Newest Piece - "All Those Lessons We've Forgotten"

K

K-dub

Well-known member


Rewrote the lyrics, laid a new vocal ... and remixed. This is a bit of a swing rock protest song.

All Those Lessons We've Forgotten

Yeah I don’t find
That there are any shorter welfare lines
Yeah I don’t find
There’s much a difference
After all
A wall’s a wall
... and they’re all the same

Watch the rich keep getting richer as a wider chasm grows

Yeah you think we'd all know better
All those lessons we've forgotten
Piraticians making money
... as we reap all that they sow.

Sometimes symptomatic surface
belies sycophantic service
Why assert "We are deserving"
When in fact you stole the show

Yeah I don’t find
There’s any difference after all
Both take their toll
And we wind up the same

It don't matter who you vote for because money bought their souls

Yeah you’d think we’d all know better
All those lessons we’ve forgotten
Just in case you fell asleep
The Inner party’s in control

Current symptomatic problems
Stem from sycophantic service
Starting wars can be distracting
When in fact you stole the show

It’s gotta stop
Oh yeah, it’s gotta stop
Oh, whoever thought they'd be so bold
Who's on a roll?
Who's on the dole?
Who stole the show?
Turn on the light when it hits home ...



Any/all comments warmly appreciated.

Kev-
 
The intro really reminds me of something else. Can't quite put my finger on it at the minute. Elements of the melody in there are similar to The Fortunes - You've Got Your Troubles (I've Got Mine) - Not a bad thing. Just what I hear.

I didn't think the mix was too bad. I really like the vocals, tone and delivery. (Got an 80's Brat Pack Film Soundtrack kinda vibe going on - that's intended as a compliment) I found the guitar from 1:29 to 1:58 (and 2:50 onwards) a little too loud for the mix. There seemed to be a little battle for space between that and the vocals. Just what I hear but it might just be me though. I think you could tame th guita back a touch and let the vocal really shine through there.

The bass sounds really good to me here, nice and steady and grooving along. I could use a bit more Kick and the snare could have a bit more SNAP! to it but these are personal nits.

Overall, it sounds really good. I enjoyed the song thoroughly, 3 times. Very different to anything else around here.

Going for listen No4 - Cheers :thumbs up:
 
Mr Clean said:
The intro really reminds me of something else. Can't quite put my finger on it at the minute. Elements of the melody in there are similar to The Fortunes - You've Got Your Troubles (I've Got Mine) - Not a bad thing. Just what I hear.

I didn't think the mix was too bad. I really like the vocals, tone and delivery. (Got an 80's Brat Pack Film Soundtrack kinda vibe going on - that's intended as a compliment) I found the guitar from 1:29 to 1:58 (and 2:50 onwards) a little too loud for the mix. There seemed to be a little battle for space between that and the vocals. Just what I hear but it might just be me though. I think you could tame th guita back a touch and let the vocal really shine through there.

The bass sounds really good to me here, nice and steady and grooving along. I could use a bit more Kick and the snare could have a bit more SNAP! to it but these are personal nits.

Overall, it sounds really good. I enjoyed the song thoroughly, 3 times. Very different to anything else around here.

Going for listen No4 - Cheers :thumbs up:
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Yeah ... the trick of the verses is to get the "plucky pluck" git on the left and the piano on the right to play nice with the vocal in the center. Thank you for the mention. It truly helps tell me I didn't nail the balance perfectly. It's probably close ... but if you noticed it, I likely over did it.

Thanks again! (Remember you can download the tune for free is you wish by clicking on the down arrow on the right hand side of the player.)

Kev-
 
Rebalanced the part immediately, MC ... easy fix ... and you were quite right. New mix is up top.
 
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Ah! Piratician! Nice.

The balance is really good. I still don't like the effect you've got on the vocal, but I think you're fond of it, so I'll leave off. This one's within micrometers of the best it can be, I think.
 
dobro said:
Ah! Piratician! Nice.

The balance is really good. I still don't like the effect you've got on the vocal, but I think you're fond of it, so I'll leave off. This one's within micrometers of the best it can be, I think.
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Yeah ... the previous incarnation had some really hard to sing and even harder to understand obscure lyrical references. I said to myself, "If you're going to say something just say it straight" ... so I bumped out the clunky lines and replaced it with the "Piratician" line and the "Both take their toll" ... and I axed the "Keep the prolls from always prolling" (like most would know what that means) line and put in "Just in case you fell asleep, the inner party's in control ... keeping with the Orwellian reference.

I've got a pitch plug which is ever so slightly tuned down ... less than a hair ... blended in the lead vocal. It gives it a unique tone ... which (you were correct) ... I kind of like.

Thanks for the thoughts, P!
 
FWIW ... new mix up top. Tightened the low end and other various eq carving of space to widen the mix more. Thanks for any/all comments!

