Danny Boy - Solo Piano

[mazz]

There's no way of knowing for sure what they are looking for as far as number of different types of versions are concerened.A second reading of the listing makes me think they are casting a pretty wide net maybe because either they or their clients (TV show music sups/producers) won't know it until they hear it. Get used to it because that's the way it appears to be in my experience. I'm working on some pieces for submission to a TV show and this show uses tons of piano music so I wrote a couple of pieces with piano in them. No brainer, right? Wrong. They asked that all the piano be replaced on mine and everyone elses's pieces, and they needed it done quickly! Tomorrow they could decide to put the piano back in and guess what I'll do like a good little composer?..... Reading the listings is an art, ask Matto and Dave, they've got it down pretty well! Work on those Psychic powers, you're gonna need em!Mazz

[kevinmathie]

Quote:Kevin,...One more thing since I have my mixer hat on right now: The background strings sound like they are the same distance from the listener as the solo violin and I'd like to hear them set back a little bit with a little more room or air around them. I think it would make the track breathe a bit more and would help accentuate the solo violin a bit more. Everything just felt a little "in your face" for the type of piece...Excellent point! I was planning on revisiting this piece this morning actually, so I'll incorporate your suggestion. I totally agree with you. I was mixing so late that it's hard to get things right. I'm just glad that it takes the Taxi screeners a couple weeks to get to our songs. It gives me time to tweak things before they give the songs a listen.Thanks!Kevin

[kevinmathie]

Quote:Kevin... ...I'm guessing this is the same gal that played on the first track you posted here? Anyway, really nice and SOOOOO expressive.DaveIt is indeed the same violinist. She's great. I love working with her. She makes a violin part come alive. It's always amazing to me how lame my solo violin parts sound when being mocked up with a synth violin, and how "alive" they sound when I have her come in and replace them with the real thing!

[kevinmathie]

Quote:Kevin - really nice as well. Is the solo violin (and harmony) the only live instrument?Interesting that we both used some of the same little ornaments at the same points. Your notation, or your violinist's interpretation?Yes, everything is synth except the violin, but there are 3 tracks of violin. There's the melody, a harmony part (that doesn't come in right away), and a "drone." I'm not sure if "drone" is the proper term because it's not really a true drone, but it's a lower double-stop harmony that comes in right after the first three pick-up notes.I couldn't always do double-stops on that track, since there are a limited number of double-stop choices, but I used a lot of double-stops on that track. For me, it did two things. One, it gave me more "live" strings, which sort of simulated a partial string quartet, and secondly, a drone like that sort of nods stylistically to Uillean pipes.As far as ornaments go, I only told the violinist that I wanted them, but gave her the freedom to put them wherever she wanted them. So, all the ornaments are hers.

[kevinmathie]

Bombaycharlie1,Really nice job! Man, if yours doesn't get forwarded, I'll be floored. Beautiful harmonies.Hummingbird,Nice approach with the vocals! I like that. You know, because your version is sung with lyrics and all, you'll have the added benefit of getting paid something like 5 times more from ASCAP/BMI if it airs on TV than any of our versions would, since vocal performances apparently are considered more "valuable" than instrumental pieces, with a corresponding bump in pay.Smart choice!

[mazz]

BMI just changed their policy regarding vocals in the background of a scene. They will now pay the same as background instrumental. No longer will a barely audible song (with vocals) coming from a jukebox in a scene be paid as if it was a foreground featured song (at least from BMI).Check out the aritcle: http://www.filmmusicweekly.com/issues/F ... fHopefully ASCAP will follow suit.Not to rain on Vikki's parade but hopefully the American PROs will follow the rest of the world on this. One down, two to go!Mazz

[mazz]

Vikki,Very nice version of Danny Boy! The background choir really adds a nice feel to the piece.If I could make one suggestion on your production: Your reverb sounds too bright to my ears, it gives an unnatural ambience to the voice, like you're singing in a very empty room with tile on the walls. If you can, cut some high frequencies (above 8Khz) on the reverb return. This will warm it up and make it sound more natural. Another thing that works for me when mixing reverb is to turn the reverb all the way off and then bring it in until you can hear it as a reverb and then back it off a little bit. Then try muting it and un-muting it and just close your eyes and try to feel the difference between the dry and reverb'd sound. There should be a feeling of space without necessarily hearing the added ambience other than as an integral part of the sound.Man, the screener has their work cut out for them on this one. Great job everyone!Mazz

[bmete]

Charlie,Loved your arrangement of Danny Boy, gorgeous passing chords. Everything about it echoed Bill Evans. Nice to meet another Bill Evans fan.Good Luck to all the submissions!Bob

[kevinmathie]

Quote:BMI just changed their policy regarding vocals in the background of a scene. They will now pay the same as background instrumental. No longer will a barely audible song (with vocals) coming from a jukebox in a scene be paid as if it was a foreground featured song (at least from BMI).Check out the aritcle: http://www.filmmusicweekly.com/issues/F ... fHopefully ASCAP will follow suit.Not to rain on Vikki's parade but hopefully the American PROs will follow the rest of the world on this. One down, two to go!MazzRight on! I missed that bit of news!Hmmm... Makes me think about switching to BMI. You know, if BMI would implement electronic tracking of music cues, rather than the old, tired, and inaccurate sampling, I'd be calling them up today to switch over.

[mazz]

Apparently ASCAP's system is very good at detecting vocals but not so good at detecting instrumental music, particularly if it is behind dialog (which it is most of the time, right?). This is according to Film Music Magazine a couple of issues back. Mark Northam of Film Music Network is a big composer's advocate and is always dogging the PROs to upgrade their "song-centric" way of doing things. After all, a large majority of the music heard on TV is instrumental and yet the American PROs continue to devalue instrumental music in comparison to songs. One theory is that they don't want to split the pie up in to a bunch of smaller pieces, thus taking income away from their big songwriter members. The PROs appear to be like the big record companies, slow to get on board with the new technologies.Mazz