Audiobus: Use your music apps together.

What is Audiobus?Audiobus is an award-winning music app for iPhone and iPad which lets you use your other music apps together. Chain effects on your favourite synth, run the output of apps or Audio Units into an app like GarageBand or Loopy, or select a different audio interface output for each app. Route MIDI between apps — drive a synth from a MIDI sequencer, or add an arpeggiator to your MIDI keyboard — or sync with your external MIDI gear. And control your entire setup from a MIDI controller.

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Audiobus is the app that makes the rest of your setup better.

Song Of The Month Club - February 2023

What is the Song of the Month Club?

It's a place where musicians come to give and receive feedback on their work. Anyone is welcome, whatever their level of ability.

The spirit of the club is to contribute: if you submit a song for others to comment on, you should also have the courtesy to listen to everyone else's contributions and give as much feedback as possible. Posting a track and not listening and commenting on others is not cool.

The purpose of feedback is to be honest. Essentially you should give your truthful impressions of the song, whether good or bad. Negative feedback, if done in the right spirit and with courtesy, can be the most useful and can help the artist to grow and improve and correct their mistakes.

All submissions are welcome, don't hesitate if you want to contribute. We like all kinds of music and we are particularly fond of vocals (but of course we still love a great instrumental). If you are thinking of experimenting with vocals this is a good place to get started.

We ask that you only post one song per month in this thread - if you're lucky enough to be able to produce more, then please just submit your strongest material

And finally, iOS is not a requirement for posting here. If you've recorded your song using nothing but a ukulele and a Fostex 4 track, that's fine.

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Comments

  • My entry for the month, lyrics in the spoiler:

    King for a day if you just believed
    Kill for a say you feel so relieved
    You’re lonely so lonely
    You are such a phoney

    You left me, in between
    All of the dreams that you’ve never seen
    And if you try to reach out
    All you feel is your doubt

    Cling to the hope that the end is near
    Ring out the doubt just to end the fear
    And slowly so slowly
    If you listen closely

    You will see, in your dreams
    All of the hope that you’ve never seen
    And if you try to reach out
    You will be in no doubt

  • This is a music track that I improvised on two MIDI keyboards connected to an iPad.

    I used Bome Network software to send the iPad's MIDI notes to Bitwig Studio running on a desktop PC. There the MIDI was routed to Nucleus for the clarinet, as well as to Omnisphere and Repro-5 for the background instruments.

    After bringing the audio recording into Vegas Pro, I applied the Lurssen Mastering Console plug-in to the audio mix.

    It's titled Together.

  • @richardyot said:
    My entry for the month, lyrics in the spoiler:

    ++++++++++++++
    HI Richard,
    Lovely lyrics!!!
    And the melody is so flowing and soothing.
    Love the guitar instrumentation, so smooth!!!
    This is a superb recording.
    Thank you.
    Rene

  • edited February 2023

    @richardyot : excellent idea! I better wait to the end of the month in case I waste my shot on something middling…

    I liked the lyrics and vocal performance on your piece, the guitar was well recorded, the cleanness reminded me of Vini Reilly’s Durutti Column. If I have any useful insight to offer, (doubtful, since I’m the ‘listener’ not ‘performer’ category when it comes to actual musicians actually playing), it might be that to my ears, anyway, the mix lacked a little in the bottom end, which left it sounding a bit like a demo for a singer/guitarist rather than a fully rounded out band. Maybe that was the intention?

    @DavidEnglish : Whelp, nothing like setting a high bar! Great work, both audio and visuals.

  • @richardyot another fine set of lyrics, well sung in your instantly recognisable style (a good thing). The piece flowed and the song was crafted really well. In terms of the production I can certainly hear all the elements clearly, but I wonder if there if more dynamics could be preserved - almost as if it is overly compressed? I’m no expert but I wonder if you use commercially released reference tracks when mixing/mastering your tracks? I sometimes do, and it can be most disheartening but it’s also been helpful. Good stuff!

