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IRAN
by Fdemetrio - 04/15/26 12:27 PM
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PETE
by Fdemetrio - 04/14/26 06:57 AM
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Joined: Dec 2008
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Last edited by John Lawrence Schick; 01/23/13 05:26 PM.
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John,
Seems like I'm always first to comment on your songs--cause I'm not too busy with my work in the Winter--and I spend most of my time in my office--easy to monitor e-mail, FB, & JPF.
Well, this may not be the most sofisticated music piece you've written, but I dig it, and find myself wanting to put lyrics to it--Like it lots!
steady-as-she-goes!
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John,
Seems like I'm always first to comment on your songs--cause I'm not too busy with my work in the Winter--and I spend most of my time in my office--easy to monitor e-mail, FB, & JPF.
Well, this may not be the most sofisticated music piece you've written, but I dig it, and find myself wanting to put lyrics to it--Like it lots!
steady-as-she-goes! Thanks Eddie! I had the overwhelming urge to compose a heartfelt, simple piano solo like my Haunting Melody (used in a Jessica Brown Findlay interview). Seems to be a bit more useable in libraries. Yeah, about the lyrics. Probably because of it being more melodic than other tracks of mine. Best, John 
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Another beauty John! It's funny how often when I listen to your music I hear the "happy" almost wanting to break through and it does sometimes but only for a spell and then it tips back to the sad or melancoly feel that I think is often the goal. I tend to root for the sunnier side and want it to be lasting through the entire piece or atleast most of it, but I understand your preference (if I'm correct) is more of these types of instrumentals, but I could be wrong. Only thing I would address is the title to the track. When I hear "Torch" I was expecting something fiery if you will, and since this is softer than that and since you do this for license placements or for film you might want to give a title closer to the actual feel of the music. Keep em' coming maestro, Lynn
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This to me has a Andrew L Webber melodic feel, yet with a little more classical foundation--the point being that could be a great combination for musical theatre. I could see this piece in Phantom. It's begging for lyrics John.
steady-as-she-goes.
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Another beauty John! It's funny how often when I listen to your music I hear the "happy" almost wanting to break through and it does sometimes but only for a spell and then it tips back to the sad or melancoly feel that I think is often the goal. I tend to root for the sunnier side and want it to be lasting through the entire piece or atleast most of it, but I understand your preference (if I'm correct) is more of these types of instrumentals, but I could be wrong. Only thing I would address is the title to the track. When I hear "Torch" I was expecting something fiery if you will, and since this is softer than that and since you do this for license placements or for film you might want to give a title closer to the actual feel of the music. Keep em' coming maestro, Lynn Thanks Lynn! Yeah, melancholy moods seem more musically expressive to me. Of course I like to add a little “happy” spice to the meal.  I understand about the title. I was using “torch” as in a “torch song”. I may have to re-think the title. Hmm… Best, John
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This to me has a Andrew L Webber melodic feel, yet with a little more classical foundation--the point being that could be a great combination for musical theatre. I could see this piece in Phantom. It's begging for lyrics John.
steady-as-she-goes. I understand and appreciate your lyrical thoughts on this piece Eddie, however I think it leans a little too much into the classical genre to generate much interest as a popular song. Yeah, Broadway, but that’s an extremely hard nut to crack. Maybe off-off- Broadway. LOL Best, John
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I would agree, from a commercial perspective--I was just thinking of "me," my likings. I have a amature theatre background and can visualize the music in that venue. I'm certainly not trying to advise you on how and where you should market your music. Good luck with it.
steady-eddie.
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I think it could work in the theater realm also. I'd love to do a musical type project someday. Cal DiFalco (lyricist) and I have tried to get a foot in the NYC Broadway scene to no avail. I was a bit discouraged with the closed-shop attitude there, though it may be we just didn't measure up to the challenge. I do appreciate all your ideas Eddie. Thanks, John
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This sits up well to your usual standard. It is a bit more sombre and melodic than some of your work. You cannot hide behind a bare piano it has to be good and you certainly achieved that. It has a haunting melody and great progressions. Just crying out for a movie to use it....I think with the right lyrics and adaptation it could be turned into a pretty good song. It did sound a tad hot to my ears in places perhaps a few dB reduction in the master gain would emphasise the light and shade a bit more and take away the harshness of some of the notes. Did you use a click or was it freeform?
