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My musical take on Vincent van Gogh's Chair which hangs in the National Art Gallery in London.

https://soundcloud.com/gerry-cooper-855281238/vincents-chair

Here is the commentary I posted with it:-

Vincent van Gogh painted his chair in 1888 and it now hangs in the National Gallery in London. The last two years of his troubled life were the most prolific and in the same year he painted his chair he also painted Sunflowers. In 1889 he painted The Starry Night perhaps his greatest masterpiece. The painting was done from memory during the day as it was a night time view from the window of his room in the Asylum.
One of his quotes “I don´t know anything with certainty, but seeing stars makes me dream”
A year later in July 1890 he died from a gunshot wound, he was just 37 years old. There are still some doubts about how he died as to if it was suicide or he was actually shot. The general consensus being he committed suicide but we will never know for sure.
Why the chair? I saw the painting in London many years ago and I was mesmerized by it. There is a palpable loneliness and sadness about that painting. My small and humble musical take on what is just another wood and rush chair but then of course it isn’t. Any more than one of his paintings is just another painting.

Nice spooky instrumental, and of course it's a beautiful painting. But I don't feel a connection between the music and the painting. The music sounds kind of modern, while the chair doesn't. Just my O.

The music is about his state of mind when painting that picture, its not about the chair. His sadness, his frenetic painting, his mental state but like they say music either takes you there or it doesn't.

Best,

Gerry

Gerry:

I wish I had your talent... and your composition could not have "painted" a more meaningful portrayal of his frenetic and talented life. Well done, my friend. It took me there... and back again.

As always, thanks for sharing. Be prepared for those door knocking movie makers! ----Dave

Imminently Synchronization License-able. By pieces, or in whole.

Real nice track. Would expect nothing else.

Now for your next track how bout. “Electric Chair”

Gerry ...

Nice to "meet" you! I believe this is the first of your music I've listened to. I've been a member of JPF since early 2001 but have been away for the past 4 or 5 years, for the most part.

This is an exquisite production! The percussions, for me at least, are what set the table for the rest of fabulous tracks. I can only imagine the amount of time and effort you put into this. It's simply gorgeous! This has "Soundtrack" written all over it! I'm in awe of what you've accomplished with this piece. Congratulations on a wonderful piece of music!

Best to you. Be safe ...

Alan

Beautiful production. Pristine recording. Very theatrical. So much ear candy in the stereo field to enjoy. In spots, it had a bit of a reggae feel, which I thought was very cool and then a bit of jazz in the guitar and trumpet. Just beautiful. Extremely well produced.

Dave

Thanks for the kind comments Dave as always I appreciate them. Best,

Gerry

Thank you Gary now that would be nice if someone picked it up. Best,
Gerry



Now there´s a thought Steve and I might just do it LOL Best,

Gerry

Thank you so much Alan both for your kind comments here and taking the time to make one on Soundcloud. I really appreciate that and you are right on the time but being retired I have plenty of it and I like to think producing music is a nice way to use it. Apart from the enormous pleasure I get it keeps my old brain and fingers more agile than if I didn't. Haven´t been around for a couple of days as I am enjoying a new guitar. Boys and their toys LOL.

Best regards,

Gerry

Gerry,

Another outstanding composition. I really appreciate the time and attention to detail, not to mention skill it takes to put something like this together. Really impressive production and touches throughout. Very engaging piece! Good luck with it!

Kind regards,

Deej

Gerry,
Been a while my friend. Hope you are well. I am so glad you have not given up music for Photography. I love them both too but there is nothing like music.
How do you get your synth's to sound so real? All mine are soooooo cheesy. As you will hear if you listen to my latest song.
This is a wonderful piece. You were always so advanced sonically but every instrument is just so strong.
Good work sir,
Tom

Many thanks Deej hope all is well with you and yours. Best, Gerry



Hi Tom and many thanks. I do not use all synths but those that I do I spend a lot of time using velocity, modulation and after touch to get it sounding about right. I then use FX plugins to get it sounding as close to the real thing as I can. The crowning touch is reverb not enough and its flat and dull and too much its boomy and less defined. Get it right and bingo. Just as important as the panning is the width as in background strings can fill in the whole stage and I often pan them full left and right. Now a solo instruments needs its own space and to achieve that you need to narrow it down. I could waffle on for hours my friend but one good tip I always remember and it applies to Painting and Music. When you mix colors if you mix too many the paint turns grey and that is just the same with music. One last thing I always do is this, let's say I have 20 tracks making up the instrumental; I will mute each track separately and play the instrumental back. I then ask myself the question does that instrumental sound better with that track on it or without it? If in doubt throw it out LOL. Oh and believe me I have spent hours adding one track only to delete it later on by doing that simple test. Hope that helps a little.

Best,

Gerry