Tag Archives: music video

Updated Song – I’m Still Here

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About three weeks ago I posted a new video. I hated my voice on it, so I decided to do an all instrumental version. Well, I’ve been thinking about it and decided to rerecord the vocals. The results are more in tune (good!), but I am not sure if my voice is better…. Of course, being in tune helps a lot ;)

Before we go on, here is the new version:

(Click here if you don’t see the video below)

Lyrics are on video and also original post. Tech details on original post except the added organ is the Rev 2.

OK, a little info about the changes.

I practiced it a little, which I didn’t do before. Part of it is memorizing the words. I still held the lyrics in my hand (you can hear them rustling in a few places…), but I didn’t have to concentrate on the words as much. I also practiced hitting the right notes. Sounds obvious, but if it is brand new, you are reading the words, etc., well… I played around with interpretation, but when I recorded I found that if I didn’t put 100% into singing in tune, I was just as bad as the original version.

I also added a vocal harmony line on the chorus. It isn’t perfect, but I like it :)

I also added an organ part to the chorus the second and third time through, and another organ part just the third time – that makes the chorus grow each time. To me it makes the entire song less static.

One problem is that I didn’t spend a lot of time on the levels and mix, so there are a few mix issues with that fuller third chorus :( (Technical part – to avoid bad distortion, compressor and limiter change volume, which causes “pumping” in the volume.) But I noticed after I posted the video, so… There are a few places where the vocal was over-recorded, so a little distortion there. Overall, though, I think it is much better. (Singing in tune helps 😉 )

Anyway, I do hope this is better than the original vocal version and even better than the instrumental version.

Black-eyed Susan – Video

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The other day I posted a video of an orchestrated Art Song/Lieder from the period when I was composing contemporary classical music. I actually did two posts on this before (see here for the one with the most details). Don’t let “classical”, “art song” or Trent’s awful voice drive you away – take listen:

(Click here if you don’t see the video below)

One year I saw far more Black-eyed Susans (flowers) than ever – they were everywhere. Until I went Northern Maine for a week. When I returned, there were no more flowers. A little later, when hiking, I saw some remnants. I wrote this song based on that.

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The GraveYard Strut – New Music (Instrumental…)

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I recorded a new song the other day and put up a video. I think the animation I made for it is pretty cool – watch for the animation! Anyway, it is only two minutes long and I do not sing. Yea, no awful voice! So here it is, just a quick ditty:

(Click here if you don’t see the video below)

Now the story:

I was playing around with my music gear on Friday. At one point I decided to try to recreate a bass sound similar to the Arp Odyssey bass sounds that I like on my Prophet Rev 2. Listen to the beginning of the video in my review of the Korg version of the Odyssey to hear what I am talking about. Anyway, I came up with a sound I like, then changed it ;) Playing with my new sound, I soon had a little bass line that I liked. I decided to record it so I could figure out something to play with it.

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New Song – I’m Still Here

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I mentioned in my coffee share that I wrote and recorded a new song last week. So, here it is!

Well, in just a minute. First, I did a vocal version and hate my voice so I did an instrumental version as well. I left the lyrics up in the instrumental version, so you can see what should have been said. So I will post both before going and farther:

Version with my voice (note – this is a newer version, slightly better, but…):

(Click here if you don’t see the video below)

And here is the Instrumental Version:

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Another Night Without You (AKA Gm7 Jam) – New Video

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I just posted a new video. Yeah, after several months of nothing I am doing a new one every two weeks or so… This one is in ways an extended synth solo, similar to For Her Heartbreak (see blog post here). Anyway, here is the video so you can listen while I talk about it:

(Click here if you don’t see the video below)

Similar to the recent The New Year’s Song *, I was playing with the acoustic percussion instruments, my new cajon, tambourine and cabasa. I also put in an electronic drum sound from my Prophet Rev 2. Most of the sounds on this are the Rev 2 except those percussion instruments I mentioned and the solo. I used the minimoog clone, the Behringer Poly-D for the solo.

