Johnbee58
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Lenovo Core i5 4460 Desktop PC (Windows 8 64 bit), Focusrite Scarlett 6i6, Nektar LX61 Keyboard MIDI Controller, Avantone Pro CV-12 tube condenser microphone, JBL LSR308 8" active monitor speakers. Cakewalk by Bandlab, Reason 7, NI Session Strings Pro, NI Strummed Acoustic Guitar, Miroslav Philharmonic, Auturia DX7 V, Garritan JABB 3, EZ Keys, EZ Drummer. "I will create music the way I want to whether a million people are listening or no one is listening." Dan Fogelberg, Singer/Songwriter-1951-2007
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savageopera
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Re: "You Lift Me" Neo Soul-Original-Sonar X3
2017/04/15 18:23:39
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Well written piece, sort of Al Greenish. Nice sparse, airy arrangement. Solid hooky chorus with well executed bgv. Lead vocal is a bit tenative, sort of searching for the melody. Maybe a touch of Melodyne in spots would help. Overall it is nice to hear a soulful, classic feeling tune like this. I was visualizing the bgv boys doing their " pips" moves. Very cool.....
Sonar Artist, HP Laptop, AMD A8700 , 1T+250g, M-Audio Fast Track Ultra ,Roland 88 Hammer action, Roland AX-1, M-audio 88es, Arturia minilabII......When I was young I wanted to become a mad scientist. I achieved everything except the "scientist" part.... http://www.soundclick.com/savageopera
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ruralrocker2010
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Re: "You Lift Me" Neo Soul-Original-Sonar X3
2017/04/15 22:53:18
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DUDE ****! I love this.
Chorus is great. I think your meter could be more interesting the verse as it pretty much follows the down beat of the piano.
I would beat the **** out of this song vocally, throw it in the dumpster, jump in after it, light it on fire and become a homeless dumpster diving soul singer on this song. JEEEEZ! Love it. I guess neo-soul keys might be in my future.
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Johnbee58
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Re: "You Lift Me" Neo Soul-Original-Sonar X3
2017/04/16 13:29:51
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☄ Helpfulby ruralrocker2010 2017/04/16 20:35:27
Thanks guys. The melody is not tentative. It took three takes to get this down. It's just my almost 62 year old asthmatic voice trying to prove it's still relevant. Also I was trying to sound "black" but I know exactly where I wanted the melody to go. Funny you should mention Melodyne. I DID use it here. Didn't help much, I guess, but I could never have gotten the background vocals as tight without it. Yes, (ruralrocker) you might want to consider EZ Keys, unless you are already a competent keyboardist. This program is the greatest. I get accused of "picking" the song instead of "writing" it by some people, but most of the time I'm the one picking the chord progression and melody. I think it's no different than getting with a great pianist and having him/her play your ideas for you.  John B.
Lenovo Core i5 4460 Desktop PC (Windows 8 64 bit), Focusrite Scarlett 6i6, Nektar LX61 Keyboard MIDI Controller, Avantone Pro CV-12 tube condenser microphone, JBL LSR308 8" active monitor speakers. Cakewalk by Bandlab, Reason 7, NI Session Strings Pro, NI Strummed Acoustic Guitar, Miroslav Philharmonic, Auturia DX7 V, Garritan JABB 3, EZ Keys, EZ Drummer. "I will create music the way I want to whether a million people are listening or no one is listening." Dan Fogelberg, Singer/Songwriter-1951-2007
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daryl1968
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Re: "You Lift Me" Neo Soul-Original-Sonar X3
2017/04/17 15:10:51
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John - this is excellent. Vocals sound great.
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emeraldsoul
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Re: "You Lift Me" Neo Soul-Original-Sonar X3
2017/04/20 02:26:01
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Johnbee58
It's just my almost 62 year old asthmatic voice trying to prove it's still relevant.
