KVR Audio

davidstiles · Post by **davidstiles** » Sat Jun 18, 2016 7:16 am

Hi everyone! Here's a quick and dirty action-oriented track that I put together this week to see if I could put together something sort of exciting with a heavy-metal bass guitar and some strings. Any comments that you might have would be most welcome! I'm especially interested in any opinions on the mixing, as I remain a bit uncertain as to whether or not I made the right choices in that department.

https://soundcloud.com/davidstiles/chased-by-a-bassist

markkuja · Post by **markkuja** » Sat Jun 18, 2016 6:44 pm

exciting ambiance.. nice arrangement and orchestration. sounds good

davidstiles · Post by **davidstiles** » Sun Jun 19, 2016 7:08 am

Thanks, markkuja! I was a bit worried that the bass wasn't sitting right in the mix, but I'm glad it sounds OK to you.

Googly Smythe · Post by **Googly Smythe** » Sun Jun 19, 2016 7:55 am

Good track! Not a criticism, but if I had done this I would have had the bass a touch louder and the strings the same amount quieter, maybe just 1 dB. And so much happening it seemed longer than just 2 minutes.

PS
Oh yes, if I had done this would have been 35 minutes long!

topaz · Post by **topaz** » Sun Jun 19, 2016 8:27 am

Very good, love the strings, dist bass sounds great.

Nothing to dislike here, good luck with placements

Frantz · Post by **Frantz** » Sun Jun 19, 2016 4:18 pm

The musical content is good. That wimpy orchestral hit sample that is constantly repeated is not helping to create excitement.

With respect to the mix, I would make the bass louder and reduce the reverb on the strings.

davidstiles · Post by **davidstiles** » Mon Jun 20, 2016 7:54 am

Thanks for your comments, Ayorinde, topaz and Frantz!

This is actually the first time that I have attempted to combine strings with an aggressive sounding electric bass line, and I found it challenging to get the right balance between them. I ended up EQing the strings up a bit in the treble range, which might be part of what is making the hits sound so wimpy, especially when placed alongside the bass. My idea, I guess, was that I was trying to create some kind of conversation between the strings and the bass in which each one had its own range of pitches to dominate.

That's an interesting idea, Frantz, about maybe turning down the reverb on the strings. I'll have to think more about that.

I also definitely wanted to make the bass even louder than it is now, but I was having trouble with it drowning everything else out, which seems to be one of the most challenging aspects of mixing orchestral and electric instruments together. I think there must be a way (perhaps some kind of an EQ trick that is still beyond me) to make the bass even a bit punchier without drowning out the strings. I'll keep trying to learn more about how best to fine tune these things.

Allomerus · Post by **Allomerus** » Tue Jun 21, 2016 10:16 am

Sounds good. Very urgent and nice melody lines. A bit more use of the stereo field might help separate things so you can make it more punchy...
The fuzz bass reminds me of that great Australian Band 'Viscious Hairy Mary' who used that idea to great effect. Maybe give them a listen...
Cheers,
John

Frantz · Post by **Frantz** » Wed Jun 22, 2016 2:58 am

The biggest problem with the orchestral hit is that it sounds like the same sample repeated. Does your library have variations of orchestral hits that it can round robin? Or could you at least vary the velocity?

The bass on this is messy. I could see how making it louder could overwhelm the strings. For the bass, I would try to reduce distortion, reduce reverb, and increase the midrange EQ. This should give you more clarity and audibility. As an alternative to boosting the midrange via EQ, you could use a plugin (like Melda's MUltraMaximizer) to boost the harmonics. MUltraMaximizer also has some nice saturation algorithms that work well on bass.

davidstiles · Post by **davidstiles** » Wed Jun 22, 2016 7:25 am

Thanks for the suggestions, Allomerus and Frantz! You guys have given me some good ideas for how to adjust the mix. I'll experiment a bit along the lines that you've suggested.

I'm checking out that band Vicious Hairy Mary right now - so far, it seems really creative and interesting!

Frantz, you are right that the library I used does not have a round robin feature for those orchestra hits. Normally I would use a more elaborate string library, but unfortunately I'm currently without my normal music computer (I moved and it is being shipped across the continent), and I only have about 5% of my sound libraries installed on the laptop that I used to put this track together. I'll have to see if I can replace the hits with something better when my other computer arrives and I regain access to the rest of my libraries.

layzer · Post by **layzer** » Thu Jun 23, 2016 4:53 am

i liked it. it works well for a chase scene in a movie. i found the production to be decent,
nice strings. enjoyed

davidstiles · Post by **davidstiles** » Sun Jun 26, 2016 7:17 am

Thank you, Layzer! I'm glad you enjoyed it.

Jace-BeOS · Post by **Jace-BeOS** » Wed Sep 14, 2016 1:16 pm

I'm in agreement with everything everyone has said above, especially the orch hits (or hit, as it were). It's a monotonous sting. But you've explained why that is and I look forward to a new version with the "good" library

My own take on this: this is a great musical idea that feels far too polite to work well for me. I think it needs more grit and noise. But that's me. I think it's a cool idea and would love to hear it done in a way I personally enjoy, but that's probably up to individual taste. My suggestions to modify this politeness are in line with the comments you've already received, but I also think some subtle distortion on the rest of the orchestra would be useful here. The collision of the aggressive bass with the classical orchestra might require the orchestra to be a little more harsh to rise up to the challenge of the harsh bass (which needs to be harsher and more up front, as suggested).

This commentary is all purely my own taste, and your own may vary

As I said, I like what you're working toward with this. I've always enjoyed the rare mixture of synths, guitar, and classical orchestras, but I rarely find it executed to my own preferred tastes. It's usually more polite than I want

davidstiles · Post by **davidstiles** » Thu Sep 15, 2016 5:32 am

Yes, I agree with how you put it, Jace-BeOS. The track needs to be a bit less polite in terms of how it goes about its business, and some extra distortion in the bass would go a long way toward achieving that. I hadn't thought about adding distortion to the orchestral elements, but that's an interesting idea to consider.

Chased by a Bassist (Genre="Action Bass?")