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Middle 8 bars of a thing I’m writing
Long story short, (yea I can do that) this is the middle eight of an actual song I’m screwing together. At four verses long it’s certainly my most ambitious original! I spent the last ten years of my audio career in the Christian spoken word market mostly hanging PAs in arenas and stadiums around the country. It was a very different experience than touring and mixing FOH with a number of bands. This song is a result of the difference. I borrowed the structure and phrasing of Willie Nelson’s (no relation to Dana) “Help Me Make it Through the Night.” My lyrics, my arrangement and then my “vocal” on top. I left a middle eight bar section open with a very rhythmic feel for a rapper friend to spit fire on. Free reign for him. I just asked him to mean it. He came back with this, and I do believe he means it. I cleaned up the percussion to make it more interesting and here’s where it at. I will need to significantly up my vocal delivery to stand up against this actual rapper before I’ll put the entire finished piece out for comment. Does this middle eight entertain you? Grab your attention? -PT
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4 Replies
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Yeah Paul! Dig it man! Very cool. We want more!!!!
Best,
Jesse
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Super cool, @detective! Love the beat and how the track is broken down and 1/2-time drums with all that space! FWIW, I was hoping/expecting that the first 2 chords of the pattern would just loop over and over (IV for 2 bars, I for 2 bars, repeat …) which would be a lil more typical for a rap track, which tend to be more monotonous and loop based, rather than traditional-chord-changes based. And I just love the way the MC sounds flowing over those first two chords of your middle 8! BUT … ALL THAT SAID …. I’m offering these comments completely out of context, not having heard the way this middle 8 fits into the larger piece as a whole. AND it’s very cool the way you have it, too, with all the chord changes! 🙌
Keep it up, man!!
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Very valid point. Context is key for your observations and suggestions so here’s the 2nd verse leading to the middle 8 and the 3rd verse. that should give the listener a better feel for the song. The half time middle section sets up a huge rhythmic contrast to my ear and because I stole the song form from elsewhere, I never gave a thought to dumbing down the rap section to two chords though it certainly works for many jam bands. Verses are presented without my vocals because I have some pride. -PT
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Pride?? What’s that? 😂. Awesome, man, thanks for sharing the added context. Lookin’ fwd to hearing the full-length with vocals!
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