  • @ReneAsologuitar said:

    @richardyot said:
    My entry for the month, lyrics in the spoiler:

    ++++++++++++++
    HI Richard,
    Lovely lyrics!!!
    And the melody is so flowing and soothing.
    Love the guitar instrumentation, so smooth!!!
    This is a superb recording.
    Thank you.
    Rene

    Thanks for listening 🙏

    @Svetlovska said:
    @richardyot : excellent idea! I better wait to the end of the month in case I waste my shot on something middling…

    I liked the lyrics and vocal performance on your piece, the guitar was well recorded, the cleanness reminded me of Vini Reilly’s Durutti Column. If I have any useful insight to offer, (doubtful, since I’m the ‘listener’ not ‘performer’ category when it comes to actual musicians actually playing), it might be that to my ears, anyway, the mix lacked a little in the bottom end, which left it sounding a bit like a demo for a singer/guitarist rather than a fully rounded out band. Maybe that was the intention?

    Thanks for the feedback, it's useful to get impressions from another pair of ears. I will definitely revisit the mix and nudge the bass up a bit.

    @BillS said:
    @richardyot another fine set of lyrics, well sung in your instantly recognisable style (a good thing). The piece flowed and the song was crafted really well. In terms of the production I can certainly hear all the elements clearly, but I wonder if there if more dynamics could be preserved - almost as if it is overly compressed? I’m no expert but I wonder if you use commercially released reference tracks when mixing/mastering your tracks? I sometimes do, and it can be most disheartening but it’s also been helpful. Good stuff!

    Thanks as well for the feedback. I think my problem here is that I really wanted to emphasize the guitar in the mix, so I mixed the drums much lower than I usually would. This means the transients are buried and the mix doesn't sound dynamic (as if it was over-compressed). I will revisit the mix and probably nudge the drums up.

  • My entry this month is a song called To Find His Home. This is a track taken from my concept album Predetermined. Musically I think it ‘stands alone’ OK but the lyrics are part of a wider story. It starts off pretty heavy, but if that’s not your thing give it a minute as it morphs into something altogether different. As well as the obvious guitars, I used GeoShred for violin parts.

    The link to the album is here if anyone’s interested: https://billsaunders.hearnow.com/

    To Find His Home:

  • edited February 2023

    @richardyot said:
    My entry for the month, lyrics in the spoiler:

    King for a day if you just believed
    Kill for a say you feel so relieved
    You’re lonely so lonely
    You are such a phoney

    You left me, in between
    All of the dreams that you’ve never seen
    And if you try to reach out
    All you feel is your doubt

    Cling to the hope that the end is near
    Ring out the doubt just to end the fear
    And slowly so slowly
    If you listen closely

    You will see, in your dreams
    All of the hope that you’ve never seen
    And if you try to reach out
    You will be in no doubt

    Very nice track Richard! Really love the melody on this one, catchy as hell and the jangly guitar soundd great !

  • @JanKun said:

    @richardyot said:
    My entry for the month, lyrics in the spoiler:

    King for a day if you just believed
    Kill for a say you feel so relieved
    You’re lonely so lonely
    You are such a phoney

    You left me, in between
    All of the dreams that you’ve never seen
    And if you try to reach out
    All you feel is your doubt

    Cling to the hope that the end is near
    Ring out the doubt just to end the fear
    And slowly so slowly
    If you listen closely

    You will see, in your dreams
    All of the hope that you’ve never seen
    And if you try to reach out
    You will be in no doubt

    Very nice track Richard! Really love the melody on this one, catchy as hell and the jangly guitar soundd great !

    Thanks for listening! Catchy is what I hope to strive for every time, so it's good to hear that I've hit the target :)

  • @BillS said:
    My entry this month is a song called To Find His Home. This is a track taken from my concept album Predetermined. Musically I think it ‘stands alone’ OK but the lyrics are part of a wider story. It starts off pretty heavy, but if that’s not your thing give it a minute as it morphs into something altogether different. As well as the obvious guitars, I used GeoShred for violin parts.

    The link to the album is here if anyone’s interested: https://billsaunders.hearnow.com/

    To Find His Home:

    A prog-rock epic! 😎

    The intro solo is great, it sounds like it might be using some kind of exotic scale in the opening section, whatever it is it's a flavour that I really liked.

    Lots of interesting changes in the song, it takes you on a journey and tells an interesting story. It really reminded me of Jethro Tull in parts. The twists and turns along the way all feel natural and not contrived or bolted on. Great stuff.

  • edited February 2023

    @richardyot this reminds me of something in a good way. Your vocals are getting better, IMHO.
    @BillS i immediately thought of Jethro Tull, too. Liked the transition around 2:00. Excellent guitarism.

