She thought to see Dragons

Ahh cool,
excellent timing for this feedback thanks Boz and I agree with the concept, you’ve named a thought I had but couldn’t identify (?)… a disconnect between piano and drums… ach… damn… so much work :flushed: but that’s why I put this up for bash - it just isn’t quite working for me…
yay… thanks!!

Oooh LOVE the idea of the Martin Barre chords
I could slap them on there for you if you’d like.

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Awesome offer Styles… big thanks!!! My immediate thought was YES PLEASE! but in reality I’ve just about done this song to its death… I’d meant to be re-working it yesterday but got caught up in some technical issues… turns out my cables are getting old and faulty… haha… my speaker cables, not my brain cables :flushed:
bah humbug! Think I’ll just faff around and make the best of what I have but would love to create some new project with you in the future maybe?

Sure, anytime, worldwide sensations in our futures.

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O crikey… this mix has serially done my head in… :flushed:

@Stan_Halen
@ColdRoomStudio
@feaker
@redworks
@skua
@Aef
@Firedance
@StylesBitchley
@bozmillar

Thanks so much for all your insightful comments.
I’ve done some revisions… and suspect I’m ear-worn to bits now…
It’s all still a big learning curve - the number of dumb things I do while mixing continues to surprise me!

if you could bear to listen again, I’m putting the revised mix up the top of the thread.

:beerbang:

I like the drums much better now - cool!

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Definitely flowing better now, good job.

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Yes Emma! sounding great to me, well done.

TBH I still think the drums are a bit off time in sections BUT the timbre now suggests a “looser pattering” rather than a strident obvious rhythm so I wouldn’t see it as an issue. And I could be wrong anyway…

Sounds great!

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Yes it’s sounding better. Drums are better. I tend to agree with FD that the drums in some sections still have an unusual timing, but for the flowy nature of this piece that’s always going to be a challenge.

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@ColdRoomStudio
@Firedance
@StylesBitchley
@Stan_Halen

Thanks heaps for getting back to me on this… so great to feel that I am on some sort of right track…
I’ll have to ‘rest’ it for a while… have this growing suspicion that I’ve gone down the wrong path with this song and that it actually wasn’t meant to sound like this at all…
hate it when that happens!

I suspect that the original recording is inherently flawed and just can’t quite cope with the drums that I really wanted to have with it… Still, on a positive, I have learned a heap more stuff! Thanks again - it is golden to get your feedback. Poor hubby is rolling his eyes at me on this one… He still can’t quite believe the time these things take and my obsessive angst… :slight_smile:

Okay, I’ve posted a mix 3, more for my own sense of ‘completion-ish’ than anything else…
I have made it a little more atmospheric, hopefully a little softer/darker and more ambience… ach well …:sweat_smile:
Well, I also found yet more dumb things I had to fix up so it’s good to have them done.
I’ve really struggled with this mix and am so very grateful to you guys for your kind support.
We may be a small site but the skillbase and support are AWESOME!! Thanks again!
:beerbang:

It is sounding good. I am getting some buzziness going on when the song is hitting the limiter. Nothing to do with the mix me thinks but i am wondering if anybody else is getting it.

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Hi I love the percussion now. Sounds like a perfect fit for this and the thought that is is not midi is to me just refreshing. I takes too long to hear your lovely voice…yes one minute. I also feel the first part should start out a little quieter and build. Might be too much going on there too. Many places your voice level was sacrificed by another instrument. I could list minutes and seconds if you would like. ha ha You know me Emma, I just babble.

Sincerely

Paul

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I’ve listened to both mixes that you’ve given to us for a listen… mix 3 is a massive improvement and I echo quite a few of the sentiments expressed by our fellow musicians.

As there is not too much to add I’ll have a good read of the lyrics and give some thoughts on them…

For me this gives the song an Arthurian theme. I could picture dragons flying around the sky breathing fire only to be unseen by some fair maiden, followed by two good clichés about a broom, maybe a witch’s?

No there’s a word I’ve never heard of! Not that it matters… it fits in nicely!

Did you sing “biting” second time round? Could be my ageing ears playing tricks on me?

Quite a haunting verse that in many ways I can relate to! A day drowned at dawning. Many a time I have felt like this, dreading the day ahead and risks simply not paying off, just like this young lady is!
,

Quite apt for a few hours spent in the recording studio! My view is that if a musician is not prepared to take risks, then there’s no point being in there!

It’s a great ending to the song too, kinda summing up the rest of the lyrics!

A lovely piece of work. You are very talented and dare to do things differently :smiley:

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My, Emma, that was magical for sure. Last year I saw Loreena for the first time playing in a three piece, and you take me back to that night. You share that celtic vision and yank it heartily into the modern era with nuance upon nuance. I find the big drums invigorating, either rocking out the authentic traditional sound or perhaps more reflecting the way it really was back then. I think the latter is most likely.

I think Bear McCreary also infuses that extra powerful electrified umph in his stuff such as on Outlander. You barely notice it, but you feel it.

The first version was so good I almost didn’t want to listen to the update, but fortunately to me the improvements were so subtle I accepted them all in stride.

I’m quite impressed with your making a drum and playing it so well. Too cool! The flute harmonies were loud but utterly tasteful. It is amazing how such a song can not be 300 years old…

And as always from you, your words are poems stolen from the renaissance of the art form, if I wasn’t told they weren’t. You were wonderful before, but I think you’re getting even better. Thank you, and keep it up!

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@Ailwyn
Thanks so much for your lovely feedback Ailwyn, I so appreciate your thoughtful comments. It can be a strange lonely journey, crafting a song and then putting it out to the universe. And yes, sometimes I do make up words, or manipulate them to suit, like ‘forgettery’… and your ears did not deceive you with me singing different words :slight_smile:

@steban
Gosh it’s such a time since I saw Loreena live, have seen her a couple of times down here in NZ and loved the music. The first time was very acoustic and the second time she had quite a big band. I love that celtic fusion sound… Thank you so much for your wonderful comments. I know that my music can be a bit niche and it is so lovely when people ‘get’ the sounds. I did struggle terribly with that drum… while some instruments I can pick up and make an okay sound quite early on, drumming is, for me, an elusive and challenging thing!

For me, the words always come first in the song… they create the everything else, the melody, the instrumentation. Once again, thanks so much!

Oh! what a lovely surprise, I wasn’t expecting to hear something like this. Emma very nice. There are so many subtleties throughout the song and I like the work you did with the harmony’s. yes very good.
Think I’ll have another listen.

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your voice is epic on this!
personally i`d skip the long intro and bring the vocal in sooner as thats the hook!
lovely arrangement and beautiful melody.
good work

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to me the drums seem to accent a different beat than the piano and pull the melody like a tug of war, it could be me but i think the drums need to be started
on a different count. i could be wrong though, if its what you were going for then cool x

ignore me, just re listened and it must be my ears. i blame the wine. nothing wrong with the rhythm. sorry

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