First attempt at an instrumental

  • Thread starter Thread starter triquee
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triquee

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It's not complete yet. Just have the intro, first verse and first chorus so far. It's an instrumental cover of Born To Die by Lana Del Rey. Gonna add vocals to it once I get my new AI. Please listen, post, tell me what you think. Need a fresh pair of ears! Thanks! xoxoxoxo

Born To Die
 
The cymbal sounds a little funky, but I have no clue how to get the sound I want. Was beating my head against a wall trying to get that wide spread, "glittery" cymbal sound - almost like it's raining cymbals in your ears. Still need to EQ the strings and get them to where they're clearer. So much to do. But I wanted to get some feedback on my progress.
 
Still tweaking. Worked out the cymbals (mostly). They sound alright, but could probably use a little more work. Added some ambiance to the drum solo in the intro and beefed up the chorus drums a little. Adjusted the levels slightly. I can already see that my biggest obstacle is going to be knowing when to stop messing with stuff and let the track be what it'll be. Having a blast at it though.

p.s. This is all done using Studio One 2 (free version). I have Cubase 6 Elements and it gives me headaches to try and create anything in there. I spend so much time being lost looking for functions and troubleshooting issues that it kills the creative process almost completely. When I get some cash together, I'm definitely going to purchase the full featured version of Studio One 2. I highly recommend it to anyone starting out.

Anyway, on with the mix:

 
Doesn't sound too bad, overall. Is the bass drum panned to one side? The only other thing is the string arrangment sounds weird at certain points, it gets thick and thin. The number of notes seem to be changing or something.
 
There are some places where the velocities of certain chord parts are lower/higher. Setting the velocity of the high notes in a chord - or the viola/violins lower for example to accentuate the lows (cello and bass) and create dynamics that can't be achieved by automating volume changes. The idea was to create more dynamic crescendos in some places and create a certain progression of tone in others. As a former orchestral cellist/violinist it seemed more true to life to me because in an orchestra, not all parts play at once all the time (or with the same intensity) in a given piece. But maybe my ear is attenuating.
 
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