I have a bigger challenge for home recordists!

  • Thread starter Thread starter cybergord
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Updated download

Hi Mart[1001]
I have listened again to your first mix and I think its the way to go. I can auralize the piano rolls and power chords and i think it would be a good move. I think the song lends itself to this rather than guitar. I.m not a keyboardist and I dont know how hard it is to accomplish that track, but after listening to the few bars I think you can handle it and I'm sure it will sound great and you can dictate that direction.

I think we can keep adding to the zip and its important we keep the tracks relatively dry for subsequent mixing.

As for my bad tuning....I always use pipes, but for this kind of project, of course ...those reading this will learn from my mistakes for future projects.

I have updated my download with the in tune files.
http://www.mp3cart.co.uk/neverletagoodthingslipaway.zip

great
 
cybergord said:
Hi Mart[1001]
I have listened again to your first mix and I think its the way to go. I can auralize the piano rolls and power chords and i think it would be a good move. I think the song lends itself to this rather than guitar. I.m not a keyboardist and I dont know how hard it is to accomplish that track, but after listening to the few bars I think you can handle it and I'm sure it will sound great and you can dictate that direction.

I think we can keep adding to the zip and its important we keep the tracks relatively dry for subsequent mixing.

As for my bad tuning....I always use pipes, but for this kind of project, of course ...those reading this will learn from my mistakes for future projects.

I have updated my download with the in tune files.
http://www.mp3cart.co.uk/neverletagoodthingslipaway.zip

great
Click to expand...
It's funny you should say this because I've been messing with a bass tonight. I wanted to complete the piano but it's hard to feel the rythm against your guitar and so I needed to just lay something down I could work to, so I decided to add a bass to the whole track to which I could follow...you know, just a long one note per bar thing just to give the root notes. Anyway I dug out a synth patch that I built sometime last year and recorded it. Then I thought...'nah, it's too electronic', but I left it down anyway and went back to the piano...and the more I heard it, the more it seemed to fit.

But anyway...like I said earlier, I intend to record two or three different versions of each track and hopefully, others will follow...which will allow us to select from quite a large library and build the final song with this.

I was hoping to upload something for ya but I aint gonna have the time now...it's 2am and I've got to be up at 8, yet I still wanna spend half hour on it. :eek:
I've started to notice your vocal is dropping out of sync now. This is because, I've dropped your guitar from the current project and although you played to a metronome, you still sang to the emotion of your guitar which is natural and so I was thinking of snipping and moving the vocal about to compensate...you'll see what I mean when I upload somat.

So I'm gonna have a quick mess with that now and hopefully I'll upload something tomorrow afternoon.

Mart.
 
I had already retuned guitar and vox . . . dropping them 29 cents got pretty close to the mark.

I'm doing a bit of experimenting with the track . . . just trying out a few ideas. Power chords? well, maybe, maybe not.
 
gecko zzed said:
I had already retuned guitar and vox . . . dropping them 29 cents got pretty close to the mark.

I'm doing a bit of experimenting with the track . . . just trying out a few ideas. Power chords? well, maybe, maybe not.
Click to expand...

Yea...I found 27 to be best. So we're about right I think considering the guitar was slightly out with itself.
 
Right, I've just uploaded what I have so far.
It's all rough and unmixed, no EQ etc. The piano still needs some work but I thought I'd let you hear what I've done up to now.

If anyone wants any of the tracks in .wav format...just PM me.

Would be interesting to hear what anybody else has come up with so far ?

Cybergord, hope you don't mind but, I added a hint of vibrato to your vocals just as an experiment...I think it helps them to sit in the mix. Also, at the end of the song where you go D into C,B,Bb,G...I decided to go C,Bm,Bb,D cause it just feels more natural and sounds better IMO but I don't mind changing it if you disagree.

Would love some feedback guys ?
http://1001music.co.uk/temp/neverletagoodthing.htm
I've overwritten the previous files btw so refresh you links.

Mart.
 
Hi Mart
I think what youve done so far is brilliant. I like it.

I like the bass too.....its got great potential in this style and I need to rerecord the vocal to compensate. Nothing better than first idea best idea.