  • @LinearLineman said:
    @richardyot this reminds me of something in a good way. Your vocals are getting better, IMHO.

    Thanks for listening, and for the feedback 🙏

  • edited February 2023

    @richardyot said:

    @BillS said:
    My entry this month is a song called To Find His Home. This is a track taken from my concept album Predetermined. Musically I think it ‘stands alone’ OK but the lyrics are part of a wider story. It starts off pretty heavy, but if that’s not your thing give it a minute as it morphs into something altogether different. As well as the obvious guitars, I used GeoShred for violin parts.

    The link to the album is here if anyone’s interested: https://billsaunders.hearnow.com/

    To Find His Home:

    A prog-rock epic! 😎

    The intro solo is great, it sounds like it might be using some kind of exotic scale in the opening section, whatever it is it's a flavour that I really liked.

    Lots of interesting changes in the song, it takes you on a journey and tells an interesting story. It really reminded me of Jethro Tull in parts. The twists and turns along the way all feel natural and not contrived or bolted on. Great stuff.

    Thanks for listening. I made a deliberate decision to use different scales on the album and get away from the minor pentatonic I’ve been noodling on forever. Can’t remember which one I used on this track but I really appreciate you noticing and your kind words. Thank you!

    • that solo is in G and what I would call a Spanish scale - G Ab B C D Eb F
  • @LinearLineman said:
    @richardyot this reminds me of something in a good way. Your vocals are getting better, IMHO.
    @BillS i immediately thought of Jethro Tull, too. Liked the transition around 2:00. Excellent guitarism.

    Thanks for listening. I’m guilty as charged with the JT comparison, huge influence.

  • @richardyot said:
    My entry for the month, lyrics in the spoiler:

  • @BillS said:
    My entry this month is a song called To Find His Home. This is a track taken from my concept album Predetermined. Musically I think it ‘stands alone’ OK but the lyrics are part of a wider story. It starts off pretty heavy, but if that’s not your thing give it a minute as it morphs into something altogether different. As well as the obvious guitars, I used GeoShred for violin parts.

    The link to the album is here if anyone’s interested: https://billsaunders.hearnow.com/

    To Find His Home:

  • so here is my track for the month!

  • @martinsa82 I love that little delay-beat hook thing you’ve got going on over the keys early on in the song. It sounds great, then it gets extended by more beat delays. Really clever. The whole track is well constructed and produced, and develops nicely - I’d have brought that hook back in at the end to tie things up. Good track!

  • @martinsa82 said:
    so here is my track for the month!

    Nice flowing arrangement that gradually builds up in intensity. I love the way the piano is really soft at the start, and gradually gets louder as the track builds. Some great sound design in there too.

  • edited February 2023

    @richardyot said:

    @JanKun said:

    @richardyot said:
    My entry for the month, lyrics in the spoiler:

    King for a day if you just believed
    Kill for a say you feel so relieved
    You’re lonely so lonely
    You are such a phoney

    You left me, in between
    All of the dreams that you’ve never seen
    And if you try to reach out
    All you feel is your doubt

    Cling to the hope that the end is near
    Ring out the doubt just to end the fear
    And slowly so slowly
    If you listen closely

    You will see, in your dreams
    All of the hope that you’ve never seen
    And if you try to reach out
    You will be in no doubt

    Very nice track Richard! Really love the melody on this one, catchy as hell and the jangly guitar soundd great !

    Thanks for listening! Catchy is what I hope to strive for every time, so it's good to hear that I've hit the target :)

    Been listening to the track again today. Unless what I heard today is an already tweaked mix version, I personally disagree with the comment about the dynamic. According to the kind of aesthetic I think you're aiming, I think the mix is good as it is and bringing up the drums would damage the nice balance you found between rhythmic section, guitars, vocals and background pads and reverb tails. My 2 cents. Une très belle chanson, Richard!

  • @JanKun said:

    @richardyot said:

    @JanKun said:

    @richardyot said:
    My entry for the month, lyrics in the spoiler:

    King for a day if you just believed
    Kill for a say you feel so relieved
    You’re lonely so lonely
    You are such a phoney

    You left me, in between
    All of the dreams that you’ve never seen
    And if you try to reach out
    All you feel is your doubt

    Cling to the hope that the end is near
    Ring out the doubt just to end the fear
    And slowly so slowly
    If you listen closely

    You will see, in your dreams
    All of the hope that you’ve never seen
    And if you try to reach out
    You will be in no doubt

    Very nice track Richard! Really love the melody on this one, catchy as hell and the jangly guitar soundd great !

