Electronica for Fantasy Soundtrack

[Mistral]

Normally, being a metal musician I write much heavier stuff but since moving to Sweden and selling my last guitar I have had both the reason and inspiration to write and record something different. So I have begun working on several songs for possible use on the soundtrack of an anime project my studio is developing.. I'm not talking about kids anime but something serious and well thought out in all departments.

So I have nearly completed the first track, which I have entitled "The Plexus". It is very melodic, kind of laid back and rockish compared to what you'd expect from electronic music. If you're an avid gamer into the fantasy genre you'll probably like it.

Keep in mind however that this is a demo and although I wouldn't mind constructive feedback on the sound, the primary purpose of posting this mp3 is merely to get some feedback on the music itself. I may add some stuff here and there, and the bass track may get an overhaul, but otherwise, I'm pretty satisfied. So I have yet to do a final mix/master. Everything you are listening to here has been done in the span of about a full day's work.

I used Sonar 3, with the DR-008 drum module and Dreamstation. Nothing else.

Here it is:

Hope you enjoy it.

 

[Massive Master]

More bass for sure...

That "lead synth" track sounds nice, but it's nearly 180 degrees out of phase - Go mono and it's almost gone... If it winds up on TV or video games, there's still a lot of mono units out there...

John Scrip - www.massivemastering.com

 

[Mistral]

what causes a track to be out of phase, and what's the fix?
I had a surround plugin to add a bit of depth but I'm not an expert with it..

 

[Massive Master]

A surround plugin does just that. On older (and many current) Dolby ProLogic systems, it uses a mid-side type filter on the stereo signal -- It takes whatever is exactly the same in both speakers (mono) and above a certain frequency and puts it in the center channel. What is unique to the left is left and what is unique to the right is right. Whatever is out of phase between the left and the right goes into the surround. Hence, why if you listen to a regular stereo mix on a DPL system, much of the verb, sometimes a bit of guitars, etc. come from the surround speakers.

You can split the (stereo synth track?) into two mono tracks panned hard left and right (which will give you exactly what you have now). Zoom in TIGHT and just barely budge one of the tracks ahead or behind the other. We're talking milliseconds and fractions thereof here... It takes some guesswork and experimentation, but you'll probably get a useable, wide spread without the phase artifacts that you're getting from the surround plug.

Make sure that you check your mixes in mono also - Very important. If you don't have a mono "button" see if you have a stereo spread plug that can collapse to mono (your surround plug may do that also) and put it across the master buss. You can just bypass it and activate it to check the mix.

JS