my latest effort

[Z3R0T0N1N]

http://www.wusik.com/song.php?id=1127&stream=y

this is like a final draft i suppose.
is it worth finishing in your opinion?
any comments?
criticism, or suggestions?

cheers for listening.

[arke]

Hmm ... i like it

I like what you did with the drums, and I think the rhodes fit in really well. I think the Guitar-Pad-thing is a bit out of character, but it still fits (and I still like it )

[Z3R0T0N1N]

thanx arke
by guitar pad thing, do you mean the sound at the beginning, or that sharp, FM sounding synth later on? that one I might lower or eq it differently, but i like the first one how it is, i think.
something i am curious about is what people think of the e-bass. Bass is something i have struggled with for some reason, and for a long time i didn't even use any proper bass, but i am trying to get better at it. I am trying to put it in my tracks now, because it adds something that i really love. I have always been a huge fan of Meat Beat Manifesto, and he/they are great with basslines.

[danielmm]

Very interesting piece....I like your choice of sounds....somehow out of charactor for the melody but you manage to bring it all together. What did you use .....


"SAVE CANADA : KILL STEVEN HARPER" a little extream don't you think...the guy hasn't even been in power one day.
Cheers,
from your brothers one province to the right....literally.

dano

[Z3R0T0N1N]

not extreme enough, in my opinion. I would prefer 'torture and kill steven harper', but the torture part would not really help the country.
anyway, i changed it temporarily to something perhaps a bit more meaningful.

I am glad you find the track interesting.
I used lot's of little drum hist and synth noises overdriven and tweaked for rythms, a couple custom break samples, and drones.
VST plugins were:
instruments: Lazysnake, SW Performer, Shortcircuit, Invader, KarmaFX Synth Modular.
there's a chopped up beat from the WarDrums sample library.
FX: Classic Reverb, Ambience, BuzzComp GeneComp3, and ANACOMP beta2, KarmaFX filter, and others but i can't remember right now.

thanx for the comments

[shamann]

This has the makings of a great track, Gabriel. Except, for me, the electric piano is killing it. It's swamping the mix, and I think the source of some clipping. Try lowering its volume, and Eq'ing it down around 250 to 400Hz. Right now it's hiding all the cool detail in the drums and the bright synth accents.

[Z3R0T0N1N]

hi shamann:
i really apreciate tips like this. I am largely self taught, except what i learned from David Collings back in the day, and mixing is definitely not my strong point

A new version is uploaded, with a few changes : ac. guitar (lifted from world of skin ) is eq'd better, and i did what you suggested with the electric piano... you were pretty much bang-on with your advice, too. It sounded better right away.
stil have to work on it though
Can you recommend any e-books or tutorials on mixing and/or per-track eq?

cheers.

[danielmm]

hi shamann:
i really apreciate tips like this. I am largely self taught, except what i learned from David Collings back in the day, and mixing is definitely not my strong point

A new version is uploaded, with a few changes : ac. guitar (lifted from world of skin ) is eq'd better, and i did what you suggested with the electric piano... you were pretty much bang-on with your advice, too. It sounded better right away.
stil have to work on it though
Can you recommend any e-books or tutorials on mixing and/or per-track eq?

cheers.

Check out the Izotope website for tips on mixing...there's a pdf you dl on the Ozone page....fyi....dano

[bluedad]

good work, I like this.

[shamann]

Can you recommend any e-books or tutorials on mixing and/or per-track eq?

I had once culled together a tip sheet compiled from various sources on the web, I'll see if I can dig that out. There used to be a good one for EQ on Sectionz, but I can't seem to find it anymore.

There's this one on Traxmusic that has some good starter tips. There are actually a lot of good articles on Traxmusic about mixing, so worth scanning through the site.

There's also a good one on Computer Music.

When I started learning EQ, the one thing that stuck with me was to first learn how to cut before you try to boost. I don't know if this still applies, but engineers recording jazz and classical music used to rarely boost and only did subtractive EQ'ing. Always seemed to me that was a good method to learn to deal with acoustics, so I started there. Once you know how to cut, then boosting is easy.

Also use your ears on a mix. If something is standing out too much, run the final mix through a parametric EQ like posifohpit, grab one band, cut it as low as it can go, scan through the entire frequency range and listen where the mix might be helped out from the cut. Then you can go back and EQ whatever part properly and remix.

I'll check out the new mix. I can only listen onearphones at work, so I won't be able to really comment on the changes until tonight.

[shamann]

Here's some more EQ links:

EQ primer
EQ by the Octave
EQ reference table

And for general mixing/recording info, check out The Project Studio Handbook.

[Z3R0T0N1N]

danielm: thanx for the tip, i will check it out

bluedad: thank you. it seems so rare that i share my music lately, i almost forgot how nice it is to have it appreciated

shamann: thanx and thanx again This is a lot of good info. I am really surprised to see how much of this stuff i have been doing already, or trying to anyway, just from trial and error. It is nice to see some of the theory and technique, and it is going to help me for sure.

Thanx, peeple.
cheers.
g.

[shamann]

The new version with the rhodes further back in the mix is excellent. It made everything sit together better, and the rhodes melody line becomes a much more subtle touch.

Great track.

[vurt]

now this is chillin
nice saturday evenin spliff n coffee tune, love that vocal choiresque sound
haunting