(*Note about This compared to The New Year’s Song – TNYS is a real song with what I think is a catchy melody. This is a quick jam.)

Two of the photos of Tiberius on my mixer (one also used at top of page) are new and he is on my new mixer while the photo at the end is over a year old and he is on my old mixer. He does look more like a kitten in that old photo! And he no longer wears a collar.

I hope you enjoyed this little jam :)

If We Were Having Coffee on the 24th of December, 2022 #weekendcoffeeshare

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Hello and Welcome! Come in quickly! It is cold and windy out there. We are at 6F/-14 C now, but I think we got pretty close to 0F/-18C. It is windy, but not terribly so. Enough that you want to stay in wind shadows! Brrrr. It was 55F/13C yesterday afternoon, and then, with a wind like I haven’t seen – I opened the door to prove to the dogs nobody was out there and closed it, me being afraid – it sounded like every tree in the woods were falling. I used a flashlight to look, and it looked like every tree was about to be ripped up… It didn’t last long, but the cold followed behind. Oh, where are we? Some of you may recognize the picture at the top as being from New Hampshire.

The storm wasn’t as bad here as some places. We are cold, but not in the extremes – 0 F in New Hampshire is winter. The rain yesterday was awful and there was a lot of flooding in our state, but we didn’t have the snow fall some places got. We lost power twice – once for less than a minute and once for less than an hour. I played piano by candle light during the longer outage 🙂. Fiyero sat beside me.

Oh, thinking of Fiyero and the piano, if you didn’t see my Thursday post, I always play piano for the dogs when I feed them (they expect it now!) and on Thursday I came up with a new arrangement for Greensleeves. I will put the video at the bottom – Don’t worry, I don’t sing!! lol Yes, I did three recordings in a week, including writing a song and doing this arrangement (you can see the Thursday’s post for the third).

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Greensleeves – New Video

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Yesterday morning I was playing breakfast music for the dogs on the piano. Yes, I do that every day – Idina sometimes refuses to eat unless I play the piano for her! Anyway, I started to improvise an accompaniment for a waltz. I whistled along and discovered I was whistling Greensleeves! So I went up, turned on my music equipment and recorded it. OK, I had three meetings and wrote a report while I was recording (!) so it took several hours, but it was less than an hour on the keyboards from the idea to finished recording. i.e., no rehearsal, just picking a sound and recording.

(No singing, so no terrible voice in this one ;) )

Anyway, here it is.

(Click here if you don’t see the video below)

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New Song and Video – Silver Bells Played on the Radio

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Part of my ride home from Cape Cod on Saturday was in the cold pouring rain. There were Christmas songs by indie rock bands on the radio. I thought “I need to write a Christmas song!”

In the mean time, there were so many jerks on the road that evening, and one super huge jerk tailgating me for miles. At times I could see his ultra angry face. I really thought he was going to pull out a machine gun and start shooting at any moment.

By the time I got home I had all of the words and the melody for a new, dark, Christmas song.

I played around with it Sunday morning and then recorded all of the instrument parts Sunday afternoon and evening. I recorded the vocals after work on Monday and did the video Monday evening.

OK, a lot of issues – it was a rush job! Truthfully, I don’t know if I can sing any better – my voice is always bad, so… Anyway, here it is Tuesday and I am sharing it with you. (It is dark, but with hope at the end.)

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Odds and Ends for the Week

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Just a few random things I wanted to put out.

Did you see the cover reveal for my upcoming book of short stories, It’s Cold Outside? Take a look here if you haven’t.

Why am I bringing it up?

I had started with a drawing I had made in an art class that I thought was perfect, but I couldn’t get it to work, so I started over with a different image, a drawing I had made from a photo, one I have used many times on the blog. I really liked how it come out :) But then, the day before my cover reveal, I went back tot he original drawing of the first image and played with it. Darn, I actually liked what I came up with! After passing it by several people, we all decided that I need to stick with what I used. It fits better. Anyway, a few changes in format, here is the alternate version:

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