The following are short samples of songs that I’ve worked on and tried to enhance. The purpose of this is to show how my song addition style was used during collaboration with various song writers. Each song is in a different style and has different instruments added. Click the song title to visit the page with the full finished version of each song. I attempted to match the volume of the before and after versions for a fair comparison. Some music pages on this website include a link to the original version of the song before I worked on it.
Walk on Fire
by Tom Tognaci, Paul Battersby
This is an example of a song that started out as a good 1+1 song (1 instrument + 1 vocal) and was turned into a full band recording.
My additions: drums, bass guitar and an organ.
Tom also provided more vocals for the “after” version. Then I created the final mix.
Before (36 sec. sample):
After (36 sec. sample):
Orange And Bronze Colored Waltz
by Tom Gibson, Paul Battersby
This is another guitar + vocals song that was turned into a full production.
My additions: drums, bass, strings and flute
Before (41 sec. sample):
After (41 sec. sample):
No Way To Live
by Josh Howatt, Paul Battersby
This is an example of what was already a complete, full band song, that still needed just a little something extra. It already had strings but the strings needed to be more so I replaced the existing string section with a new one after Josh sent me a version of his mix without his strings. I then took Josh’s mix, adding my part and remixed the result.
My addition: strings
Before (35 sec. sample):
After (35 sec. sample):
Red Nose
by Gustavo Lopez, Paul Battersby
This is an example of a good piano instrumental that was enhanced by the addition of full orchestration.
My addition: full orchestra.
Before (48 sec. sample):
After (48 sec. sample):
Hello, I am really outside the music. I dance kiz and latinos but … By the way You did impressive jobs on the songs. Thank You for sharing. I see also that it is not easy at all to improvise a song remake or re-arrange. Sometimes i ear some songs that would be great to dance in kiz especially few italians one (where about i live) that would be appreciated here. May be i’ll try. THANK YOU. Stefano
Thanks Stefano! I’m happy to share the music and I’m glad you like it.
Hello there!
I’ve listened to your examples and… well, nothing to say really; very good and impressive work!
However and while listening to the first track I came with a very crazy idea:
See: I have a song with the lyriks and a musical snipet of how it would sound if recorded. So do you mean that if I send you myself while singing with my guitar and if I give you enough information, you could, say, create a song when I don’t have no more than a guitar? If yes, that’s so fantastic!
I’d like to stay in touch with you in case of we could do something just like that.
Thanks so much in advance!
Kind regards,
Miguel.
If you are a good singer / guitar player, have the ability to make a good recording and it’s a good song that inspires me (I’m able to hear extra music in my head when I listen) then there is a chance I could do something with it.
Excellent before and after examples.
Your examples also demonstrate how good arrangement skills can enhance the delivery and performance of a song. Well done indeed!
Thanks for your comment Jim. I’m glad to know you like my additions to the songs I’ve worked on.
Great examples, Thanks for sharing your process!
Thanks John. Sorry it took me so ridiculously long to thank you for your comment. I’m not sure why that happened.
Very tasteful work! You really did a remarkable job, especially with “No Way to Live” and “Red Nose”. The strings were a bit on the heavy side in the mix on “No Way to Live” for my taste, but it’s still really well done. Nice of you to give artists an idea of what things they can do to punch up their stuff. Thanks so much for sharing your work, both with the orchestral sample library and the Before and After examples. Much gratitude.
Thanks for your kind comments G S, I greatly appreciate it. Glad you found my web site and orchestral library useful.