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July 20, 2025 at 2:56 pm in reply to: My Remix of My Cover of Gary Numan’s Classic Song “Cars” #1000032231July 20, 2025 at 2:38 pm in reply to: Little Wing (Jimi Hendrix Cover)- Full Band Collab (Based on Clapton/Crow Cover) #1000032229June 2, 2025 at 1:41 pm in reply to: Video Killed the Radio Star – Cover – Electric and Unplugged #1000030010
I like your vocal work, very Lennon-esque. Also like the cool processed vocal effect on this tune, I guess it’s coming from Ozone. I get it though, recording and mixing vocs can be challenging! I can also relate to your struggles physically. I’m in my early 60’s, have some chronic arthritic and tendon type pain/mobility issues as well. I do very little live playing anymore, in a church group for the last couple years, before that virtually nothing for over 2 decades. I have concentrated on honing my studio skills and techniques, but I’m mainly a musician and not an engineer, so the technical side has been a struggle to excel at. I basically fiddle until it sounds good to me, even if it’s some unconventional workflow! I use MIDI extensively as well. I have enjoyed collaborating with some other musicians online over the last couple years.
~Ross
"Let there be songs to fill the air..."
https://on.soundcloud.com/arF75KPpHuh6iqtt8
https://www.bandlab.com/rosssmithe1June 1, 2025 at 6:51 am in reply to: Video Killed the Radio Star – Cover – Electric and Unplugged #1000029968Really nice work on this Peter! You definitely captured the sound and vibe of the original. Excellent performance and production. Curious, what processing are you using on your vocs?
~Ross
"Let there be songs to fill the air..."
https://on.soundcloud.com/arF75KPpHuh6iqtt8
https://www.bandlab.com/rosssmithe1May 26, 2025 at 8:57 am in reply to: Answer these 7 Questions to Get to Know Each Other A Little Better #1000029714Hey Peter, thanks for starting this forum! Here’s a bit about me:
1. What country do you live in? USA
2. What musical instrument(s) do you play and when did you start playing? Piano/Keyboards. Started piano as a young kid, traditional classical/theoretical approach initially. Got bored and lost interest in that as a young teen, but took off just playing more by ear/chords, doing the stuff I enjoyed! Was obsessed with synths when they rose in prominence. First mono-synth, a Moog Prodigy (couldn’t afford a full-on Mini-Moog, lol!), first poly-synth Roland Juno 60 (I sold it years ago for a steal, REALLY regretting that now!).
3. Do you sing? Yes, started singing in my teens. Over the years grew as a primary thing, especially in the studio context.
4. What level of experience do you have with audio engineering? 25+ years and counting! This pursuit has truly been both a labor of love, as well as a crucible of pain and suffering for me! I am definitely an insatiable and incurable audiophile. However, I consider myself more of an artist than an engineer, so the more technical side of this has been slow and painful indeed! I know I am unconventional in some of my techniques and approaches engineering-wise, but have settled into some things I think sound good and work for me! I’m primarily a Cakewalk/Sonar user. I’ve tried numerous other DAW’s over the years, but since I started and learned with CW since the 1990’s, I kept returning to the comfortable familiarity of it! I use MIDI quite a bit, so CW obviously is good for that also.
5. What genres of music do you play? Grew up on Classic Rock, kind of my hobby these days trying to create some old favorites in my home studio. Also do a bit of more old school pop oriented stuff here and there. Have grown in my appreciation over the years of cinematic/soundtrack stuff. I saw Hans Zimmer recently, and he really blew me away (I had a bit of commercial success in this realm, scoring a musical documentary back in 2010). Also enjoy creating some more orchestral-type stuff. Have pressed myself as well into breaking out of my usual, go-to creative box, experimenting with some newer, more electronic/beat oriented, as well as ambient, forms
6. What are some of the musical artists and music that inspire you? I have an appreciation for a wide-range of musical styles and genres! Since I was a keyboardist, I grew up loving the likes of Pink Floyd, Yes, Genesis. I started as a piano player, and my keyboard orientation was always from that standpoint primarily. Consequently, I really loved the expressive and percussive piano stylings of the “Piano-men” like Elton John, Billy Joel, and later Christian artist Keith Green. I was also a Queen fan from the 70’s onward, and was really inspired and influenced by Freddie Mercury’s otherworldly vocal ability (he was actually a great piano player too!). I grew up in Vegas and had exposure to some top-tier musicians there as a youth, which was really cool and fun! One of the drummers I played with regularly in high school, his father was a major musical director on the Strip, and had connections to some L.A. studio musicians, including the Paich family. While most high school bands in that day were covering bands like Zep and Van Halen, we were covering Toto, lol! I also got to sing in a back-up choral group on the Strip in those days, primarily for Paul Anka. As I mentioned, I’ve definitely become a Hans Zimmer enthusiast on the cinematic side of things. Also, I appreciate much classical music, J.S. Bach would be my main man in that realm!
7. Do you do music as a hobby, semi-professionally, or professionally? If you’re a hobbyist did you once do music professionally or semi-professionally? Currently a hobbyist, semi-professional occasionally in times past.
BONUS QUESTION
Do you have any musical goals you hope to accomplish? At this point, really just to enjoy creating music! Digital music is so incredible and fun, the creative bounds are really limitless! Also, over the last year or so now, I am really enjoying collaborating with some other musicians online in a “virtual band” kind of set up. Definitely want to do more of this!!
~Ross
"Let there be songs to fill the air..."
https://on.soundcloud.com/arF75KPpHuh6iqtt8
https://www.bandlab.com/rosssmithe4 -
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