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John,I was listening and couldn't help thinking of a long lost love and maybe TORCH is the burning desire to want the woman I love to come back to me.I love it.......Mike
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John,
Your usual good work. I took piano lessons when I was 13. I was terrible. I wanted to play like Little Richard.
Jim
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This sits up well to your usual standard. It is a bit more sombre and melodic than some of your work. You cannot hide behind a bare piano it has to be good and you certainly achieved that. It has a haunting melody and great progressions. Just crying out for a movie to use it....I think with the right lyrics and adaptation it could be turned into a pretty good song. It did sound a tad hot to my ears in places perhaps a few dB reduction in the master gain would emphasise the light and shade a bit more and take away the harshness of some of the notes. Did you use a click or was it freeform? Thanks Jim! I used a stereo spread plug-in on this track (usually don't use it). May have boosted the volume level. I'm going to post a remix without it tomorrow. And cut the master gain a tad. I did use a click, though I've trained myself to ignore it when necessary - which I had to do for much of this multi-tempoed piece. Best, John :P)
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John,I was listening and couldn't help thinking of a long lost love and maybe TORCH is the burning desire to want the woman I love to come back to me.I love it.......Mike Thank you Mike! Yes, that was the idea behind my title. Though I can also understand the pre-listener thinking this track is going to be fiery. John
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John,
Your usual good work. I took piano lessons when I was 13. I was terrible. I wanted to play like Little Richard.
Jim Thanks Jim! Don’t know how Little Richard and Jerry Lee Lewis do those powerful glissandos without ripping their hands apart. I can do them , but not without splattering blood on the keys. John
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Just added a new mix (thanks Big Jim). New title: "Torch of Heartbreak" (thanks Lynn). Mix changes: reduction in master gain, cut .5 off 1200 EQ range (which I originally added 2.0), and eliminated the stereo spread FX. I think this mix is better. Thanks Jim! Best, John
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Hi John am on laptop so cannot take a reliable listen to the new mix. I will get around to it and get back to you. However here is perhaps another way to tackle the issue and perhaps a diagnosis of the problem. Now I am no expert on keyboards so may be talking rubbish or it may be irrelevant to you and your set up so it is just a thought.
My keyboard player got a new Roland workstation about a year back. Now he has had Rolands for many years and is well used to them and their settings and foibles. To say that this machine is sophisticated is a huge understatement even compared to his previous arranger. Like with all new toys it took a bit of getting used to as sometimes various default settings need a bit of tweaking to get them to what you want. Anyways when he played the default grand piano he found that the touch sensitive keys made him sound really heavy handed in parts and some of the notes when struck hard really were way out of kilter volume wise. Deep down in the bowels of the menus he found a way of adjusting the values of the touch sensitivity feature. After a bit of trial and error and a few adjustments he found settings that corrected the problem. This could be why some of the notes in your piece sounded so harsh compared to others. By the way he reckons that he will have it all sussed out and use all the options available by the time he is too old and frail to play BUT HE WILL PROBABLY HAVE UPGRADED SEVERAL TIMES BY THEN. lol
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John, broken record here but that link won't open for me! Maybe go to your profile page and add that other site to your signature options and I won't have to keep asking you for it? LOL :)))) scotty
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Just added it to my signature Scotty. Good idea! Best, John
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Much better!! Another great one John, super talent!! :))) scotty
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Hi John am on laptop so cannot take a reliable listen to the new mix. I will get around to it and get back to you. However here is perhaps another way to tackle the issue and perhaps a diagnosis of the problem. Now I am no expert on keyboards so may be talking rubbish or it may be irrelevant to you and your set up so it is just a thought.
