Members Anderton Posted June 2, 2014 Members Share Posted June 2, 2014 Hey esteemed colleagues...I've been working on a song and have a deadline of Wednesday night. If I miss that I have another window in early July, but I'll be away during a lot of June so if I can wrap this up now, it would really help. There's no real video, I wanted to post this in time to get your comments. The length of the song is fixed so I'll start on the video tomorrow night. I think the song is mostly there but would greatly appreciate any insights from the SSS Production Squad before signing off on this, given your track record of extraordinarily helpful comments. Thanks!!!!!! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aBccSoLDiGs Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members rasputin1963 Posted June 2, 2014 Members Share Posted June 2, 2014 Great song. Groovy "Township Step" groove. I wonder what would happen if, during the verses, you had an unobtrusive single-note counterpoint on the Hammond B4, with wide vibrato, either a precise line, or an "aleatory" fill. It would be a big ask of course, but I'd love to hear a black female voice doing some harmonies with your lines. Who knew you spoke French? Awesome. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moderators Lee Knight Posted June 2, 2014 Moderators Share Posted June 2, 2014 Very nice! Sounds great. If it were me, and it isn't, but if it were, I'd... Differentiate between t he 1st rhythm guitar and the 1st single note guitar. They sound too similar. The single note really nails that African sound so I'd leave that alone and use some sweet tape saturation to get that rhythm strumming electric smoothed out a bit and perhaps attenuate the top and get a nice tape bump in the lo-mid hi-bass area. Maybe more of a distinct cabinet sound as well. Put it in a great sounding convo room. The guitar where it is and its room verb at The drums are great but have a fairly polite outlook. I think part of that is the gated quality of the verb. I think I'd go a bit more brash and natural room in your verb choice. Like XTC Black Sea. Same with the snare eq. It could crack a bit more. Right now it's all pop and gated room. Go CRACK! Bold. The kick: go BIG. It's such a sparse yet important part of this groove. It really needs to go... GOONK!... GOONK!... GOONK!... GOONK!... On that kick I'd go trad eq of scoop the 300-400 and boost 80 and 4k and 10k. Make each 1 and 3 push the groove like a 100 dancers chanting WHOO! WHOO!. Perhaps double just 1 and 3 with a sub kick sample as well. Shake the groove. And I absolutely LOVE the vocal. I love the style. You've nailed it! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moderators Lee Knight Posted June 2, 2014 Moderators Share Posted June 2, 2014 Oh... and I'd narrow the brass patch so it is tucked inside the panorama of guitars, etc. It sounds too wide and diffuse. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Anderton Posted June 2, 2014 Author Members Share Posted June 2, 2014 Very nice! Sounds great. If it were me, and it isn't, but if it were, I'd... Differentiate between the 1st rhythm guitar and the 1st single note guitar. Excellent point and excellent suggestions. I used the Melody Maker for both. The drums are great but have a fairly polite outlook. I think part of that is the gated quality of the verb. I think I'd go a bit more brash and natural room in your verb choice. Interestingly there was no reverb choice and no gating, that's all room sound. There is no processing added to the drums except some limiting and a light high end lift. What's also interesting is I received another comment that the drums were too aggressive. AND, they're loops I made from individual drum hits so while I could de-construct the loops and separate out the parts, that would be very time-consuming. But also, this is a demo song for a construction kit so it needs to be based on what I'm using and for legal reasons, the drum hits have to used in a mixed context snd can't be isolated. That said, I'm pretty sure I can use EQ on the loop to make it crack more, and can goose the kick. I don't think there's anything I can do about the room, they're baked into the one-shots I used. Perhaps double just 1 and 3 with a sub kick sample as well. Thats a great workaround and very doable. I have a bunch of TR-808- type sounds I synthesized in Sound Forge and some of them go pretty deep. The comment about horns makes sense too, but then I might need to widen the guitars a little bit. There's a lot going on in the mids with all the guitar tracks. However, applying your suggestion about the rhythm guitar might be enough by itself. Thanks! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members UstadKhanAli Posted June 3, 2014 Members Share Posted June 3, 2014 I have to play this really quietly on computer speakers right now, so I can't make any definitive judgments. Overall, the feel is really good, and uh, your French pronunciation seems spot on. The character and quality of the bass sounds great. I think I could also hear some more oomph on the kick as well, and a little more crack on the snare. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Anderton Posted June 3, 2014 Author Members Share Posted June 3, 2014 I wonder what would happen if, during the verses, you had an unobtrusive single-note counterpoint on the Hammond B4, with wide vibrato, either a precise line, or an "aleatory" fill. I'm going to give it a try, but not sure my keyboard sensibilities are up to the task. It would be a big ask of course, but I'd love to hear a black female voice doing some harmonies with your lines.. So would I! Actually a chorus, like this kind of music tends to do... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members ggm1960 Posted June 3, 2014 Members Share Posted June 3, 2014 I'm amazed at how good it sounds on the total crap speakers I have here at work! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Anderton Posted June 3, 2014 Author Members Share Posted June 3, 2014 I'm amazed at how good it sounds on the total crap speakers I have here at work! Good, the total crap speaker reality test contingent checks it! Not to sound too rah-rah Gibson, but my mixes have become a lot more transportable since switch over to KRK stuff - VXT speakers and the KNS8400. The mitigating factor is that Phil turned me on to the headphones And Ras, the Hammond didn't work but a lot of this music uses DX7ish synth parts...I'm going to give that a try, because the counterpoint idea seemed like it might make sense. Lee and Ken, the ideas re guitars, drums, and horns are implemented and improve the song. This is why I literally don't want to let a song go out into the world until the SSS Production Squad has weighed in. Sure, it's a fun thing, but these comments are valid and helpful. Every time I'm amazed how making just a few tweaks improves the song dramatically. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moderators Lee Knight Posted June 4, 2014 Moderators Share Posted June 4, 2014 Word up, Maestro! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members AlamoJoe Posted June 4, 2014 Members Share Posted June 4, 2014 sounds very Gipsy Kingish! and while I have no idea what you're saying, I like the way you're sayin' it! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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