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Hi folks

Back again with a new song, I hope you enjoy it, recorded it yesterday.

http://soundclick.com/share?songid=7627766

GENIE WORDS & MUSIC BY M. COCKERILL FEB 97

Em Am7 D Bm
the genie from the magic lamp came to me one day
Am D Em
i rubbed the lamp it shined so bright on me
Em Am D Bm
all the magic poured right out and asked me why i came
Am
so far

Dm7 Cm7 D A
i know you'll walk my way and cast a spell on the way
Bm
to ease the pain

Em Am7 Bm C
i know i can ask for what i want, i know that's why you came
Em Am7 Bm Em
people came and stared at the man from the jar but i am not ashamed
C
and the strange looking man on the right
Am Bm
begins to lose the fight we can give him power
C
and the fields have overgrown
Am Bm
but we can put it right with these flowers
C
there's drugs that are on our streets
Am
the poor men look at our feet
D Bm
think of all the good that we do
C
with a little magic here
Am
and a little magic there
D Bm
we can all be happy people too
Am
yes me and you

solo

C
with a little magic here
Am
and a little magic there
D Bm
we can all be happy people too
Am
yes me and you



Must run along now as I have fish to fry

Regards

Mark

Hi Mark

Nice to see you back !

man that guitar part is ripping --- I LOvE the melody you make there with your instrument.. All in all - the piece feels Very moody and mysterious... a nice musical journey. There was a place where i felt that I wanted a bit more of a build melodically..

here I think it was.... but could just be my tastes.. I also think you could drop "on the way" and Not change any meaning...
Dm7 Cm7 D A
i know you'll walk my way and cast a spell on the way
Bm
to ease the pain

Anyway nice playing -- oh I also found the drum line fascinating too. Cheers jm

Hi Mark,

I like this a lot!

It works very subtly, until the solo, which is very nice btw.

Quiet singing, not much in the way of a hook, it's all atmosphere and solo, but that's all it may need, I found it satisfying, being a fan of older 'Floyd, any and everything Canterbury, Julian Cope's "Fried" era masterpieces...maybe focus the vocal a little better in the mix, doesn't need much in the way of mixing...

Mike

Thanks Joice and Michael, very good to hear from you again.

I did the vocals in one take and the whole thing recorded in about 4 hours which is a bit quick even by my standards. I have listened to it again and I must agree that the vocals do need something. I will give it some thought and now that I have a week off school I can spend a little more time on it.

Nice to be back by the way, I have a lot of catching up to do.

Gotta go now as my girlfriend is being sick in the sink and sounds like she needs some assistance with the mopping up.

Warmest regards

Mark (dude)

Hi Mark,

REAL NICE man !
Soothing vocals and your solo took me somewhere very nice.
Thanks for sharing your talents.

Calvin


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

Yeah man, reminds me kinda of Pink Floyd. Very cool, and the solo was awesome. Good work on this

Kyle

Thanks for listening chaps, nice to hear from you again Calvin.

If you like the Floyd kinda stuff Avweek, just take a listen to my other stuff on soundclick, I'm sure you will find compositions that take your fancy. All the song I have written over the last several years are on my website: just click the link in my sig.

Thanks again

Mark

very good indeed Mark

and I doubt I am the first person to tell you that you look like Edgar Winter........

you are quite talented

Tom

Incredible job my friend
only 1 comment .... MORE PLEASE !!

Hey Bro:

Man, that solo was great!

Very cool song - it's the atmosphere you create that drives it, in my opinion.

On the vocal - I think where you have them in the mix is right for this kind of song. Maybe some EQ to help them cut through just a tad more without being brought up in volume?

In any case, thoroughly enjoyed this one.

Scott

Edgar Winter indeed. I am going to change my avatar to the new look me for this season. My hair is now a lot longer and a tad browner, I'll put up a photo tomorrow when I have sobered up a bit and made myself ready for that oportunistic photo opportunity. My, don't I talk crap when I've had a beer.

