Hello everyone,

Witnessing the terrific performances of my fellow countrymen Rico and Tostie I am somewhat hesitant in offering my latest home-made CD.

Over the last 6 weeks I finally managed to record enough songs to compile a new CD, see list below. All songs were recorded here in my living room with the sole use of the KORG PA800 and the singing was simultaneously with moderate use of the built in vocaliser.

Anyone who would like to have a copy just send me a mail and I will send you the complete CD via WETRANSFER.

regards,
John Smies

P.S. I will webmail the CD as an mp3 file which is about 125Mb. Should you want the WAV version which is 600Mb, please let me know.

SONGLIST:
1 Here comes my baby 10 The Twelfth of Never
2 Seasons of the Heart 11 Journey thru the Past
3 Anything that’s part of You 12 Can’t you hear my heart beat
4 The Rat and the Snake 13 Bring it on Home to me.
5 Feels like Home 14 Ring ring I’ve got to sing
6 Daydream Believer 15 Miss you Nights
7 For a Dancer 16 Brown-eyed Girl
8 Love is all around 17 Rest your love on me
9 Supply and Demand 18 Things we said Today

Hi John,
Thanks for the download. Can't wait to give it a listen.
Deane

John still waiting.only received a text file so far?

Donny,
You should have gotten it by now. If not mail me your correct email address or alternative.

Incidentally those mailing me can best do so via :
pasounds@zeelandnet.nl

regards,
John

Donny,
Downloaded ok for me. Give it another try.
John, put it on my Iphone for later listening.

Deane

Deanne I only received a "Word file" with all gibberish. John please resend via Wetransfer

Hi John,

First thanks for the compliment
and sure i would love to listen to your cd
I am verry curious

Ill send you a mail
SPeak to you soon my friend when i have listened to your music i report back here

Greetings Rico

Hi John ......
I received your songs CD this morning.....what a pleasant surprise .....I really enjoyed your song selection & the unique arrangements are different, masterful and exciting, well done.! ....So many great songs from years past that I remember and still perform many of them on stage today.
Nice clear crisp vocals also. Good luck with your CD keep making great music, Can you elaborate a bit on your recording procedure and gear used also?....

I wish you all the best!!

John ... Thank you ... there are certainly some innovative song treatments there ... good sound ...
I too would like to know more about the gear you used and how you recorded ...
Again, thank you for sharing ...

t.

Hi John
Just listened to all 18 tracks...very professional like, as I heard a perfect mix of audio and vocal. Thanks, and I too appreciate you sharing your talent.

Thank you all for your kind comments.
First of all I would like to emphasize that the songs you hear are the result of some domestic diligence and in no way anywhere near professional recording.By which I do not want to imply they cannot sound good....
Donny pointed out to me that here and there the EQing could be improved and even tried his hand at one of my songs doing so.(thanks Donny, I do hear the differences in particular in the bass department).

As to my equipment and way of recording , I guess it could hardly be more elementary. I simply set up the PA800 with the right Performance ( totally tweaked) , hook up my Shure SM58 to the Korg and its vocaliser and connect the line out of my Korg to the line in of the computer. In the computer I record via Cool Edit ( nowadays: Audobe Audition). I play and sing along off the cuff, at times restarting halfway etc. and later on edit the song in Cool Edit by eliminating the mistakes.( As such the discerning listener will hear some slight glitches in some songs, not many though....). As far as monitoring is concerned I only used my computer Creative T10 speakers which is in fact insufficient and accounts for lack of bass etc. sometimes. As all these recordings were done in one take ( as in performing live) I was unable to alter balance between e.g. vocals and music afterwards. But of course if the balance was completely wrong I would re-record the song. I will try and see whether I can do some further post adjustments as far as EQ is concerned, the way Donny suggested. And of course sometimes one has to be lucky. My favourite song on the album is " the Twelfth of Never " because I had hardly ever played or practised it and it flowed the way I wanted it to flow....

regards,
John

John, I listened to all your tunes...very nice work.

Thoroughly interesting arrangements as well.

I suppose the best compliment I could give, is that there were times when I forgot that you were singing over an arranger.

That says a lot about your feeling/phrasing while singing, your choice of styles and the balance between you and the instrument.

Some really nicely played "guitar" solos too...all in all, a fine piece of work.

Thanks for sharing it with me.

Ian

Great work. I enjoyed listening a lot! Thanks,
DonM

thanks Ian and Don.

I have meanwhile managed to get a Box Account and uploaded the CD there ( in two parts) for anyone who might want to give it a listen to. Part two also includes an info sheet with the songtitles etc.
Here are the links :

https://www.box.com/s/k2y9a6x7oh7knnl5dxxb
https://www.box.com/s/ojt88o3vtfnmt0qju57g

regards,
John

Hi John, nice clear vocals and I loved the guitar work. I agree with Ian, I forgot that I was listening to an arranger keyboard. Congratulations!

Brian you are right, in retrospect I could have cut down the reverb a bit more. Luckily I rarely use any substantial reverb on drums, none on bass and moderate reverb in the acc. tracks.

I am particularly impressed by some of you stating that in the process of listening they seem to be forgetting that they are listening to an arranger keyboard. That may be partly due to the player but I would certainly give full credits here to Korg, without knocking any other brand I hasten to add.

As I explained my favourite way of tackling a song is to find a totally different arrangement.(though on this CD there are also quite a few pretty close to the original arrangement). Two outstanding examples of such an arranger treatment are "Ring Ring I'v got to song " and the Van Morrison song " Brown eyed Girl ". The latter will be known to virtually all of you, as to the former have a look at the original (1966) which makes an odd comparison with my own rendition. Fun though.........
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v763dEAFHxY

regards
John

John keep up the good work.....I'm still waiting to hear you do one of my favorite 60's tunes
"Needles & Pins by the Searchers (co written by Sonny Bono)....
I think you can rock that song with your voice!!

Then




And Now