Going Viral, The Beach is Closed

[milo]

My cousin and I are working on a collection of songs about the pandemic. We're not done with the whole project yet, but I wanted to share a couple of tracks that I did, called "Going Viral" and "The Beach is Closed."

https://alansanderson.band/2020/05/14/g ... ch-closed/

"Going Viral" is an introspective guitar ballad. I was trying to get a mood sort of like "The Wind Cries Mary," but I'm no Hendrix.

"The Beach is Closed" is a Beach Boys style 60's rock and roll song. I tried to imagine how Brian Wilson's iconic teenage boy would feel about the lockdown.

As always, this is a 100% Linux production: Mint 19.3, Ardour 5.12, Setbfree tonewheel organ, AVL Drumkits LV2, Dragonfly Room and Plate reverbs, Guitarix. I'm gravitating away from Calf Studio Gear and towards Linux Studio Plugins lately, but there's a little of both on these: compressors, limiters, EQ.

Enjoy!

[jeanette_c]

Hi Alan,
I like these. Going Viral is really well mixed/balanced. It feels like a song recorded with a band. It has that homogenic something.
The Beach is Closed is well written for the style, all the recordings sound nice, the backing vocals are great. You can see the but coming... I somehow take offense at the organ. Not its style just the registration, at least if this is a true sound-alike. This is also good news, because the rest is SO spot on! I am not sure what is off about it... Maybe it's too clean (distortion) and maybe I'm thinking more of that sparse registration that was one of the 60s favourites. I've never become a tonewheel conaisseuse, so I couldn't put it in numbers.
That criticism took far too much space, because I think both songs are really well written and performed and true to their inspiration.

[GMaq]

Hi milo!

Wow you've been busy! These are great! Love the hollowbody tone on Going Viral, that's a sweet sounding axe! Lol, The Beach is Closed is very good retro surf, great job getting the surfer vibe with the crunchy guitars and the B3 and the drum beat. Your vocals on Beach especially sound effortless like you were born to sing in that key!

As far as the organ, I suppose one could argue that a Farfisa (or a Vox Continental) sound would be a little more surfy but any kid in the early 60's playing a Farfisa was putting in time until they could afford a Hammond and a Roadie to move it!

Very good work by your kids too! Fun stuff!

[Michael Willis]

Fun tunes, I love that you got the kids involved. After reading that your son played the organ in The Beach is Closed, I wondered if it was the real organ that you showed me in your music room, but then I read the part below about it being a virtual instrument.

[milo]

Thanks, all. I appreciate you taking the time to listen and comment, and I'm glad you like the songs. This project is a lot of fun, and having my kids involved really amplifies the fun. I can't wait to share the whole project with you. My cousin is a good songwriter.

I grew up on the Beach Boys, and their music really takes me to a happy place. This was my first attempt at playing something in their style.

@jeanette_c I'm not an organ connoisseur either, but it sounds like @GMaq is. At one point I added some vibrato to the sound, but my kid who played the organ didn't like it. He's sitting beside me right now, and just consented to adding a little bit. I'll try it out and see if I like it that way.

@Michael Willis That old organ in my basement is mostly broken, and I don't play keyboards well enough to record them. I keep the old organ around because the kids like to pound on it, and because it looks cool. It is a Kimball Temptation Entertainer that I picked up at the curb years ago when someone was getting rid of it. Not exactly a Hammond ...

[Basslint]

Great stuff milo!

[oscillator]

Great project! The choirs on both songs make me very jealous!

[milo]

Hey, thanks for listening @Basslint and @oscillator. The choir is just me. I've been experimenting with more harmonies and deep-layering voices lately, and it is a lot of fun. It takes me back to my high school choir days.