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Your music is so lovely and intricate and I don't have words for how it makes me feel. Thank you for it. It is an honor to have received a favorable review from you for my simple "Last of the Wine."



Author
David Michael Walsh
over 30 days ago to Kenneth LaVone

Kenneth, Thank you for review of my song "Conversation with Time" from my acoustic solo piano CD "Castle of Dreams". The song was actually recorded using a Kawia Grand piano in a recording studio in Upper Darby PA. Cheeks Studios.



Hello Kenneth,

I was preparing to send you the polite and perfunctory thank you message for your kind review of "Space In Time". However before I got to that I went on your page and listened to a few of your works.

Oh my. You are a serious talent. I especially enjoyed Clarinet Quintet and House on Gable Island. Your compositions are on par with one of my favorite composers, Leonard Bernstein.

Let me just say that when a composer of your caliber says that something I wrote is good, well then...... okay.

Thank you for the stunning review I'm flattered that you enjoyed it. ............. kenney

2 Replies
 
Author
Kenneth LaVone
over 30 days ago

Ok, well, wow! Thank YOU. The world lost a great talent when he died. The 'MASS' is on of my 10 works to take to a desert island pieces. Is that a Picasso on your wall?

Yes, that's "The Old Guitarist" from Picasso's Blue Period



Author
David Michael Walsh
over 30 days ago to Kenneth LaVone

Wll,

Thank you for your review of my song Country Tree Swing from my Castle of Dreams Acoustic Solo Piano CD.

Sincerely,

David Michael Walsh



Author
Will Whamond
over 30 days ago to Will Whamond

Just so you all know...I wrote Broadjam about the rude, immature, idiotism lover that Ben had trouble with and if you are getting problems with him, we both reccommend to block him. Simply write them on Broadjam and they can block the idiot even further. He was speaking very cruelly to my friends so I got rid of him and pray he gets help for the obvious drug problems he has.
Peace and blessings to all!

1 Replies
 
Author
Kenneth LaVone
over 30 days ago

Mr. Whamond -- I listened to this guys music on his Broadjam page...you have nothing to be concerned about.



Author
Will Whamond
over 30 days ago to Kenneth LaVone

Kenneth,
Thank you kindly for taking some time to review my track "November Gray". Some confusion on your "too loud" comment on my mastering....I hear NO distortion, harmonic or otherwise....did you maybe have the treble/bass signals boosted? If you did, my music will ALWAYS inherently distort as my mastering is on the cusp of negligent but still remains constant. I would like to hear your detailed thoughts on that track as it is my most prized of all classical pieces. Thanks again,
~W

4 Replies
 
Author
Kenneth LaVone
over 30 days ago

I have a pair of KRK 8's and listen in a 'fairly' neutral acoustic studio. (1) What I was hearing (and I should have been more detailed) was what sounded like you used a great amount of compression. This used to be a normal mode of mastering a few years ago (the concept of louder is always better!) And that may work for hip-hop or dance music but definitely NOT for classical music. In other words very little dynamic range. I come from an acoustic background and I dislike classical music that has compressed like producers do for FM broadcasts. I had rather strain to hear the soft parts rather than be blasted by a piece that runs FFF throughout the entire piece. (2) The strings (mainly) cut off abruptly with no reverb and that lends the instrument to sound very 'MIDI'. Sorry, I get that criticism about my music very often. There are very many good hall simulation FX you can get and I think they would help immeasurably. Whatever DAW you use probably has one built in. If you apply it to individual tracks if gives them more body. Applied to the entire piece at mastering makes the piece sound as if it were played in a real auditorium not coming out of a computer. In no way does this lessen the quality of your composition! It is a well-composed piece and I liked it a lot! One more thought, listen to examples of recordings of real orchestras and try to make your tracks sound like the real thing as much as possible. And buy the best samples you can afford.