I dont care about the little changes you make, Im easy.

I'll listen again tomorrow and post again.
Great work.
 
Good mate...I'm pleased you like it.

Just one thing though, if you do decide to re-record the vocals...spend the afternoon doing it...make it a session. Record a couple of versions, loop the backing for verse one and record it two or three times(all in one take) and the same for the rest of the song. This is how the pro's do it in the studio. Don't matter how jumbled it all ends up, if you have chorus's before verse's and the same verse 3 times all on one wav it doesn't matter...edit the gaps out so that there's only a couple of seconds between the verses etc to save file space...as long as you're in time, I can work through anything else. Oh yea...and always convert vocal wavs to mono to save more file space and d-load times...you only have one mouth eh :)

This way it can all be patched up...the best recording artist's in the world sometimes have a 4 bar lyric that was actually pieced together from two different sessions. Sometimes the first two bars were brilliant but the last bar of a previous recording was better.

For example...when you sing 'I watched the bubble burst and disappear'...the way you sang 'I watched', really makes the hairs stand up mate cause you describe the fascination but also the blindness all in those two words and could you ever capture that again ?
Incidently...that line triggered the cello in the track and if you listen, I try to do something 'moving' with the cello just after that lyric to try to fill the emotion. It's such a sad line that one mate...brilliant stuff.

Mart.
 
Yah Mart I understand what you are saying about the vocals. I am aware of the right diction and above all capturing the emotions. I'm not the best of vocalists but I intend to do the best I can on this track. After all, for this track the vocals are for life.

Now that you have committed to the keyboard track, try and perfect and develop and like you say ....compliment the emotion where you can.
There's a lot of tweeak to attend to....and they will become apparent after I rerecord the vocal. Spaces, stops, and dynamics and I'm sure this will become a masterpeice.

Compliments always welcome, and I'm once more enthusiastic with this song.
Thanks

Have to be the weekend to do the vocals again.
 
New Vocal WAV

I did my best and recorded a new dry vocal.
It's here as a WAV download.

http://www.mp3cart.co.uk/new_vocals.wav

Right click save as

The timing is a little late, so may need that adjusting.

It was recorded to Mart's piano version and not to the guitar version

Your thoughts please.
 
cybergord said:
I did my best and recorded a new dry vocal.
It's here as a WAV download.
Click to expand...

This forum's been a little annoying the past few days in that, it doesn't always show me the new post and I had missed this. I've just downloaded it now.

Haven't had much chance to mess with the song over the last few days but I did last night. Mainly tidying up the piano a bit and starting work on a drum track. Will hope to get more done today and maybe upload something new late tonight.

Mart.

ps....Cybergord...did you notice that your soul motion thread has become active again and that people are asking for a link to the files as they want to have a go?
 
Right...

So I've updated my links. I've worked on the slow down at the end of the song which means that I've had to update all tracks...so refresh your links.

I've mainly tidied the piano abit and now added a drum track. Remember it's still all unmixed though. I might try to mix the song a bit tomorrow but not sure. I haven't had chance to incorperate your new vocals Cybergord yet and so the song is still using the previous.

The drum track(wet), is a stereo mp3 to save webspace but I can obviously supply each drum as an individual and dry wav, should anybody require....though I'm beginning to think that I'm all on my own in this project...but so be it if that's the case.

Mart.

ps...I'm not sure about the piano intro, it was just to fill in for the missing guitar....what do you reckon?

Edit:-oOps...a link might help too eh :-)
http://1001music.co.uk/temp/neverletagoodthing.htm
 
Hi Mart....you're doing a grand job transposing this to keyboards.
The more I listen the more I like the intro as piano.....i was thinking of electric guitar for that. Seems like we are alone on this project......but all the mixers will arrive later and what we have now is not bad at all......I need a while to reflect.

What I dont like is the electronic drums and the hissing shakers. I'd prefer real drum samples much like the original groove. However your groove and fills are ok. Maybe there's someone out there who could construct something....i dont know, I'll listen on hifi tomorrow.

Overall ...youre doing a brilliant job mate.
 
