I made a Snowman

[boswell]

[tl;dr Snowman Cover, second link]

Well I'm out of my summer hibernation, my favourite season is here in full force (although a little too full on even for me) so the other night I sat down with a brandy and recorded the old Joanna (that would be the prestigious antique e-mu USB keyboard) and ended up coming up with a bland vanilla version of Snowman.

http://www.box.net/shared/vxzsutjj79


Too which my new band mate and partner in prog Lee Duffy added his guitar wizardry (and strings) to make it sound a little bit more like this.

http://www.box.net/shared/y09lvu0zbf

This is technically the first output of a new Prog band which we've only just formed, and if the rest of our time as a band is half as fun as this last 24 hours I will indeed be a very happy bunny. With all but the drummer now faithful Frost fans (I haven't met the drummer yet, but when I do I'll work my magic as I did on the other 3) this could be a very interesting experience indeed.


I'd love the harshest criticism possible if you're willing to give it. I know my mixing isn't up to scratch (Lee and my other band chums know more about that sort of thing than I do) and I'd be most grateful of any tips on improving this as a track.

P.S.  Our band is looking for names if you have any suggestions

[boswell]

And here it is, finished
...for now.

http://www.box.net/shared/4t42q5x7pa

[Jim Takacs]

Great Job!!  I dig it! What Piano is that?

[boswell]

Cheers Jim, much appreciated  

It's a standalone VST called Pianoteq.

It "virtually" models the piano sounds, including the hammer noises and even the sound of the dampers lifting off the keys when you press the sustain pedal. It's a lovely thing indeed. And it doesn't use samples so it's super fast, memory-wise.

Well worth the investment.

Believe it or not I don't get commission or anything but I do like to let people know about great stuff.




.....if you do buy it, tell 'em Boswell sent ya (j/k) :lol:

[Mordwin]

Nice version

As to names... that'll depend a lot on the sort of image you have for the band I guess, they are fairly personal things too

[boswell]

Thanks

So far we've come up with "Uncertainty Principle", "Unified Field Theory" and "Pale Blue Dot"

....all of which are already band names.

So far, no good.

[gr8gonzo]

Odd coincidence. My old band was the Pale Blue Uncertainty Theory, but people kept calling us Pale BUT, so we cried and broke up.  :cry:

[Pedro]

Great Snowman! What about "TBA" as a band name?

[Trapezium Artist]

Listening this this nice piece of work reminded me of a thought I had last week when attending my daughter's school Christmas music performance, which included some dubious torturing of violins on one hand, but some very nice choral singing on the other.

I think that Snowman would be absolutely perfectly suited to a choral arrangement, to be sung at Christmas-time at schools the world over; if only I had the talent and experience to do such a thing.

Anyone (Rog?) willing to have a shot?

[boswell]

Thanks Pedders

Let's hope this band get's off the ground and we don't end up as DNF

[boswell]

Which part of the track put you in mind of "dubious torturing of violins"  :lol:




....no seriously  :shock:

[Pedro]

I was terrible at the school concerts I attended as a parent - the slightest thing could send me off into fits of giggles - a bit like watching some of the "shreds" videos.  :oops:

[boswell]

Thanks to Gandalf for adding his vocals to Snowman

http://soundcloud.com/jeff-boswell/snowman-with-marco2

[Gandalf1986]

Ha! Thank you for letting me sing this, I could have done better though... LOL

[Trapezium Artist]

Jolly good, chaps: nicely done. Close enough to be a loving homage, but with enough individual quirks to make it well worthwhile on its own merits.

Any chance of being able to download it? Not sure you've enabled that option on SoundCloud ...