TWO NEW SONGS by Richard Scotti on The Pipeline at IndieMusicPeople

Sweet Angelica - liking this one Richard!
Great tone on the slide guitar! Like the phrasing on the chorus!
Like the 'Dylan'esque' backing track!

On to the next one!

I don't wanna change you - Loving the 'backing organ' - again Dylan'esque
Like the attitude on this one!

Only listened on small speakers (The Producer Thread!) so will check out
on bigger speakers tomorrow!

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Richard Scotti

8/2/2008 1:17:52 PM

Thanks for the supportive comments. I'd love to hear from others as well.

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Duane Flock

8/2/2008 6:08:15 PM ---- Updated 8/2/2008 6:15:40 PM

Both songs are good Richard.
Sweet Angelica has a nice mix and great melody. All of the parts are played well. Some real nice touches in there.

I Don't Wanna Change You has a real americana feel to it mostly because of the acoustic type instruments and the shear simplicity. Nice stuff!

Don't rush anything. You're doing really well, keep it up Dood!

D.

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Richard Scotti

8/2/2008 9:06:52 PM

Thanks for the support, Duane. I'm working really hard and I do have to remind myself not to rush things. It took a long time to mix Sweet Angelica because there are so many parts to it and I almost posted it last week but I decided to contine mixing it because it wasn't quite right. As for I Don't Wanna Change You, this is
my attempt to try not to over-produce things and keep them them simple. I have some other songs in this simple Americana style that I'll be posting soon and I've been excited but also apprehensive because I'm trying to go outside of my comfort zone. Your encouragement is very helpful in making me more confident about what I'm doing.

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The Man With No Band

8/2/2008 10:13:44 PM ---- Updated 8/2/2008 10:15:03 PM

Richard... I know each person has their own likes and dislikes so I can't say which of these songs is "better" but I know which one I prefer myself ... and I guess it is no surprise that I chose "I Don't Wanna Change You" for my Private Stock Station ... I really liked this song ... and then you posted this ...
"It took a long time to mix Sweet Angelica because there are so many parts to it and I almost posted it last week but I decided to continue mixing it because it wasn't quite right. As for I Don't Wanna Change You, this is my attempt to try not to over-produce things and keep them them simple."

It helped me to confirm that to me ... simple is usually better ... although I liked the sound of "Sweet Angelica" it left me feeling the song was over-produced ... but that is not a slam on you or the song ... It is just my preference ... I like to hear space in the songs I prefer the most and "I Don't Wanna Change You" gave me that space ... for others I'm sure it will be different...

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Jeff Allen Myers

8/2/2008 10:42:04 PM

Two different types of songs, nice range of material. I did not find Sweet Angelica overproduced as Sam noted, but I can see where Sam is coming from. It has a good Pop feel, and the singer reminds me of Bon Jovi. Maybe this is where the "Overproduced" vibe comes from because it sounds somewhat commercial in that it sounds familiar. that is not a bad thing. The second song,Don't want to Change you. has a bit more personality..it is easier to connect to and feels more intimate and real.. Hope that makes sense.. :) Nice Job Richard.

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The Man With No Band

8/3/2008 1:08:18 AM

Jeff ... you said that better than me .... :)

It has a good Pop feel, and the singer reminds me of Bon Jovi. Maybe this is where the "Overproduced" vibe comes from because it sounds somewhat commercial in that it sounds familiar.

I think I liked "Don't Wanna Change You" better because it sounded more original and I liked that "Americana" feel that Duane pointed out ...

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Richard Scotti

8/3/2008 7:04:34 AM ---- Updated 8/5/2008 9:21:33 AM

SAM-Thank you for the add to Private Stock (great concept for a station)
You have great taste in music, so I'm honored to be on your station.

JEFF- Thanks for the positive comments. The thing I love about IAC is that there are such a variety of tastes in music. There will be people who will like both songs equally, or one more than the other, or neither! My thing is to just keep trying to have fun writing and hopefully entertain others. I was definitiely going for a big commercial sound with Sweet Angelica. It's not everybody's cup of tea (or Jack Daniels) but that's why I balanced it out with I Don't Wanna Change You. I guess this is my M.O....variety with balance, something for every taste or in some cases- no one's taste! I have several other folky Americana songs in the works and that seems to be primarily where I want to go at the moment. But I'm always open to taking risks trying new things. Like Ricky Nelson sang in Garden Party: "You can't please everyone, so ya just have to please yourself".

Only three comments on two new songs? I'm less excited about posting more new ones than I was before.

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The CODE

8/5/2008 9:40:37 AM

Must have something to do with the Holiday Season Richard???

