Thursday 29 April 2021

Midnight Sky Of Blue (Paul O'Brien)

Song written by Paul O'Brien. Guitar & vocals by Paul O'Brien.
Additional instrument parts written & performed by John Michael Kerr.
Sound production & captioning by John Michael Kerr.


Instrumentation

  1. Video - Paul's original iPhone recording
  2. Vocals - Condenser mic through Behringer UMC204HD
  3. Guitar - Fender semi-acoustic
  4. Bass Guitar - Core Library Guitar Bass
  5. Drums - 707 Core Kit
  6. Pedal Steel Guitar, Harmony Mono - Impact Soundworks
  7. Pedal Steel Guitar, Poly Legato - Impact Soundworks

Production Notes

First outing for my shiny new Pedal Steel Guitar! Actually a keyboard instrument, this offering from Impact Soundworks for the Kontakt Player is an absolute joy to play, once you master its two ingenious idiosyncrasies: overlapping notes legato, and a set of left hand keys control harmony generation.

The main design goal was to interleave the "second country voice" of the steel guitar with Paul's vocals, so that it would never get in the way. When it does play through the vocals, it does so at just one note per beat, lending a little strength to the acoustic guitar chords. On this recording I've used two PSG tracks, to take simultaneous advantage of legato and polyphony, particularly in the second half.

Had a disagreement with Paul about the quality of one note in the vocals: the word "blue" around the 3:50 mark would originally glide across four notes, and I thought the third of these was missing its mark. We agreed for me to elide it, and I have bent it like the truth.

Critical Response

From Paul's Facebook page:

  • A beautiful masterpiece Paul.. so full of emotion and fabulous work by John.
  • Can hear this playing on the radio. Wonderful. 👏👏👏👏❤️❤️
  • Such a rich, evocative narrative. Lingers in the mind as all great music does 🎼
  • Previously: Union Card

    Next time: Stations Of The Cross


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