March 2009 Showcase Thread :: Finished work, videos, career news, gossip...

Here's the Official Thread (March 2009) where you can post your completed projects, links to finished works you want your pals here in the SW forum to hear, promo videos, or just generally shameless self-hype that you're far too professional and courteous to post in the main forum.

POST 'EM IF YOU GOT 'EM!

February 2009 Showcase

January 2009 Showcase

DECEMBER 2008 Showcase

NOVEMBER 2008 Showcase

OCTOBER 2008 Showcase

NEXT: April 2009

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So, How Does It Look from the Stars?

The sweat stung his eyes as he wiped his forearm across his grimy brow, shifted his weight to the broom he'd been using to sweep in front of the little bodega, and looked up toward the 7th floor penthouse terrace.

For a few moments that steamy summer night, the city was quiet and he heard melodic laughter skitter across the rippled surface of some subdued piano jazz. It sounded like a real piano and he knew from delivering there once that they had a big white one shaped like an ocean wave.

A handful of people drifted out to the edge of the terrace and he saw her once again. She leaned back against the terrace wall as she seemed to listen to someone he couldn't see, her pale hair drifting in the summer air as though in the languid waters of a rowing pond.

In the apartment over the bodega, he could hear his kid sister suddenly rolling through the city's radio stations on her big old portable aimlessly, looking for somewhere she'd never been before.

©2001, TK Major

So, How Does It Look from the Stars?

I've been up to your penthouse but

I... I was afraid to look down

I've been all around the world

but I'm only at home on my own side of town

I've been up all night

trying to find

the right way to come down

I been inside out and I know all about

the emptiness all around

everything happens for reasons

but we never get to find out what they are

from way down here it all looks pretty big

so how does it look from the stars

you laid it all out

and I wanted so much

to just pick up

what you put down

I can taste it right now

but still somehow

I've still find

the power to shine on

everything happens for reasons

but we never get to find out what they are

from way down here it all looks pretty big

so how does it look from the stars

© 2001 TK Major

That's a groovy tune. Though subtle, the chorus is really strong. Tell me about the prose prelude.

And what's the deal with all the copyright notifications? :poke:

The little vignette was actually something I came up with to differentiate a promo posting of the song at the old Mp3.com... In that forum, it was commonly accepted practice to post songs you wanted to hype in the main forum but folks would usually just say something like, "Check out my new trance track," and the like. I started using pictures and then, sometimes, little stories.

So, in a sense, my blog (which often has the same elements, a picture, some kind of write-up, and links to the song) grew out of my hype style on Mp3.com.

The copyright notices were just in what I copied and pasted from a blog entry from 2005, which was, itself, copied from the original posting. I think they (the copyright notices) make me look like a real writer, though... But I made them smaller just now (since that also looks more 'pro,' eh?)

Cool approach to doing the vignette.

Using the copyright notice ... well, I don't know ... it's like you don't trust us or something.

that's a cool song Blue. well put together and wow, your production skills are very, very good.

here's my 'finished work' for March.. i actually recorded this in '08, and conceived the song idea many years prior.. i just never got around to writing the lyrics til recently :-) (i have a lot of material in such a state). anyway, to say it is 'finished' is a stretch because there are obvious issues....lyrical phrasing, mix, playing, etc.. for me, in my humble home studio (really just a spare bedroom with a pc), and with my poor production skills, (and playing skills) i can only muster a fair sounding 'demo' product... so finished for me means, here is a template of what the song sounds like..lets take this to a real studio and do it right.. so anyway.. here tiz...

http://www.soundclick.com/util/getplayer.m3u?id=6856482&q=hi

The track is cold, my life was colder

Watching towns go by and growing older (all the time)

Say a prayer and climb the mountain shoulder (once again)

Hoping for some meaning in this order (i call life)

Chaos straight ahead we're pulling over

A train I was, I was a train

Let the engine sound

It makes my cold heart pound

I can feel the track

And I will never look back, no I'll never look back

A train I was, I was a train

Distant whistle blows unnoticed

Searching for some meaning in this world the whistle screams

Hoping for connection children dream but darkness wins

Try to see a light.. but the tunnel ends

I strain to see the stop before I round the bend

A train I was, I was a train

Let the engine sound

Makes my cold heart pound

I can feel the track

And I will never look back, no I'll never look back

A train I was, I was a train

The path is clear but I don't follow

Holding back it makes me feel so hollow

Does anyone even notice I'm off schedule?

Or is it that trains are all forgotten (in this day)

Replaced with another mode of transportation

A train I was, I was a train

Let the engine sound

Makes my cold heart pound

I can feel the track

And I will never look back, no I'll never look back

A train I was, I was a train

Cool approach to doing the vignette. Using the copyright notice ... well, I don't know ... it's like you don't trust us or something.

The rest of those guys, I trust. You're just a little too smart to trust completely...

That said, your new avatar makes you seem so much warmer and cuddlier...

With re the copyright notices... I typically try to put one on any lyrics or fiction type stuff I post just to keep in practice (I'm sure I slip, plenty). I think it's just that there were two here that caught your eye. The two pieces were written separately, though I'm sure one notice would be sufficient... and like I've said before, I've been posting songs and lyrics on the web since 1998 (actually '95 but that was a 17 second horrible 8 bit/22kHz clip because that was all the bandwidth made vaguely practical... I just wanted to get something up) and, as far as I know, no one has ever had a hit with a stolen version of one of my songs. Or even posted one... I have had a few authorirzed covers, though, and that was gratifying. Never say never, of course.