Happy composing,
Ken

Author
Will Whamond
over 30 days ago

Ken,
Thank you VERY much for the details, I take your comments VERY seriously and often experiment with the sounds or with the suggestions. If I never did this, I would be robbing myself of education which is invaluable for musicians. Please know I appreciate your time.
Best~W

Author
Steve Dafoe - Songwriter
over 30 days ago

Sorry to bust in on this thread but i enjoyed Ken's comments very much as well
.

Author
Kenneth LaVone
over 30 days ago

Thanks, Steve, and I must say I really enjoy your tunes; your mixes are awesome!



Author
Songbird8
over 30 days ago to Kenneth LaVone

That is one of the most inspiring bios I have read. Thanks for sharing your heart. I am finding that this is a community with many like minded music lovers.



Author
Kenneth LaVone
over 30 days ago to Benjamin Stone

Thanks for the recent review! I am truly gratified that you gave me such a favorable review. I am here in Colorado, also. Again, thanks. Ken

1 Replies
 
Author
Benjamin Stone
over 30 days ago

It was my pleasure Kennith, I enjoyed your piece.



Author
Annah Sidigu
over 30 days ago to Kenneth LaVone

Love the sudden change at 1:07! Caught me pleasantly by surprise.



Author
Annah Sidigu
over 30 days ago to Kenneth LaVone

Love the sudden change at 1:07! Caught me pleasantly by surprise.



Author
mark grueser
over 30 days ago to Kenneth LaVone

Hi Kenneth, thanks for taking time to review one of my tracks, appreciate the feedback :)

Mark



Author
Stelios Koupetoris
over 30 days ago to Kenneth LaVone

Hi Kenneth,

I have heard one of your serenade tracks and I really loved it. I have also read that you composed it in three days and I was really impressed. Well done! I also work with very strict deadlines, but I would not make such a great track in just three days!, congratulations!

3 Replies
 
Author
Kenneth LaVone
over 30 days ago

Yeah, it seems to be a gift and a curse. These things spring almost fully realized in my head however, I can't usually deviate from what's in my head. Say, on another subject, have you heard anything about the scam alert about Broadjam? Read this: http://www.scamchecker.com/content/roy-elkins-broadjamcom-broadjamcom-steals-your-money-and-dreams 1

Author
Stelios Koupetoris
over 30 days ago

Hi Kenneth,

Thanks for the link, it seems quite interesting, although I have not read all of it yet. Will wou let me read it and I will get back to you shortly.

Sincerely,

Stelios

Author
Stelios Koupetoris
over 30 days ago

Hi Kennneth,

That was quite shocking indeed
I am not sure what to believe and what not, but speaking honestly, I cannot say that I have a personal success here that proves the opposite of what I have read there. Do you?

On the other hand, this does not mean that these reports are
true

One thing is for sure though. If I will not get an opportunity success soon, I will not refresh my membership. Maybe i am not good enough, maybe it's the providers, maybe it is broadjam, i do not know. But definately, there are a lot of maybes that will prevent me from renewing my membership. I was registered here through a promotional code anyway.

What I personally have to report is that during the course of an opportunity (ID: FT12AK01), I logged in to check the its status after the expiration of the decision deadline and there was no report at all. The provider had not logged in yet. Half an hour later, I receive a notification that the status of the opportunity had changed, so I logged in again to check what is going on...the provider had listened to all of the tracks and decided that none of them was suitable., so the question goes: did the provider listened to 92 tracks in 30 minutes??? I do not think so.

Maybe this fact does not have to do with broadjam, maybe it has to do with the provider. Maybe he choose a track from another site. Hence another question rises: if he choose from another site, why did not s/he informed us? The answer is obvious- because we could claim our money back. Hence since providers most probably earn an amount from the fees of the submission system (not sure about that though), then there is no reason at all not to take this money. So why not listening to every track for some seconds just to inform the submission statistics and take this money?

However, I have a disturbing impression that somehow providers are always protected. They post here anonymously they remain anonymous after the expiration of the decision deadline, they do not reveal the projects concerning the opportunities etc. Okay, I really understand the issue of confidentiality in these kind of business, but at the end of the day, musicians are the only ones left unprotected, right? This thing really annoys me.