    Thanks for listening! Catchy is what I hope to strive for every time, so it's good to hear that I've hit the target :)

    Been listening to the track again today. Unless what I heard today is an already tweaked mix version, I personally disagree with the comment about the dynamic. According to the kind of aesthetic I think you're aiming, I think the mix is good as it is and bringing up the drums would damage the nice balance you found between rhythmic section, guitars, vocals and background pads and reverb tails. My 2 cents. Une très belle chanson, Richard!

    Thanks for taking another listen. I haven't changed the mix, although I will take a listen with fresh ears at some point. I really wanted the guitars to be prominent in this track, which is why the bass and drums are comparatively quiet, but I guess that this approach comes with the risk of the mix sounding unbalanced.

  • edited February 2023

    @richardyot said:

    @JanKun said:

    @richardyot said:

    @JanKun said:

    @richardyot said:
    My entry for the month, lyrics in the spoiler:

    King for a day if you just believed
    Kill for a say you feel so relieved
    You’re lonely so lonely
    You are such a phoney

    You left me, in between
    All of the dreams that you’ve never seen
    And if you try to reach out
    All you feel is your doubt

    Cling to the hope that the end is near
    Ring out the doubt just to end the fear
    And slowly so slowly
    If you listen closely

    You will see, in your dreams
    All of the hope that you’ve never seen
    And if you try to reach out
    You will be in no doubt

    Very nice track Richard! Really love the melody on this one, catchy as hell and the jangly guitar soundd great !

    Thanks for listening! Catchy is what I hope to strive for every time, so it's good to hear that I've hit the target :)

    Been listening to the track again today. Unless what I heard today is an already tweaked mix version, I personally disagree with the comment about the dynamic. According to the kind of aesthetic I think you're aiming, I think the mix is good as it is and bringing up the drums would damage the nice balance you found between rhythmic section, guitars, vocals and background pads and reverb tails. My 2 cents. Une très belle chanson, Richard!

    Thanks for taking another listen. I haven't changed the mix, although I will take a listen with fresh ears at some point. I really wanted the guitars to be prominent in this track, which is why the bass and drums are comparatively quiet, but I guess that this approach comes with the risk of the mix sounding unbalanced.

    For a guitar focused mix, it doesn't sound unbalanced to my ears. Both vocals and guitars are sitting comfortably in the spotlights. I cannot tell you I am hearing clearly the kick drum, but it is not an EDM track 😉

  • @richardyot I've listened again and it’s a damn fine song, worth hearing again. Regarding the mix, I think it all depends on what you’re aiming at - if you like the way it sounds, that’s the main thing. If you can think of a song in this style as a reference track from commercial release and do a direct comparison, it might give you some pointers when listening with fresh ears.

  • @JanKun said:

    @richardyot said:

    @JanKun said:

    @richardyot said:

    @JanKun said:

    @richardyot said:
    My entry for the month, lyrics in the spoiler:

    King for a day if you just believed
    Kill for a say you feel so relieved
    You’re lonely so lonely
    You are such a phoney

    You left me, in between
    All of the dreams that you’ve never seen
    And if you try to reach out
    All you feel is your doubt

    Cling to the hope that the end is near
    Ring out the doubt just to end the fear
    And slowly so slowly
    If you listen closely

    You will see, in your dreams
    All of the hope that you’ve never seen
    And if you try to reach out
    You will be in no doubt

    Very nice track Richard! Really love the melody on this one, catchy as hell and the jangly guitar soundd great !

    Thanks for listening! Catchy is what I hope to strive for every time, so it's good to hear that I've hit the target :)

    Been listening to the track again today. Unless what I heard today is an already tweaked mix version, I personally disagree with the comment about the dynamic. According to the kind of aesthetic I think you're aiming, I think the mix is good as it is and bringing up the drums would damage the nice balance you found between rhythmic section, guitars, vocals and background pads and reverb tails. My 2 cents. Une très belle chanson, Richard!

