Cerulean Sojourn (feat. Clint Martin)

UPDATED Nov. 1st. to add Clint's guitar solo.
 
Cerulean Sojourn (feat. Clint Martin)
 
A short journey through some blues/jazz grooves.  Special thanks to Clint Martin for playing the final guitar solo!
 
https://soundcloud.com/arcanor/cerulean-sojourn
http://www.soundclick.com/player/single_player.cfm?songid=12553365&q=hi
 
Parts, for the technically curious:

1. NI Battery (909 Multiple Kit)
2. Mick Fleetwood: Total Drumming (loops, arranged by Walt)
3. AAS Lounge Lizard (BFly Rhodes 1)
4. NI Kontakt (Jazz Upright)
5. NI Kontakt (Shakuhachi)
6. AAS String Studio VS-1 (This Old Man)
7. AAS Lounge Lizard (2nd instance of BFly Rhodes 1)
8. Stratocaster guitar, played by Walt, through NI Guitar Rig (Tweed Delight Sweep Delay)
9. u-he Zebralette (FEV Apharath)
10. Novation BassStation (Power Bass)
11. AAS Ultra Analog VA-2 (Classic Saw)

 UPDATE: 12 - additional "jazzy" guitar lead by Clint Martin

clintmartin
That's some cool stuff there Walt. I like it. Drums sound great and I like the effects on the guitar too. Lots of little things to listen to.

Thanks Clint. Those Mick Fleetwood loops really do sound great, and it's hard to make them sound bad!  I love his style.  I bought this (http://www.sonycreativesoftware.com/mickfleetwood) many years back, and this may be the first time I've actually used them in a song.  They sound so good I'm already thinking of using them again on my next song.
 
As far as the guitar goes, I agree that the FX are pretty sweet sounding.  However, to be honest, I'm not entirely happy with my guitar performance.  I was actually thinking about you earlier today while taking the guitar lead.  Any interest in replacing it with a tasty one of your own? :)  If you've got the time send me a PM.  I'd love to hear what you can do with it.

Thanks John.  Yeah, a bit of "stream of consciousness" there.

Starise
 You are getting better each time Walt! This piece has some interesting twists in it. Your selection of sounds is good here. Has a synthy jazz feel to it IMO.

Thanks Tim.  I appreciate you taking the time to listen, and I'm glad you enjoyed it.

Walt, I like this so much that I'm going to listen again and study what you're doing here.  The mix is well executed, and the performances are tasty.  You make it seem so easy.

Lynn
Walt, I like this so much that I'm going to listen again and study what you're doing here.  The mix is well executed, and the performances are tasty.  You make it seem so easy.

Thanks Lynn for your kind words!
 
As for it seeming easy, to be fair I should mention that I programmed the bass part, rather than having played it (although bass guitar is actually my primary instrument).  It's adapted from ARP243 (grabbed from z3ta+2), which didn't quite seem to be exactly what I was looking for, so I dropped it in and then "fixed" it manually in the Piano Roll, making two separate parts from it - one for the descending sections, and one for the "straight" bit in the middle of the song.
 
The only other thing that was automated was, of course, the drum loops, which I did arrange, but all the hard work was done by Mick Fleetwood. ;)  Oh, and there's also another rhythm track underneath the drum loops, which is just a MIDI loop played on the 909 sampler (Battery), adding more granularity to Mick's 6/8 time signature blues drumming.  It makes a big difference in the feel of the song when I fade it up and add the parts together.  Makes it into more of a driving 12/8 through the middle of the song, rather than the slower feeling 6/8 at the intro and outro.
 
Everything else was played by my hands on my keyboard and/or guitar.

Wookiee
Interesting piece of work with some interest mix of sounds.
 
Production, composition and performance nicely up there.
 
Thanks for sharing

Thank you Mr. Wookiee!  It's not strictly electronic music, but I did use a lot of different synths. :)

cool song.  around the 1 min mark I thought I was listening to something from IRobot by Alan Parsons (and that is a damn cool album).  Nice job!

sven450
cool song.  around the 1 min mark I thought I was listening to something from IRobot by Alan Parsons (and that is a damn cool album).  Nice job!

Thanks for taking the time to listen and comment Scott!  Alan Parsons did some very tasty stuff back in the day, so thank you for the nice compliment. :)  I really love those fat old synth sounds, so I go to them often.

The Band19
At least you can still get a good stream? That's important as we get older. What I mean is to be able to still have ideas that flow? (the other thing too.) I enjoyed the keyboards. I find myself gravitating more and more toward the boards.

Thanks for listening Robbie!  I'll take whatever flow I can get going sometimes. ;)  In recent years I've tended to flow more towards synths.  Maybe that is an age thing too.  Easier for me than setting up an amp and a mic, to be honest.  But also kinda like cheating.  I mean, it's not real music if you don't have to bust your backside carting amps up narrow flights of stairs into (and out of) cramped, smelly, noisy, smoky venues to play in front of 30 people who are paying more attention to the bartender, right???
 
Older and wiser, I say.  I'm selling off my mics, amps and drumkits and buying more software synths!  Keeping a few guitars though. :)

Sounds Great Walt! Had fun!

theguitarplayer
WOW!! Clint did one nice job on that guitar solo, bravo! Very nicely weaved into the mix there Walt. That just stepped this one up a notch and sounds great. Very nicely done.
 
Peace and Blessings to you both, John 

Thanks again John, glad you like the new revision!

Intressting Stuff
Especially the Guitar.
VERY NICE ;-)
after 2:20 it is really good
it has the right swing.
 

Hi Walt, nice one , I enjoyed that, nice solo and sound by Clint.
 
Rik

Hi Walt I just use a lot of reverb to hide a multitude of (guitar) sins ; )  I enjoyed your tune and espicially the flute ! If I have one criticism it's the drums, I would lose them altogether but that's just me, i don't like drums.
 
Rik