Rock 'n' Roll

Hi Sherry. I'm glad you have some good sax fonts. Mine is terrible. I slipped in a simple sax solo around the melody that may have been played by a kid back then ( so you wouldn't have to wait through 11 silent measures) It should be an octave higher, but my tenor sax in Microsoft Wavetable sounds like a soprano so I had to drop it down. You may have already written something better there, so you don't have to use mine. I just did it to fill in the empty space. I'm anxious to hear what you have done so far. Thanks again! Fred

OH Man!!!!!!!, That's incredible!!. Believe it or not, it is just about exactly like I imagined it how would come out with you doing it. I was a little embarrassed when I sent the song up, but what you have done with it makes me actually like it. One little note however, I did not lose my little mama. I was not the person singing the song, I was the sax player who stole the little mama ( the car, however was a 1955 Olds Starfire convertible ) but Cadillac fit better. Anyway, the Olds wasn't too many steps down from the Caddy. You must remember that in the 1950's and 60's sax men did not lose little mamas ( there was a little competition from drummers, but we were the true champions)ha, ha!! The chord progression is perfect, and fits like a glove.
Growling saxophones will probably be impossible to find. That style was created by Reds Prysock (Tenor)and Earl Bostic (Alto ) but it held for many years. My wife was in total awe of what you did with so little to work with. She is the "little mama" and we are still together. We were married very young. She became my "steady" and I was 19 and she was 17 when we were married. We had our 47th anniversary in April. So there is actually a little truth to the song. I don't know if my soundcard will accept soundfonts. It is a Realtek AC97 Audio card and the device is Microsoft GS Wavetable Synth. I may need some instruction on how to get it to work. Thanks for what you have done. It's a remarkable job. I'll play around with the sax solo because the words dictate it, but I hate to drown out such a good piano part. Take care, and get some sleep! Fred

Hi Sherry, I have a problem I do not understand how to solve. The first time I played the midi file, I played it on the forum- it opened with Windows Media Player and the vocal was there. I downloaded the file and played it through Windows Media and the vocal was just piano playing one note ( to the beat but no vocal) I thought something went wrong in the download and when I came back to the forum I played it again also through Windows Media Player but the vocal was gone ( Just the one note piano Played), so now I can't play the vocal in any medium. I may try it with Real Player and see what happens. Also, I can't open the .not file in Composer although the file exists. I downloaded Composer Pro to see if previous config problems could be solved there, but the 30 day trial ran out. I tried copying the file into MidiNotate\ Songs, but it still won't open in Composer. Also the file shows a track for tenor saxophone when checking the track setup, but there is no blank track for it in the notation. It is listed in the setup as track 6. I'm sure I can add a track, and work with it that way. I may drop it down to Eb since I don't do well in E, but then I would put it back in E for you.
By the way, the second sax font in the samples sounds the best of the 5 samples. The first may be OK also but the track would need to be raised an octave because the sound is more like baritone. Any ideas on why I lost the vocal? I had it the first time, then it flew the coop. Thanks again, Fred

Howdy Fred,

I should also mention that a lot of the credit for the arrangement at this point goes to Band in a Box. I just figured out the chord progression and proceeded to weed out various styles til I found one that was close to what I was hearing in my head. There are some things that I would do a bit differently if we wanted to take this little project to a "polished" status, but it stands pretty well as it is.

I also have a Hammond B3 soundfont that sounds hot on the organ track - much better than the typical soundcard organ.

Let me know if you still can't get the file to open right. Maybe I need to email something to you directly.

ttfn,
Sherry

Hi Sherry,
You straightened me out again , M'lady! I had forgotten I opened the MP3 file from the e-mail attachment and it was named Mixdown1. Windows Media Player only did what I told it to do. The vocal is back. Also, I didn't know empty tracks were hidden. I added a track, which I will delete, and un-hide your's. Someday I am going to figure out how to make those soundfonts work, too. Thanks again. Fred

Hi again, Sherry! Of course you have my permission to post the song on your Sound Click site. I just registered with Sound Click also. Maybe one of these days I'll do something with a site there when I have something to put together. Oh, and thanks for the reminder about SynthFont. I have so much going on I forgot to download it before. Fred

That's cute! Tell Josh to keep practicing and we'll put him on the CD. I saw him on the Web Site. I listened to Communion Aire GP. I'll have to listen to the other versions. All your stuff is really good! Fred

