Another song with Deej( David Lekich) Thanks Dave for all the work you put in
John
The link directly below is the latest version of the song.

https://soundclick.com/share.cfm?id=13815505


https://soundclick.com/share.cfm?id=13814613

Starting Today

(V) She was the rose who became the thorn,
then she cut my heart to ribbons, left it tattered and torn.
And like a fool I thought I needed her to stay.
But I swear that I’ll stop missing her . . . 

(C) Starting today—there’ll be no looking back the other way.
Starting today—I’m on the inside track to better days.
I won’t let her memory keep a leash on me,
I was tied, but I’ll be free . . . starting today.

(V)  The bigger the tears, the harder they fall.
I nearly cried myself an ocean waiting for her call.
She had me dangling like some puppet in a play.
But I’m gonna cut those strings and everything . . . 

(C) Starting today—there’ll be no looking back the other way.
Starting today—I’m on the inside track to better days.
I won’t turn around or break on down,
I’ll be back on solid ground . . . starting today.

(B)  Run midnight, come the light of day—
Come sunshine, chase her clouds away.
Then I’ll rise on up, fall out of love,
give her up, no apologies in play.
It doesn’t matter what my heart may say
I’ll do what it takes to make it be that way. 

C) Starting today—there’ll be no looking back the other way.
Starting today—I’m on the inside track to better days. 
Well, she may have made a mess of me, but
It’s not what I’m gonna be. . . starting today.

Really enjoyed my listen. It has a "country" vibe to it... but my ears detect something more. DJ's vocal sure gets the listener's attention... and your "message" Travis, reminds me of a song George Jones broke so many hearts with... in that line, "He stopped loving her, today!"

Nice work, guys. It's hard to "fall out of love!" Thanks for sharing. ----Dave

Enjoyed it guys.

Cheers Dave.
Mentioning the GJ classic and our humble offering in the same breath is flattering in the extreme( i'm sure Dave will agree!)
Thanks as always for your suppirt Dave
Regards
John

Thanks Martin for the listen and comment
Travis

very good...

Thanks Neil

Hi guys,


Good team effort, catchy lyrics and I always like that vocal !


Calvin


http://www.soundclick.com/bands/0/calvinstewart

Thanks Calvin!
Regards
John

Hi Deej.
A little bit of Bowie going on in the vocal.
I like the song.

The 2 nits I have is that there seems to be a bit of conflict instrument wise.
Sometimes they seem to be playing in different chords to the vocals.
You know when sometimes you click on a song link and then click on another by mistake so you have two songs playing at the same time.
Maybe it's a glitch my side but it's happened twice now for this song.

Vic

Dave, Martin, Neil and Calvin:

Thanks much for the listen and kind feedback. Travis has a way with a hook, and this one kind of grabbed me. Glad it worked for ya'll . . . My best to each of you.

Regards,

Deej

Vic,

Glad you liked the tune. And appreciate the Bowie nod . . . IMHO, one of the best vocally (but pretty darn good everywhere else).

I’m really interested in what you are hearing on the conflicted sounds, and hoping, if I can impose on you, that you can give me a bit more specificity as to where. I did make some adjustments after Travis posted this, as I thought the mandolin was a bit intrusive in spots and conflicted with the lead guitar (and vocals) in some spots. So I softened it thereafter (I hope). But I get the feeling you are hearing something else.

Quite honestly, I’ve listened to this so many times my ears are likely not zeroing in on it, so if you can help me pinpoint where you are hearing it, that would be a huge help! Thanks, Vic!

Also, here’s a link to the slightly adjusted version on SoundCloud: Starting Today (Revised)

Not sure if it solves the issue you are hearing, and I’m of the mind that the mandolin remains bit busy in certain spots . . . but I’ll appreciate the further feedback. In the end, I’m still feeling why way through this whole production thing and just trying to do Travis’s lyrics justice.

Thanks again for the thoughtful comments.

