Small Beginnings

[kcearl]

well its been a while...and I think Im either going deaf or have collected enough earwax to make a case of mcvities jaffa cakes

in an attempt to make this sound more analogue Ive discovered a ground loop hum and some realistic hiss, DI boxes are on order...it also crackles at the beginning, I think my line mixer is packing up


...anyway nowt special..Im not sure the nebula plugs dont just make it sound muddy or if theres just too much bass...any comments gratefully received

 

[heatmiser]

My daughter is sitting just behind me working on some One Direction artwork or something and after about 1.5 seconds of this she asked, "Scottish Clown?".

Even I was surprised. It's been months hasn't it? She's 12 and is getting into dubstep now. Not sure what that says about that genre?

Anyway, what is this? Slower and more melodic...some of the same sounds worked in there, but lots of new ones too. It doesn't have nearly the same edge to it as earlier tracks, but still sounds really nice and full and balanced. Kind of sounds like an intro to something bigger maybe? Good to hear something from you.

 

[VomitHatSteve]

Sounds pretty good.

The wide pans on the bassy buzzes got a little old after a few iterations.

I like the transition to the super major key around 2:15.

An then a train whistle blew with perfect timing to be a pickup for the final note. That would have been a terrible choice for you to include had it not been ambient noise on my end!

 

[Lt. Bob]

well ..... I like it ..... really do.
I'm not familiar enough with the genre to have any useful mix comments but I like the piece quite a bit.
Glad to see ya' posting something musical KC.

 

[kcearl]

My daughter is sitting just behind me working on some One Direction artwork or something and after about 1.5 seconds of this she asked, "Scottish Clown?".

Even I was surprised. It's been months hasn't it? She's 12 and is getting into dubstep now. Not sure what that says about that genre?

Anyway, what is this? Slower and more melodic...some of the same sounds worked in there, but lots of new ones too. It doesn't have nearly the same edge to it as earlier tracks, but still sounds really nice and full and balanced. Kind of sounds like an intro to something bigger maybe? Good to hear something from you.

so nothing jump out in the mix?


Im using Nebula 3 plugs for the first time...theyre meant to give mixes a console feel but it takes an age to set them up before mixing, and Im not sure theres any sonic value I notice

They might be more noticable on a guitar track, and Im doing a 80s "Sisters of Mercy" style track with Okie...so Ill see what it does with them

thanks for listening Pete

 

[kcearl]

Sounds pretty good.

The wide pans on the bassy buzzes got a little old after a few iterations.

I like the transition to the super major key around 2:15.

An then a train whistle blew with perfect timing to be a pickup for the final note. That would have been a terrible choice for you to include had it not been ambient noise on my end!

lol....its not the most exciting track...I just needed something to mix...two new synths as well, a blofeld and a virus TI


I kinda liked the piano(s) and strings...both or from kontakt libraries....just starting to get into Komplete Ultimate though Ive had it for months


thanks for the comments Steve

 

[kcearl]

well ..... I like it ..... really do.
I'm not familiar enough with the genre to have any useful mix comments but I like the piece quite a bit.
Glad to see ya' posting something musical KC.

cheers Bob...plenty useful mix comments, you didnt say anything was wrong lol


I did this mostly on DT770 Pros to see if I could take my bad room out of the equation...I think it sounds a bit compressed/boxed in...but that could be my imagination (or the fact its really compressed), nothing really to play it back on here, except more monitors in bad rooms lol


It was more for a mix test than anything else...I think if I had a voiceover on the sperm meeting the egg I could use it as the soundtrack for an infomercial

 

[heatmiser]

so nothing jump out in the mix?


Im using Nebula 3 plugs for the first time...theyre meant to give mixes a console feel but it takes an age to set them up before mixing, and Im not sure theres any sonic value I notice

They might be more noticable on a guitar track, and Im doing a 80s "Sisters of Mercy" style track with Okie...so Ill see what it does with them

thanks for listening Pete

Nah, nothing jumps out as being off or bad at all. I mean, things are jumping out all over the place, but that is intentional.

As usual, you've lost me with all of the jargon...Nebula 3, kontakt, komplete, ??? Seems you're always using different stuff man. Next time try bass/guitar/drums

I'm cranking it now, and seeing your latest comment, I guess maybe it does sound a little boxy and over-compressed when at its busiest/loudest, but still cool sounding.

 

[Lt. Bob]

cheers Bob...plenty useful mix comments, you didnt say anything was wrong lol


I did this mostly on DT770 Pros to see if I could take my bad room out of the equation...I think it sounds a bit compressed/boxed in...but that could be my imagination (or the fact its really compressed), nothing really to play it back on here, except more monitors in bad rooms lol


It was more for a mix test than anything else...I think if I had a voiceover on the sperm meeting the egg I could use it as the soundtrack for an infomercial

You have me curious about some of your procedures.
Do you use stuff like maschine? I'm intrigued by all those work pads with the multicolored buttons. Do you use that kinda stuff?
If so ..... tell me about it.

 

[kcearl]

Nah, nothing jumps out as being off or bad at all. I mean, things are jumping out all over the place, but that is intentional.

As usual, you've lost me with all of the jargon...Nebula 3, kontakt, komplete, ??? Seems you're always using different stuff man. Next time try bass/guitar/drums

I'm cranking it now, and seeing your latest comment, I guess maybe it does sound a little boxy and over-compressed when at its busiest/loudest, but still cool sounding.

lol...next one has guitars and a bass...but boy I dont play them that well...they sound good though

Nebula 3 Pro uses samples of hardware...but not static like convolution reverbs...and not modelling...it uses kernels which are more dynamic...problem is they also are the most CPU/RAM intensive plug ins Ive ever came across...theres a spring reverb that brings an overclocked quad core to its knees with just one instance of the plug in...it took me over an hour just to bounce the tracks for mixing...line in dynamics>three seperate bands of EQ>pan plug>tape sat>master bus, on each track that has to be bounced first


but I like technology...so Ill just keep at it

 

[kcearl]

You have me curious about some of your procedures.
Do you use stuff like maschine? I'm intrigued by all those work pads with the multicolored buttons. Do you use that kinda stuff?
If so ..... tell me about it.

