Any oboists?

[AJOwens]

My entry for "Keep All Your Promises" sorely needs a lonely oboe in the quiet bits. I tracked in a synth oboe, but it just made the song sound cheesy. I tried doubling with a real flute, and that almost worked, but after forty years I seem to have lost my embouchure for A flat in the second octave. The sqeaky flute and lame oboe were dropped from the final mix.

In the end I left a gaping silence that is begging for a real oboe, or a really good sampled oboe. If anyone wants to add one, I'd love to hear it. I have a melody in mind, but I'm open to suggestion.

[AJOwens]

That reminds me -- why can't I find any Reason refills for woodwinds or brass?

[Lunkhead]

Here's one:

http://www.americanmusical.com/Item--i-IKM-MIROREFILL-6

Or do you mean free or "free" ones?

[ujnhunter]

Aren't they in the Orkester Refill?

[AJOwens]

Here's one:

http://www.americanmusical.com/Item--i-IKM-MIROREFILL-6

Or do you mean free or "free" ones?

Thanks for the link! It never occurred to me to look past the Reason site. I guess third partiies can supply refills too. This opens up a new world of searches!

I don't mind paying if it's reasonable (no pun intended). Next question for me is whether it works with Reason Adapted.

[AJOwens]

For the record, the answer is no. Most refills don't work with Reason Adapted. Upgrades are on special though. . .

[Spud]

Could you live with clarinet?

[AJOwens]

Well, I'm hearing an oboe -- that thin, haunted, lonely sound. Clarinet is thicker, more robust and confident. But maybe it would work. What would you need to give it a try?

[Spud]

Whadya got? I can listen to your track, I suppose. Do you have the synth oboe track separated? How did you program it? Do you have a midi file? Whatever you've got might be helpful.

BTW, my clarinet is not so thick as you're used to. I'm not exactly a pro.

SPUD

wait, I think that came out wrong...

[AJOwens]

I'll put it back in the mix and post an MP3. Since it does the same thing every time, I'll just post a slice. I don't have a MIDI -- I recorded the audio out from my Radio Shack Yamaha. I could create one if you want, or score it in my inept way. But it's pretty simple, I'm sure you could pick it up with no trouble. Have a listen when I post it.

P.S. Thanks for doing this!

[Spud]

Will have a look. The other option is that I might try it with my electronic horn. It has an oboe patch that might sound good properly filtered and otherwise tortured into submission.

[Caravan Ray]

BTW, my clarinet is not so thick as you're used to. I'm not exactly a pro.

The other option is that I might try it with my electronic horn

Oh no - we have entered 1970s British sit-com Land again.
Carry On Songfight.

[AJOwens]

Uh, it's not ready yet. . . Bear with me! There's other stuff going on in my life right now.

Last night I started off by putting the synth oboe track back in, intending to post an illustrative snippet. But then, inspired (or perhaps goaded) by various reviews, I decided to throw all the original tracks back in and work the fade controls to make the ending bigger.

Tonight I have other obligations, but tomorrow I'll give the remix a listen, and either scrap it, or post it here as an attachment, with time cues to the oboe passages. (Given the way this thread is going, I probably should avoid calling them "passages.")

I do not intend to make a habit of posting remixes to your site as attachments! I'll look into using the 5 MB of server space that comes with one of my e-mail accounts. But it does raise an interesting question: do people want a "Songfight Remix" forum where they can act on reviewers' recommendations and solicit further comment? -- Well, that's one for the suggestions thread, I guess.

[AJOwens]

OK, I finally got it together, mixed the track, and set up a page where you can get it:

http://storm.ca/~jje/

Killing two birds with one stone, I've posted a version that illustrates the oboe part, and also takes up some suggestions from the review thread. The oboe comes in at about 0:36, 1:17, 1:51, and 2:38.

Having seen the recent screen shots of other people's tracks over in the How To thread, I have become painfully aware that there's probably a much better way of coordinating a collaboration than this, only I don't know what it is.