HERE WITH ME - Dido - Alto Sax RMX - Free score

"Here With Me" is a song by British singer-songwriter @Dido , released in 1999. The original song is a mid-tempo ballad that reflects the singer's love and devotion for a special person. The lyrics express Dido's longing to be with the person she loves, and the song expresses a sense of comfort and security in the love she shares. The song features delicate piano and string arrangements, which provide a backdrop for Dido's tender vocals.

The song became a hit for Dido, reaching the top 10 in several countries, and it helped establish her as one of the leading female singer-songwriters of her generation. "Here With Me" is widely considered one of Dido's signature songs, and it remains popular among her fans today.



To create my new arrangement I started with the original bass line that, in my opinion, is the real foundation of Dido's song.
I stripped down all harmonic instruments (synths, piano, guitar, etc) and instead introduced a deep house downtown kind of groove favoring acoustic percussions instead of synthetic ones.

You can hear two distinct shakers playing in opposite panning (Left and Right), a white noise sweeping sound, a mellow deep kick, a Cajon (the real groove maker), a natural clapping, and an FX effect to give a dark mood and to respond to each phrase played by the saxophone.

This left a lot of space for the saxophone sound and the delay effect I applied (1/4 of the beat, around 60 percent feedback, darker coloring as the effect progresses, panned totally right with the dry sound panned slightly to the left).
I transposed the song from Bm to Am to be able to play the melody the first time in the lower octave and the second time higher in a comfortable fashion.

When the melody comes in the second time the piano Is introduced, a soft jazzy piano sound with light comping (NOIRE sound from NI instruments, @NativeInstruments ). what a great piano!
Prior to the piano, only a very low cut-off arpeggiator centered around the middle of the first melody, like drops of sound dancing around the saxophone.

Everything is really preparing for the saxophone solo, where all the instruments come together. The piano is recorded live, not MIDI prepared, and gets more intense as we progress.

At 2 minutes and 35 seconds, the melody ends in suspension, it is time for the truth, the solo.

We get one shot to make right, just like life. Recording a solo in bits, bar by bar, like I have seen many times in golden studios even by top players is lame and almost always lacking soul.
This is why I don't use multiple cameras where you can pretty much mix 20 bad takes into making a good one.
One video from the start to the end.
If I make a serious mistake (and it can happen) I have to start over.


The solo harmony is a loop of D major(#11) to F#minor9 and it doesn't follow the melody harmonic progression. The most dramatic note for the solo is G# (the 11th for D and the 9th for F#m).

If you are a beginner, I suggest you start by learning the F#m minor natural scale and the minor pentatonic scale. Those will be your anchors and safe landing spaces.

After that, you can proceed by exploring more interesting solutions like the one I landed at 3''19'' (the F natural is from the minor harmonic scale) or the F# minor blues scales.

have fun!



To buy this cover:
https://fabiomarziali.com/track/3318235/here-with-me

To buy the backing track:
https://fabiomarziali.com/track/3318234/here-with-me-am

Free score:
https://fabiomarziali.com/files/1212093/here-with-me-eb-score.pdf




LINKS:


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www.fabiomarziali.com

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Musescore:
https://musescore.com/user/28815610

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http://www.paypal.me/FMarziali



GEAR:


Sax Gear

Selmer Alto Mark VI
Meyer NY 6M
Vandoren Java 2.5 (not filed)
LeFreque Metal Resonator Solid Silver

Selmer S10 Clarinet
Vandoren java 2.5
Vandoren 5JB Mouthpiece

Muramatsu Flute
Unknown model, Prototype from the 70s



Sound Gear

X3 Stellar Microphone (TZ Audio)
Apollo MKII Thunderbolt UA Audio card
Logic X


Video Gear

iMac 2020 Retina 5k
MacBook Pro 16” (2020)
Panasonic Lumix GH5II
Samsung S22Ultra5g
Samsung 360 gear
Mavic Pro 3 drone
Final Cut Pro