Now then

S

singlespeak

New member
Hi all,
this one's always been hard to mix. I went back to it after I thought about comments on caveman blues and I think I improved it. Removed most of the compression and limiting, and tried to summon and channel general renewed self-criticism. If there's anything you can think of, do let me know. There's some clicks, I know, I thoroughly hate them. And I need to resing (blooming botched lyric). But hey, look at the upside: no fake drums! :laughings:

It's about someone who lost someone very important to them. It's sad but it tries to break out of its sadness.
Well enjoy now then.
 
Unusual tune and sound. Never heard the likes of it. Interesting, and good.

But my one big nit is, as usual, that the texture is really thick all the way through. I think that if you made a concentrated effort...some focused listening...that you could acquire an instinct for using space...and thinness...to vary the soundscape somewhat. The song is very intense all the way through....and that makes for a listen not as pleasurable as it could be, I think.

As usual, good sounds and recording. Just some arrangement issues. MHO

Less is more, often.
 
jeffmaher said:
Unusual tune and sound. Never heard the likes of it. Interesting, and good.
Click to expand...
That's... awesome!
jeffmaher said:
... vary the soundscape somewhat. The song is very intense all the way through....and that makes for a listen not as pleasurable as it could be, I think.
Click to expand...
I agree with the soundscape variation. I will look into this as I write new songs. I've seen you post articles on here. If you know of any good ones about arrangement, that would be swell.
jeffmaher said:
Less is more, often.
Click to expand...
This is going to keep following me huh? More is also more, dammit! :D

Thanks jeffmaher.
 
http://blog.audiojungle.net/resources/60-ways-to-make-an-arrangement-richer/


http://deathbylollipop.com/forum/index.php?topic=544.0

http://www.ultimate-guitar.com/columns/the_guide_to/unique_song_arrangments.html


Use otherwise wasted time driving, and just listen to what's on the radio...flip around.

Focused listening.

Honestly, the best places to grab concept is from Bach string quartet, Mozart symphony, Ellington and Basie's stuff, etc. Sara McGlaughlin [sp?], Tori Amos, and Joni Mitchell are great employers of effective space.

But just about any successful tune has identifiable space in it. Search for the 'nothing'....or the thin parts, where a thread of melody and rythm carry the time. Listen for the up and down dynamic.

Listen!!!!
 
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The instrumentation was really cool. Liked the mixture of the sounds.

The biggest thing that struck me was the double tracked vocals. It takes plenty of practice, but you need to get that tighter. Use punch-ins or comping if you need to. But there were lots of spots where they were too loose.

I heard a couple of lip smacks too. Watch that and punch them out if needed.

I agree with the others comments. Cool ambiance to the song.
 
Jeff and others are right about this. Cool song, would be better thinned out. I think the doubled vox is a great place to start. One well recorded vocal track could give this a more intimate feel which would lend well to the overall song. I like how the song progresses thoughout - gives a listenable yet complex sound.
 
@Nakatira:
I'm glad you liked it!

@TripleM:
aye, the layering of the vocals is loose. I don't necessarily mind them being 'off' so much, but I can see that it might jar on the first couple of listens. Resinging is needed, extra care will be taken with the glue.

@auburncatfish:
One vocal track? I'll have to disagree with you on that one. The harmony in the voice stays. I like the sound of vocal harmonies very much and I think I did a pretty good job (sloppy, but salvageable). I think the song would suffer from removing a vocal. Subjective, I suppose? I do like "listenable yet complex" though, that kind of fits my agenda ;)

@jeff:
I'm trying, I'm tryiiiiing!!! :)
I'm off to a bar, I'll be thinking of your advice. For a couple of hours at least :drunk:

@all:
many thanks
 
Another interesting composition...what struck me was, as different as this is from your last tune, it still has the same unusual style and feel to it which is your own...

The mix seems ok if maybe a bit dark? I like the idea of doubled vocals here but wonder if you might do more processing to one of the two tracks to get them to blend a bit better? You have a deep voice and the two voices together at times get quite boomy...maybe push one take back a bit and add more/different verb, EQ, delay or compression? I guess I would prefer to hear one take complimenting the other rather than competing with it. I dunno, just a thought.