I use Maschine in most tracks..I also use it as a midi controller..the coloured sections pertain to different groups

Kontakt is just a sample player that has its own libraries, its prolly the best sample player out there, hardware or software...maschine is a sample player too but it has its own sequencer and is more beat orientated...the drums on this were played live with an alesis pad (hence them being pretty basic lol)

This track was more to learn some stuff...I didnt play it live other than the drums initially, and bounced the moog and prophet...its sequenced it all in Ableton so one section would follow another without me really touching it...like it would in a live set up I suppose...its a bit tedious at times but fun to learn..the Virus can run multiple instances at the same time, its covers three instruments in this

I use a launchpad as well which is a clip trigger...its the green buttons on the right

nothing uncommon, just different when your more used to traditional instruments

actually its way more complicated sounding than the final product

 

[Lt. Bob]

so you can set those triggers to play a particular pattern or sound and just hit them when you want that sound?
If it's patterns do they automatically line up with each other timewise to make the transition seamless?

So I could have ( to make it easy) a verse on one button and it would just repeat until I hit the button for bridge?
I know that's way simplified but is that one of it's capabilities?

I'm thinking of fooling around with this stuff to expand the types of gigs I could do.

 

[kcearl]

so you can set those triggers to play a particular pattern or sound and just hit them when you want that sound?
If it's patterns do they automatically line up with each other timewise to make the transition seamless?

So I could have ( to make it easy) a verse on one button and it would just repeat until I hit the button for bridge?
I know that's way simplified but is that one of it's capabilities?

that is not simplified...thats the basis of a sequencer like Ableton

It works two ways (which i sway to 50/50)

One is a traditional arranger like Reaper

the other is a scene view...each box can be as many bars as you like, they can contain any automation etc and can be one shots or looped...you jut record straight into them..

then you can either trigger them from a controller or you can sequence them to follow other clips in whatever order you dictate


the fun part of triggering them is you essentially arrange the track on the fly...great for sketching or seeing if parts work..you can trigger all the scenes in one section, or trigger/mute individual parts

the tempo is all controller centrally and audio can be stretched or shrunk to fit


then, if you wish you can record the whole sequence, or clip launch, into the arrangement view and treat it like Reapers view...either way works

 

[Lt. Bob]

last question (for now) .... what kinda memory does it have?
Could I sequence enough stuff to do an entire show?

 

[kcearl]

last question (for now) .... what kinda memory does it have?
Could I sequence enough stuff to do an entire show?

On maschine...no, its midi implimation is garbage for external stuff...i also has no memory of its own

But on Ableton Live? Easily...its what it was originally designed for...you could even trigger tracks and scenes from a foot controller or an ipad clipped to your mic stand...in a live scenario it excels Bob

 

[Lt. Bob]

On maschine...no, its midi implimation is garbage for external stuff...i also has no memory of its own

But on Ableton Live? Easily...its what it was originally designed for...you could even trigger tracks and scenes from a foot controller or an ipad clipped to your mic stand...in a live scenario it excels Bob

cool .... thanks ..... I have all my seq's as MIDI files so it sounds like I could just import them and break them up into whatever parts I want them to be broken into. It would give me a lot more flexibility than the keyboard I currently use.
I'ma gonna check it out ..... be expecting some more questions in a couple of weeks.

 

[kcearl]

Please ask away mate...

 

[rayc]

I became wrapped up in the chat about technology & forgot to listen.
I'm back & listening now.
BIG bottom end.
I enjoy the way you use the stereo image - I'm a sucker for panning etc.
It's my Summer of Love/Canterbury Scene influences I suppose.
I'm listening on headphones but don't hear anything boxy or overcompressed.
The be completely honest this track, to my ears, is calling out for a vocal melody.
I know there's a melody already, which I really like, and snatches of dialogue etc but I can hear a good strong voice over the top.

 

[robgreen]

Hey KC, great to hear something from you again man. It's been ages. As Heat says, this is quite different stylistically from your album sound - less urban decay than usual.

I liked it a lot. The low end is really full and warm sounding without being muddy and plenty of cool textures as usual. I was listening on headphones too, but didn't hear any mud. The only part I couldn't get along with were the skippy hi-hat parts. They sound kind of one dimensional to me and grated after a while. The rest sounds really good - piano, strings and vocal sample all great.

Interesting to see your workstation too, even if the whole thing looks utterly alien to me...

 

[Chili]

This is more how I like the electronica/avant garde. Nice melodic flowing sense. This must be the token love song for your next CD, right?

Only one mix comment. Listening both loud and soft, the bottom end sounds great when played loud. The room is thumpin and it's all good. When played soft, the bottom end is over powering. I found myself adjusting the volume to find a balance between just the right amount of thump and too loud for the sleeping family.

It would be cool if you turn Steve on to a new way of triggering his backing tracks. I remember a guy came here many years ago looking for solutions to replace an old keyboard he felt locked into. He did something similar to Steve and had 1000's of songs in midi format on floppy disks to use on one brand of keyboard. He bought like 10 spare motherboards for that keyboard in case it ever fried.

Anyways, good song. I like the change of pace.

Hey Pete, my son is twelve also and getting into dubs, too. He likes that Freaky Clown CD... ha ha ha