Furthermore, I cannot see why at the end of the selection process we are not revealed the name of the project, or generally what was this all about? We do get ads about Liscencing successes, but they are very general. I would feel way more comfortable if we could have at least the name of the show, film, ad etc for every opportunity once the selection process is done.

What do you think about that?

Sincerely,

Stelios



Thank you for your recent review. I appreciate your time and value your opinion.
Ken LaVone



Author
Stelios Koupetoris
over 30 days ago to Kenneth LaVone

Hi Kenneth,
Thank you so much for taking the time to review my track "The Days that will Come". I am truly honored by your comments.

Sincerely,

Stelios



Author
Pasha
over 30 days ago to Kenneth LaVone


Hi dear Kenneth ,

Thanx for the review and interesting comments .
Neither this one nor most of my worx are not based on a movie and I didn't imagine such a scene you described ...and I laughed when I saw the name you chose ...I really like that play ...
About small musical pallette and harmonic spectrum I should say I know and it is on purpose , an experience with an eastern theme in a minimal contex , it is not a minimal work though ...I draw a distinction between minimal music and this texture but having no climax or much development on it is because of the influence of minimal texture I wanted to acheive to some extent .
And of course it is a computer performance of that score ...just to show the idea . so ,...
Thanks again ,
Best .



Author
White Fort
over 30 days ago to Kenneth LaVone

Thanks very much for the kind review of "Ulitka." You asked where we found that combination... the answer is, literally, Siberia. :-)

1 Replies
 
Author
Kenneth LaVone
over 30 days ago

Cool! ...or, eh, Cold!



Author
Jeff Harper
over 30 days ago to Kenneth LaVone

Kenneth,

Thanks very much for the review of my song, "Avenger", I appreciate you taking the time to listen. :)

~ Jeff



Author
Kenneth LaVone
over 30 days ago to Frank Prenevost

Thanks, Frank. Stumble on in any time!
Ken



Author
Phil Hamelin
over 30 days ago to Kenneth LaVone

Thanks for the generous review of "Windy Road" At the moment I am saving for the Hollywood Strings/Brass libraries... but on a student budget they aren't cheap!

2 Replies
 
Author
Kenneth LaVone
over 30 days ago

Phil
There are at lease 3 good string libraries I know of. I use the EastWest Symph. Set, there is the Vienna Set (very expensive but on sale at times and you can get sub sets and build up a library), and Michael Horsphol (you should listen to his stuff here on BJ) recommends LA Scoring Strings. If you are a student, you can get discounts. Just thought I would pass this along. Happy music making!

Ken

Author
Phil Hamelin
over 30 days ago

I also use EastWest Symphony orchestra... the hollywood strings is the upgrade, as is hollywood brass.



Author
Kenneth LaVone
over 30 days ago to Scott Canfield

Scott--Per your review you asked about quantizing. Actually, I had to go back and look at the piece before I could remember. There was only a bit of quantizing and editing done because, as the piece name indicates, it is played only using black keys on the piano. It is quite a bit more difficult to play than it sounds--or, I am not as good a pianist as I used to be!--Thanks, anyway.---Ken

1 Replies
 
Author
Scott Canfield
over 30 days ago

Hi Kenneth - thanks for the response - i was quite impressed with your piece, which also stirred my curiosity. Didn't know it was all black keys (no title available during review)... which makes it that much more of a winner! Sincerely, Scott



Author
Stelios Koupetoris
over 30 days ago to Kenneth LaVone

Dear Kenneth,
Thank you so much for your generous review on "The Journey". I am trully honored to receive such comments from a talented musician like you. You have done a remarkable work at "The Minoans of Crete" and indeed, I have to make a better mix and mastering for the track.

All the best,

Stelios



Author
Paulw
over 30 days ago to Kenneth LaVone

Enjoyed your Christmas fantasy Kenneth. I'd be interested to know what kit you use to record?

