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Murphy's Law
by dolby

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Guest profile visits: 583
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Song comments: 40
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Downloads: 26
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Submitted on: Jun 25, 2008 - 10:38:54 AM
Last Updated:
Keywords Dolby (14)New Song (1)Murphy's Law (1)
Description First song for a while. This is a pretty rough mix which I've been sitting on for a while, thinking one day I'm gonna finish it off. Well, maybe that day will never come, so here it is! The vocal is a one-take wonder straight into the MacBook condenser mic (as always) so it's a bit wobbly and outa tune in places, and could well do with being up in the mix in the chorus! Other than that it's just me and the good olde acoustic guitar straight into GB. The gap after the bridge could well do with sorting - so if anyone has any thoughts let me know!

The song is heavily influenced by a tune called "No Aphrodisiac" by an Australian band called The Whitlams. Fellow MacJammer Mishkin said one of my tunes sounded like them (a bit) so I checked 'em out, and they are great. In this song I copied the idea of starting with a Dmin chord on the piano and then going straight into the vocal - I think it works pretty well and becomes 'my own' song after that first chord.

If anyone wants to contribute to this, or do a mix then drop me a line. I'm happy to make GB files available for anyone who wants a shot at production (I'm no engineer & still learning). I will probably re-do the vocals in the near future when I get a proper vocal mic.

Thanks for listening and enjoy the tune!
Lyrics Murphy’s Law
(Music & Lyrics by Phil Dolby © 2008)

Ready or not I’m gonna fire anyway
And smoke the heat from the barrel’s core
Unlatch the clip and leave it standing here for days
Await the fate of Murphy’s Law

(chorus)
Because it’s too late to try
Because it’s too late to try

Call off the dogs I will surrender when you say
And make my defence in the old bone yard
In the event I was not part of the delay
The case collapsed like a house of cards

(chorus)
Because it’s too late to try
Because it’s too late to try

(bridge)
With a little bit of luck
We can make the perfect getaway
Find a place to stash the goods
A hideout where we’ll live our days
And wait for the masquerade
To end in a bullet hail

(chorus)
Because it’s too late to try
Because it’s too late to try
Hardware Hohner acoustic guitar
Software: GB
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Birdman Wayne said 151 days ago
Great Listen!
Happy to see you back my friend, another great piece of work. Fine vocals, fine melody and an excellent production. I love your stuff and I was checking 3 days ago some of your oldies.. thanks for sharing, enjoyed listening.

Take Care
- Yeman A. Al-Rawi

dolby said 149 days ago
Thanks...
...Yeman. It's nice to be back. Thanks for listening, and hope to get some more new stuff up soon. Glad to see you're still hanging out around here!

MarkHolbrook said 151 days ago
Well it
sounds pretty damned good to me!

Very enjoyable with lots going on to keep one interested!

Nicely done! Glad you took the jump and posted it.

dolby said 149 days ago
Thanks...
...for stopping by Mark. Glad you liked the tune.

Feter said 151 days ago
Murphy's Law
Fabulous ....your singing just supurb ..I m enjoyin
this so ...great drum work ..loved the guitar licks.
I think this is perfect man ... thnx alot for sharin !!!

Moviz said 151 days ago
Long
time no see LOL. Nice song you've done here and I like your singing too, voice is fine for volume; maybe a tinchy bit of volume needed, but it sounds ok to me. Love your piano and orchestration as well. cheers M

dolby said 149 days ago
Hey Maurice
Yep, long time no see. Glad you're still here! Good to hear from you. Gonna be over at your place some time soon to check out what you've been up to! Glad you dropped by!

lengold said 151 days ago
Great to see you back
I enjoy quite a few of your songs on my ipod and this is where this one is going too.
Lovely song/vocals and production. I can hear nothing wrong at all.
Cheers
Len



dolby said 149 days ago
Thanks Len...
Making it on to someone's iPod is the ultimate compliment, so thanks for that. Glad you called 'round.

jiguma said 150 days ago
Very much ..
.. like a Tim Freedman song Phil - I love the Whitlams! Your vocal sounds really good on this, and I'm also pretty impressed with the playing overall. Production is superb - you don't need anyone else to help out there, and I can't really hear why you'd want anyone else on the instruments either. This sounds finished (and excellent) from where I'm listening - sit back and enjoy the kudos!
Neil

dolby said 149 days ago
Cheers Neil
I've got a lot of respect for the quality of your production/arranging work, so I really appreciate your comments. I agree it's a pretty good 'first mix', I'd just like a bit more dynamism in there, and maybe some harmony vocals in the chorus's. I'm open to other people having a go at any of my stuff, basically because I never have in the past and a 'fresh' pair of ears might be interesting.

