Sail Away

[sd cisco]

Hello!
First, let me say, I am aware of the Forum rules regarding posting a new thread whilst you still have an active thread on the front page. However, these are my circumstances: I posted "Oil on the Water" on June 26/10, yet it still has a pulse. But now, there are only 2 weeks left of Summer, and I have a "Summer themed" piece that must make its appearance before the sun sets on the season.
Therefore, in contravention of Forum rules, I am posting "Sail Away". I have used the JABB voices extensively and I love them, but the entire band is really more like a studio orchestra, all Garritan.
I first wrote and played this on my real piano upstairs a couple of years ago. Nearly from the first, I had thought of doing this, just took a while. I think acquiring the JABB2 library from Raymond62 - (thank you again my friend!) - is what finally led me to completing it.

Sail Away

Bon Voyage!

Best regards,
sd cisco

ps - I had a dreadful experience, starting last Friday the 13th! We had a weird spike or jolt or interruption in the electric service here and when my PC went to restart, (I wasn't in the room otherwise I would have killed it) it hung, couldn't find the BIOS. Subsequent attempts to restart led to requests for a boot disc, lucky didn't have one so didn't try that HD wiping technique. After that, it wouldn't even begin the boot sequence, just had a light on and the fan was running but just a black screen. $100 later I'm back in business as of today, fyi.

[etLux]

Much enjoyed the listen on this, SD... my feet up on the
piano with the windows open and all the the critters of
a lazy summer night chittering out there. Pefect mood fit.

There's one particular aspect of this that I just loved,
and I'm not quite sure how you achieved it: not all the
way through but as it moves forward, it slowly acquires
the feel of being just on the edge of slipping out of control.

Nice work!

Best,


David
-----
David Sosnowski
www.DavidSosnowski.com

[FLWrd]

Nice composition. It fits the mood David describes. The slightly sloppy feel that David likes, is something I value least. You just can't please everyone. My favorite part is at 2:15: that is pretty convincing. And the dixieland-like sound at 2:36, that's also great. Thanks for sharing.

[Hippie]

What David said. I like this SD, nice job!

[sd cisco]

Much enjoyed the listen on this, SD... my feet up on the
piano with the windows open and all the the critters of
a lazy summer night chittering out there. Pefect mood fit.

There's one particular aspect of this that I just loved,
and I'm not quite sure how you achieved it: not all the
way through but as it moves forward, it slowly acquires
the feel of being just on the edge of slipping out of control.

Nice work!

Best,


David
-----
David Sosnowski
www.DavidSosnowski.com

Hello David!
Thank you for listening and your comments! It is very much appreciated. In the design, the piece is symmetrical, A,A,B,A,B,B. It is the style which, to me at least, demands the "loose" sort of treatment of the playing, in an effort to achieve an authentic sound. I like in particular the B section and my Trombone accompaniment. Anyway, I am glad you liked it!!

Best regards to you!
sd cisco

[sd cisco]

Nice composition. It fits the mood David describes. The slightly sloppy feel that David likes, is something I value least. You just can't please everyone. My favorite part is at 2:15: that is pretty convincing. And the dixieland-like sound at 2:36, that's also great. Thanks for sharing.

Hi Theo;
Again, I thank you for listening and making comments! As I have explained to David, this particular style demands the loose feel. I think the drum track contributes to this effect as well. I know in general, this sort of "American" Blues or R&B tinged music has a kind of "shuffle" characteristic, and although initially I started posting music here which could be said to be closer to Classical music, I must admit I also have been a practitioner of Blues/Jazz music as well and I know there is a knack to it which must be felt in the "seat of pants" for the player to really get "into" it; perhaps the listener too. Perhaps integrating such "Popular" musical idioms into more serious music is comparable to using folk type music as a source, as Brahms, Villa Lobos, Dvorak and others did. And then there was Gershwin!!!!

However, not to be misunderstood, I do not believe "Sail Away" qualifies as serious music!

Thank you again Theo!

Best regards,
sd cisco

[sd cisco]

What David said. I like this SD, nice job!

Hi Aram;
Thank you!! BTW, yesterday I bought the basic GAS piano and I am glad I did, what a sound!!
As you can guess, I will be using it in the project. More on that on the weekend.

Best regards!
sd cisco

[Hippie]

Hi Aram;
Thank you!! BTW, yesterday I bought the basic GAS piano and I am glad I did, what a sound!!
As you can guess, I will be using it in the project. More on that on the weekend.

Best regards!
sd cisco

Cool. I am sub-mixing the 56 tracks today to make room on the mixing board.

[Frank D]

Hey SD,

Rules/schmules ... it's not like you had much choice: Glad you got your Summer-vibe piece posted before Labor Day!

I enjoyed this, and having you integrate your JABB with your more orchestral instruments worked well. I know we all fall victim to classifying music, but I try hard not to (my own included) ... this was a nice amalgam of style and orchestration; real nice job on the sax. Also loved the 12/8. Very good mix as well.

Regards,

Frank

EDIT: BTW, which GAS did you get ... the $99 or $399 one? I use GigaPiano II on my "non-100% Garritan" projects, but was contemplating picking up the $99 GAS for those projects that need to be 100% Garritan.

[sd cisco]

Hey SD,

Rules/schmules ... it's not like you had much choice: Glad you got your Summer-vibe piece posted before Labor Day!

I enjoyed this, and having you integrate your JABB with your more orchestral instruments worked well. I know we all fall victim to classifying music, but I try hard not to (my own included) ... this was a nice amalgam of style and orchestration; real nice job on the sax. Also loved the 12/8. Very good mix as well.

Regards,

Frank

EDIT: BTW, which GAS did you get ... the $99 or $399 one? I use GigaPiano II on my "non-100% Garritan" projects, but was contemplating picking up the $99 GAS for those projects that need to be 100% Garritan.

Hi Frank;
Glad you were able to get into music! Thank you for your comments and remarks, and you can tell how much I enjoy using the JABB voices and mixing with GPO too.
On the GAS question, I bought the $99 version, but not just because it was cheapest! Others may differ on where to put the mics when you want to record a grand piano. I bought my first grand 3 years ago and it is black, shiny and six feet long! I wanted to record it and bought a pair of Behringer mics and a little mixing board they make, and recorded onto a laptop computer. I experimented with placing the mics in different positions and BTW they were very responsive condenser type mics, not terribly auspicious but what can you do? Anyway, I finally came to the conclusion the best place to have them was under the lid. Many people did recommend this. One mic was on a short boom and pointed at the upper strings, the other mic was on an extended boom so that is was about halfway to the hammers for the bass strings. Both mics were near a foot from the piano strings.
So, if the $99 version of the GAS gets you the one with under the lid mic placement, what's so bad! And you know something? I can hear similarities in the GAS sound and what I was getting with a real piano, in terms of the presence of the sound, but although nothing can beat what a real instrument sounds like played live, compared to virtual, for my purposes the GAS should serve very well. That's the great thing about VSTi's, quality libraries like the GAS are created with superior mics, a superior piano, the works. I bought a new 88 note keyboard with hammer action last month. It is the StudioLogic SL-990xp which I got for about $400 plus my trade, an MAudio 88es or whatever, it was $240 new!! (cheap again!)
So, one day soon, I will be able to present some piano music featuring these new additions!

Thanks again Frank!

Best regards,
sd cisco