Well in spite of the recent controversy over the posting of my tunes and their relative merit, I do not want to let that take any of the spotlight away from Tony W.

He composed a great piece "Hearts And Violins" that he graciously allowed me some creative input on to add a bit freely and also to re-record the piece for this cd.

If you would like to hear it, it is on my "current work" page.

Thanks Tony!
Terry

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jam on,
Terry http://imjazzed.homestead.com/Index.html

Terry and Tony,

IMO... The strings are too loud, too busy, and are competing with the vocals taking away from them. The vocals are too heavily processed and sound artificial. I'd suggest backing off on the overall FX, redoing the strings so they aren't walking on the vocal, and seating the strings back further in the mix. That should help to make the work clearer and allow the listener to get into the vocal more.

Good constructive valid criticism.
thanks,
Terry

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jam on,
Terry http://imjazzed.homestead.com/Index.html

Terry,
The song sounds great! I am really pleased with it. I am amazed at how 'full' it sounds in comparison with the 'rough sketch' I sent to you. You have worked wonders with it.

I especially like how you loosened up the lyric. My writing style tends to be quite rigid and I get obsessed with the 'form' of the words. As a result I sometimes feel my lyrics appear quite stunted. I think 'hearts' flows exceptionally well.

Excellent work Terry
Tony W

Tony.....your approval of what I've done with the tune makes it all worth it. Since it is originally your tune your opinion is the one that counts to me.
thanks,
Terry

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jam on,
Terry http://imjazzed.homestead.com/Index.html

[This message has been edited by trtjazz (edited 06-29-2003).]

Terry's vocal style works well with the dark moody quality of Tony's song. Kinda reminds me of Leonard Cohen's stuff: http://www.leonardcohen.com

Im - IVm - V7 - Im
Gm - Cm - D7 - Gm
followed by an short interlude of:
bVII maj - Im
F - Gm

Ok, but what's with that annoying clanky sound of what appears to be someone banging on a pipe (mismapped drumkit?) throughout the song? Was this intentional?

I have to agree with Ensareyou re the strings & piano part fills sounding too busy. The fills could be simpler (parse), with the strings functioning more as a 'backing pad' with longer held notes.

Terry & Tony: Nice collaberative effort. I encourage you guys to consider re-recording your song now, possibly incorporating some of these suggestions.

Scott

I disagree with the constructive comments.. I do not think the strings are too loud, it is within the context of the theme[violins] and the clanking you refer to Scott, I believe are vibes[possibly accenting the heart with in the text]..And for the vocals, processing sounds fine as in any modern pop recording[listen to whitney without processing the voice and she is considered one of the better vocalist. I have worked with better artist]...If you need a constructive comment from me...it would be an increase of the vocals over the instrumentation, but not much..I personaly hate when vocals bury a good instrument arrangement..

[This message has been edited by Fran Carango (edited 06-30-2003).]

Fran,

What type of studio monitors did you hear the song on? I'm fortunate enough to own a set of very high quality Mastering monitors that allow me to hear even the slightest subtle changes in a song. When mixing, mastering, or listening to music on these types of monitors they let you hear things you never knew were in the song that other monitors mask. On my system the strings were much louder than anything else in the song and the vocals were seated quite far back in the mix with lots of effect on them. I don't find the FX Terry used on the vocal to be consistent with other Modern Pop recordings but if you do that is fine.

Also, have you heard Whitney Houston's vocals in person with no processing? I'm guessing not. While her vocal abilities have been effected greatly lately by personal issues, her earlier work was certainly of a caliber that few people can achieve.

Lots of people say they sing yet few can truly sing. Unfortunately with today's auto tune technology, outboard gear, and lots of manipulation on the computer, some people can make themselves sound good and fool many people. The downside of this is they can never play live and get away with it. Many songs today are so heavily processed that the listener never realizes the artist isn't as talented vocally as they assume they are. One listen to the original master unprocessed is a real eye and ear opener.

Thanks all.
Terry

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jam on,
Terry http://imjazzed.homestead.com/Index.html

Terry,

Keep sharing your songs ! Just ignore the naysayers. At least you can compose a tune ! Most guys can't even compose one lousy song although they can play thousands of tunes out of memory.