My keyboard player got a new Roland workstation about a year back. Now he has had Rolands for many years and is well used to them and their settings and foibles. To say that this machine is sophisticated is a huge understatement even compared to his previous arranger. Like with all new toys it took a bit of getting used to as sometimes various default settings need a bit of tweaking to get them to what you want. Anyways when he played the default grand piano he found that the touch sensitive keys made him sound really heavy handed in parts and some of the notes when struck hard really were way out of kilter volume wise. Deep down in the bowels of the menus he found a way of adjusting the values of the touch sensitivity feature. After a bit of trial and error and a few adjustments he found settings that corrected the problem. This could be why some of the notes in your piece sounded so harsh compared to others. By the way he reckons that he will have it all sussed out and use all the options available by the time he is too old and frail to play BUT HE WILL PROBABLY HAVE UPGRADED SEVERAL TIMES BY THEN. lol Thanks Jim! I think the culprit was the stereo spread plug-in. It did add volume to the mix. I never used that on my solo piano before. Probably won’t again (except for special effects). I don’t hear any harshness whatsoever in this new mix. Neither on headphones or speakers. I do hear varied dynamic ranges that I wanted though. No, my keyboard isn’t the problem. I use a Yamaha Motif ES8 (a very high-end keyboard). Its weighted keys play much like an acoustic grand (a pianist’s dream controller). Again, thanks for pointed out the volume issue. I ended up with a much better track. Best, John
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Much better!! Another great one John, super talent!! :))) scotty Thanks Scotty! I appreciate that. Best, John
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Thanks John glad you sorted it out. I took a listen with proper speakers...much better more defined sound. That stereo spread plug might be Ok for a full arrangement but tends to accentuate the wrong things on a solo piano.......now where are you going to get the lyrics from?.....and who is going to sing? LOL
PS it is good to get confirmation that my old ears are still working properly.
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Thanks John glad you sorted it out. I took a listen with proper speakers...much better more defined sound. That stereo spread plug might be Ok for a full arrangement but tends to accentuate the wrong things on a solo piano.......now where are you going to get the lyrics from?.....and who is going to sing? LOL
PS it is good to get confirmation that my old ears are still working properly. Yeah, I've used it on some of my electronic tracks with success. Not good for solo piano though. Thanks again for the use of your refined hearing and mixing experience. John
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Hey John, I prefer the old mix, just a little bit more toppy and natural to my ears. Even then, I would still notch it at about 1200k, and notch down slightly at perhaps 80k to cut the bass resonance. But then again, I'm loosing my top end. cheers, niteshift
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New mix to me sounds better, slightly less bright and clearer with mid range tones and more natural -- although old mix I may feel a tad more separation between base/mid/treble tones--not that that is optimal. You know better than I the sound you wish to achieve, but I think you've improved it.
All you need with this is a banjo accompanyment, "blue grass" can evolve.
steady-eddie.
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Hi John,
This is very beautiful. Were you thinking of Someone or a certain Situation when you were composing this piece?
I really enjoyed it.-Dana
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"Hey John,
I prefer the old mix, just a little bit more toppy and natural to my ears. Even then, I would still notch it at about 1200k, and notch down slightly at perhaps 80k to cut the bass resonance.
But then again, I'm loosing my top end" cheers, niteshift"New mix to me sounds better, slightly less bright and clearer with mid range tones and more natural -- although old mix I may feel a tad more separation between base/mid/treble tones--not that that is optimal. You know better than I the sound you wish to achieve, but I think you've improved it. All you need with this is a banjo accompanyment, "blue grass" can evolve" steady-eddieFirst off - thanks Nite and Eddie. I just placed your posts together to bring attention to other factors in the critique arena. Listeners will have their own preferences in how they want to hear a mix of a recording. Not to mention, different listeners have different playback systems. So in essence… when all the critique boats are in, it all falls back on the composer’s/ recorder’s ears. So… I take all critiques seriously, but realize my ears will have to make the final decision. My ears? The other night my wife Sandra and I were listening to a military band playing. When they focused on the piccolo player's leads, I could see them playing but couldn’t hear their part. Sandra could hear it well. So much for my ears... Best, John
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John,
This sounded like "I'd Do Anything For You" from Oliver, that back and forth with your usual touch of the unattainable and sadness...
I don't understand "torch" it doesn't seem to fit to me, I do understand "carrying a torch for someone", but alone, it takes on a whole new meaning. I felt more like it was "A TOUCH of Heartbreak", that is just my opinion.
Tammy
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