June Contest: Gossip

[robogone]

I really don't know I'm going to have a chance to write down my thoughts on all the entries this month. I just managed to finish listening to all of them so voted based on a one time listen of all of them to be sure I voted.

Will try harder next month

[me109]

me109 - I must confess I didn't get this on first listen but then it just all clicked. The lyrics are wonderful and if you're a fan of film musicals (which I am) then you can't help but enjoy it. I can visualize the mid-movie montage sequence as this plays on the soundtrack. Great arrangement.

Thanks, Tim. I knew I'd sacrifice votes for making it so old fashioned sounding, but, hey, it's an old photograph. D.H.Miltz told me the picture was taken around 1959-1960. I'd already written the line about the fins and chrome, so I was glad to have gotten it right.

Bill Messerschmidt - White Picket Fence
Very skillful songwriting and an excellent arrangement - love those horns! The lyrics are really well put together and work nicely with the photo. The mix is a little muddy sounding to me, but who cares with a song this good.

Thanks for the comments! They're the same old SampleTank horn section that Oddbod blasted once a few years ago, but this time, I overlayed some from Miroslav Philharmonik, along with some staccato horns from the same. The one thing I don't like about Miroslav is the slow attack on just about everything and adding the stacatto samples does the trick pretty well. It's especially nice to hear mention of the lyrics. I'll recheck the mix. Do you think it's something in the tracks or the mastering EQ? Give my regards to Broad St. I miss Philly...

me109: vertigol american vandykicle. a lot of work and a proper result. i'm as clueless as ever, when i listen to Parks'likes,and i couldn't say, if i liked it.

I understand what you say about Van Dyke Parks. His first album, "Song Cycle" really reached me just because it was so musical and so different, but still with recognizable roots. But he is hard to get for a lot of folks.

[mellotronaut]

me109: vertigol american vandykicle. a lot of work and a proper result. i'm as clueless as ever, when i listen to Parks'likes,and i couldn't say, if i liked it.

I understand what you say about Van Dyke Parks. His first album, "Song Cycle" really reached me just because it was so musical and so different, but still with recognizable roots. But he is hard to get for a lot of folks.

i have 'Song Cycle' on cd and 'Orange Crate Art' too. sometimes i like them a lot and most of the time i avoid to listen to them. i like the lyrics, Parks wrote for 'Smile' and also the arrangements, he did for Joanna Newsom and for Inara George very much.

[Mister Natural]

trying to get my head around the July contest conceit . . .

it would be obvious to "space-out" several of layers of far out-sounding synths in a math-based layout, attempting to "communicate"

but that isn't at all funny . . . :=)

what I'm trying to get my head around is a different angle on the "Aliens Just Want to Rock" theme

[D.H. Miltz]

Thanks, evo2slo.

And thanks again, mello. I don't think there's really a story for the picture, just my mom taking a picture of her friend (with whom she's still in touch, and who also got a kick out of the picture being used). I can tell you that it was taken in Ely, MN, in 1959 or 1960. The house further back on the left is where my grandpa grew up (after he came here from Finland) and the house you see just a bit of further up on the left is the house my mom grew up in, and where I spent good portions of my summers growing up. The building on the right is a garage/workshop. The water tower's different now, looks like a bulb.

[me109]

I don't think there's really a story for the picture, just my mom taking a picture of her friend (with whom she's still in touch, and who also got a kick out of the picture being used).

I can see why. Most women never inspire anyone to write a song about them. She inspired 31, even if the first one makes her the victim of an attack by ET's!

[kryptonaut]

kryptonaut - 3rd July 1947
The problem with this track is that the music is too damn good. It's hard for me to pay attention to the story as I can't pull my ears away from the great sounds. Love the writing and the narration. Voice is spot-on and the story has great tension and build-up. Excellent.

Thanks for the kind words evo2slo, much appreciated!
Thanks too to MrNatural and Miro for the votes, and forw for the HM

[evo2slo]

Do you think it's something in the tracks or the mastering EQ?

Well, take what I say with a huge grain of salt as I still have a long ways to go with my own mixes, but what I'm hearing (HD650 headphones) is low mids from the vocal clashing with the piano. I'm curious what vocal mic you're using, as there's a very saturated and at times slightly distorted quality to it, and perhaps a different mic might be more suited to your voice for this track?

I think it's a wonderfully mixed and arranged track, but I guess sometimes the better something is the more tiny things stand out. I must say again what a great job you did with those lyrics. 'sell tupperware/eat supper where' - great wordplay! Really excellent integration of details from the photo with the fifties suburban lifestyle.

Regards sent to Broad Street!

[me109]

Well, take what I say with a huge grain of salt as I still have a long ways to go with my own mixes, but what I'm hearing (HD650 headphones) is low mids from the vocal clashing with the piano. I'm curious what vocal mic you're using, as there's a very saturated and at times slightly distorted quality to it, and perhaps a different mic might be more suited to your voice for this track?

