Studio8 - Uniting the Arts

my life has been good
even without the days of wine and roses
I never had a theme song
by Henry Mancini
no Johnny Mercer lyrics
but I did okay I guess
as one tries to qualify such things

I relate to Nowhere Man
sitting around in a land of his own mind
making all those silly little plans
a lot like an autumn leaf detached and spinning
in the twisters of Indian Summer
blowing in a Bob Dylan wind, I mean
the man did ask some damn good questions

how many roads before we get to call him a man ?....
I feel very comfortable with the utter joy of a path,
a forest trail with the solitude of fresh pine
rarely thinking about the distance involved
walking stick in hand, eyes forward, boots on the ground
backpack loaded to the gills with dreams
old songs in my head

the soundtrack of my life

cool piece, Steve.
(roy?)

John Barry & Lalo Schifrin wrote some of the action cues of my life...

judih wrote: ↑

August 4th, 2021, 11:37 am

cool piece, Steve.
(roy?)

are you thinking what I think you're thinking...?

sasha wrote: ↑

August 4th, 2021, 12:29 pm

John Barry & Lalo Schifrin wrote some of the action cues of my life...

judih wrote: ↑

August 4th, 2021, 11:37 am

cool piece, Steve.
(roy?)

are you thinking what I think you're thinking...?

you're just asking to buy time.....

*rolls up sleeves*

 
Here ya go, my friends:
 
 

My sister left her hubby unsupervised today, and in need of a playmate he kept me on the phone for 2-1/2 hours this morning, but it all came together better than I'd hoped.

wow. Fabulous. Thank you!
Straight to #1!

wow this is terrific ....love the appropriate music....and you read it as I can hear it in my head.....and it's an honor to have my words given so much attention.....thanx for the effort...thanx judih for planting the seed ....again

listening the harmonies in Nowhere Man is a forgotten treat...

I'm so happy you both enjoyed it - it was a pleasure, a relaxing way to spend a dull, drab New England day. And knowing how much you all enjoy reading about the technical details of how these things get put together, I'll try not to disappoint in that regard...

I started out with vague notions of constructing some kind of suite with the stanzas interspersed with snippets from Days of Wine & Roses, Nowhere Man, & Blowin' In the Wind - but as I started layering sounds, I (wisely) thought simpler would be better, so I stripped it down to the Mancini intro, unobtrusive nature sounds behind the recitation, and an outro TBD.

The Mancini track came from YouTube, but the recording was too clean - so I dirtied it up with record surface noise downloaded from freesounds.org (a wonderful resource!). I contemplated accentuating the midrange by attenuating the highs and lows for a more retro sound, but ultimately scrapped the idea. The nature ambience(s) came from my own library, recorded on three separate occasions in my Holy of Holies, the Birch Hill Wildlife Management Area. Surprisingly, I was able to use my 1st take of the recitation, though I still think my voice is too thin & high-pitched to be pleasing. (Unfortunately, James Earl Jones was unavailable that day.) After editing out the usual pauses, false starts, & lip smacks, I boosted the treble a bit, as my sibilants seem to be getting a bit mushy as I age. Most of the assembly time was then spent tweaking the timing of events. I ended up wth 7 stereo tracks, mixed down to 2.

It was too much fun to be considered work!

that is phenomenal. I loved the scratchiness of the mancini bit, and yes, a bit too literal to include dylan - it's nice to keep the reference in our own imagination (we can easily provide that track for ourselves). Nowhere Man, good clean angst. Well done.
And your voice, Roy, sounds well-traveled, perfectly suited to Steve's piece.

sasha! what a wonderful piece of honesty you put together!! You did well for my ears and imagination.

congratulations on this...

thanx for details Roy....I dig that kind of stuff...

I love popping the hood to show how the magic is done, but I don't want to distract from the main event, the originally posted poem. I can't match the simplicity & honesty & clarity of Steve's words, or the freewheeling music of Cecil's - but I can try to build a nice display case for them. I appreciate the kind responses, but the audio wouldn't have happened without the inspiration of the poem. Thanks - for providing that inspiration. (The nudge from Judih didn't hurt, either.)

Not disappointed at all.. inspiring- loved it- happy feet and sensative moments with a bit of wander - “ oh he’s a wanderer..”
“ the long and winding road” etc
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