Thanks for dropping by.

Scott Carmichael said 150 days ago
Love the Lyric Phil
everything starts there for me... if you've written a proper song, you can get away with quite a bit with me... it doesn't mater that this has an unfinished feel... and with your vocal ability I would say a"proper vocal mic" is warrented... geart story telling, I love how you lead by leaving some of it open to interpretation... a bit of mystery

dolby said 149 days ago
Hi Scott
The two words 'proper song' in your review mean a lot to me. I think I've been trying most of my life to write a 'proper song'. Sometimes it's easy to hide your deficiencies behind being experimental, or avant guarde or whatever, so 'proper song' is pretty cool to me.

Yep, the vocal mic is number one on the priority list. Several people have made similar comments over the last year, so I'm finally going to take the plunge. I'm sure it will help the cause :-))

Thanks again for your comments -

Skean said 150 days ago
Welcome back
And hey what a nice new song you have post... Love it.
And I take one x of it thanks for sharing.

Take care
---
Kenta

dolby said 149 days ago
Hey Kenta
Thanks! It's nice to be back. Glad you liked the tune - you can take as many x as you like :-))

Dee1962z said 150 days ago
Very Good
I love listening to one takes always seems to sound the best in my book.
Great song. Good music, Great voice and cool lyrics.
And thanks for your nice comments on my latest. I am just starting out got a long way to go yet. :)

This sounds soo proffesional.

Peace Dee.

dolby said 149 days ago
Hey Dee
Thanks for dropping by. No propbs commenting on your last one - enjoying discovering all the new MJers. Thanks for your comments. Glad you liked the tune:-))

Bob Rodgers said 150 days ago
This
is a lovely song and I'm really enjoying this!

Superb vocals and great lyrics!

Great production too and I loved all the instruments, they sound great!


dolby said 149 days ago
Thanks Bob
Glad you made it. Appreciate your comments. Looking forward to hearing some more of your stuff soon. Cheers

Vic Holman said 149 days ago
cool tune Phil
it's good to hear a new tune from you. Long overdue.

asconejar said 145 days ago
:)
What mix? this is perfect. I can't believe that the vocals is just one take. I'm actually dreaming of this type of song, but my theme would be: two robbers inside a bank surrounded by police,with million $ in their hands but no way to get out, one wants to surrender thinking of his family and his life, but the other is willing to die for he will definitely die anyway not as a robber but a murderer. I am very entertained.

tokai said 144 days ago
nice vox
great chilled song, and some nice guitar playin here and a quality production. Cheers Phil and nice to meet you.

Karmatoburn said 144 days ago
wow
shame on me, for not pickin up on this sooner. a wonderful ballad. nicely sung and wonderfully orchestrated. All the instruments sound fabulously real time. Very pro sounding mix as well. Beautiful

Myshkin said 144 days ago
Awesome
Great stuff again Phil. I've been away for quite a while - not doing any music at the moment. Lovely melody and I quite like the production. It feels very honest.

Dee1962z said 143 days ago
Murphy's Law
A great song and really good lyrics too.
Fantastic production
I really enjoyed listening and you have a really good voice too.
Thank you for sharing.

Peace Dee.

guygrooves said 143 days ago
Wow!!
If this is a rough mix i am certainly gonna check out your others this is some great music. I am impressed you can pull this together using the barest of equipment. Great song!!

Remark80 said 143 days ago
Very Cool
I think this mix is wonderful. Great first chord when you get to the chorus and I like the string melody in the chorus. I also like the crunchy guitar in the bridge.

dolby said 140 days ago
Thanks Sean
Glad you liked the song and thanks for stopping bye!

Ejh said 141 days ago
Well, Phil...
If this is what you can come up with, armed with a MacBook and a Hohner guitar, I've got to stand back and shake my head...