That's so funny I did a spit take! I get your phrasing and your attempt to sound "soulful" and I think your phrasing is exactly that. I think you should get the "Improved Sonar User of the Year" award. You have really jumped up in quality over the last year, at least as far as I've been aware. Good work! As the chorus is by far the strongest part of the song, with the bgv's, what about starting the song with like 8 bars of that chorus groove? Then downshift into a verse, which is more sparse. Just an idea. Yeah, this kind of melody is really hard to sing, even if you are 22 and vocally relevant! cheers, -Tom
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jamesg1213
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Re: "You Lift Me" Neo Soul-Original-Sonar X3
2017/04/20 12:04:17
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Very well written song John, top drawer. That piano intro is splendid.
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synkrotron
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Re: "You Lift Me" Neo Soul-Original-Sonar X3
2017/04/20 13:38:26
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Very nice john. Not the sort of piece I would normally listen to, being a metal had and creator of electronic stuff, but I like to listen to as much different stuff as I can here, on this forum. Makes a refreshing change actually. Nice piano. Is that EZkeys? Sounds sweet Good lyrics... On my second listen now... Overall, a nice piece of work here John. cheers andy
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Johnbee58
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Re: "You Lift Me" Neo Soul-Original-Sonar X3
2017/04/20 21:16:37
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Daryl, Emerald, James & Synchotron- Thanks. This is EZ Keys and EZ Drummer. All using the browser presets. Emerald-The hard part is keeping the voice in tune and under control. I used Melodyne on the backgrounds but resisted using it on the lead. Actually I tried it on the lead but it over corrected on some notes and under corrected on others and I just didn't feel like doing a note for note correction. It's too tedious. John B.
Lenovo Core i5 4460 Desktop PC (Windows 8 64 bit), Focusrite Scarlett 6i6, Nektar LX61 Keyboard MIDI Controller, Avantone Pro CV-12 tube condenser microphone, JBL LSR308 8" active monitor speakers. Cakewalk by Bandlab, Reason 7, NI Session Strings Pro, NI Strummed Acoustic Guitar, Miroslav Philharmonic, Auturia DX7 V, Garritan JABB 3, EZ Keys, EZ Drummer. "I will create music the way I want to whether a million people are listening or no one is listening." Dan Fogelberg, Singer/Songwriter-1951-2007
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FreeEarCandy
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Re: "You Lift Me" Neo Soul-Original-Sonar X3
2017/04/21 00:33:36
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Well it is a wonderful composition up front. Nice well thought out lyrics. The piano work stands out the most to me. Maybe some room to tweak the atmosphere, but overall a nice presentation.
"voice trying to prove it's still relevant."
Ha! Funny way of putting it, but I understand completely.I do ok for the most part, but there are days for me when putting down a vocal track is not in the cards. Could be any number of things from not in the right mood to voice not in shape. However, I have accepted there are just certain styles of singing that is out of my little box of options. It is just the way it is, so I don't wonder off too much from my comfort zone.
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dcumpian
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Re: "You Lift Me" Neo Soul-Original-Sonar X3
2017/04/21 14:42:56
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I will say, those midi packs sound pretty darn good and not machine-like. I'm sure it's a big boost on the songwriting side.
I think this track achieves what you set out to do quite well. Nice work John!
Regards,
Dan
Mixing is all about control. My music: http://dancumpian.bandcamp.com/ or https://soundcloud.com/dcumpian Studiocat Advanced Studio DAW (Intel i5 3550 @ 3.7GHz, Z77 motherboard, 16GB Ram, lots of HDDs), Sonar Plat, Mackie 1604, PreSonus Audiobox 44VSL, ESI 4x4 Midi Interface, Ibanez Bass, Custom Fender Mexi-Strat, NI S88, Roland JV-2080 & MDB-1, Komplete, Omnisphere, Lots o' plugins.
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ruralrocker2010
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Re: "You Lift Me" Neo Soul-Original-Sonar X3
2017/04/21 16:22:23
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I'm back.....and loving this song. If you wanted to do this song again, I could coach you on it. I could help you get into that space...your voice can definitely do it.