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srm

8/5/2008 6:16:34 PM

There's nothing wrong with being a grouch, from time to time, Richard. However, there's no grouching about your new tunes. I'm always impressed by your production quality, and I like the range of material that you're doing. Both songs are excellent, in their own ways. "I Don't Wanna Change You" has a slight edge for me, because I love to hear a good organ in the background. Don't EVER be afraid to post your music.

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Richard Scotti

8/6/2008 8:16:28 AM ---- Updated 8/6/2008 8:33:53 AM

Thank you SRM. Although I play many of the instruments on my tracks, I take the most pleasure from playing the Hammond B-3. It's the instrument that got me hooked on music. When I heard Al Cooper playing on "Like A Rolling Stone", I bought an imitation Hammond that sounded pretty good and I played along with that song endlessly until I got every note right. Before that my only keyboard experience was taking piano lessons. Then I played organ along with Summer In the City by the Lovin' Spoonful. Then I was influenced by the organ playing of Ray Manzarek of the Doors and went out and got a Vox electric organ which was easier to lug around than something like a B-3. After that I went through a series of portable Hammonds and now I only use the real thing although I do have quite a few excellent Hammond software sounds on my computer. I try to use a different variation of the Hammond sound on every song that requires organ.

The Young Rascals's organist, Felix Cavilieri (don't know if that's spelled right) was a big infulenece on me as was Billy Preston and of course Garth Hudson of the Band. (Check out the extended organ intro on "Chest Fever" and the amazing solo on "Stage Fright".)

Your comment about the organ really makes me more aware of how important small things are to a song. When I played those organ parts in Change You, I wasn't thinking of them as a big deal, just a little embellishment but you're the second person to mention them. It's great to be be critiqued by other musicians because they notice the "little things". And I can see that the little sings are actually bigger than I thought when it comes to the overall vibe of the song.

In general I'm learning a lot from being at IAC. I'm becoming more comforatble in my own skin and going with the flow while staying true to my principles. I'm getting used to interacting with so many different kinds of people with different personalities and backgrounds. I've never been on a site like this so I just wasn't familar with dealing with so many people before and sharing personal thoughts and opinions as well as music. It's a fascinating course in Human Behavior 101 with the main point that we are all human which means we're all unique, we all have good and not so good qualities, different credentials and experience, and we all have human frailities.. But in the end, the thread of music goes through each and every one of us and binds us together, for better or worse! (mostly better, imo)

I look forward to posting my next new songs and let the chips fall where they may.
After a recent Police concert where the drummer was out of time through the whole concert they went backstage before the encore and just laughed about it whereas in the past they would have had a big fight fight. But as Sting said: "It's only music".

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srm

8/6/2008 11:10:40 AM

Richard, your story about the Police concert reminds me of a story where Bob Costas was talking to Orioles manager Earl Weaver in the dugout, before a game. Suddenly, the National Anthem started playing and Costas was afraid of interrupting the conversation to stand up for the anthem. Weaver told him, "Relax kid, we do this every day.". Sort of a similar sentiment.

You cite some of my favourite keyboard players. Garth Hudson is extremely underrated. I'm glad that you're still using the B-3. It has a unique sound. Do you have a Leslie cabinet? I can imagine preferring to cart around a smaller rig than the B-3, though. It's a monster (especially with a Leslie or two).

Keep rockin'.

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Richard Scotti

8/6/2008 3:23:31 PM ---- Updated 8/6/2008 3:39:27 PM

Basically I record all my tracks at home on a Apple G5 iMAC and then I bring them to a studio where I dump them to pro tools in order to add vocals and Hammond B-3 with a Leslie, but I have really great Hammond samples with a pedal that I can turn on/off a Leslie simulation. Sometimes I end up keeping the home organ tracks and sometimes I replace them at the studio. Hammond B-3 and Leslie cabinet simulation has come a long way over the years.

I don't do gigs any more, just produce myself and others. The days of lugging heavy equipment around are over for me. I do vocals in the studio because I don't have room to build a soundproof vocal booth in my apartment and I have to maintain certain noise restrictions or my neighbors would freak out. (I record most things direct with an audio interface) I also can't afford my favorite vocal mics which are all at the studio. We use some vintage mics and vintage gear which really warms up the sound. One of the mics is identical to one used in Sun Studios that recorded Elvis and all those cats.

At the moment I am considering putting together a showcase band that will do my best material at gigs around town and will be professionally video taped. It will be a new way to promote my music. Live songs always rock harder than studio recordings.

Many moons ago I was working in a record store when Garth Hudson came in. He asked for Gregorian chants!

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