Swing Shift

Mark_Kostora wrote on 5/1/2025, 3:25 PM

Tags: Other, Music videos, Events & Concerts, People

Width: 1920

Height: 1080

Duration: 03:30

Format: mp4

With some encouragement among the community I am going to explore some big band swing sound. I wanted to have a good challenge and I decided on producing a big band piece based on one of my favorites. 'Swing Shift' is based on a popular sound in the 1940s called 'In The Mood' with the Glenn Miller Band. That was a time when music and swing dancing was everything to those who lived in the war time of WWII. I think the spirit of the music and dancing of the style of this piece would be good for the enjoyment for all of us in the present times. During those times people would spend their after work hours and join in to swing dancing events often called swing shift events that gives me the title to this song.

So I used an excellent midi set to assist me in the melody of the song and I created the sound and sound space of each instrument with my own studio resources, some more than 20 tracks and believe me this was quite a mixdown.

Hear the sounds of an acoustical bass, the tenor sax, a baritone sax, an alto sax group, some trumpets and trombones, drums, and a 16' grand piano. This did make me feel like a band leader. I especially did have some fun with the drums, the 'raspberry' tenors, and the 'rubber band' acoustical upright bass (who needed the help of the drummer to give it the bass punch that we would expect for the big band era sound). I could imagine that each member of the band had their own personality with their instrument. I am sure that Glenn had the humor and fun loving way of working with his band members.

I am always grateful for the images provided to me for producing this song including some historical archived images. I also have an appreciation of the woman of that era who could swing dance in high heels, I am sure you would need strong ankles for such a feat. If you try it a home be careful ;) A couple of the images are from jazz gigs prior to the 1940s.

I have produced the music exclusively for this music video.

I hope you all enjoy the sound and the good humor that went into this piece ;)

All my best ...

Mark ;)

6 Answers

Tags: Other, Music videos, Events & Concerts, People

Width: 1920

Height: 1080

Duration: 03:30

Format: mp4

Comments

PATIENT-X wrote on 5/1/2025, 4:48 PM

Hi Mark, I loved glen miller music growing up in the 60's, it made you feel good, wanting to have that energy and big band influence, just in time for the weekend coming up, a real foot tapper, cheers 😉👍🍺🍺🍺

Paulo.Costa wrote on 5/1/2025, 7:10 PM

Magnifique your obra musical congratulations Friend Mark.

Jinty wrote on 5/1/2025, 8:11 PM

Hello Mark,

Your music is Ace, You've done a great job as always, It had my feet tapping away with it, I've enjoyed the listen as always too!!!!!!!!

All the best,

Jinty :-)

Semelles-de-Vent wrote on 5/2/2025, 8:24 AM

Sacré mix, Mark, sur la musique divine de Glenn!!!💃🎧🎼🎹🎷🎺🎺🎷🎹🎼🎧💃

Vio-Project wrote on 5/2/2025, 8:58 AM

Oh yes, "In The Mood" – who doesn't know this global hit? The song is still covered frequently to this day, or pops up unexpectedly in DJ mixes. 😉

Wow, Mark, you really delved into this piece of music! And it was worth it, because you've done a magnificent and masterful job! 20 tracks, probably one instrument per track, and then putting everything together, adjusting the volumes, and... and... and - so much work goes into it – my respect! 💯💯💯💯💯👏👏👏👏👏👍👍👍👍👍💯🎷🎺💯🎷🎺💯👌👌👌👌👌👑👑👑👑👑💯💯💯💯💯

Stay healthy, see you soon, and best wishes from Sylvio 😎

Mark_Kostora wrote on 5/2/2025, 6:12 PM

@Vio-Project

Thank you Sylvio for your comments for my 'Swing Shift' track. Each track was a single instrument in the 'band'. Each track had a quality sampled instrument as part of my collection of acoustic instruments that were built-in sounds on some of my studio synths. I paid close attention to the 'room' environment of each instrument that gives the sound a 'live' impression using individual reverbs and delays. So you can feel you were in the dance room experiencing a live band.

The Glenn Miller style band makes use of the well know style and sound of 'In The Mood' that uses a specific blend and feel of the instruments in the band. The sound balance of all of the instruments has to be precise for the sound we experience. I am familiar with the timbre of the instruments and my memory of hearing the original song countless times and I hope I got it right for most. The 'In The Mood' style at times required the entire band to 'play softly' and imagine a group of musicians in the band keeping the sound balance just right even when playing softly. A little easier to do in a synth studio. I am always amazed how such things are done with a real group of musicians working together on a song playing live!

Thanks again for your enjoyment and appreciation of my Magix community contributions, and will try to have many new songs in the coming months. It is very enjoyable for me, both in sharing my songs and listening to the other fun and enjoyable works of all of you.

My best ...

Mark ;)