Heatmiser/Propman - Interplanetary Enigma (Bobby's Soliloquy)

[propman]

Hey, y'all! Adam here, calling on the mixing gurus for their help once again.

Me and Pete [Heatmiser] have been sending tracks back and forth for the better part of nine months and this is what emerged; a jumbled retelling of The Day the Earth Stood Still through the eye's of Helen's son, Bobby. Pete provided the chord structure, guitar tracks and the dignity-sacrificing vocals for the out-of-touch Klaatu. I brought the lyrics to the table (sorry, Pete) along with percussion, fiddly synth bits and the vocals for the overly-inquisitive Bobby and "the people."

Enjoy the song (or not) and pick it apart. I want the mix to be the best it can be.

[MP3]https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/65316259/Interplanetary.mp3[/MP3]
For mobile users

Thanks for listening!

---

Lyrics:​

Klaatu: Hit it

Bobby observing:
Lurching t'ward the Frigidaire to polish off the tapenade
Almost automatic with a fluid --though autonomous-- plod
Doubtfully innocuous but glaringly an anthropoid
Assimilating elegance or casting marks to be destroyed

Is he an interplanetary misanthrope or vague philanthropist?

Sammy (the gemologist) was stricken by the new bijou
Gifted by the kook who later cooked a mathematical stew
Something paradoxical is keeping sunken ships afloat
Delivering a cryptogram phonetically to learn by rote

Is he an interplanetary misanthrope or vague philanthropist?
And the he walked out

Klaatu appearing at the entrance of the ship:
Now that I have your attention – Yo!
My name is K-Tizzy and I'm here to say
That I'm about to holla in a major way

Ten times Ward Cleaver (The people: Who?)
I'm a believer in good will dripping like a broken bidet

The people:
That's giving up freedom for a lot of us

Klaatu:
It's givin' up the freedom of bein' a hippopotamus
But if you can't stop, keep it on your own rock
Or every cul-de-sac is gonna be a burnt-out block

The question hangs:
Interplanetary misanthrope or vague philanthropist? (Klaatu: Philanthropist)

Epilogue​

Reiteration:
Interplanetary misanthrope or vague philanthropist?

The people:
(Oh, now we know – now we know)
(Oh, we have got to get together and now)

 

[Mr Clean]

I can't get the flash embed thing to work (How do you add that player?), only the mobile user link.

Anywhoo.....It sounds really good to me. Totally different from anything that I expected when I first started listening. There's some fantastic lyrics.

I can't hear anything that I would really change personally, maybe a tiny touch more bass but the mix sounds solid.

I really enjoyed the tune, thanks for sharing. I'm going to treat my neighbours to the banging version of it now!

 

[PDP]

Mix sounds good to me, overall recording is quite nice. Excellent vocals and vocal sounds.

My only comment is that I thought the arrangement was taking the song to a big chorus or cranked up instrumental section, where the breakdown parts are. So the arrangement goes to a place of less energy rather than more, but like I said its just something I felt personally. The way it is certainly works too.

Great job, enjoyed the listen!

 

[jiff 41]

EPIC!

 

[propman]

I can't get the flash embed thing to work (How do you add that player?), only the mobile user link.

Anywhoo.....It sounds really good to me. Totally different from anything that I expected when I first started listening. There's some fantastic lyrics.

I can't hear anything that I would really change personally, maybe a tiny touch more bass but the mix sounds solid.

I really enjoyed the tune, thanks for sharing. I'm going to treat my neighbours to the banging version of it now!

First off, thank you very much! I'm really glad you like it!
I fiddled with and tested the embedded player and it now works.

How to get it: Copy the URL of the MP3 file and paste it into your post. Highlight it, then hit the that looks like a musical note in the bottom column of your (I don't know what they're called so I'll call them) text controls. It should surround the URL with "[MP3][/MP3]." That's it!

It's funny... Every time I post a song, somebody always wants more bass. Is it still too weak (I boosted it prior to this mix because it was almost non-existent) or are you just one of those bass nuts?

Mix sounds good to me, overall recording is quite nice. Excellent vocals and vocal sounds.

My only comment is that I thought the arrangement was taking the song to a big chorus or cranked up instrumental section, where the breakdown parts are. So the arrangement goes to a place of less energy rather than more, but like I said its just something I felt personally. The way it is certainly works too.

Great job, enjoyed the listen!

Thank you very much, PDP! I understand your critiques of the arrangement. The negative space before the bridge (stay tuned for an art-douche explanation) was supposed to suggest the stoppage of time. I also just liked the idea of stripping the music back at points, as I'd never tried to use silence as part of a song's arrangement before. I'm happy with the way it turned out but perhaps I overdid it?

I tried ramping up the energy in the chorus(es) a few times but I never liked the results. That's probably just because I didn't go about it the right way but I'm really satisfied with what I got and kind of glad that I didn't find the "energy booster" I was looking for. (Maybe in the acid remix? )

EPIC!

Thank you, jiff, for the EPIC compliment!

 

[rayc]

Adam & peter,
I should recuse myself - TDTESStill is in my top 5 flick of all time. It's a gem of the cold war era taking the opposite perspective to the 1953 TWOTWorlds movie. Both are classics.
The song is excellent.
The contemporary Klaatu rapping from the saucer is funny and the sketches of the story's 1st half resonate with me: I visualised them as they were sung.
Musically I have no nits to pick as the thing hung together and communicated well.
I'd love to have a copy to play for my class - we're studying Wells' TWOTWorlds at present and are looking at cold war era cinema in it's themetic range. I was considering showing TDTESStill to balanace the 53 flick I mentioned.

