Hey folks-

First off....
Many thanks to DWbass for turning me onto zshare, very cool to have a resource like this to share files and ideas.

I've not much of a songwriter, (major understatement there) but I've been working on trying to get some of my few ideas down in recorded form before I die and I'm finding this is much harder to do than I imagined.

Anyway, this is the intro to what's turning into an "epic" rock/blues/jam song....not that it's all that good, but it'll for sure be very very long

It's tentatively titled "Parched", and I'll explain that later.

Everything is played by yours truly, except the drum midi, which is "borrowed" from Ivan in Cakewalk; I'm finding it to be a powerful but somewhat tedious program to use. I may try something else, if you guys have any experience in other software, let me know what you use.
I know, you get what you pay for most of the time...cheap means lots of stuff you have to fiddle around with.

The guitar is my "pawn shop" Schecter, the effects are a cheap digitech multi-effects box.
Used my Warwick Rock Bass 5 string for this part of the song, with just a touch of chorus and reverb, but otherwise direct.
Recorded thru the "line-in" jack of my soundblaster card. Expect a bit of hum...

You'll hear lots of mistakes, like some popping and scratching sounds when the bass is clipping and between wave patches....haven't figured out "punching in" etc.
And the timing of the hits isn't perfect, but...it is what it is.
I aint no musician.

Remember, this is just "under development" and has a looooong way to go. I probably shouldn't post unfinished stuff, but wanted to get some input from other ears....hopefully this doesn't sound too much like anyone else's stuff, not intentionally plagarizing anything.

Sample is about two minutes, give it a chance to build; where it stops is about halfway into what I'm calling the intro; I haven't even gotten into the verse chords that got me started on this yet.
It'll continue to grow from here, more leads etc, and more crash cymbals....

There's a couple licks in there on lead and on bass that I'm fairly happy with, considering my advancing age.... :p

Tony\'s tune

Let me know what you guys think, and thanks for giving it a listen- it's rare I ever do anything like this, so it's a fun diversion.

Later- gosh it's late, this is an easy way to burn time!

TonyY

PS I modified this one that's linked just a tad from the first one I posted, the lead around 1 minute was starting a bit late.
It's little stuff like that that makes this software a bit tedious....

Dude! Seriously, this can't be further from the truth! I dug it! I can't wait to hear the finished product. As far as alternative programs, I am a proponant of Acid Pro software! You can import 'live' loops and create your own 'live' loops to work with! Basically, I can have the foundation for a 3-1/2-4 minute song laid out in about an hour!

Thanks Dave!

I've heard of Acid Pro, and of course Pro Tools.
But I've never tried anything else other than Cakewalk. I'll look for some downloadable samples of Acid, I think I remember seeing that it was available as a trial version at one time.
And I get emails from Sam Ash and Guitar Center, Musician's Friend, etc, pushing their products.
I'm sure they all carry what I need....just have to take the time to look, I guess.
An hour would be much better than what I've spent on this for sure...as far as actual record and edit time, maybe three.

Glad you liked it- I respect your opinion.

Later
TY

Hey Bassix, I'm runnin' 'round right now,but soon as I get back in the house, I'm gonna take a listen. I'm looking forward to hearing your material.

Dang. Can't get there from work. I'll definitely take a listen over the weekend.

Tony, That sounds really cool, man. The key of A minor is always soothing for me. Can't wait til you finish it. I would like to hear where the tunes goes when it's completed. I Dig it.

Thanks Bruce!

Good ear there also- it's basically in Am7 etc.
I'm not real good at naming the chords beyond the basics, I just know what sounds good to my ear, and go for it. That's what I find so cool about guitar, there many different voicings for each chord, and the more you tinker around with them, the more you find pleasing sounds. I love the blue notes too.

On bass, I'm more used to playing in flat keys, since we usually have horns involved, like Eb or Ab. But a regular guitar makes those keys a bit more challenging fingering position wise, unless you use barre chords all the time....and what's the challenge in that?

Anyway, thanks for checking it out.
More to come later....

Tony

Hey Markus-

no, not fishing, just being honest....If I was getting PAID for it, then maybe.....

Glad you like it, and thanks for the compliment. Being similar to Pink Floyd is a high honor in my book- part of it may be that the "patch" (settings) I used for the lead lick is from Digitech's online library, one called "Gilmour". I've always loved that guy's tone...

By the way, if any of you guys are looking for drum samples, I got this in an email from sony...

Vitale drum samples

Apparently James Gang drummer Joe Vitale's son is putting out a library of drum samples for users of stuff like cakewalk, acid, etc.

Check out Green Maple Groove, I like that one...

Hey Bruce, maybe you could do one of these things!

Later
Tony

Hey Markus. I guess I do, and it's from melodic percussion instruments (piano, vibes, xylophone, tymani, etc.) I had and needed to learn. For me being a drummer, It helps that I understand keys, chord structures, and the structure of a tune in order to understand and be in tune with what the writer or composer is trying to communicate when performing his/her tune(s). This way I'll know what and what not to play.