    Thanks for taking another listen. I haven't changed the mix, although I will take a listen with fresh ears at some point. I really wanted the guitars to be prominent in this track, which is why the bass and drums are comparatively quiet, but I guess that this approach comes with the risk of the mix sounding unbalanced.

    For a guitar focused mix, it doesn't sound unbalanced to my ears. Both vocals and guitars are sitting comfortably in the spotlights. I cannot tell you I am hearing clearly the kick drum, but it is not an EDM track 😉

    Yes I really suck at mixing the kick drum right, that's something I should definitely spend some time working on :)

  • @BillS said:
    @richardyot I've listened again and it’s a damn fine song, worth hearing again. Regarding the mix, I think it all depends on what you’re aiming at - if you like the way it sounds, that’s the main thing. If you can think of a song in this style as a reference track from commercial release and do a direct comparison, it might give you some pointers when listening with fresh ears.

    Thanks for taking another listen, the kind of guitar-heavy mix I had in mind was something along the lines of My Bloody Valentine, where the drums and bass are usually somewhat buried under the guitars. I've just had another listen to my mix and I think it is in that ballpark:

  • @richardyot said:
    My entry for the month, lyrics in the spoiler:

    King for a day if you just believed
    Kill for a say you feel so relieved
    You’re lonely so lonely
    You are such a phoney

    You left me, in between
    All of the dreams that you’ve never seen
    And if you try to reach out
    All you feel is your doubt

    Cling to the hope that the end is near
    Ring out the doubt just to end the fear
    And slowly so slowly
    If you listen closely

    You will see, in your dreams
    All of the hope that you’ve never seen
    And if you try to reach out
    You will be in no doubt

    this was the best track I have heard from you (and you have alot of good ones!) the guitars are awesome, the switch in guitarstyle around 1 min is nice! maybe nice with a bit grittier disted guitars in the mix(in the higher tones, they are very low in their tone), but thats just my taste :) great work! listened to it twice

  • @martinsa82 said:

    @richardyot said:
    My entry for the month, lyrics in the spoiler:

    King for a day if you just believed
    Kill for a say you feel so relieved
    You’re lonely so lonely
    You are such a phoney

    You left me, in between
    All of the dreams that you’ve never seen
    And if you try to reach out
    All you feel is your doubt

    Cling to the hope that the end is near
    Ring out the doubt just to end the fear
    And slowly so slowly
    If you listen closely

    You will see, in your dreams
    All of the hope that you’ve never seen
    And if you try to reach out
    You will be in no doubt

    this was the best track I have heard from you (and you have alot of good ones!) the guitars are awesome, the switch in guitarstyle around 1 min is nice! maybe nice with a bit grittier disted guitars in the mix(in the higher tones, they are very low in their tone), but thats just my taste :) great work! listened to it twice

    Thanks!

  • @DavidEnglish said:
    This is a music track that I improvised on two MIDI keyboards connected to an iPad.

    I used Bome Network software to send the iPad's MIDI notes to Bitwig Studio running on a desktop PC. There the MIDI was routed to Nucleus for the clarinet, as well as to Omnisphere and Repro-5 for the background instruments.

    After bringing the audio recording into Vegas Pro, I applied the Lurssen Mastering Console plug-in to the audio mix.

    It's titled Together.

    Nice piece to let drift over you gently, it's subtle and understated with some lovely floating melodies.

  • @richardyot said:

    @BillS said:
    @richardyot I've listened again and it’s a damn fine song, worth hearing again. Regarding the mix, I think it all depends on what you’re aiming at - if you like the way it sounds, that’s the main thing. If you can think of a song in this style as a reference track from commercial release and do a direct comparison, it might give you some pointers when listening with fresh ears.

    Thanks for taking another listen, the kind of guitar-heavy mix I had in mind was something along the lines of My Bloody Valentine, where the drums and bass are usually somewhat buried under the guitars. I've just had another listen to my mix and I think it is in that ballpark:

    I agree, I totally get it. That’s what you were aiming for and you are definitely in that ballpark. There are so many different approaches to mixing - mine tends to be to make sure every individual element is as clear as a bell but that doesn’t make it ‘right’.

  • I rarely remember to dip into these posts but whenever I do I’m always impressed by the quality of the creations… great work @richardyot , @BillS and @martinsa82 👍

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