Two in a month...on a roll

[kcearl]

Listening as I type. Love the tone on the synths - they have a slight graininess to them which is really beautiful. Arrangement and composition are great as usual.

A little more of that slow piano that comes in around 2.20 would be nice.

The only thing a little off to me is the drums. Like mine on my latest mix, they're a little clean and light I think. You able to beef them up at all and give them more body/low end?

I like the direction you're going in with these latest two a lot though. You pulling them together for an EP or anything?

thanks Rob...this is kinda the direction Im aiming for at least for a while. Been collecting some eighties synths, samplers, adding some drum machines and got a reel to reel, and some other tape gadgets. Trying to get more into sound design than worrying about huge mixes and arrangements

I get what you are saying about the drums, its a bit of a strange beat as I didnt use the kick as much as the rhythm would dictate...no idea what it would be called. I also have an analogue kick just under the acoustic kick but when I match this up with some eighties stuf it was too modern...these drums are becoming a bit of a bugbear...They were sampled into an 1988 sampler so they shouldnt be too clean, a lot of its me learning the gear tbh

---------- Update ----------

So you updated the old link with a new file?

The drums do sound better balanced.

yup...I was on it like a fast thing on something

 

[kcearl]

Hey man. That's a catchy song title...? lol

Anyway, this sounds pretty cool. I've listened a bunch of times now. The main synths are very warm and fat, the strings sound great when they first come in. The piano is super cool, but I wish it were louder and featured more on top a bit.

I could've used more low end to the mix generally, and the drums in particular were wicked lite. I felt like the snare and hats (particularly the hats) were way too loud, and the kick too absent.

Might just be me, but I was loving it when the drums weren't playing, but found they just took over when they were. They do have kind of an '80's tone to them, but that didn't gel well for me with the rest of the sounds which evoked more of a '90's thang.

Still a winner overall. Well done.

My brother in law from my first marriage walked in front of that train in 1992, so I hope it isnt too catchy lol


Im thinking of more soundscaping in my next track or the one after and will resist the urge to add drums. Using the recorders and only analogue is getting some nice results...I really want a piano, but this is all done in my guestroom at the moment so thatll have to wait.


I dont think the drums are going to appeal to everyone...it was the sound I was looking for...I think if I use acoustic samples again Ill add guitar to balance them out with the synths, maybe dig my old bass out too. I get what youre saying with the piano, I preferred the piano arrangement in my last track

thanks for listening and the comments mate

 

[heatmiser]

My brother in law from my first marriage walked in front of that train in 1992, so I hope it isnt too catchy lol

Aw shit. Sorry man. I didn't know...I thought it was an address or something...really no idea. I'll shut up now.

 

[kcearl]

Ha ha...its not a taboo, I dont know why I wanted to write a tune about it, not that youd tell it was about that. He was a nice guy though

 

[Robus]

Very nice composition. The groove is solid, man. Levels are pretty well balanced. I dig the electric piano patch. The 80s really did produce some of the nicest synth tones ever. I'm hearing a little tape wobble here and there, intro notably. Is that an effect or an equipment issue? The cymbals are a letdown, kind of tinny and lofi. Sounds like synth drums--that is one thing I don't miss about that era. It would be worth substituting some nice sounding sample cymbals. Good stuff, keep them coming.

 

[VomitHatSteve]

Ha ha...its not a taboo, I dont know why I wanted to write a tune about it, not that youd tell it was about that. He was a nice guy though

It certainly makes the "I don't wanna live anymore" lyric darker tho...

I kinda disagree with rob. The drums are light, but I wouldn't call them clean. They've got a lo-fi, analogue sound that conflicts pretty severely (but in a good way) with the calm tone of all the synths.

 

[kcearl]

Very nice composition. The groove is solid, man. Levels are pretty well balanced. I dig the electric piano patch. The 80s really did produce some of the nicest synth tones ever. I'm hearing a little tape wobble here and there, intro notably. Is that an effect or an equipment issue? The cymbals are a letdown, kind of tinny and lofi. Sounds like synth drums--that is one thing I don't miss about that era. It would be worth substituting some nice sounding sample cymbals. Good stuff, keep them coming.