All the best to you,

Deej

Hi Vic
As Dave mentioned another take will be posted soon.
Never thought about Bowie until you commented.
That's not a bad connection !
John

A further version of Starting Today which Dave has completed today

Hi Deej.
Not sure if it's just the lead guitar or a combination of mandolin and lead. Your vocal seems ok.
But the riffs seem to be playing in the wrong places to my ears.
I presume it's BIAB. Do you drag the loops into your DAW? If so, did they get misaligned?

Sorry to rain on your parade but something ain't right.

Vic

Hey Travis!

Well now we know what a Country Beatle song from 1965 might have sounded like had they gone that direction. There is some tightening up polishing that could be beneficial. I'd also EQ lead vox cutting out a little high mids or boosting a little more mid-lows to warm up the lead vox. His good vocals will have no problem cutting through with that tweak. Nice collab guys!

steady-eddie

I'm not very technical Ed so i'll let Dave address that one.
Beatles Country well why not!
Thanks Ed for listening and your suggestions
John

Hi Vic
Again another one for Dave. To be truthful it sounds fine to me i'm sure Dave will be along soon to reply on this one
John

Vic,

Thanks for circling back. I’ve listened to this song too many times, so I really may be missing something—but revisited because I trust your ears more than mine. But I’m still not hearing it. I went back to my DAW and ran the lead, the mandolin, everything each in turn solo with the guitar and vocal . . . and nothing is jumping out at me. Again, I may just be too close to it to pick up what you are hearing. My apologies that I'm coming up short here.

In the process, I did make some minor tweaks, also trying to address Eddie’s comments (see below)—the link I provided above to SoundCloud should take you there (and I’ll send a revised version to Travis), but it’s pretty much the same song.

Again, appreciate your feedback—I know my production skills are raw, so this kind of input really does help!

Regards,

Dave

Eddie,

Thanks for stopping in and commenting—your feedback is always so helpful. Polishing is definitely what this and I need from a production standpoint. Thing is, most of the time I’m stumbling through. For example, when you say “cutting out the high mids and boosting the mid-lows” I have a general sense of what you mean, but no idea really how to execute. I know my voice can be screechy and tinny at times, so I play with the EQ to minimize that (and actually tried to adjust even before I posted the most recent version) but I guess it’s a learned skill . . . and I have some schooling to do yet.

Played with it some more and reposted to the SoundCloud link above. I’m not sure I made it any better (sigh!).

Time to walk away from this one. Space gives perspective.

My best to you,

Deej

Deej,

I think you did "improve" the vocal tone with this last tweak! Basically with eq (equalizing), you are trying to find the "sweet spot" with your vocal tone. Think of your eq as an equalizier with each fader in the eq window representing sound frequencies from Lows to Mids to Highs and everything in between. There is tons of info on youtube about learning how to best utilize eq and how to adjust it with your vocals. eq doesn't correct a bad vocal, but it can improve/enhance and sweeten a vocal by finding the frequencies that detract from your optimal vocal tone. Obviously a good microphone always helps along with a decent converter and some acoustic treatment to the room where you're recording--all factors on the final sound, but check out some tips on youtube about learning how to "sweep" with your eq plugin.in your DAW.

You have a strong voice with an interesting tone and accent--my opinion and sug was to soften the edge a bit with your eq.-- which is what all recording artists do when needed, because every production has different challenges and needs for production balance.

Nice job Deej!

steady-eddie

Deej, I think you did good work on this one. It sounds great and Travis' lyrics couldn't have found a better home. The only sticking part for me was the bridge. It felt undefined musically and twice as long as it needed to be lyrically. Just as an example, for me it would have been enough to say something like:

Gonna rise up, chase her clouds away.
Fall out of love, no apologies in play.

Just a thought. Well done, overall. You make a great team.

Ricki

Dear Mssrs. Lekich and Vaughan:

I sincerely apologize for not paying attention to the fact you two have made revisions to "Starting Today!" I commented on the original... and just listened to version two. Wow!

It's a great story, well written in what I consider to be a "country style"... but due to DJ's unique vocal... and I mean that enough to believe he can make it to the center ring in today's Music Circus... this is a winner.