Kev-
 
Kind has a little Genesis vibe going here and there, post Peter. I am also hearing a little Toy Matinee, a little in the vocals and arrangement.

Bass sound a little heavy on my system. I didn't hear anything else outside of that. Horns sounded pretty damn real.

Good tune. Nice job.
 
DM60 said:
Kind has a little Genesis vibe going here and there, post Peter. I am also hearing a little Toy Matinee, a little in the vocals and arrangement.

Bass sound a little heavy on my system. I didn't hear anything else outside of that. Horns sounded pretty damn real.

Good tune. Nice job.
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That was one of the things I attended to ... trying to tighten and bring the bass out more. In doing so, I might have taken it a little too far ... and questioned whether I had.

Thanks for that particular note, David.

Kev-

ed. later <bass brought back slightly -- new mix on above link -- much better pocket, I think -- thanks David!>
 
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Yeah, the tune's still good, hasn't changed much and shouldn't. But how *DO* you find out people's first names? Do you have an app? I mean, what do you call GregL? Hm?
 
K-Dub. Are you using virtual instruments for the orchestration, or keyboard patches? My opinion, but (unlike DM60), I think the brass sounds like a Casio version, and a little "honky". Would love to hear this with better patches (I got a Native Instruments sound library for $20).
I like the song, and you're quite the wordsmith (love the "Piratician" line)
 
dobro said:
Yeah, the tune's still good, hasn't changed much and shouldn't. But how *DO* you find out people's first names? Do you have an app? I mean, what do you call GregL? Hm?
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Aside from the fact that my real business requires an aptitude for remembering names? David's name is in his signature ... and I've also an ability to read. :)

It's funny though ... when the original mix is sort of in the ballpark, and the changes go down to a tweak here and a twist there, you're right -- most are not going notice the difference ... because they don't have the ability to turn the knob and hear the difference. It just eventually boils to, "I don't hear anything wrong."

Thanks for the check-in P!
 
Crazy Luke said:
K-Dub. Are you using virtual instruments for the orchestration, or keyboard patches? My opinion, but (unlike DM60), I think the brass sounds like a Casio version, and a little "honky". Would love to hear this with better patches (I got a Native Instruments sound library for $20).
I like the song, and you're quite the wordsmith (love the "Piratician" line)
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Hey Luke! Did you see I commented on your new piece at Rec.org? Sounds perfect for the genre you're going for.

The horns are Soundfonts played through SFZ in Sonar. I've got Garritan's horn library ... and frankly a ton of other horn patches ... and they all work sort of differently w/ wildly different flavorings. For instance, none of the Garritan library would work in this tune. The soundfonts would fit ... and I've got a synth plug from Roland where the brass sections might also. The other stuff is too "tame" ... and lacks the punch and attitude of the others. I'd be interested in checking out NI stuff though if you could link me to it. I'm ALWAYS in search of improved brass sounds. Thanks Luke!

---------- Update ----------

DM60 said:
:eek: I must have only heard really bad ones. Guess some point in the future I will have to check out NI's library.
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I wouldn't worry. I've heard a TON of them ... and still tend to choose what I like the most. :)
 
YOu know the more I listen to people's original music the more I am enlightened by how much talent there is out there. This is not my type of music but I think it is very well done. It has an unusual sound to a....almost show theme kind of thing. I don't know..... anyways. Musically I like it all. The drums could come up a bit.....Vocally is where to me this needs to be cleaned up....More concise.....Some pitch correction etc... The vocal seems tooo loose.

Overall great job!
 
K-dub said:
It's funny though ... when the original mix is sort of in the ballpark, and the changes go down to a tweak here and a twist there, you're right -- most are not going notice the difference ... because they don't have the ability to turn the knob and hear the difference. It just eventually boils to, "I don't hear anything wrong."
Click to expand...

I'm something like that. For me, in the end it comes down to balance. So when I find myself tweaking a couple of things a half dB, I'm know I'm done.
 
yorgo said:
Vocally is where to me this needs to be cleaned up....More concise.....Some pitch correction etc... The vocal seems tooo loose.
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Depends what you're aiming for. Depends on your mix values. Do you want to photoshop *all* the moles off the photo of the girl's face? Recently I was playing around with a pitch correction plugin. Pretty amazing what they can do. But I found that if I brought every bum note completely into true that it ruined the song somehow. I think it's cuz of this: autotune the shit out of something and it makes it boring. Leave the warts in and it sounds real. Dealer's choice.

I think the trick with the pitch plugins is to n-u-d-g-e notes, not bring them completely into true. If they need more than that, you should just re-track the part.
 
I'm none too keen on the disco Kiss hihat intro - it could've changed sooner.
I like the lyrics - reads like the headlines in Australia at present.
 
rayc said:
I'm none too keen on the disco Kiss hihat intro...
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Indeed. I think it's really irritating. But then it occurred to me that it fits right into the message of the song. It's like the fake gloss that the song challenges.
 
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