Oh, Hey Tony, if you want, I could put live drum tracks down for you.

I may take you up on that, at some point. It sounds so much better to use "real" samples rather than midi.

Thanks for the offer!

Tony

No worries, Tony. It would be a blast.

Hey DW and others-

Found this link, for a 30 day free trial of Acid Pro 6.0d.

So now, I've got a month to finish this

Sony Acid download page

I haven't had the need to upgrade but I will at some point. I still use Acid Pro 3. I guarantee you'll have fun using that program. I believe Acid Express is free with some limited capabilities but functional.

Yet another, continuing on....added more leads, more layering, replaced a couple of bass lines, and basically cleaned up the timing a bit. Also added some crashes in the final 8 bars. Although who's to say this is the final 8 bars anyway, I'm having too much fun and may just make it the "song that never ends"... :p
Still in Cakewalk, not familiar enough with Acid to manage it just yet...

Also had reduced the mp3 to 128k, but it didin't sound right, so I redid it to 320k, makes for a big download, sorry.

Enormous amount of time spent so far considering the total length. It's all "training" tho...

version 3

Goodnight all
TY

Hey Tony, it's coming along great. To let you know, you have now turned your project into "24, the musical mini-series". I'm on pins and needles waiting to hear the next episode of what you're adding to the music.

Thanks Bruce- I appreciate the comments.
Not exactly a "24" quality of suspense , but glad you're liking it.

It'll be a while before I can post anything on it again, have some other things to work on, like, well, my work...have to generate funds to support my habits. It's not as much fun, tho...

later

TY

OK, it's still a work in progress, but.... I have a fantastic keys collaborator that got interested by the intro version, and she wanted to hear the verses and chorus etc with the intro, so I hacked the two files together into this one.

The verse etc is at a slower tempo than I hope to finish up this stuff at; I like the groove but it needs to be about 10 or 15 percent or so quicker. And, there's no lead guitar to speak of after the intro, that will be there later....and there's pops etc from the processing that I need to work out, timing issues, the list goes on.

Anyway, there's my list of excuses

Gotta get back to work....

Y'all have a good one, let me know if anyone checks it out.

TonyY

new version

I dig the shuffle you've put in, and the way you've got the bass line moving up A,B,C,D, to E7, and adding Dm7 and G. That's cool!

I like the second half as well! Has almost a Steely Dan-ish quality to it! You may want to build something off that section! If I may suggest something....................

Play the bass in the lower register and a little more simpler and try to lock in with the drums. Try to establish a solid groove.Then build off of that! I agree the tempo could be a tad faster. I like it. I'm almost wanting to steal it!

Thanks Bruce- looks like you're showing off that good ear again :p
To be honest, not exactly sure what the chords are (I'm using different patterns than usual) but for the majority of it you're right. Glad that you agree they sound cool.

DW- THanks to you to bro!
Yeah, part of the problem with that particular pass at it was the timing, and after listening to this a few hundred times, the bass line is way too busy for the most part. I plan to redo the whole thing anyway, now that I've got someone with some for real talent taking an interest in it; she's our keys player at my old church, and a phenomonal one at that. It'll be interesting to see what she come up with for a melody line.
And your comment about getting back into the lower registers, I will- was just reusing another clip that was the same line over again. I may overlay them, I like the tonal quality of the higher register but it needs more kahunas, if you know what I mean.
Glad you agree on the tempo too, it felt a little dragging to me.

That's half the problem with this stuff; after you lay down all these tracks with five or ten variations of each part, it's tough to pick which ones to use. Mostly, I'm using the ones I made the fewest mistakes on And then changing the tempo, well, that's a whole 'nuther thang.
I've been too busy to use my 30 day trial Acid, so as soon as I get this one project for work buttoned up, I plan to spend a day on just getting used to that stuff. Hopefully before the trial runs out...

Feel free to "borrow" it, dude, build something off of it and let me hear it. I'm honored that you'd want to!

gotta go, duty and all that crap.......this is more fun, but doesn't pay the bills.

TY

Would you mind posting some of that last section (drums & guitar)(maybe 32 bars) without any bass?? Also, if you can, can you quantize the drum groove? If not, no biggie. I just wanted to convey an idea to you.

Don't worry, I'm not gonna steal it!!

Dave-
I'd be glad to, but it'll be a while....too busy with a project right now. Give me a day or three.

As for quantizing it, I'll give it a try, but Cakewalk is weak on that; especially if the tempo is off much at all.

Thanks for asking, tho, I'll do it as soon as I can get some free time.....one of the dangers of being self-employed, nobody to blame it on when something's late....

No prob. Take your time. No rush!

It's turning out to be an enjoyable project for you Tony.

This is why I love music. It's a beautiful thing to see and know the enjoyment that everyone gets from it.