Hi Sherry,

I inserted a sax solo and a few fills in the chorus after the solo near the end. I tried to keep it simple to fit the genre ( it's typical Jerry Lee Lewis ). It was a pile of fun, but I'm pretty near whacky after all the editing. It "ain't easy" trying to play a sax solo on the keyboard. I wrote some things in a separate file and played with them until the meter fit pretty closely, although there are probably a few note attacks that may be a bit off. Feel free to make any changes or toss it if need be, and let me know if you want me to make any changes. It's not one of my "signature" solos, so you can do whatever you think works. I was back and forth on exactly where to fit the fills because I did not want to over-ride the piano fills that are perfect. I also added a "Tenor Sax" track. It took me a while to figure out how to unhide your sax track. I left your sax track in in case you had a reason for it, so it is hidden again but it is still there. Thanks for all the work you put into this. It's a real kick working with you. BTW, have your heard Melissa Forbes' songs on Sound Click? She's in the "jazz" section. What a voice! and what great style!!... over and out. Fred

Thanks Sherry,
I must have tried 20 solos before I remembered the old "KISS" formula. I could have saved a lot of time in the beginning and kept it simple like the song calls for, but I couldn't resist throwing a few bends in here and there. I know what you mean with the triumphant ending. We did some of those in my day. It just has to be done like it was written for the song. Do whatever you like with the chorus or the ending. We just have to keep those kids dancin'. Yeah, definitely listen to Melissa Forbes. I fell in love with her half way through the first song I listened to. She has so much soul. I would go see her if she ever got close to here. I'm gonna go get some of that sun, too. See ya! Fred

Sherry "doesn't know which side of a sax to strum" Crann

The side that twangs the loudest!

Glad they were dancing.
Fred

What's the difference between a saxophone and a chainsaw?

Vibrato.

Now, that's funny, David!

Hello Fred,

The sax player for your rock band won't be able to show up for rehearsals for a while.

Sherry went into the hospital last week and ended up with an hysterectomy. She's back home but I suspect it will be days before we'll see her back in the forum.

Cheers
-- Mark

Hi Mark,

Yes, I just got an e-mail from Sherry. And I just assumed she was on vacation having the time of her life. I'm sure glad everthing turned out OK. God bless you, Sherry and hurry back....we miss you!

Fred

Hi Sherry,
Sure glad to see you back, girl! I answered your post a couple hours ago, but for some reason it never got posted. I'm trying again.
Feel free to do anything and everything you like with the song. I've tried a bunch of sax solos but I haven't been happy with any of them. For some reason they all sound like a sax played on a keyboard. I keep forgetting you can only play one note at a time on the sax. Plus, I can't hum into the keyboard like I could with the mouthpiece to get that "growl". I did download Sythfont's alto sax font (he said it was good) but it sounds no better than what I have. The tenor, alto and soprano all sound the same. It would be great if you send me some sax files.
I do have Audacity, but I have no idea what to do with it. The only mixing I'm good at are recipes (I'm a killer in the kitchen).
I'm sure the song will sound a lot better with your vocal. I used to sing with my band, but the last time I uttered a sound was 1980. I left the rock tunes to the real vocalists and I did some standards. I did a real good job with "Volare" in Italian, though. I have access to a translation program and I am thinking of doing a few, believe it or not. I don't have a microphone. The only one I can afford is Radio Shack. I don't imagine a $15 mike would sound too good, though. I'd really like to do some Barry Manilow and Neil Diamond tunes just to goof off.
Maybe when we get it done, we can both put it on Soundclick. We'll put both names on it with your name as arranger and sequencer and vocalist. I have 3 songs on Soundclick now. (I have your site as a station on my site). I have been trying to add some rhythm and strings to the ballads, but like Mark says, there is so much rubato. I can't get it to synchronize unless I edit the teeth out of them. It gets better if I lay down the bass and drum parts first, but I don't do well with my own and it takes a ton of editing for parts that are already laid out. I did Ok adding brass to my jazz tune, but I am trying to add a trumpet solo and that is just as bad as my adding sax solos. Maybe I should look for some Ella Fitzgerald scat tunes and steal some of the riffs to make into instrumental solos.
Anyway, have fun with the song. It's as much yours as it is mine. Take care and don't try to do too much.

Fred,
http://www.soundclick.com/fredwinterling

Hi again Sherry,...P.S. to above.
Pick any of the sax solos or combinations you think are best for the song.
Fred

Hello Sherry,

When you say that you can use Audacity to record performances from Composer, what technique are you using to route Composer's MIDI output to audio input in Audacity? Is the route a physical audio cable from your soundcard's Audio Out to your soundcard's Audio In?

Cheers
-- Mark