Heir on a G String

Looking at the DAW file, I see it was nearly a year ago when I started this.  It happened one night when I was in the grocery store and thought I heard the Bach "Air" from Suite #3 (BWV 1068) playing over the store sound system -- by a 60s blues band.  As I listened more carefully over the reverberating shoppers' din, I realized it wasn't uncle Johann, but Procol Harem playing what for many qualifies them as one-hit-wonders.  It struck me then that their instrumentation would actually make a nice ensemble for the Bach "Air."  (And, yes, PH seemed to have "inherited" from Mr. B. some especially lovely harmonic and melodic structures for their song.)  Thanks to the wonders of modern technology, a short trip home allowed me to assemble the necessary virtual performers and have a go at it.

You will probably notice a number of problems with it:  the expression in the organ part is uneven (at best) and I did nothing with the tempo except to put the ritardando in at the end (live musicians would have varied it slightly for expression).  By the number of hours I put into it, you might expect more nuance, but, as an experiment and self-tutorial, it served its purpose and was fun to do. 

There is little for me to say about it technically.  I didn't do much to modify the emulators' presets (I know:  "Presets are for the weak"), but my interest here was not in sound design, but in learning how to coax musical expression out of a black box.  My principle avenues for this were velocity (which was the only expressive control for the guitar and bass tracks) and the "Expression" parameter on the tonewheel organ.  This latter is essentially a central portion of the total volume range; it does not affect the timbre as a true swell might, thus the sense of the organ moving away and coming closer, rather than getting softer or louder as such. 

So, in the end, it's down to being unwilling not to post something I put so much time into, even if it's merely the result of an exercise, rather than a small piece of my soul.  Still, I hope it is enjoyable.