Black Night (a cheery little tune...)

[groucho]

Okay, I did a bunch of experimenting on this one in terms of "space". I was also simultanously experimenting with "field recording" (much of this was tracked in odd places while it was raining out). I was going for more of a layered stereo field than my usual "pan a few things left and right" technique. Basically a simple little tune (okay, it's not the most upbeat in the world) but it was a bitch and a half to mix.


www.venusburning.com/chris/black_night.mp3

Sorry, no lo-fi version this time. It just destroys the sound too much on this one. I do apologize.

Chris

[chrisharris]

Hey man; the tune reminded me of Heroin. The drug, not the band. "One more time, the promise that I make, the promise that I break...each and every day....but oh, it feels so good, to be so weak." Pretty haunting stuff. What did you have in mind when you wrote it.

I liked the verb on the (percussion??)...that pencil tapping sound. That verb alone is worth the 9.3MB DOWNLOAD????!!!!

Nice bitrate.

Others are sure to tell you that it needed more elements to come in earlier and more often, but I'm gonna' disagree with all that nonsense preemptively. This is what it is, and I thought it was cool. The one thing that bugged me was the timing on that line I quoted above. "One more time..."...that part sounds rushed. You have plenty of time to get those 3 words out in a normal meter if you want to. It just stuck out, that's all.

Not that I matter.

-chris

[participant]

..."as performed by Lucifer" (joke)

Gotta check your studio for snakes... some hiss in the track (if it were on mine, it'd bug the sht out of me)... probably on the vocal track?

Would be cool to hear a second harmony guitar part in the second verse... kind of playing-off the first... maybe some string swells (backward string swells?) in the second part as well... would spookify it even more...

A really cool chorus effect would do even better for the vocals in this song, IMO... the short plate verb (or whatever) sounds fine tho.

Nice.


Chad

[chrisharris]

Originally posted by participant
some hiss in the track (if it were on mine, it'd bug the sht out of me)... probably on the vocal track?

wait...I thought the hiss was the rain

Tell me that was on purpose GrouchMan

[participant]

Just listened again... you know what it is? It's the reverb return...

In a song about a dark room, maybe the reverb should reflect that? IOW could you cut the highs above about 4k on the reverb? IMO it would make it less noisy. Otherwise excellent.

[groucho]

Thanks for the remarks guys.

As far as the "hiss" - I'm pretty sure what you're hearing is the rain in the background. The "percussion" (two egg shakers being smacked together ) has a reverb effect that produces a sustained kind of sizzle, so that might be it as well. I'm pretty sure there's no hiss on the vocal reverb (I did do a high-end roll-off).

That was one of the hardest parts of this - I wanted some noise in the background & I wanted the vocals to kind of float towards the rear of things. But of course you want the vocals to be hearable & you don't want the noise in the back to be too distracting. Hard as hell to get right.

Oh, Chris: yeah, this is a kind of old song I dragged out because i wanted something kind of slow that I could use to experiment on. And yeah, you're on the right track with the subject matter. I suppose it's not super disguised... But them was other days.

<Not that I matter.

Now don't you say that about yourself, young man...

thanks all,
Chris

[chrisharris]

Originally posted by groucho


Oh, Chris: ... you're on the right track with the subject matter. I suppose it's not super disguised... But them was other days.

Glad to hear it. The only vice I haven't been able to ditch is nicotine. (I haven't even had coffee since sometime in the 90's). IMHO - Heroin's easier to kick than cigarettes. Anyway, with your subject matter in mind, I think the song is freakin' PERFECT. You nailed a mood and painted a very vivid picture of the ecstacy and the regret. Love it.

Later

[groucho]

Originally posted by chrisharris

Glad to hear it. The only vice I haven't been able to ditch is nicotine. (I haven't even had coffee since sometime in the 90's). IMHO - Heroin's easier to kick than cigarettes. Anyway, with your subject matter in mind, I think the song is freakin' PERFECT. You nailed a mood and painted a very vivid picture of the ecstacy and the regret. Love it.

Later

Thanks again, Chris. You & Participant seem to be the only comments I can get lately. Guess I'll lay back and do some reviewing only for awhile.

Yep, I'm down to cigarettes also... damned if I'll give those up though. A man can't be PERFECT fer chrissakes...

C

[TripleM]

Hey I finally got around to it...

Nice mood to the song. Cheered me up.

I liked the two guitars and the way they worked together. The heavy reverb on the vox was effective. Some good lines in there too.

A word here and there gets covered by a guitar - e.g., the first word of the song. Not a real big deal though. After a while I wanted the voice to break out and hit a section (verse or chorus) real hard. So let chrisharris flame me .

Overall good job.