Loop 7/7 - Final!
This challenge was so fun :
Should I  do 30 days-Challenge next?

Loop 7/7 (RockyRoad)

Original song, video, pictures, and gif created, composed, and produced by Among The Vanity.

I Feel Fallen

Short mini saga rock soundtrack. Leaving earth to investigate, reaching deep space, whispers from the void, alert, battle, victorious return.

dangerous (video on youtube)

Lyrics

Does anyone else ever wish that you could redo all the things you've done before?
But much better than you did them
Always rumination
Or maybe an obsession
Still, I'm not letting go of the idea that things can always be improved
With a little self-reflection
To give you some direction
And you might need it, cuz...

Bullies want your collapse
The skeptics choose to attack you
But never concede on all that you truly believe
No more fabricated actions
Clogging up the thought stream
(Clogging up the thought stream)
Clogging up the thought stream

When it's hard enough to be me, should I really wanna pose as perfect?
Stay true to yourself and in the end, trust it'll be worth it
Others will start to see you
For who you really are

Still, I'm not letting go of the idea that things can always be improved
With a little self-reflection

rumination

Alive than I’ve ever been
And if I could do it all over again I would, just like I should
I’m over you Im glad to say
I’m feeling fine that’s okay
I needed space
And time to think
Now it feel like I sink
I’m living in a dream 
It’s not what it seem
You don’t know I got everything that I asked for
But it’s not what you’d ever think
No it’s not what you’d ever think
No it’s not what you think 2x

[Hook]

Whys my heart beating like super bass
She got my heart beating like super bass.

Super Bass

GTFO MY FACE

made ts inna car 

It’s not enough
Lotta niggas want you, Say you’re looking for love, I
Called your bluff
When you’re all alone, Lotta things you wanna shove inside
It’s not enough
Lotta niggas want you, They ain’t looking for love, I
Cannot cuff
Know you like it rough
Baby put them panties to the side

My lady
Carolina made me, baby
My lady
When you on me, go crazy
Oooo
Think your boyfriend already knew?
That you messing with the whole crew
Can you give it to me too?
A young nigga from southside

Von, The bastard child, baby, Are you down for a ride?
Ass already fat but them titties i side-eyed
Beat the puh like Tifa, Can a nigga be your cloud stride?
Got no mako in me but you make me go insane
Knowing you in heat, give you something you can’t deny
Come and stay with me, five star hotel we be in tonight
Go and call your friends, She gon tell them hoes to come by
Summon lotta succubus, My energy they drain

Get high
Then i
Want you
In my
Bed, I
Came, I
When i
(Pull back them sheets)

Get high
Then i
Want you
In my
Bed, I
Came, I
When i
(Pull back them sheets)

pull back them sheets [ice spice & dapuh]

John Russell - Squier Esquire guitar, Jackson bass, Yamaha keyboards, Roland electronic drums and programming
Recorded at PORKHOPS! III Spring 2025
Produced, engineered and mixed by John Russell
All tracks composed by John Russell c/p 2025 Solstice Music INC/John Russell LTD

Start Yer Engines

My story with Anthony Hamilton is that one day my vocal coach said you’re gonna sound like Anthony Hamilton. I remember thinking, “yeah, when I’m 80 at this rate.” It’s that singing is incredibly hard to teach. Now that I have better technique than before I still couldn’t describe to anyone how I’m doing it exactly. Elaynas part was actually easier for me as I knew I was gonna go in with a bit of rasp and I was delighted with the tone of it. I approached Anthony’s part thinking it was gonna be easy. It  was hard as I went for a gritty approach at first that didn’t sound that great so I just sang it in a relaxed manner without any grit and that made the tone much better. There are some out of key moments like the first part of Free where I hit G instead of G#. I found that if I tuned it to G# at the start it doesn’t sound as good.  A pro mixer would have made that G# and …made the song sound bad. I can say it is a ‘bluesy affectation’. It’s still well within traditional rnb but I replaced the electric lead with classical lead and electric bass with upright bass. Every instrument melody is different apart from the rhythm guitar which is the same but I omitted the 1 strum per bar thing they do in the prechorus. 
The piano motif you hear in the intro came to my head and it’s more “What’s Happening’”-Jaime Foxx than Django. It sounds nice but relaxed. There are some piano fills with more gravitas in the chorus. I also really love ‘Unshaken’ by D’angelo so I wanted backing vocals there and the connection is that they are both spaghetti western soul tunes and D’angelo also says “Wellll”. It worked better than I expected cos ‘may I’ works for the bridge and the whole ‘stand unshaken’ phrase works in the chorus. He does sound catlike in the song and more ‘meee aaah stand unshaken’ at times. I was gonna sing ‘may I stirred unshaken’ but D’angelo has passed. The part where it comes in is one of my fave parts of the song.  So you get 4 for the price of 1! Elayna, Anthony ft. D’angelo and Jaime Foxx. There’s some lydian/dorian runs that the piano/guitar play. The outro guitar solo was improvised in 1 take and I think its’ one of my best solos. I was ‘feeling it.’ I think some of the lyrics are inaccurate cos’ each lyric sheet for this song is different. 

Mixing was easy as the demo without EQ/compression already sounded good. The rhythm guitars are panned a bit wider than usual. A final bit of reverb (18%.Default is 30%) made the vocals sound a bit nicer. The inputs for Chat GPT were what is the best EQ that suits Elayna’s raspy voice and Anthony’s deep voice. Mastering was harder and I watched a 20 min long Youtube vid as when you raised the volume that’s when the drums initially were too loud and I think that’s where a lot of the professional mix/masters went wrong. The mastering. Probably too much low end. So I had to go back to the mix and lower the drums. At its loudest its around -10 LUFS so pretty standard volume-well about 1 db softer than your usual song-so the softest of the loudness wars.  I think it’s my best cover so far and releasing it early in Dec should give me plenty of time for next years daunting schedule/practising daily before that. I also think it’s a good Christmas/winter song. And on that note Merry Christmas and happy new year!

Freedom

Compel

Amy Stevens- vocals
John Russell- guitars, bass, keyboards, drums, backing vocals and programming

Start Yer Engines

The Chocolate Era

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