1 Replies
 
Author
Kenneth LaVone
over 30 days ago

Paul,
For Christmas Fantasy I mostly used EastWest Symphonic Orchestra 64-bit and Omnisphere and a few Kontakt instruments for the effects. All done in MIDI, mastered in Adobe Audition. --Glad you liked it!

Ken



Author
JS Baymor
over 30 days ago to Kenneth LaVone

Hi Kenneth,

Last year you reviewed my song Deep Wood and left this comment in the review "I am sitting in my living room, the room is dark, theater system is turned up, watching credits go by on the latest movie I rented; it was a psychological/horror thriller and, guess what, this piece is playing."
Did you mean that you were playing the piece in the backround on Broadjam or that the movie actually had this music playing?

I have not been doing much but just came across your review and was wondering about this. Thanks Jany



Author
Pasha
over 30 days ago to Kenneth LaVone

Hi ,

Thank you for the review ...nice comments , to answer I should say : having some chords in the upper range in that part of the piece can change the mood of that point , dull , heavy , falling ...it may be like a light into that dark area , don't you think ? may be it is technically good but it changes the concept ...about pedal I should say : just I thought it can work as a break into a restless track , a kind of that , and also I like its sound .
Honestly , I do not know if they called the chalumeaux range of such instrument or not but I like to do so , it can be great in some way , when you feel such a color in yourself , indeed .

You can find a bit more about it in the details of the song .
Thank you again for the considerations .

All the best ,



Thank you, Kenneth, for the review of "The Last of the Wine." I had not realized that the track was so full of static. Unfortunately my colleague and friend the artist has died and I don't know how to rescue his lovely music. Listen to "My Waking Dream" sometime, it's one of the songs on my list. It's worth your time.

2 Replies
 
Author
Kenneth LaVone
over 30 days ago

You can 'rescue' by using Adobe's Audition or Soundbooth and go to Noise Reduction/Restoration and use one of the filters. Works pretty good. And there are other programs that will also denoise recordings.

Author
Patricia Luce Chapman
over 30 days ago

How thoughtful of you. I will take your advice, gratefully.



Steve -- Thanks for the recent review. Really appreciate the listen. --Ken

1 Replies
 
Author
Steve Dafoe - Songwriter
over 30 days ago

No problem. Keep it up!



Thanks for the recent review of my 'Ten Kings'. Appreciate the listen.

Ken

1 Replies
 
Author
Steve Dafoe - Songwriter
over 30 days ago

Ken

Your welcome. I do hope I did it justice.



Author
KMB
over 30 days ago to Kenneth LaVone

Kenneth,
Thanks for the lovely review of "On The Road".
I listened to some of your tracks...... very nice tunes.
I studied in St. Louis at the St. Louis Institute of Music. I believe it became a music conservatory..... (I think)
I studied with a couple of terrific teachers... Herb Drury and also Seth Greiner Sr.....
Anyway...... just thought I'd touch base and thank you for your time on my tune.
KB



Author
de Luca & Forti
over 30 days ago to Kenneth LaVone

Hello Kennteh, thank you so much for your kind review of our track Ritorno. We appreciated your words very much. We wish you all the best for your music! Ciao from Italy!



Author
Kenneth LaVone
over 30 days ago to Kenneth LaVone

Brad,
I'm glad you commented on my review. My music has been accused of sounding MIDI-like, also and I use East West Symphonic Orchestra Play. It is on par with the Vienna Sound Samples. I think I have an insight. In your piece the cello part never deviated in velocity or volumn. Velocity and Volumn may sound the same but they have different MIDI functions. No REAL cello section EVER plays with the same exact attack, release, and decay to use MIDI terms. These can be varied in your sequencer depending on which one you use. Adding a chorus effect can also help. Chorusing adds slight imperfections to make the section sound like it is played by different players. All these effects can be manipulated to make the sound more realistic. And there is also reverb. I think that is what I was hearing in your, otherwise, very well-written piece. I know how all of these work, but I still have not mastered their use.

Good luck,
Ken



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