Anyway, back to the matter at hand.

Tom Yeager, many thanks for listening to my lil ole song, talented? well maybe?, only you guys can decide that.

Dear ole Dan

My friend, I can only write song when the genious strikes, I cannot force myself to be a songwriter and I will only produce when I get that urge to do so. I wish I was struck down by what ever power it is that drives my creative juices more often and could write a song every week. When it does, however, I just go with my feelings and my self belief and hope to God that I am onto something although my ultimate goal is to please no one in particular other than myself and if any one else enjoys what I do then that is just a bonus. I know I will never sell millions and I don't really have any desire but I have a passion for music and that is justification enough to perform.

Hi Scott my ole dude, how are you doin?

I am going to work on the EQ this week, I am takin a couple of days off to nip up to sunny Scarborough on the east coast of England with my hot chick to do nothing in particular, but at least summer is nearly here and I intend to just relax a tad and drink more of the ole amber nectar.

One and all, thanks for listening to my song.

Gotta fly, my guests need topping up with more beer.

Dude (Mark)

Hi Mark. This is pretty good production. It is floydish....yet has its own appeal. The subject matter works as does the feel. The quiet controlled vocals work well, moody with the haunting guitar. My only gripes are no real hook either melodically or lyrically and no rise. Nice of you to put up a tab. Very helful. I kept waiting for the rise, change of tempo or direction. Bit of an anti climax when it did not materialise.
It sort of promised much after the interesting first verse but then just meanders without taking us anywhere new. too many Cs perhaps....?

I like how mellow and wandering this is... really spacious and dreamy. Glad i got to hear your music. Hope your girlfriend is feeling better!

Hi Big Jim (PMd you)

Many thanks for the critique and your awerness to what is going on is spot on as usual. My only defense is that I wrote the song 12 years ago for a band that I was in and we had a female singer (she sang like a horny angel and was only 16 years old) and is completely in the wrong key for me. So,..... I recorded all the music in the key as in the lyrics attached at the top of the thread then transposed the audio files up two semitones (in Cubase) so I could sing it in the lower register although it was designed to be sang in the higher. I will put the original recording up on soundclick tomorrow so you can hear the massive difference and put a link on here. I agree that there is no real hook or big change in direction but my feeling was that there was no need in the original and maybe my over produced version did not convey the feel quite so well. Anyway, you can argue that point once I have put up the link.

Hi Babette
Hot chick is feeling much better ta, it seems that goats cheese was the problem. She has a sensitive stomach at the best of times and said cheese was a tad too much for her hence the huey and duey.

Very pleased you popped by and checked out my song, did you hear my other song called Lunatic? That was no reference to you I might add.

Warmest regards to all

Must go now as it's 9 minutes past 3 in the morning now in good ole blighty

Dude

Nice production and musicianship Mark. Reminded me of Pink Floyd as well. Seemed a bit too monotonous throughout though. Perhaps a bit more dynamics melody wise would fix that. Other than that it's a good mood piece.

Steve

Thanks Steve

I will be fixing that now I am back from a couple of days away at the seaside.

Thanks for listening.

Mark

Well, I think I've fixed it or maybe broken it, one never really knows so could you all please give it another whirl and let me know whether the enhancements work or not. I have done a bit too to the mix and added some crash cymbals here and there, widened the Hammond organ sound on the guitar solo and outro. But mostly the improvements are on the vocals where I sang another track alonside the first then did some wierd stuff with Melodyne to alter the pitch of a few notes heare and there.

Anyway, it's all yours to decide.

http://soundclick.com/share?songid=7627766

Regards and love to all

PS rather than submitting another song called Genie (the original) up on sounclick, the original with Emma singing it in it's rawest form is actually on my website in the music library section Dyax2, any problems let me know, always happy to accomodate.

Very Pink Floydian. I dig the eerie vocals. Love the guitar work. Wonderful...

