Yes, I'm finally posting an original song!

[Eurythmic]

I'm really sorry to be so bandwidth-unfriendly with this one. It's just... now that I've finally worked up the guts to let all of you hear something I've actually written, I really want to present it in the best sound quality possible. And before you complain too loudly, I'd just like to say that I uploaded it with a 28800 baud modem. I'd really like for you all to hear this, though - if you're not on a fast connection, maybe you'd consider using a download manager capable of resuming, or something?

This is my first post-demo recording of my new song, "We Cried" - written with Chris Takis, the guy who sang "Interstate Love Song", if any of you downloaded that mp3.

I'm performing the song by myself, though. There's some synth augmentation, but the guitars, bass, and vocals are all me. So far, it's gotten some really good responses - even from the girl who inspired it. Isn't that twisted?

Now, I still don't quite consider this to be finished. I want to re-record all of my vocals - the song was recorded in a place and time where I couldn't quite sing out 100%. And I'm still fleshing out the arrangement a bit - for instance, I have four vocal parts singing a chord at the beginning of the guitar solo that clashes a bit. I'm still not quite sure how I want to make that bridge/solo transition.

But the basic ideas are all there... so take a look, please!

http://www.msu.edu/~artmanja/criednew.mp3
11.7MB / 320kb/s / 5:00

Oh.. for anyone who wants an idea of what type of song this is before making the big 11 megabyte plunge, I'd classify this as a "pop ballad". I'm not even sure what I could compare it to, though. But I've been listening to a lot of Duran Duran lately...

Any feedback or ideas would be appreciated.

[Shana]

I just listened to your song.

I liked it alot.
I do hear the Duran Duran influence-i love the bright guitar sound. What equipment are u using? keyboard?

What the hell happend at 4:39? I think I lost the end of the song? Or does it end with that violin part?
Anyway,, sounds good to me
Shana

[Eurythmic]

Hi! Thanks a lot for listening, and I'm really glad you liked it!

I'm not sure if you meant all my equipment, or if you were just referring to the synth stuff... but I'm pretty sure you were just talking synth. I don't have a keyboard. I would use one if I did... I'm not a great piano player, but I can play single notes just fine and it would make inputting songs a lot easier. But I actually just write my parts on a traditional classical score in an old program called ConcertWare. And for the sounds themselves, I use soundfonts with my Sound Blaster 64 Gold. This particular song used a sampled TR-808, a sampled brushed snare drum hit, the "fantasia" patch from the 4 megabyte GM set that came with my soundcard, and a sampled viola.

No, you didn't lose the end of the song... I'll speak in the third person here, for safety. Let's just say that the person the narrator is singing about happens to be a violist. And a damn good rock violist as well, if you can imagine that. That ending is the narrator's way of wondering musically if the person he's thinking about is thinking those very same things about him. The early cutoff of that viola part is intentional, though.

But of course, I can't expect the listener to know all that. Do you think the idea doesn't work so well musically?

Okay... for the bandwidth-challenged among us, I broke down and made a 128kb/sec mp3 of the song. I'm currently uploading it, so you should be able to get it in about an hour or so. It's 4.5 megs, and when it's ready you'll be able to get it here:

http://www.msu.edu/~artmanja/cried128.mp3