Random Street Corner

[Muzik 4 Machines]

that would be my pleasere (downloads enabled)
but i'm mostly after : are the solo too low or too loud, i never solo'ed over electro stuff so i don't know the balance (and i never really heard electro with 64 bars wakeman-esque solos))

[ntom]

I'll keep that in mind while I listen. I have downloaded them all now if you wish to disable downloads again.

[Frantz]

but i'm mostly after : are the solo too low or too loud, i never solo'ed over electro stuff so i don't know the balance (and i never really heard electro with 64 bars wakeman-esque solos))

I assume you are looking for any feedback at this point even if it is critical. I find your tracks very well produced but monotonous and pretty similar to each other.

It turns out that you can play keyboards because you've suddenly added long solos to them. I don't understand why you aren't building melodic hooks into the arrangements from the start. I think you would get more positive reaction if you varied your tempos, sound palette, and made sure each track had some kind of distinct melody to it.

Sorry, I know this wasn't what you were hoping to hear.

[Muzik 4 Machines]

au contraire, that'S exactly what i want to hear, the next album will be more varied, this one was made in a certain state of mind that called for a bunch of similar and uniform tracks,

i cant play the keyboard, but i can really use a piano roll tho, but i still suck at melodies after 20 years, hence the "im rick wakeman bitches" solos that go nowhere and don't follow a melody.

my method is do an album, get the critics, do a better one next season

thanks a lot for listening, and since you listened, what do you think of the question at hand, solos, too loud? too quiet?

[bluedad]

i cant play the keyboard, but i can really use a piano roll tho, but i still suck at melodies after 20 years, hence the "im rick wakeman bitches" solos that go nowhere and don't follow a melody.

wow, you sure fooled me...
as one who does those Rick Wakeman solos, I'd say the solo's could be a tad louder. As my guitarist always says looking at me: 'Turn up just a c**t hair'.

[Muzik 4 Machines]

i have to say i got help from BiaB for those, i rendered like 50 of those per song and edited the good bits together (exactly as i would do one of my guitar solo, but with midi) then i edited the notes to fit the song and all mod wheels, bends, filters, sync, etc

[Frantz]

i have to say i got help from BiaB for those, i rendered like 50 of those per song and edited the good bits together (exactly as i would do one of my guitar solo, but with midi) then i edited the notes to fit the song and all mod wheels, bends, filters, sync, etc

That's hilarious and completely insane. You get extra points for coming up with a unique approach! Crank up the solos and call the album "Rick Wakeman In a Box."

BiaB = Band In a Box

[ntom]

On my drive ( started listening to the album half way through the drive) I made it through 11 of the 13 tracks.
Yeah they sounded similar, but to me there was enough of a variance that it never felt monotonous to me. In fact, let me say this; I thought this was a stellar album! By the way, 909 Train - that's my favorite. LOVED it. Fell head over heels for that one.
Now, I do have to say, I REALLY had to screw with my car's EQ to get it to a comfortable listening level. The EQ I had my car set to seemed to work for almost all music, so it tells me something that I had to really mangle the EQ to get a good sound quality. I think fixing the EQ may help with the solos as well.

I feel like the solos (almost all of them) needed to be better defined. In my car, I couldn't tell if on certain ones it was just a touch too much reverb, but I can say is the aforementioned EQ issues; The lows are over compensated by about 3db (My car low shelves around 150hz), and the highs are WAY under compensated. I had to knock my car's EQ to +5db (it high shelves around 7k) and there was still more to be desired out of that.
After EQing, maybe knocking the solos up 1 or 2db will probably do the job.

Lastly, a lot of the vocal samples could use a little more volume. Not so much on the 909 Train - though maybe 1 or 2db, but on tracks like Bob Lowblaw I think the samples may benefit having a little more volume.

Anyways, This is a fantastic album, I really, Really enjoyed it! I can't wait for the finished product.

[Muzik 4 Machines]

thanks a lot for a thorough review,
so to be clear, i should shelve down some bass by 3db around 150 and hi shelf up the highs by 5 starting round 7k?
i think it comes from mpx tape i slapped on the master(with 2 L2) to make it really abusively loudness war worthy for the 128kbps mp3, it really sucks the highs so i overcompensated with a pre emphasis eq

again thanls a lot, 909 train was the 1st one i did, i actually did it in 2 days in january or so(check the 1st post date lol) and didnt really change anything on it all that time, but it was like a done song after those 2 days (my cat composed the bassline by jumpink on my dx21 lol)

[ntom]

I definitely think you need to do some shelving, I'd say play around, but yes, a good starting point to see what sounds good would be what I heard in my car. Now my car does have nice speakers, but they aren't monitors. I'm not around my studio, so I can't give too in-depth of frequencies, but I am very familiar with my car's stereo, so hopefully what I heard will give you a good starting point.

I -think- by clearing that up, it will help define the solos a lot more and so little more should be done to them, but you may want to A/B the original mix against a mix with the solos a little louder and if you have any techniques to help define the solos a little more try adding that in and just see how it compares to the original.

I loved the bass lines, too, by the way. very groovy.

[Muzik 4 Machines]

i jsut want to be sure, shelve down the lows and bring the highs up?

[ntom]

Yup, that's the idea here.
The lows could just use -2 to -3 (obviously do what sounds best) and my car's EQ said +5 on the highs, so I suppose a good starting place would be around there. Again, this all comes down to what sounds good, and I KNOW you got a kick ass studio that I am certain you can monitor this pretty well to make sure it sounds good.

The last thing - after you have fixed the songs, is take the tracks to normal listening speakers you are familiar with. If you have a home theatre system, listen to them there, or you car, or normal computer speakers (not your monitors) and just gauge how it might sound to someone who is listening for the first time. How much do you have to fiddle with the volume or EQ to get it to be comfortable to listen?

[Muzik 4 Machines]

i actually have no monitors, just tannoys and mirage hi fi, that's why i ask so many dumb mix questions, most of these were made either in laptop speakers or in my sony mdr headphones, i only went speaker in the last 2 weeks (neighbours really panick whenever i mix in my speakers lol)

my best gauge ofr solo loudness is actually a set of computer speakers i listen to when i shower so i really hear what stand out that way lol

thanks a whole lot for your help, i will work on those(im pretty sure my "mastering chainÉ on the master is a lot to blame, if you have a few more minutes this weekend, i can send you a raw 909 train unmastered to test that theory

would you accept wav, or should i mp3 the shit out of it a 128 like the soundclouds?

[Muzik 4 Machines]

here are the settings of my temporary mastering chain i use for soundclouding my pre mixes





and here's an unmastered wav of 90 train http://ge.tt/14iIWjf/v/0?c

[ntom]

Yeah, WAV is fine. I won't be back home until Sunday night, but I'll take a look then and help out in whatever way I can.
I mean, I'm not master at this stuff. Or if you want I can take any final mixdowns and just eq them on my monitors (I have Yamaha HS80Ms - all hail the white cones) Or any other way. I mean, I know a lot of people wouldn't want to so I wouldn't blame you but I wouldn't even mind taking a swing at mastering the stems if you want. Whatever I can do to help out, man