A month ago I completed yet another CD within the confines of my livingroom with the sole use of the KOrg PA-50 (+Boss recorder). Though I managed to send several of you some mp3 samples I have now found a site to store them and from which you may download them at your convenience.
to do so proceed as follows:
1. click on the LINK to each song, as mentioned below.
2. scroll down to bottom of the page and click on : FREE
3. scroll down again to bottom of page and wait 20 to 30 seconds (see time running) until the DOWNLOAD command appears.
You can now download and then listen to the song.
here are the LINKS:
http://rapidshare.de/files/3809936/01_wedding_day_dv.mp3.html http://rapidshare.de/files/3832796/02_always__dv.mp3.html http://rapidshare.de/files/3832914/03_streets_of_London_dv.mp3.html http://rapidshare.de/files/3832977/04_lodi___dv.mp3.html http://rapidshare.de/files/3833120/05_I_cannot_give_you....dv.mp3.html http://rapidshare.de/files/3833220/06_Maggie_may__dv.mp3.html http://rapidshare.de/files/3833357/07_till_I_gain_control_again_dv.mp3.html http://rapidshare.de/files/3833471/08_reason_to_believe__dv.mp3.html http://rapidshare.de/files/3833572/09_family_tree__dv.mp3.html http://rapidshare.de/files/3833698/10_het_is_een_nacht__dv.mp3.html http://rapidshare.de/files/3833789/12_If_tomorrow_never....dv.mp3.html http://rapidshare.de/files/3833882/13_eve_of_destruction__dv.mp3.html http://rapidshare.de/files/3836100/14_if_I_were_a_carpenter__dv.mp3.html

Your music feels and sounds wonderful! A good way to start the day.

You got the Pa board talkin' sweet!

Nice Job John.......I enjoyed "ALWAYS"

Thanx for sharing

thank you guys.
Donny, the song Always is originally from the Californian band VENICE, not too many people are familiar with this band. Seems to me they are only well-known in the LA area and in Holland, where they almost have stardom status !!!! Their very latest album is truely terrific and ihmo beats a cult album like "Deja Vu" by Crosby ,Stills and Nash. check it out , It is called
"Standard Pacific Time"..........

regards,
john

Very nice songs and mix john, as always. Very nice spatial placement of instruments.
You make the Pa sound "different". I like too the effects on the instruments, good use of reverb and echos.
Have you tweaked the styles a lot?
Stam

John,
very good renditions of some old classics, like "Eve of destruction" and "If I were a carpenter". I like your voice a lot and the quality of the recordings is also outstanding.

Hi John,
Well done. Greate performance. Congrats.
franky

thank you.
There is no accounting for tastes and naturally I am very pleased with folks liking my stuff, but even more I want to make it clear how truly outstanding and professional this keyboard is, in my opinion,and even more so considering its price tag.

As to your question STAM, no I did not tweak the styles all that much but I did a hell of a lot of tweaking on the Performances, so indirectly also the styles.
Most of these Performances I made freely available through the Irish Acts site, but since their recent problems they have (temporarily ??) disappeared. However you can have them if you like, it is a 4MB dump,but I guess you have already got them.
(they were uploaded on Irishacts in February of this year).
regards,
john

John nice job on Maggie May....but IMO I would of used some Accordian & Fiddle to give it that British Isle feel and a bit more Rotory B3 organ towards the end. Otherwise great quality recording..

Thanx

Hi John, enjoyed listening to your songs though I find the 'rapidshare' website host download method painfully awkward & slow (at least from here on the (US) West Coast). Your distinctively unusual sounding voice add a new prespective to these song classics. I do notice some kind of unusual swireling vocal(lizer?)efx on your vocals which makes it sound like your vocals are moving back & forth between left & right channels. Was that intentional? Nice work showcasing the classic Korg sounds of your PA-50 as well. I look forward to returning to download & listen to the rest of your song collection now. John. Thanks aqgain for sharing your latest songs with us. - Scott

Donny,
Point taken !! But then again I am not British but Dutch, as you are well aware of, and that may account for this "omission " .......
Scott,
I can't complain about the RapidShare site as it offers me the ability to get all these songs across to all of you in good mp3 quality and totally free. The downside to all that may well be it being somewhat slow but imo the advantages far outweigh the disadvantages. Naturally nothing beats having your own website.
About the "swirling vocals", I have heard some of that to and it certainly was not intentional. Probably due to a faulty setting on the Boss BR-8 eight track recorder which I recently purchased at a bargain price and which serves my purposes.
I first recorded the music in one take, then added the main vocal track and after that added one or two more vocal tracks to beef it up and finally occasionally some tracks with "doodahs",etc. Simple really. so no vocalisers at all !!!!!
regards,
john

So, for your instrumental parts, it is a one track recording?
All the mix is inside your keyboard?
Stam

that is correct Stam !!!

[QUOTE]Originally posted by john smies:
[B]Donny,
Point taken !! But then again I am not British but Dutch, as you are well aware of, and that may account for this "omission "

Yes John Im well aware of that ....but when I think Maggie May, I think Rod Stewart, UK, etc,etc, .....Ive always enjoyed your songs.....thanx for sharing them with us.. ...BTW didnt you have a website too at one time.....& songs done with a girl singer too?

Hi Donny,

As a matter of fact I did have my own site with IUMA at the time. They no longer exist, or so it seems, but I just found out that "in cache" you can still recall my old site.
It contains many songs I did on the Korg PA-80 , alone, as well as with a lady-singer (Susan). You can still listen to these tracks by selecting "real"in the second column, or by simply downloading them (first column) for best results.the link to this site is: http://artists.iuma.com/IUMA/Bands/Smies/index-2.html

P.S.
You can select different sets of songs by choosing "featured, album 1, album 2,and album 3" at the top.

Hi John, I liked If I Were A Carpenter a lot.

I have been using Rapidshare but I doubt I'll use it much anymore because people are getting blocked at busy download times. Their server gets overloaded. Soundclick, same thing. Songramp, I don't know if anyone has ever complained about it but you are limited to three free uploads. I'm just using my own server now.


------------------
Bill
Yamaha PSR2000

Thanks Bill.

No doubts this RapidShare site has got its drawbacks but one has to bear in mind that the service is absolutely free (so far anyway). Yesterday I downloaded four songs by a fellow Dutch musician without any hiccup. Naturally there is nothing like having your own site. Perhaps others here could give some feedback as to where to go to get your own site at affordable rates ?

One of the songs that ultimately I decided not to include on the CD is this cover of a very old Cliff Richard hit song, going back to the late fifties. Mind you the arrangement is a far cry from the original, so those that know the song, brace yourselves for a shock. The song is called
"Travellin' light ".
the link: http://rapidshare.de/files/3969649/Travelling_light.mp3.html

regards,
John