Sunrise on the Caribbean

Many of you know I was able to visit Cancun last October.  I was so taken by the gorgeous water and just getting to be on the beach again, I had to write something about it.  This is the best I could do at the time.  Maybe more will follow. Although I may need another vacation down there to inspire me.  :)  Anyway, Rik graciously added more of his gorgeous, tasty guitar work, although it got kinda buried with all my orchestration.  Sorry, Rik!  :(

What really blows me away, though, is that I simply wrote Jonas Aras if he would mind looking at what I'd done to see if there were things he could help me with to help me learn to orchestrate better.  Well, he more than gave me a few tips.  He spent countless hours reworking it, adding a few cool embellishments, listening to me fuss about the minutest things that no one else would ever hear, remixing it and producing it.  I'm really looking forward to seeing the new staff view to see the changes he made and hopefully learn from them.  So, Jonas, thank you again for going WAY beyond the call of duty.  I'm humbled and deeply appreciative of your help.  

Edit:  I was able to get the .cwb file from Jonas so I worked on it for hours, putting the new parts in that he wrote...changing a few things that I preferred, and changed some of the piano parts that drove me crazy after I listened to them too many times.  I think this is close to the mix he did.  As close as I can get it now anyway.  


http://www.soundclick.com/bands/page_songInfo.cfm?bandID=789731&songID=11209404

Very nice song, Janet.  I've been to Cancun, and I know how inspirational it can be.  I was expecting some island music, but this caught me off guard; it is majestic and sweeping.  I agree that the strings sound virtual, but you work with what you have, and if ever in the future you get the chance to upgrade the orchestra you'll be ready.  May your muse inspire you forever.

Hey Janet, nice work but I can here two themes/melodies going on here that I can pick from other songs, one is Go West and the other is Kokomo.  I know, sorry but if you listen carefully you can hear def hear and hum those two tracks in places.  Perhaps it's a subconscious thing.

Do you know what orchestral instrument is being used, the cello at the end sounded nice.

Good job.

Ben

I was looking forward to hearing this, but the link keeps taking me to someone playing greensleeves ;)

Wow, Janet, this piece was mind-boglingly good.  The orchestration was superb, and perfectly complimented your exquisite playing.  You go girl!

What? I was going to say One of "those" beaches where the rent ocean kayaks? What did you think I meant? I did enjoy the piece? But I would like it better w/out the guitar, it didn't seems to fit in several places IMO :-( But you did a great job.

Absolutely beautiful, Janet!  I love it!  Your musical abilities never cease to amaze me...   Now I need to head to the Cancun and listen to this song to get the full effect!

Hats off to Rik and Jonas for their parts.  Great job everyone!

Oh and I do hear a hint of the Greensleeves melody in here that paulo pointed out.

" Oh and I do hear a hint of the Greensleeves melody in here that paulo pointed out." 


I got Pachelbel? 

Jonas...YOU'RE glad you finally got to collab with ME?  I'm just honored you were willing!  :)  

Paulo...Cancun's definitely worth it.  Especially in the off-season...I could tell by all the beach chairs sitting around that those beaches can really be packed!  Greensleeves? Sheesh...I'm not very creative, am I?  lol  Anyway, thanks so much. 

Thank you, Ed.  You know what...after I've listened to this several times over the last few weeks, I'm sick of my playing and would go back and much of it differently now.   But there's no way I'd spring that on Jonas now!  lol  As for the velocities, I always lower them significantly before I finish a song. As I've said before, maybe I really do play that hard on a real piano.  I hope not, but it sure sounds bad on a keyboard with a VST.  So I just lower them automatically.  So I'm not surprised if these need to be lowered more. 

" If it's MIDI may do a 15% reduction in velocities across the board? "


Janet beats her keyboard like a redneck wife in a trailer park... Don't get me wrong? She is a great keyboard player? I tell her that all the time, but I've seen the .mid files... "That poor keyboard..." :-( The woman has a handshake? I'll put money on it...

This is a big production Janet! I think the orchestration is really excellent. A very evocative piece. I did hear a bit of 'Go West' in there too (check out the first few bars of this; http://www.youtube.com/wa...BjMRvOB5M&ob=av3n) but I think that song owes a lot to Pachelbel anyway!

Nice work.

You can always tell outstanding orchestration when it balances perfectly with the theme and embellishes rather than overpowers. This is an excellent example. The theme is lovely and wonderfully conjures the majesty and emotion of the Caribbean Sunrise (I have seen quite a few but that is a long story!). The orchestration is a masterpiece of musical understanding and creativity. And Rik's contribution is as always exquisite. As you might have guessed, I love this piece!

Those orchestrations really put this one over the top. Quite beautiful. I might remix this with a little more space, so it sounds more like a performance than a recording.

And one tiny nit: Cancun is technically in the Gulf Of Mexico, not the Caribbean. And I have only seen the sunrise through drunken goggles!

Very pretty music.   +1 on making the orchestration a tad more subtle.  I'm wishing i was on that beach.

I just gave my opinion.  you don't have to defend yourself to me, I'm not an orchestral expert by any means.  if it's done that way on purpose then that's up to you.

regarding the buzzing, tho, I *did* think the buzzing started when I heard woodwinds come in, but the buzzing sounded very unnatural to me.  it did not sound like a natural bass clairnet.

again - I'm not an expert.  it's just my opinion from what I hear.