I like your ideas, and am still trying to figure out your sound :)
 
Interesting in deed, nice song. But I think it sounds quite dull and muddy and distant. Probably because all the instruments (and vocals) are in quite low register and I think there is something wrong with the piano sound. Not sure if it is more because of instrumentation (how the chords are spread) and playing style or the piano itself, recording and mixing. It sounds kind of ugly and rusty but at the same time distant and not so well defined, and I dont like that combination. My first guess would be that to make it sound better to me you would have to avoid so thich chords in such a low register.

So I agree with heatmiser, though I would keep the vocals dark (I like their unique sound) and make the changes to the instrumentation rather.

But no offence, if I sounded rude it's because english isn't my native language and I my self like to get open straightforward criticism.
 
I recommend a shot of Jamison, followed by two Guinness. Opens the mind. :D

Heat also makes a really good point about register separation in the orchestration instruments. One of the articles linked mentions it, too.

If you were going for ultra dark, you achieved it!
 
Typing as I listen....

Don't like the sound of the piano in the intro. I think it comes off really narrow and thin and would love to hear a nice full sound. If it's a real piano that you mic'd, then nevermind. :o

Not a fan of the doubled vocals. It might work for parts of the song, like a chorus, but not throughout the whole song. It's especially difficult to listen when you've got sibilance on both vocal takes and they don't hit at the same time.

The low end is kind of mush. I hear the kick hitting, but there's no definition and nothing separating it from teh bass. I can appreciate the more is more concept, but everything has got to have its own space. Use EQ, pan and reverb to separate everthing out.

I love the wind-up clock in the intro, but don't pan it back and forth.

This is a very unique song, I listened to it several time already. thoroughly enjoyed it.

Thanks!!
 
The 2nd voice needs some de essing more than the 1st does. (what is it with sss tonight - might be my ears!)
The song ends up dense but you get there by building up so that's good. It's a popular enough trick to dropped a bundle of things out for a bit of a reset - experiment with it when you go from the double timed but back in - pull something else out. - you can reintroduce it again later - say - for example the bass end of the piano.
The vocals give me the impression of "almost" a dialogue between the listener & two protagonists.
The ending needs a little work for me - I'd probably have panned the last two sounds hard before they stopped as the stereo image was a little lopsided - could be my head though.
Good work!
 
Swell, thanks guys. Here goes.

@heatmiser:
Different but same unusual, that's really great, thanks. I was thinking of pushing one vocal back with eq and reverb, actually. I'll fool around with it and see if I can get some good results. As for trying to figure out my sound: that makes two of us.

@Joza:
Not rude at all; I thank you. Dull and muddy, I can see why you say that. You're not the first (or the last) to mention crappy piano sound. I'm not very happy with the piano I got, especially in this register. It's not a 'real one', no. I should've gotten a Korg, apparently. Probably out of my budget though. I don't eq it much, it's hard to do with a piano I find plus there's no fixing a crappy sound that way anyway. I also try not to eq my voice, I wouldn't know what to make it sound like. Dark is... ok I guess? :cool:

@jeffmaher:
Hah, it ended up being some Belgian beers.
Register separation, I knew there had to be a phrase for that. It's true I'm not used to thinking about that too much in terms of choosing sounds. I try in terms of eqing to get the really fighting ones out of each other's hair though. But one can't expect wonders.
Ultra dark is... ok I guess? :laughings:

@Chili:
See higher for comments about piano sound :)
The sibilance is indeed a problem. I tried applying a deesser but it started sounding as if I was singing right after a visit to the dentist. I gave up.
"I can appreciate the more is more concept..." that's funny!
"but everything has got to have its own space." that it does. It's already better than it used to be, I guess it can use some more work. The clock really sounded quite silly without the panning, for some reason. Too steady sounding for so fluid a concept as time. Just a gimmick though.

@rayc:
See higher for comments about sibilance :D
Yeah the end of the first double time, I've been slightly perturbed by that myself. Hadn't thought of the reset, it seems to miss a die-down I found. About the lopsided ending: that's interesting, I'll have a look at my meters.

That's it. Thanks again all.
 
Hmm, you said the piano is not real, so you didn't possibly happen to record it as a midi first? Or did you record it straight away as audio? In the first case you could send me the midi file and I could use my libraries to give you some options for a better piano sound. They wouldn't be perfect because every piano needs to be played differently, so the dynamics might sound a bit weird and so on, but I would still think it would propably sound better. But well, my guess is that you do not have a midi version of it.
 
Joza, no not midi, I'll never do midi pianos - a silly pride thing. It's an audio recording. Thanks for offering your help though!
 
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