Magic Keyboards - Behind the Keys

Magic from The Lockdown Sessions – Willard Overstreet

Let’s look at the third single released by Willard Overstreet in his “Isolation Demos” releases. The song “Magic” was released on September 22, 2023, and features keyboard contributions from yours truly. We’ll look at the Magic Keyboards recording session in this post.

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Background on Magic by Willard Overstreet

The track Magic came over as one of the early tracks in the series of the Lockdown period. Like other songs in the series, Magic was delivered as a base track featuring Willard Overstreet’s scratch vocal and acoustic guitar. The canvas was open for me to find magical sounds to round out this tune.

As Willard comments about the song, “This is a song about finding the right person, the one that balances you, that knows you and keeps you in tune with the universe!”

“When I see clouds, you see blue between them; it’s magic, I swear; when my heart breaks, you find all the pieces, it’s magic, I swear”!

This track wishes for everyone to have a little magic in their lives!

Magic Keyboard Tracks

This session was modest by my typical standards. I only have five tracks added to complement the tune.

Screenshot of Logic Session for Keyboard tracks - Magic by Willard Overstreet, Keyboards played by Arthur Dobrucki — Logic Session Keyboard Tracks – Magic

Piano (Kawai RX6) – The piano track was recorded on my Kawai RX-6 grand piano. When I’m looking for convenience, I’ll grab a piano library that sits on my hard drive. However, when I want authenticity, I set the microphones up at the tail end of my piano – which was my choice for this session.

Hammond Organ (XK5) – I played the Hammond organ track for this song on my double-manual Hammond XK5. Luckily, I used the notepad feature in Logic to remember the drawbar settings I used. There were two separate settings for each manual:

Upper: 888803007 and 868867558

Lower: 648825224 and 678667555

Electric Piano – Rhodes (Arturia) – The processed Fender Rhodes patch comes out of the Analog Lab section of the Arturia Collection. The base patch is called Morning Rhodes. It has interesting effects added – including echo, reverb, and treatments that provide a magical ambiance.

Arp 2600 (Arturia) – I brought in a heavyweight synth from the 1970s (software style). The Arp 2600 used a patch called Ambient Lounge. I played bell-like notes but created via a synthesizer, letting them ring like bells.

CZ Modular Sequence – Lastly, the CZ Synth from the Arturia Library provided a magical sequence that comes in at the tail end of the song – another magical sound I found for this session that worked.

Magic by Willard Overstreet – Song Lyric

It’s magic whenever you are near me
It’s magic I swear
It’s magic the things you see so clearly
It’s magic I swear I swear

When I see clouds you see blue between them
It’s magic I swear
When my heart break you find all the pieces
It’s magic I swear

My sweet love, My sweet love
My sweet baby, My sweet baby
I wanna be with you
I wanna see what you see
I wanna love like you

It’s magic whenever you are near me
It’s magic I swear
Magic the way you always cure me
It’s magic I swear

My sweet love, My sweet love
Oh my baby, Oh my baby
My sweet love, My sweet love
It’s magic
Magic
It’s magic
It’s magic

Where to Listen to the song Magic by Willard Overstreet

Magic is the third release from Willard Overstreet’s Lockdown Sessions. You can listen on YouTube (video below) or call it up in Spotify or your favorite music streaming service.