Thanks Bob, I appreciate you popping by

Don't forget folks, just in case you don't read further up:

This is a makeover version

Dude

Mark-Dude!

I was gonna say you're smokin' here. But maybe a slow burn with a hot flame is a better way to go.

Floyd-ish? Yep...but with that Cockrell touch. We all sound a little bit, or a lot, like someone else. There are only so many unique sounds to be made. It's the icing with which we adorn the common cake that says who we are as artists. Almost anybody can bake a cake. But only a few knwo how to apply the icing in their own apecial way. You know how.

Given the era in which it was written, and the genre/sub-genre, the repetitive musical arrangement isn't out of place, in my opinion. And with this type of song, I don't think the lyric is the main focus. It just more or less steers the song somewhere. It's the mood, the vibe, the aura...whatever you want to call it...that makes this work.

The lead break was the hottest of the flames on that slow burn. I enjoyed it my listen a lot. And I say that as someone who is not a big Pink Floyd fan. Cool...er, hot, or well, get the idea!

Alan

Mark,

I listened to both versions. This is a very pretty song. I can't say which version I liked better. Yours was trippy and had that awesome guitar solo. But the old Dyax 2 version captures the seriousness and melancholy nature of your words. I know it's a song of hope too, but framing it within the context of a Genie who can set things aright makes it very sad...and genius for me because it's the kind of thing I like to hear.

I also enjoyed reading the history of the band on your web site.

Very cool, skilled, and wonderful as we've come to expect from you.

Al,

I like that "slow burn with a hot flame", many thanks for your comments, I'll make a convert of you yet.

Wendy,

You say the nicest things, do you want my mobile number. Only joking. To say I wrote the song 12 years ago and never gave it a thought to actually record it myself is a strange approach for me but it feels that the time is right to do that now the recording equipment is so much better and more accessible for everyone at affordable prices. Eek, that was a long sentence.

Anyway, just pleased you enjoyed the song which ever version you choose.

Dude

Final tweaks completed, hope you like the finished version.

Regards

Mark

http://soundclick.com/share?songid=7627766

Hey Mark,

Real dream time kind of song. It's all working Ok, especially like the lead, it screams. Hammond is squealing also. The vocal effect is Ok, but maybe just use it sparingly, perhaps just as a sign off, or alternate it line by line. I think the vocal line is either clipping, or popping, or both. Have you thought of replacing the snare patch ? It sounds a bit thin for the type of song. Big and boofy would compliment the arrangement, the kick also.

Small sidenote ; If you can clean up the the beginning and end by editing out the track on/off pops it will improve the overall delivery.

It's workin'. Tidy up the audio, and it's a cool track to listen to.

cheers, niteshift

Thanks for some very useful info there dude, I will definitely have a look at some of these issues and see what I can do.

Many thanks for listening.

Dude

Well, after taking advice from you fair folk I have spent a couple of hours on remixing and editing, here is what I have done.

Change Bass drum and enhanced bass drum level, changed snare and increased level.
Ran the bass guitar through a bass amp and cab model and now sits better in the mix.
Slightly lowered the solo volume.
Added more reverb to last guitar part.
Centered main vocal and slightly panned harmony vocal track with reduced volume for more subtle effect.
Reduced as many artifacts from the recordings as possible.
Removed one acoustic guitar part leaving two acoustic guitars panned hard right and left but they are subtle.

Then remixed the whole song for the best possible balance, to my ears anyway.

So there you are folks, give it another listen and let me know what you think even though I probably won't make any further changes.

Warmest regards to all

Dude

http://soundclick.com/share?songid=7627766

Nice presence! Much cleaner now. Good job!

Thanks Bob, pleased you like the improved version.

Dude

Just one last thankyou to all that took the time to listen to Genie, I'm well pleased with it now and won't be making any more changes.

I'll be back soon with my next effort.

Later fair forum folks

Dude