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.
Download on the App StoreAudiobus is the app that makes the rest of your setup better.
Song Of The Month Club - June 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.
Comments
My entry for the month, it's an old song that I originally wrote back in 2016, with new vocals, new lyrics and a much better mix. Lyrics in the spoiler.
A happier time
Late nights and wine
Before we grew so old
Before our hearts grew cold
It seems so far away
That warm September day
We found out years ago
That our love will ebb and flow
And of all the girls to meet
Loving you was bittersweet
The price of love is loss
And we all must bear the cost
We will laugh and we will weep
We will dream ourselves to sleep
But we’ve only got today
To try and find the way
We found out years ago
That our love will ebb and flow
And of all the girls to meet
Loving you was bittersweet
My entry this month was written a couple of years ago, but I was never happy with the original production so this new version has been mixed from scratch this past month and remastered. It’s one of the heaviest songs I’ve ever done and probably the angriest!
A pocket full of Yes men, prematurely balding
Tick tock tick box, uninvited ambition
They hold all the power, they have all the cards and questionable, questionable motives
A nation screams its discontent and reason
A lifetime of experience a parking lot of common sense
He has no voice, holds no one's ears oh, all that he could scream
Fuming at the TV, raging at the internet, he’s come to hate the BBC
Subservient puppet of compliant incompetence
A pocket full of Yes men
Is it me? Is it you?
How have I changed?
A pocket full of Yes men
Was it always like this?
How have you changed?
Returns to his amber nectar, swirling, comforting
Smiles to himself, knows the truth, but he has to reign it in
He won’t give himself a heart attack raging at the internet
Solace found in breathing deep
In Out In Out
He lives in the moment, won’t interpret or make judgement
He can guide his imagery he’s at one in his world
In Out In Out
A pocket full of Yes men
It’s not me it’s not you
Now that I’ve changed
A pocket full of Yes men
It’s no longer like that
Now that you’ve changed
Another great song Richard.
Your getting really good at creating interesting textures in your songs. Love the E bow guitar sound weaving in and out and the filter swept sound that under pins the song.
Lovely chorus, has a nice warm vibe to it.
The middle 8 is a nice contrast to the rest of the song with the piano stabs and the cowbell in there and again your drum programming is interesting.
I do think you could add some ear candy to the 2nd verse to keep the listeners ear interested. Maybe some faint reverbed washed high piano riff?
Also the 2nd/ last chorus would be more up lifting if you added harmonies or a counter vocal, if you get my drift?
Your mix is really great as usual.
Thanks for that thoughtful feedback, much appreciated. I think your suggestions on the arrangement are probably spot on
(edit) Also, well spotted on the E-Bow, that is indeed what I used on this song.
I listened to the song 5 or 6 times. The 1st is just to take the whole song in and then each subsequent listen I try to focus on one element at a time.
Wow - thanks for that level of commitment, I really appreciate it 😎
Not many people will listen to a song that thoroughly. I usually listen 3 times if I'm giving feedback.
You will have to stop writing great songs then I will only listen once!
Well I’ve listened three times, and I have to say it’s been a pleasure. Great song. There’s a lot to be said for properly getting into a song before commenting. I’ve only good things to say. As usual your lyrics are spot on, relatable to many people which should mean this’ll be a big hit in the charts (OK ignore the last bit - but you do deserve a wider audience). I think your judicious use of well spaced keys added so much in between the sung lines. I also noticed the excellently played bass lines. Everything is mixed well, and where it should be - for my tastes I think it could benefit from a bit more punch and dynamics. I’m not entirely sure how I’d suggest achieving that, so that’s probably not an overly useful thing to say, it’s just a feeling.
Above all, after three listens I caught myself walking round the house singing the chorus to myself - got to be a good sign huh?
Thanks for the lovely feedback ♥
The guitars are the highlight of this song for me, I really liked the intro riff and the pre-chorus riff (which was really exceptional). The song is well-arranged, with some nice drops and changes in dynamics, and the overall vibe suits the angry subject matter.
One thing I would have done differently would have been to use a more edgy distortion sound on the guitars, at least in the chorus - something like an EHX Big Muff would give a bigger, angrier sound, with chunkier distortion. I'm assuming the guitar was all in-the-box though, so maybe that wasn't an option (I still prefer to use pedals for distortion).
The solos were good, especially the final one at the end.
@richardyot thanks so much for the comments. I see Nembrini have recently brought out a free version of the Big Muff - the only physical pedal I now own is the JRAD Archer Overdrive which to be honest is really great but I’ve all but forgotten about! Used to own a Big Muff, but literally decades ago. I’ll have to dig out the Archer again. Cheers
Hi Guys.. This track was released about a year ago on Veksler Records.. With a collab with an artist Phie Claire.. (A.K.A Sophie St.Claire)... Enjoy guys...
This is a music track that I improvised on two MIDI keyboards connected to Bitwig Studio on a desktop PC. There the MIDI was routed to Solo for the flute and Omnisphere 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 Regeneration.
@DavidEnglish Hi David, you certainly have an established style and trademark (does not apply to me ;-)) and I always pick my moments to listen to you, and because of that, your music always makes me feel better! Thank you, sublime as ever. I find it really difficult to offer insightful comment on each month's entry, but you are a master of your craft.
Another lovely meditative piece, the melodic theme holds this together beautifully.
@richardyot
A nice tempo with instruments that seem to shimmer, sing out, and then wash over you. Love that it’s not overproduced. Every element stands out, yet it has a consistent, familiar feel. These things can be pretty subjective, but it’s my favorite from you among all the ones that I’ve heard.
@BillS
This one seems more like a protest song than a polite observation song. That’s good. The hard driving rock suits the lyrics well, and the content of the lyrics demands to heard more emphatically. I love how you pull it back musically as the singer/narrator considers self-change, as opposed to only railing against the yes men. And the electric guitar solos are terrific. A bit of icing on the cake.
@studs1966
Great dance music. I’m always impressed by the excellent production quality of your songs.