***UPDATE*** I just got some incredible news to share...The Josie Music Awards just announced the nomination of "First Love, Last Love" for Song of the Year for Contemporary Country. I also received a nomination for Male Artist of the Year for Modern Country. The JMA Awards will be held at The Dolly Parton Celebrity Theatre in Dollywood, Tennessee September 5, 2020.. They received 30,007 entries...

Had to share that with my SYNTHZONE family







__________________

Nice song,nice video.

Well done Steve good luck with it.

Excellent song, the video compliments it very well.

Wow, great job. Lovely song.

Steve...you really are a talented guy. Nice song...we’ll produced...nice video.
How did you record the audio?
Thanks for sharing,
Mitch

WOW, this is very professional if anyone ask me.
Lovely song and melody as well. I'm a bit 'country at heart'.
Would not be surprised if we're going to hear it on the radio some day soon...
👍 🎵🎵🎵🎵🎵🎵

Thanks Terry & DNJ

Super job in every aspect Steve - Wonderful video and music! Way to go! Wishing you loads of success with this wonderful song!

Pay yourself $15,000. Well done!

Sometimes, when inspiration takes over, you wonder where all the ideas came form...Thanks for the encouragement



Thanks for all the good words guys

Yeah! Pay yourself the $15k! Outstanding production!

Top notch! Would love to hear how you recoded the music. Instruments and musicians used?

Outstanding in every sense of the word !!!!!
sincere compliments,

regards,
John

Outstanding piece of work !! Very well done .

Sorry I was took this long to comment and visit the video - ABSOLUTELY OUTSTANDING!

All the best,

Gary

Steve ... Just got to watch it ... That is an AMAZING job ...
Would love to know more about the production - where video came from, how audio was recorded, etc ...
Great looking couple, too ...

Fantastic! I'd buy one.

Nice work all 'round, Steve:

I really enjoyed the song. If this is a "studio cut"... is it safe to assume you used "hired guns" to do the vocal, backup singers and music? I faintly remember hearing some of your early mixes of the song at JPF. It has real potential and I wish you the best with it.

Videos and the associated cost are needed (they tell me) in today''s music market... but I prefer to listen to the song without distraction. Growing up in the radio world of yesterday, that was all we had. TV was in it's infancy and Dick Tracy wrist-phone was a figment of a cartoonist's imagination. LOL!
Good for you in doing your own. I'm guessing it ended up better than what you would have received commercially. Money saved to have available for your next song-writing effort.

All the best,

----Dave (the other one)

To those who are wondering about the recording, Steve's website says that he:

"… teams up with L.A. & Nashville's finest session musicians to create a sweet sonic canvas."

So, I would say he uses top players for his recordings which is no surprise listening to the final product. Perhaps he will provide more details when he gets a minute.

Hey all,

Thanks for the questons as to the process. Dave, I handle all the lead vocals & sometimes BGV's if needed,. But for the tracks I always use the best players I can for songs I want to invest in. I play good acoustic guitar & piano, but I am NOT not a session instrumentalist.

The process is usually like this: I write the song & will either demo it acoustically or with my Arranger to send to my Producer with whom I've worked with for years in Nashville. I live in LA...

We always will go over my vision for the song and structure before hand. He knows how picky I can be, & also captures my essence perfectly. In fact on this tune I had to pay for a total re-cut of the basic tracks as there was a slight miscommunication on the initial phone call. They double timed my CHORUS and it sounded like a Taylor Swift poppy song. Great for her, bad for me. So I had to pay everyone again a second time to re-cut. But I knew how I wanted this song to be

Anyways, on this tune they cut the basic tracks in Nashville & then I cut my vocals in LA at DeVille Studios in Burbank. We added BGV's & Violin in Nashville. While the BGV's were good, I felt they needed more "oomph" so I requested they send me back the mix and I added to her BGV's in parts. It needed that final push...I did my BGV's in my condo with a TASCAM DP24 Digital recorder, figuring why spend another $250 for Studio time in Burbank. I took my time and got it right.

Anyways, recorded in 3 different spots.

Way to go Steve! The hard work, focussed talent, and dedication to make it perfect paid off! Wonderful result!

Steve, thanks for that ...
Where does the video come from?

Thanks Tony....I use FINAL CUT PRO X....Someone was gracious to donate some footage of the couple. I shot all of mine outdoors and had an acoustic version I had put on Facebook 4 months ago I was able to sync to. Good thing I always sing the song the same way. I used maybe 30 seconds of stock images, the flowers Candles & 2 women in beginning...Also I caught a break as I unknowingly shot film of myself singing in the mountains not knowing you should have a white backdrop only for what I did. Since the couple was in the mountains you have 2 sets of mountains, mine & the couples....But it fit together..LOL...so even in my mistake it worked and some of the trippiness of the mountains is because you have 2 different locations in the same shot.

To be honest, I was under 2 weeks of inspiration, maybe even "divine" & looking back not quite sure how I did all this, since it was my first video. But I knew enough to stay in creative mode and be tapped into that inspiration..

My job was to get out of the way & figure out how all these pieces were meant to fit together

Steve, thanks again ...
It all resulted in an excellent finished product ...
Congratulations !

Done...LOL




Thanks much SAXXMAN

Thanks Gary my friend...Go Steelers




Hey John, I appreciate the input

Hey Steve...how did the jingle version work out!
Mitch

Here is what I did for a Jingle for Kay Jewelers....The Ad Agency is Zimmerman Advertising in Florida who just took on Kays Account....

Mitch a woman said to email it but I can see she never has opened the email after 3 weeks and they NEVER answer the phone...I sent 2 follow up emails, still no open and no reply. I resent it yesterday

Just can't get someone to look at my stuff....

Thoughts?

Steve, it's their loss. I dealt with individuals like this for years and continue to do so. It drives me crazy, but there's nothing I can do about it.

Good luck,

Gary

Lovely work, SteveA.

Been there, done that. Some things never change in this game.

"Broke, busted, disgusted, and agents can't be trusted" - Creeque Alley, The Mamas and Papas.

But you keep on truckin', anyways.

If this 'commercial' was to hear at TV, it would caught my attention because of the music,
so it would make me lift my eyes and look at the screen.
I suppose that's the intention, so then it must be a winner. 👍

Yup....Trying to be creative to get my tune out there

Played the video for my wife and she was impressed.

Thanks for sharing that info....The families opinion is ALWAYS more important than ours...The ultimate compliment....

***UPDATE*** I just got some incredible news to share...The Josie Music Awards just announced the nomination of "First Love, Last Love" for Song of the Year for Contemporary Country. I also received a nomination for Male Artist of the Year for Modern Country. The JMA Awards will be held at The Dolly Parton Celebrity Theatre in Dollywood, Tennessee September 5, 2020.. They received 30,007 entries...

Had to share that with my SYNTHZONE family

Good luck Steve🙏

Congratulations, very well deserved!

More power to ya, Steve. Great job on that final cut.

Steve ... when you first posted "First Love Last Love" I believe I said I should be hearing the song on the radio ... CONGRATULATIONS !!!

Great video, also ...

Very nice, my friend - good luck!

Good work. As a hardline jazzer who makes a good part of my living as a film maker, I like the film production/editing a lot. The song? Really don't much like country, but,. given the venue it was national quality.

You deserve all the recognition you get.

Russ

Congratulations Steve!

Loved the song and video. Congratulations on your nomination!! It must feel good to be recognized.

Gerry M

Wow, congratulations Steve.
Fingers crossed, that you win.

Thank you all for the well wishes...Tony M, yes you absolutely did say that !!!