And then there's that scary sense that, someday, you're going to get that real vocal mic, and probably a good mic for the acoustic, and then a better acoustic, and then... I don't know, world domination?...

Another well crafted song, with nice melody, neat vocal delivery, and good lyrics...

As Scott says, when the basic song is strong, you're basically there, and this is a good, strong song...

Plainly, my dolby explorations are just beginning...

Ed

dolby said 140 days ago
Thanks very much Ed...
...and I really appreciate your visit. World domination sounds good, as long as I can make it back in time for tea!

I have just purchased a new mic (not the top of the range - but not the bottom) and am looking forward to experimenting with that. Good technicians like Jim Bouchard, RaceRat and Scott have been making the same suggestion for ages, so we'll see what happens. I've also finally got a pair of studio monitors - so I can stop mixing on iPod headphones! That might help as well.

Cheers
Phil

Ejh said 140 days ago
Tea!
Now we're talking!

I'm a great fan of tea... Glad to know you enjoy it as well... At my work I'm sort of known as 'the tea drinker'...

Good to hear about the new equipment, too.. I'm set up to get notified when you post the next one..

Ed

dirigent said 139 days ago
Murphy's Law
Great build in this amazing song. I like the clear production and the phenomenal vocals! Superb songwriting and performance - a treat!!

dolby said 139 days ago
Danke Schoen...
...Herr Herrmann, und vielen danke fr Ihren Besuch hier! Ich glaube dass mein Musik ist besser als mein Deutch, welches ist eine gute Ding! Ich gehe jetzt und Prfung Ihre Musik.

Freundlich Gruessen,
Phil :-))

michael2 said 137 days ago
great song
really nice, those strings are perfect in the chorus. amazing drum work too. if i dissect the song, everything is great: lyrics, vox, arrangement, everything. saw your post in the forums about this song, glad I did since I seem to miss so much good music (and I really try to keep up). great job.

ageofthedeathtree said 137 days ago
wow....
great work dolby! that vocal is great not only for being a one-shot take, but also for being recorded through the mac mic. nicely done man! great tune...all the way around. doesn't sound like a scratch version at all, very well done and a very pleasant listen!

thank you!

age

J.A.Stewart said 137 days ago
Great Arrangement
Despite the technical shortcomings of the pinhole mic vocal, this recording reveals a terrific arrangement of this song, which in some respects, reminds me of a soulful Eurythmics tune.

Get yourself a decent condenser mic and plug your vocal into this song. It's a solid album cut. ;)


--- Joe

davisamerica said 136 days ago
well ...
actually the vocals sounded very nice despite your concerns. re read jiguma's comments .... could not have said it better ... kudos indeed!

egobandit1 said 122 days ago
what a package
This song has it all, love the strings.. When I saw the title I was thinking of the band Murphys law. Thanks for sharing! Downloaded

E-Frame Wrecker said 106 days ago
Never too late
Nice lyrics, song structure, vocals, production. Very polished song even though we might not have a final mix. Large diaphragm mics are pretty affordable these days. The mic you are using actually sounds like you have a filter on your voice. I think it sounds cool for this song.

Nolan said 53 days ago
Nice mate
No Aphrodisiac is one of my favourites! I can definitely hear the influence throughout, not just the first chord. Great strings in this like the Whitlams use in that. And the big drum roll like I lave in that song! Very nice. Looking forward to listening to more of your stuff.

Artist Profile
dolby photo
dolby

Artist Bio Hello and welcome to my page here at MacJams. I'm very pleased to let you know that my CD "Where Are We Now?" is finally available on my own TriangleDog label. The CD features 12 original songs, which were recorded as I travelled around the w...[more]
Artist Music
Doing The Necessary
Everything Available In Your Hand
Repeat After Me
A Cave Of Stars (Featuring Daniella)
Murphy's Law
The Same But Different
This Desert Earth
Hermannsburg
For The Diamond
Psycho (Bates Motel Mix w/ Linda Courtien)
Half A Million Miles
Unlikely
Something's Going On (w/ Moviz)
Sandusky
Red Dirt
A Cave Of Stars
From Sea To Sky
Freedom By Degrees
Rip It Up