This is the problem with you guys...i can stick drum machine stuff up and no one says boo, but try and get more realistic sounds and youre all too experienced

I was pretty chuffed with them, I knew the pattern, or lack of kick in the pattern, might be a problem though

People dig the seventies synth..i have a couple of reussues, but its that eighties tone I like. Good ears on the tape flutter..yup its an effect, the first synth part is recorded to vhs, the mix to a reel to reel. Im going to try and really dig into this soundshaping

 

[kcearl]

It certainly makes the "I don't wanna live anymore" lyric darker tho...

I kinda disagree with rob. The drums are light, but I wouldn't call them clean. They've got a lo-fi, analogue sound that conflicts pretty severely (but in a good way) with the calm tone of all the synths.

The samples, which are the best samples Ive heard (kontakts abbey road) were all sampled into the s1000...i didnt think they sounded that clean...but the bit rate and samplers ad/da takes away their realism I think

 

[rayc]

Keith,
I have a bunch of Mellotron samples - 7 sec mono wav files ripped from actual 'Tron tapes in a variety of types & across the "tron keyboard. At present I just cut & paste them into a project but what would be a cheap & effective way to trigger them for recording?

 

[kcearl]

I wouldnt recommend hardware Ray...the affordable end, which are the machines I like, are prehistoric with very very clunky workflows and no easy way to transfer files from PCs unless you are willing to resample..floppy drives, zip drives, jaz drives...yuk, love it

But theres a reason old akai s950 still go from anything like $500-$800, the sound, 12bit wonderful!

If you were to dip your toes the akais are better with percussive (no resonant filter in the early models), Id go with an E-mu...maybe an esi2000, seen them go for around the $100 mark...or an akai s5000 with the usb connection, they can handle wav files straight from your pc...$250 and upward. Very clean sounding though, not much different than a software sampler in sound.

D16 do a software sampler and as far as I know its emulations are great...i use sampletank ot kontakt for software instruments myself...i have some fantastic mellotron samples in sampletank

 

[DM60]

Listened on HPs and then on full stereo speakers.

On the primary synth, just a thought, if you reduced a little between 300-500 so it wasn't as muddy. When it was the primary instrument, it seemed just a tad on the muddy side. I wouldn't say it was muddy as I don't know what your intent was, more of a suggestion.

Otherwise, I thought it sounded good overall.

 

[kcearl]

Listened on HPs and then on full stereo speakers.

On the primary synth, just a thought, if you reduced a little between 300-500 so it wasn't as muddy. When it was the primary instrument, it seemed just a tad on the muddy side. I wouldn't say it was muddy as I don't know what your intent was, more of a suggestion.

Otherwise, I thought it sounded good overall.

I know exactly what youre saying with it being so brassy. It isnt EQ'd at all, I just used the synths HP filter. If it was playing amongst others in the mix Id definitely take some of the mids out...but as it was I wanted its full texture. Shouldve maybe cut some back when the bass comes in...but celery...I mean c'est la vie

 

[robgreen]

The samples, which are the best samples Ive heard (kontakts abbey road) were all sampled into the s1000...i didnt think they sounded that clean...but the bit rate and samplers ad/da takes away their realism I think

I think it's because in my head I can hear the drums having that DJ Shadow/Beastie Boys type beat where it's really dirtied up and the kick and snare hit you hard. It's clean in comparison with that, but of course none of you are privy to the things I think, but don't type...

I'd figured the title was a railway journey, but of course not the tragic meaning behind it. Wow, awful.

Hope you put these recent ones together in an EP or something. once you're done.

 

[kcearl]

Yeah a more "breaks" kind of sound would keep it retro but modern. Its probably the way Ill go...im not sure why i was so firmly set in having it sound eighties, its not like the areangement is.

Still you live and learn...rather than being genre specific Im trying to find my sound...which is about time considering I started this six years ago lol

It was a tragic thing, he spent the night with his sister and myself the night before, we never knew how deeply unhappy he was with the world...until the day after. Part of the new tunes is Im picking an important event in my life and writing about it. The connections arent obvious but its good excercise in pushing myself to finish things and have a direction. The last track was about my mother and fathers divorce...Im such a cheery fucker