I used a large condenser mic with a tube preamp, but I kept the input gain low so I wouldn't get too much saturation - or at least so I thought. You're right. I didn't hear much conflict with the piano, because most of that consists of higher notes, but the voice is pretty saturated and I think the problem is more noticeable in the second verse when the trombones come in. That's what I get for mastering at 3AM. Thanks for pointing it out.

BTW, your mix is great. Relentless power with clarity.

[satYatunes]

Some comments on the tracks as I try to figure out my votes:
satYatunes - The Abduction
Great percussion and very nice arrangement. Excellent cinematic production. Love those strings. The helicopter sound is a nice touch (though perhaps not appropriate for the time period from the photo?) - I didn't realize on first listen it was in the recording because of the police helicopters that fly over my house literally every night where I live in Philly.

Thanks for the review, much appreciated. Those are not helicopters. It's alien warships

Thanks Forw, Mister Natural, Miro and Patrick9 for votes.

[evo2slo]

Some comments on the tracks as I try to figure out my votes:
satYatunes - The Abduction
Great percussion and very nice arrangement. Excellent cinematic production. Love those strings. The helicopter sound is a nice touch (though perhaps not appropriate for the time period from the photo?) - I didn't realize on first listen it was in the recording because of the police helicopters that fly over my house literally every night where I live in Philly.

Thanks for the review, much appreciated. Those are not helicopters. It's alien warships

Alien warships are flying over my house every night!? Oh

[offthewall]

Whew .... finally found some time to do voting. Extremely difficult job, once again. Some superb translations of that photograph. Thanks for a great theme, Dan.

Thanks for reviews ... always appreciated.

Offthewall: everything fits perfectly here. guitar playing, lyrics and melody are top notch. your voice is uniquely growing old and it sounds good even when it's out of tune.

Maybe my voice is growing old at the same pace as the rest of me, Chris. Appreciate the back-handed compliment about being out of tune

offthewall - not your best vocal performance and some of the lines/rhymes are somewhat clunky. The feel is much better when the second guitar enters the frame.

I agree with all you have to say, Tim. My defence is that, being totally absorbed with the arrangements for my daughters wedding (and the inclusion thereat of my first public performance in 40 years), I only had 2 hours spare to write and record this song including the associated video ( )

Nice relaxed guitar-playing, and I loved the bit where the additional guitar comes in, everything suddenly felt much more complete. Some of the rhymes maybe felt a little cliched, I thought. And the chorus, like the verses in my previous comment, left me feeling something was going to happen that didn't - not sure why that was though!

Appreciate the positive comments. See above for excuses

Very nice song. The guitars sound good and are well played. I like the sad tone to the lyrics and music, but with a glimmer of hope behind it.

Once again I appreciate the comments. Sad songs are my favourite. The glimmer of hope should always be around ... yes?




James

[forw]

forw - Elegy for strings
Very heavy piece, though it didn't quite maintain my interest throughout. Would have liked more counter melodies. But I did love the sonic transformation at the end.

thanks for your review! very appreciated, more counter melodies or even cutting out party of the melody would be good idea to try on that piece, I guess..


robojam, DH Miltz THANKS FOR YOUR VOTES!!

[GMoneh]

GMoneh: sounds drunk and happy. Strum Acoustic wasn't the best choice. ear pleaser anyway. a good one.

Thank you for the words, mello

GMoneh - this has a lovely lazy, laid back rhythm and I like the melody interplayed between the piano and sax lines. The sampled tone of the sax is a bit too artificial in places particularly when it gets more strident.

Thanks for the review. As a note, the sax is not sampled but physically modeled, which might account for its tone. I do prefer this to sampled sax, however, as I believe it gives a better dynamic response, which is so important in the sax.

GMoneh - Nostalgia
Love the chord progression and piano playing. I'm really crazy about the first minute of this track, but don't really care for the tone of the sax when it is featured in the mix. A shame because I really like everything else about this track, especially the laid-back pace, percussion, and great compositional structure.

Thanks, evo2slo.

Really appreciate the reviews, guys, thanks.

[GMoneh]

I must admit, I was a bit bummed when the theme got changed from a Free For All to the photo. But I'll be the first to concede that the contest produced a good number of gems this month.

Thanks for the music, everyone.

Anyway, votes are in... I don't know if I'm going to be able to put my notes in order before tomorrow so I can share them... I'll try, though.

Next month: Some type of contact with extraterrestrials has been made. The aliens have sent music. Let us hear it. (Loosely inspired by a suggestion from Laguna Rising.)

I'll probably have to miss next month contest due to being away from my computer for a good part of the month. It's not up my alley anyway, but I'll be listening to what weirdness you guys can come up with