 

[robgreen]

I've never seen the film referenced, so I've no context for the lyrics I'm afraid. With this in mind, they read engagingly unhinged

The song's great - I've listened a few times and like it more with each play. I'd like more bass, but I'll admit that I am a bass nut. The other mix issues I notice are that firstly the opening few bars of two acoustics - I'm guessing one played by propman and one by heat - are a little discordant, especially when the rest of the mix is so polished. Secondly, I think Heat's rap is very slightly too loud.

Other than that cool. Like the FTG/HM/FF collab, it's really unique. Damn good work

 

[heatmiser]

the opening few bars of two acoustics - I'm guessing one played by propman and one by heat - are a little discordant, especially when the rest of the mix is so polished. Secondly, I think Heat's rap is very slightly too loud.

Nope, those are both my tracks that I supplied months ago to the original beat adam sent me. I thought the parts fit, but listening back just now, they do sound a little strange together.

I was very reluctant to do that rap part...I just never thought I'd hear myself utter the word "holla" , but it was for a good cause.

I think you did a really good job throwing this all together adam. It was interesting to me to hear all the different arrangements along the way. I never guessed where it would end up !

 

[VomitHatSteve]

Nice! Sounds a lot like a Cake meets TMBG kind of thing.

Although "I'm X, and I'm here to say" is a pretty awful rap lyric. It always conjures up images of news anchors making fun of rap to me. At least you didn't deliver the line in an intentionally awkward way.

I like the switch up in the melody of the second chorus a lot.

 

[TripleM]

I thought this sounded really cool. Really inventive musical ideas. Everything sounded great.

Nothing I'd change.

 

[propman]

Adam & peter,
I should recuse myself - TDTESStill is in my top 5 flick of all time. It's a gem of the cold war era taking the opposite perspective to the 1953 TWOTWorlds movie. Both are classics.
The song is excellent.
The contemporary Klaatu rapping from the saucer is funny and the sketches of the story's 1st half resonate with me: I visualised them as they were sung.
Musically I have no nits to pick as the thing hung together and communicated well.
I'd love to have a copy to play for my class - we're studying Wells' TWOTWorlds at present and are looking at cold war era cinema in it's themetic range. I was considering showing TDTESStill to balanace the 53 flick I mentioned.

Thank you very much, Ray! I'm glad you enjoyed/enjoy it. I would be honored to have my song played for your class! (Get it on video, mate!) I'll send you a copy via PM later, OK? Thanks again!

I've never seen the film referenced, so I've no context for the lyrics I'm afraid. With this in mind, they read engagingly unhinged

The song's great - I've listened a few times and like it more with each play. I'd like more bass, but I'll admit that I am a bass nut. The other mix issues I notice are that firstly the opening few bars of two acoustics - I'm guessing one played by propman and one by heat - are a little discordant, especially when the rest of the mix is so polished. Secondly, I think Heat's rap is very slightly too loud.

Other than that cool. Like the FTG/HM/FF collab, it's really unique. Damn good work

Thanks for listening, Rob! I'm super-glad you dig it. Would you be kind enough to define "discordant?" From my understanding of the word, I take it that you mean that the harmony between the two guitar tracks is dissonant. I think they sound fine but maybe I'm not hearing what you're hearing.

Nope, those are both my tracks that I supplied months ago to the original beat adam sent me. I thought the parts fit, but listening back just now, they do sound a little strange together.

I was very reluctant to do that rap part...I just never thought I'd hear myself utter the word "holla" , but it was for a good cause.

I think you did a really good job throwing this all together adam. It was interesting to me to hear all the different arrangements along the way. I never guessed where it would end up !

Thanks for doing it, Pete! This song is quickly becoming one of my favorites I've had a hand in penning and it wouldn't exist if it weren't for you. Thank you! You did a great job with everything and I hope we can work together again in the near future.

Nice! Sounds a lot like a Cake meets TMBG kind of thing.

Although "I'm X, and I'm here to say" is a pretty awful rap lyric. It always conjures up images of news anchors making fun of rap to me. At least you didn't deliver the line in an intentionally awkward way.

I like the switch up in the melody of the second chorus a lot.

Thanks a lot for listening, VHS! I know it's an awful rap lyric. Why do you think I used it? I saw Dana Perino (a news anchor from Fox New's The Five, ironically) start a rap out that way. An image of the early '80s flooded into my head and, although it was intentionally hokey on her part, it made me think of all those unintentionally hokey songs from back then that began that way.

I was in the shower pondering how I could fill the missing gap in the song when I started improvising a rap as Klaatu. With every pass, I started laughing like a maniac. I wrote it down and nervously sent it to Pete. I came home one night (after going to the Fair or something, I think) to find a file sitting in my PM box. I opened it like a Christmas present and had to play it twice because I was laughing too hard to hear it the first time around. Pete played it so well... I can't get him to realize how incredible of a job he did with such a corny little rap and how giddy it makes me to listen to.

Thanks again, VHS! I'm glad you like it.

I thought this sounded really cool. Really inventive musical ideas. Everything sounded great.

Nothing I'd change.

Thanks a lot, TripleM! I'm glad you like it!

 

[VomitHatSteve]

I saw Dana Perino (a news anchor from Fox New's The Five, ironically) start a rap out that way. An image of the early '80s flooded into my head and, although it was intentionally hokey on her part, it made me think of all those unintentionally hokey songs from back then that began that way.

So many layers of meta and irony! I can't keep track!

 

[Illsidgus]

I first saw "The Day the Earth Stood Still" maybe 50 years ago and it has been one of my favorites ever since. I think your musical interpretation of this movie is brilliant and dare I say...a masterpiece.

 

[propman]

I first saw "The Day the Earth Stood Still" maybe 50 years ago and it has been one of my favorites ever since. I think your musical interpretation of this movie is brilliant and dare I say...a masterpiece.

Oh, wow... Thank you so much! I'm speechless... What a compliment!