We could do a google hangout. :)
Joshua Barnes Sonar Platinum / RME UCX / i5 3.2 8 GB Memory (Dell Inspiron) / Komplete 10 / Win 7 Home 64 Bit
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Johnbee58
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Re: "You Lift Me" Neo Soul-Original-Sonar X3
2017/04/21 18:30:18
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FEC-Thanks so much! Dan-Thanks, both for this and your comments on "Maze", which I never got around to thank you for. Rural-Thanks for the offer, but I think I'll leave it as it is and move on to the next project. I do still have an alternate take of the lead vocs but it's not nearly as good as the one I used. JB
Lenovo Core i5 4460 Desktop PC (Windows 8 64 bit), Focusrite Scarlett 6i6, Nektar LX61 Keyboard MIDI Controller, Avantone Pro CV-12 tube condenser microphone, JBL LSR308 8" active monitor speakers. Cakewalk by Bandlab, Reason 7, NI Session Strings Pro, NI Strummed Acoustic Guitar, Miroslav Philharmonic, Auturia DX7 V, Garritan JABB 3, EZ Keys, EZ Drummer. "I will create music the way I want to whether a million people are listening or no one is listening." Dan Fogelberg, Singer/Songwriter-1951-2007
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Lynn
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Re: "You Lift Me" Neo Soul-Original-Sonar X3
2017/04/21 19:24:05
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Terrific song, John. You are a hell of a songwriter! You may have convinced me to try EZ Keys. Each song I hear from you just gets better. Keep it up.
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Jesse Screed
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Re: "You Lift Me" Neo Soul-Original-Sonar X3
2017/04/21 19:44:17
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very nice effort. the piano playing is very nice. I like the vocals, in fact I think you could turn them up a bit, with that said, I would like to hear you push them more too. The backing vocals are very nicely done too.
I like your style, I can't put a figer on who you sound like, but there are many different textures in this piece, well thought out, a nice arrangement in my opinion. It sounds live, at the end you should put the sound of a crowd clapping, just an idea.
I like it!
Jesse Q. Screed
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eph221
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Re: "You Lift Me" Neo Soul-Original-Sonar X3
2017/04/26 05:56:17
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Wow, I really dig this! I'd say its reminiscent of bozz scaggs . feel good music.
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stevec
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Re: "You Lift Me" Neo Soul-Original-Sonar X3
2017/05/03 22:49:34
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Nice... groovin', dude.  Great early 70's soul/R&B feel happening, from the rhythm section to the strings.
SteveC https://soundcloud.com/steve-cocchi http://www.soundclick.com/bands/pagemusic.cfm?bandID=39163 SONAR Platinum x64, Intel Q9300 (2.5Ghz), Asus P5N-D, Win7 x64 SP1, 8GB RAM, 1TB internal + ESATA + USB Backup HDDs, ATI Radeon HD5450 1GB RAM + dual ViewSonic VA2431wm Monitors; Focusrite 18i6 (ASIO); Komplete 9, Melodyne Studio 4, Ozone 7 Advanced, Rapture Pro, GPO5, Valhalla Plate, MJUC comp, MDynamic EQ, lots of other freebie VST plugins, synths and Kontakt libraries
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Johnbee58
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Re: "You Lift Me" Neo Soul-Original-Sonar X3
2017/05/04 02:30:07
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Lynn, Jessie, eph & Stevec-Thanks for the feedback! JB
Lenovo Core i5 4460 Desktop PC (Windows 8 64 bit), Focusrite Scarlett 6i6, Nektar LX61 Keyboard MIDI Controller, Avantone Pro CV-12 tube condenser microphone, JBL LSR308 8" active monitor speakers. Cakewalk by Bandlab, Reason 7, NI Session Strings Pro, NI Strummed Acoustic Guitar, Miroslav Philharmonic, Auturia DX7 V, Garritan JABB 3, EZ Keys, EZ Drummer. "I will create music the way I want to whether a million people are listening or no one is listening." Dan Fogelberg, Singer/Songwriter-1951-2007
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