Yea mate...I know what you mean about the drums though I will just add that, remember these are unmixed and untreated. They are very digital sounding atm but with a bit of EQ, tube and a touch of distortion, they will sound much better. Would be good to get a real drummer involved though but if not...
Anyway, I'll do some work on um tomorrow, what I've got so far is just the notes, not the sound.....and that's a hi hat not a bloody shaker :p
 
Cybergord
When you record your vocals mate...do you record them straight into a recorder and save as wav etc, or do you record them and then export them from a DAW or somat?
The reason I ask is cause you may remember we had problems with the tempo with the 'Soul motion' remixing thread. You said that the tempo was 132, but the wav files we downloaded were actually 120bpm and so we all had to increase the rate of our DAW's to compensate.
I just wonder if the same thing is happening with the vocals you're supplying for this song because one again, I find the timing to be out...it's not far out and I can do what I normally do and splice the file into individual parts which I then paste in the right place but what I can't correct, is where you sing a two or more syllable word or hold a note. It always sounds rushed.

I mean maybe you should check your settings in your DAW to make sure that you're exporting(or even importing) at a natural rate. If you sing 'good thiiiiiing' but then speed the rate up to fit a tempo...your DAW will squeeze the word up and so you'll get 'good thiing' and that's how it sounds to me. Like I say, I can work around it but it would just be a shame to be losing quality this way as that's what you do when you squeeze or stretch words to fit.

Anyway, I've uploaded a rough mixdown I did today, it's not great and listening to it again now my ears are rested...I can hear faults(I must sort that snare out), but it was just really an experiment to see if I can get the drum track to sit better. I was gonna add the vocals but then ran into the problem I've mentioned above. Anyway...see what you think.


Mart.
 
Mate ...its sounding really great!.....I had a little sing with it and its grooving and lively, yet haunting.

As for my vocals....Im using Acid 5 ....i just imported your last mp3 without vox and sang directly to that at 80bpm, so either way it should be lined up to yours....then I simply exported the wav file ....I wasnt aware there could be timeshifts....i dont think Acid does that. What else can I do?....see if you can line it up.....or we'll have to chop it up best we can.

Well done mate is coming on to be a classic.
 
Ok...just a quick update.
I've uploaded a rough mixdown with vocals aswell as updating the instrumental mixdown. Haven't had much time today and did most of the work tonight(through headphones). Worked on the vocals, compressing, added a gate to cut the gasp for breath inbetween words which compression amplifies and added some verb. I've worked abit on the very end of the song as I felt it ended badley(timing wise) and other than limiting the piano abit(too loud in places), that's about it.

I'll hopefully get more mixing time tomorrow as I know the levels are wrong atm. Anyway...see what you think:-
http://1001music.co.uk/temp/neverletagoodthing.htm

Mart.
 
Last edited:
yah...its really coming together now......it will be a pleasure to mix.
Ive spotted a bum singing note but the vocals seem to sit ok.
Excellent.
 
Cybergord
I spent a few hours today mixing, mostly just trying to get a better mix, the kick, the snare, more vocal cleaning and generally trying to get a more commercial loudness and feel. But the most significant change, I've spent the night adding a new instrument...I'll let you spot it yourself but it's another headphone job...so it might not be sitting too well in the mix. I'll have to review it tomorrow, but see what you think...do you like it or should I go back to what I had before...I can also change it's overall sound quite significantly. Anyway, same link:-
http://1001music.co.uk/temp/neverletagoodthing.htm

Mart.
 
What is it?...a stylophone through a distortion??..haha
That peice is very important and needs to be special
I may have to record some electric guitar...satriani style
I did like the piano you did......still not sure about it.....perhaps the old hammond style organ?

Yah the mix is much better.....i want to replace the vocal 'everybody wants...'
its too out of tune.

The tracks youve nailed are beautiful and the vocal echo is perfect. Almost there.
 
Actually theres nothing wrong with my vocal, so i will leave it at that.

I would love to invite a clever guitarist to add their touch to the intro thing, something clean or dirty with a touch of whammy bar, brian setzer style maybe ha.....similar to what I can hear you (mart) doing in the middle

What do you think?
 
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