The rest of those guys, I trust. You're just a little too smart to trust completely...

Well, my memory has become quite selective in determining what I've created and what I've borrowed.

Better safe than sorry, eh?

IIRC you posted something about this line, right? It's a great line and it really works in this tune. What's really cool about your tune is that it definitely feels like a train song. I know that sounds like an obvious comment, but the tune just chugs along like a train song should.

yes i wanted to get some more opinions on the line.. someone i respect referred to it as 'yoda speak' lol, and said they weren't sure the technique would work.

yes, i was really hoping to get the song to 'chug' i'm glad that it feels that way to you !

thanks for the comments !

:thu:very good

So, How Does It Look from the Stars

Wow, great song, great production. Reminds me of a "Mind Games" era John Lennon track (especially the dreamy doubled vocals).

Why am I still trying to do stuff you mastered and then gave up on years ago?

PS - It even has a reversed cymbal that probably wasn't cliched at the time.

My only well-known & optioned song.

Unfortunately, it's only known in France, Russia and a few Eastern European countries.

Here's a nice page in France that listed me & posted a short bio.

I don't know the owners. They asked permission to use the waltz. And I said "oui".

I'm listed there with some very great film composers. Knowledge-wise, I'm not qualified

to be a student to anyone on that page.

But I composed a pretty good waltz.

They have a MIDI of the waltz play on the main page and a couple of others pages in the site.

Click the gate with the Dobermanns to enter. It's really cool!

Here's the song:

Voila! "La valse de Fantomas" (The Fantomas Waltz)

French download (MP3 in a zip file)

US download (straight MP3 download)

Apparently, someone stateside dug it. (I don't know this gentleman, BTW).

Someone in Chile too. But most of the people who know about this waltz are in France.

I have no idea how many thousands of time this song has been downloaded -- for free.

I'll need to re-mix it to make any money out of it at all.

Rene' Magritte with Fantomas

Am I rich? Non.

Am I famous yet? Non.

But 2011 is the 100th Anniversary of the first Fantomas novel.

La Societe' des amis de Fantomas will be there.

And I'm on the invite list! Je vais a'la Paris 2011!

There was a musical stage production in Paris 2005-2006 season

of "Fantomas Revient". But alas, none of my music is in it. But interest is

once again growing in the Genius of Evil and the Master of Shock and Horror - Fantomas.

Gorgeous! I love it. I really ought to pick through your back catalog for stuff to steal (j/k)

I really ought to pick through your back catalog for stuff to steal (j/k)

Lots of those tunes deserve a good listen..........

Nice work - I enjoyed it! You do a good job of building up to each chorus. You could milk it more by repeating your chorus at the end - or just the "Train I was, I was a train" line...keep that momentum rising.

Great line. I love lines that say a ton with just a few words. There is certainly the feeling of being completely invited, but on an unshakeable and subconscious level you manage to feel completely out of place. Then of course it's also the set-up for the penthouse being the metaphorical stars later in the song.

That's a cool backstory and a very nice waltz!

Man, no kidding. Agree with the Mind Games style comment.

So, How Does It Look from the Stars?

I love the arrangement & performance. I don't like the vocals.

It's great playing & a great mix.

Let's just say it was an established classic sound that hadn't quite been completely tapped out... hey, I still use little backwards things all the time. It was a pain in tape days and a huge hassle during my ADAT period, so when I started working on the DAW, I kinda went nuts. And then as I got increasingly tired of all the synth cliches we've lived with for the last 10 or 15 years, I started using backwards guitars even more as a way of getting different textures in there. But now it seems like everyone uses backwards guitars, too, so I dunno what to do...

It seems like stuff goes out of style these days from overexposure and poor implementation, just like always -- but then people keep using the overexposed, out-of-style tricks, anyway, meaning that those tricks aren't being "released" back into the healing waters of disuse where they could be restored and used by producers in coming years...

I believe the operant phrase was, pop will eat itself... (Wonder whatever happened to those guys?)

Great chorus and hook phrase!

My only well-known & optioned song. Unfortunately, it's only known in France, Russia and a few Eastern European countries. Here's a nice page in France that listed me & posted a short bio. I don't know the owners. They asked permission to use the waltz. And I said "oui". I'm listed there with some very great film composers. Knowledge-wise, I'm not qualified to be a student to anyone on that page. But I composed a pretty good waltz. They have a MIDI of the waltz play on the main page and a couple of others pages in the site. Click the gate with the Dobermanns to enter. It's really cool! Here's the song: Voila! "La valse de Fantomas" (The Fantomas Waltz) French download (MP3 in a zip file) US download (straight MP3 download) Apparently, someone stateside dug it. (I don't know this gentleman, BTW). Someone in Chile too. But most of the people who know about this waltz are in France. I have no idea how many thousands of time this song has been downloaded -- for free. I'll need to re-mix it to make any money out of it at all. Rene' Magritte with Fantomas Am I rich? Non. Am I famous yet? Non. But 2011 is the 100th Anniversary of the first Fantomas novel. La Societe' des amis de Fantomas will be there. And I'm on the invite list! Je vais a'la Paris 2011! There was a musical stage production in Paris 2005-2006 season of "Fantomas Revient". But alas, none of my music is in it. But interest is once again growing in the Genius of Evil and the Master of Shock and Horror - Fantomas.

A lovely example of that classic, the haunted waltz... The shifting moods are especially evocative.

Fine work, Marc!