and lush (nice!). Regardless of musical genre, it has, as usual, very nice melodies. The vocals sound rather good. Nice song and recording!

[wagtunes]

wagtunes,
Now listening to "Quick As a Flash": I didn't think it sounded Country to me until about 40% into it. Then it sounded very authentic Country about 2/3's of the way into the song, for a bit. I felt tinges of the Beatles at times. The strings towards the end sound quite big and lush (nice!). Regardless of musical genre, it has, as usual, very nice melodies. The vocals sound rather good. Nice song and recording!

Thanks Aaron. Do you have a new song out this early in the month? I'll have to go check.

[wagtunes]

31st track from my upcoming CD "And Now For Something Completely"

This one is old school, done for the Mix Challenge songwriting contest this month.

Song was done just the way songs were done in the early 60s. 8 track recording, bouncing tracks where needed. No AI vocals. No programmed anything. Just old time "Beatles" like rock and roll.

DCrown, this is for you.

https://soundcloud.com/steven-wagenheim ... e-shake-me

[wagtunes]

25th track from my upcoming CD "And Now For Something Completely"

Wagtunes does the Bee Gees. LOL

https://soundcloud.com/steven-wagenheim ... a-have-you

Haha with a funky vibe, cool, fourth Gibb brother!

You might want to check out my track "Shake Me Shake Me".

Old school Beatles like recording. No AI voices. No programming. 8 track recording with track bouncing. All done just like it would have been done in the 60s. Mono, with hard left/right panning to simulate stereo the way the old Capital records did.

[wagtunes]

32nd and final track from my upcoming CD "And Now For Something Completely"

This finishes the CD which is over 2 hours long. I had a blast doing this one.

https://soundcloud.com/steven-wagenheim/rise-and-shine

[wagtunes]

1st track from my upcoming CD "Box Set Vol 1"

There is a story behind this one.

I had heard the term vamp used before but never really knew what it was. So I looked it up and essentially it's a repeated chord progression that gets played until the singer is ready to start singing again. So I said to myself, "Hey, why don't I just make a whole song that's nothing but a vamp?"

The chord progression is Am, G, F, E and it's repeated for almost 4 minutes. I figured after a while this could get a bit boring so I did what I could to spice this up. There are 3 lead sections. Guitar, harmonica and fiddle. That, along with all the little blips and bloops along the way I think keep this interesting.

Oh, and I titled it, "Vamp This" Sure, why not? LOL

Hope you like it as I start my next CD. This will also be 32 tracks.

https://soundcloud.com/steven-wagenheim/vamp-this