Thank you both for working so hard for such little compensation... and sharing your talents with us again. ----Dave (the one from West Mayberry)

Thanks, Ricki, appreciate the listen and positive feedback. Interesting thing about the song and bridge is that my original take was to end the song just after the bridge, with no third chorus. Travis convinced me to add the third chorus, which I struggled with because I couldn't find a way to get smoothly back to a third chorus and at the same time to make it interesting melodically.

After playing with the song more, I thought I could achieve that by going a step up in key on the third chorus, but I needed to extend the bridge to set it up--hence, for better or worse, the song as it stands.

Again, thanks for weighing in. Your input is always great!

Kind regards,

Deej

Thanks, Mr. Rice, you are too kind . . . but it's always nice to hear. Appreciate you giving this one a second spin, and am really glad you enjoyed it.

My best to you, sir!

Deej

Thanks Dave for another listen and positive comments
John

Hi Ricki
Thanks for the listen and suggestion for reworking the bridge.
It's a valid point which Dave might take up if a further take is forthcoming- that is in the balance.
Regards
Travis4

Hi Deej and Travis,

What a great song! The lyric and music match up great and Deej's heartfelt vocal is great! What a neat voice you have, Deej ... that rocker sound! Your lyric set a nice stage, Travis! I saw Vic's comment and I don't know anything about music or mix, but one thing I did think as I listened was that Deej's voice was drowned out at times by the music. It's like the music sometimes jumps in front of Deej's voice or something.

Cool song, guys!

Lisa

Hi Lisa
Thanks for the listen.
I will discuss your comments with Deej regarding "drowning out "
Although i think we have now probably gone as far as we'd like with this now with this being the second version.
But maybe not written in stone!
Good to see you around again
Travis

Hi Travis,

Good to see you, too!! I think when I used the words "drown out" they were too dramatic. The proper words would have been "competing at times." Just a bit of a distraction competing with Deej's super cool vocal!

Lisa

Hi, LIsa,

So nice to see you back . . . and thanks for stopping in and commenting . . . not once, but twice!!! I got exactly what you meant from your first post . . . I'm still such a newbie hack when it comes to producing and, for better or worse, my voice can be both my worst and best friend. I find it tough sometimes to balance it against the music consistently throughout . . . and it may be in part because the volume of my vocal is so inconsistent. Maybe if I work on being more controlled vocally, it will make the mixing easier. Probably.

At any rate, appreciate the feedback and please know we'll take it to heart. Not sure at this point I'm up to re-mixing this song . . . I've listened to it two or three dozen times more than I'd like to for now.

But Travis and I will come back to it at some point, and we'll keep your feedback in mind.

Thanks much, again, Lisa. Be well.

Regards,

Deej
.

The song was played on SOURCE RADIO'S SOPHIE'S SPRINGBOARD SHOW, last Friday.
Travis

Lol cheers Lisa yes Deej is vocal is unique and excellent i agree.
Again it's good to see you around here once more.
I'm sure Tampa Stan would have worded his greeting in his unique way too!
cheers
Travis

Another play on SOURCE

it does seem a bit busy in the arrangement, but i tell ya, I heard this before maybe a different version. This could be a radio hit for sure.

Reminds me a bit of Wallflowers or Van Morrison.

The hook is what makes it. Could be a hit, maybe not a modern hit, but a hit.

Great lead vocal quality

I really love this one...good job ya'll..enjoyed listening to it

glyn

Fdemetrio and glynda:

Thanks so much for giving this one a spin. Production for me will always be a bit of a challenge, I fear--just try to my best to make it listenable and hopefully capture and convey some semblance of what I hear in my head--so, yeah, maybe a bit busy in spots. But I'm glad you both liked it all the same!

Cheers,

Deej

Enjoyed the song John...
Really like Deej's vocals on it.. Well done.
Mimmo

That's one heck of a vocal! For me, maybe there's too much going on instrumentally. A really nice track and the vocal is great!
=Bob=

Mimmo and Bob,

Thanks for the listen and kind comments. Much appreciated.

My best to both of you,

Deej