Synthtastic

Bulls Hit

Well-known member
**Edit** New mix & arrangement as per suggestions from all the kind folks who commented





I put up a tune a couple of months ago featuring my new Mircobrute synth. This is the 2nd outing with it and I'm still experiencing tension between the quantised rhythms it produces and my dodgy timekeeping on drums. Any thoughts would be good, suggestions even better.

 
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synth is much louder than drums in the intro. bring it down a bit and even it out. thought the drums sounded really good though. get some vocals in there.
 
My only comment was the same - synth too loud relative to the drums in the intro. The rest was cool. Guitars sound great. Low end is very strong, but very well controlled.
 
The synth is so huge, I feel like the drums need to be bigger, badder, louder, and hit harder. Maybe a crushed room mic, or some serious bus compression to make the drums slam. I'm thinking of Battles, who did the synth-meets-drumkit thing pretty darn well.
 
andrushkiwt - synth too loud - got it. Thanks man


TripleM - Thanks for the sanity check Trip


Tadpui - I'm sensing a common theme here. I actually do have a room mic and I did parallel compress the drums through a limiter. But I did pull everything back so as not to compromise the synth, I'll have to re-balance. Thanks for the Battles suggestion, haven't heard them I'll check em out
 
Hey, I listened a couple of times over the last week, but didn't get chance to comment. I've nothing much to add beyond what's been said above about the drums needing to come up relative to the synth.

The tones are really nice on both though - that synth sounds so full and fat. Big monster drums like Tad suggests would be great. It's a good listen as is though :)
 
Really liking this one.

A little too minimalistic perhaps without a vocal or something else melodic in there, but sounding pretty good as is just with what you have.

I actually think the drums already sound monstrous (they always do!), they just could come up in volume relative to everything else I think?

The timing seems good except for maybe some sections in the middle where that main synth warbles for longer periods and loses synch with the drums a bit...or vice versa?

Cool stuff.
 
hory shit you frightened my toddlers :)

Im not sure of the start...not that i dont like spartan arrangements but it seemed too empty...but loved it from 1.30 on
 
Thanks for all the feedback guys. I've incorporated your suggestions into a new mix


robgreen - Thanks for the spin


heatmiser - Yes the warbling must be brought under control. It just gets chaotic sometimes and the rat escapes.. I've added some bits to flesh out the new mix, have a listen if you get a chance. Thanks Heat

kcearl - That was my impression too, it was a bit bare bones. Iv've made some adjustments, thanks kc
 
Right around 0:06, a really loud noise floor comes in on the new mix. That's the drums right?

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I see what KC was talking about at 1:30, that's pretty sweet!

There's a click at 1:45 too.
 
Thanks VHS. Yeah for some reason this was a really noisy drum recording & I'm still not sure why. Slamming them through the compressor didn't help either..
 
On the whole, drums and guitar sound good. I really like the tones.

That low synth is overwhelming. All the ear candy you've out to the sides is buried.

It comes into the arrangement and stomps all over everything.
 
I really like the drums on the new mix Bulls - they give the piece much more power and energy than previously. You know about the noise floor, so if there's nothing you can do about it then no point worrying about it.

Sounds great :)
 
Kewl.

I'll take the hiss or whatever that is that accompanies the louder drums on the new mix. Like the changes in the arrangement too...more things for the listener to focus on and just a bit more structure...but not too much!
 
K-dub - I've bought a couple of little analog synths recently, so yeah they're taking centre stage right now. This one started with just synth & drums, the rest is just an afterthought. Cheers Kev

robgreen No point worrying indeed. Thanks for the repeat listen

heatmiser - Thanks heat, and for your other suggestions too

Crazy Luke - Yes that would be nice. I've actually got a moog pedal on one of the guitars, and there a moog filter on the synth, so not entirely moogless!
 
At first I thought that the drums were too wet, but once the mix fills in I think its just right. If you really wanna get anal about it, maybe automate it so that the intro snare and/or drum bus is drier early in the song, but wetter later on. If you make the difference pretty subtle, it might sound cool. Or it might sound odd, I dunno.

The drums have some compression pumping going on, but I think that it works as a special effect here. Again, if you wanna fiddle with it, I'd try turning the release time as fast as it'll go without distorting and see if you still get that big aggressive drum sound but with less pumping.

I cranked this on my studio system and it sounded pretty bad ass.
 
Tadpui - Yeah the drier drums is kinda how I had it originally with the parallel compressed track muted until the main pattern kicked in, but that was too quiet. The release on the compressor is as fast as it goes. I tried winding it up some more but the little knob wouldn't budge any further. This the first time using this Urei compressor and I'm pretty happy how it treats the drums - got a kind of Beastie Boys sound to the cymbal wash. Always good to hear someone cranking the tunes! Thanks man
 
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