Composing : Samples versus Live by Joel Irwin

Joel Irwin

Samples versus Live

Merely an 'observation'.

I was at a meeting last night of the local chapter of the Nashville Songwriters Association ( https://www.nashvillesongwriters.com ).  I was playing a music only demo song for a potential lyricist collaborator.  As it was a potential duet - I created a demo with a flute for the female and clarinet for the male.

I received a reaction that has been very typical of listeners (even musically trained ones) that are outside the 'scoring world' - they get quite surprised when I say that nothing on the track was live or for completed demos, that the only live entity was the singer.

I find that to be true regardless of how 'realistic' the sample set is implemented - even if my scoring friends tell me that the reproduction is of less than 'stellar' quality.

Point is, when I (and perhaps 'we') implement a sampled configuration, the basic 'sound' is close enough imho to 'real' that the 'average' listener normally can't tell the difference between sample and real.

BTW - here is what I played last night:

https://www.soundcloud.com/joelirwin/pooh

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Kerry Kennard

Hi Joel, will there be a singer on the tune, Pooh ?

Flute does sound fairly real, … maybe make a little warmer sounding - if possible.

I used to EQ on some of my tracks; one is from logic Pro, and the other is from native instruments. Sometimes it helps and sometimes it doesn’t., so I’ll turn one off, making sure it sounds more natura.

One small suggestion, .. is it possible to end at the 2:40 mark ? Thr other last bars seems a repeat of previous and to the IV chord right ? - before the end ?

It is something I learned recently, keeping it shorter and ending with the A section.

- from Michele Maslin

Otherwise, it’s a more piece !!

Keep submitting!

Kerry Kennard

Joel Irwin

When I create this type of file there is no intent for it to be considered a production file. I call it more of a manifestation file - it give the lyricist one way (in addition to the lead sheet with melody and chords), for the lyricist to 'imagine' the tune in order to lay down lyrics. I spend no time to 'fine tune' the piece. I picked flute for female and clarinet for male merely as place markers. On my previous collaboration, the imagined file I sent was not used at all. The melody was changed to accommodate the lyrics and the lyricist both sung and totally produced it herself in her studio. My total involvement was the melody and suggestions for chords and arrangements. When I collaborate on a song, I often find the track produced is many times 'better' in my judgement than anything I could have arranged and produced myself (as was the case in "In Can").

Check out the previous song I collaborated on: https://www.soundcloud.com/joelirwin/i-can

Linwood Bell

Sounds good, Joel. It’s perfect for giving them a clear idea of how you envision it and then you can work on it together later and tweak if needed. We are lucky that we can use samples and get our ideas out without having to hire anyone.

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