New Faber melodic ambient track "time goes by"; feedback welcome

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Today I had the idea to an ambient song called "time goes by".
The basis is a clock loop.
I had much fun to keep it very simple.
Maybe that I will add a real guitar player in my final version.
Here it is:
https://soundcloud.com/musikus/time-goes-by

Your feedback is welcome. :-)
Last edited by Gucky on Wed Mar 21, 2018 12:29 am, edited 1 time in total.

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Here is a new version.
I added a vibraphone.
Hope you like it. :-)
https://soundcloud.com/musikus/time-goes-by

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Hey Gucky,
First couple minutes sound really good. Kind of a Mark Isham vibe going with the fretless against the string pads. It takes a lot of patience to pull off a six minute piece.
Last edited by rotku60 on Thu Mar 22, 2018 3:55 pm, edited 1 time in total.

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I think you’re on to something here but it might need some retooling. The clock sounds too dominate to me until it’s less in the mix. It’s like you almost have it close to your ear. I would pull it back and give it some ambience as if it was across the room so it sets the mood. Maybe a different ticking sound also or even change it in places.

I thought of the ABBA song “Like An Angel Passing Through My Room”. I think one of their best actually, where there is a ticking clock sound through out the song.

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Hi rotku60, Hi fastlanephil,
thanks for your feedback.
You are right, the clock sond was much too loud. I changed now the volume and gave a little more reverb on it.
Hope it is now better for you. What do you think?
https://soundcloud.com/musikus/time-goes-by

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Gucky wrote:Hi rotku60, Hi fastlanephil,
thanks for your feedback.
You are right, the clock sond was much too loud. I changed now the volume and gave a little more reverb on it.
Hope it is now better for you. What do you think?
https://soundcloud.com/musikus/time-goes-by
It's still too dominant. It's a good thematic idea that might work better as a suggestion than a metronome, which is how it sounds now. Think of it like a real clock which is constantly ticking. It seems so loud if you focus on it, but when focused on something else you forget about it.

Even if put back quite a bit in the mix, it will be clear in the intro. However, once the pad comes in it would get almost drowned out. You'd still be aware of it though.

Of course, if you like it this way then that's up to you. But if I had to suffer a clock ticking that loudly while trying to listen to relaxing music, it'd be in pieces after thirty seconds :shrug:

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Hi el-bo,
thanks for listening.
At first I intendend the clock as a kind of hihat.
But now I made a new version.
The clock fades out after 36 sec and comes back at the end.
Ist that better for you?
https://soundcloud.com/musikus/time-goes-by

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Gucky wrote:Hi el-bo,
thanks for listening.
At first I intendend the clock as a kind of hihat.
But now I made a new version.
The clock fades out after 36 sec and comes back at the end.
Ist that better for you?
https://soundcloud.com/musikus/time-goes-by
Firstly, and most importantly, it should be what you want that ultimately guides it - It's your vision. Personally, this works much better. You lose none of the theme as the bass drum takes over the pulse as the ticking fades out.

I love how the whole thing with the brushes, giving it a triplet (I think) lilt :tu:

I do have some other suggestions (And they are only suggestions). Were it me, I'd make the intro longer, with the pad playing that sequence starting at 0db. Then, as the clock back fades back, slowly, I'd fade in the pad (slowly), so they gave a crossover type of effect. Furthermore, I'd bring the mix of the reverb on the clock sound up while it faded back. This would really help the distance effect. Then reverse the process when you bring it back in, gradually coming back from obscurity to dead centre, and as the end reverse cymbal hits it's beak, you cut it the reverb completely, leaving it dry.

Lastly, I think mix-wise that it is a little congested at the lower end, and you're losing some of the characteristics of the sounds that you have chosen. That's just a first impression. Perhaps. I'll listen later on headphones to make sure it's not just my lame room sound :scared:

Anyway, please take these suggestions in the spirit intended :tu:

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p.s It sounds like you are using Laboriel's fretless (French or Hollow) from Trilian. I've been playing with this a ton, recently, and have been using it on some recent tracks.

I could be wrong, of course :wink:

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Overall it works very well...pleasant, chilled vibe that washed over me.

New version with that clock ticking adjusted was definitely a good idea.

I agree with el-bo, that the mix is quite stodgy down in the low frequencies...quite muddy down there at times....

Part of the problem might be the use of reverb...there's a helluva lot on many of the parts and they all mush together...

Try pulling back the reverb on some tracks maybe? This would also push some sounds forward a little bit and create a more 3D sound stage...it's a bit flat at the moment.

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Hi el-bo, Hi ChamMusic,
many thanks for your tips. :-)
I made now a new version:
I made it in the first part a little bit longer. Change the fade in and out of the clock sound.
And I changed the sound of the pad sound. Maybe that this is my final version so far.
In a month I will add an e-guitar of a real guitar player. (At the moments he has holidays,)
The fretless bass is from Halion Sonic.
Is it now better for you?
https://soundcloud.com/musikus/time-goes-by

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Gucky wrote:Hi el-bo, Hi ChamMusic,
many thanks for your tips. :-)
I made now a new version:
I made it in the first part a little bit longer. Change the fade in and out of the clock sound.
And I changed the sound of the pad sound. Maybe that this is my final version so far.
In a month I will add an e-guitar of a real guitar player. (At the moments he has holidays,)
Is it now better for you?
https://soundcloud.com/musikus/time-goes-by
It is sounding better. However, there is still a lot of clash in the upper-bass/lower-mids and there is now distortion that wasn't there, previously

The sounds you have chosen, especially the initial pad, occupy a lot of the frequency spectrum and stereo field. In fact that pad sound already has some honking in that areas, built in. Adding in reverb just makes things more problematic. When the strings come in it muddies it even further, and the same with the bass. It's only when the brushes come in that there is some higher frequency 'lift'. Nothing wrong with that, but it really serves to highlight where much of the energy was built up before.

In a case like this, you could either choose different sounds or do some pretty heavy sculpting of the frequencies in each sound so they can sit well together. I think that even with the existing sounds improvements can be made.

As for the reverb on the clock tick: It works well how you've done it at the end. However, in the intro I might have described it the wrong way 'round (Or you've chosen that as a preference).

I'd love to have a go at mixing this. I'm not sure how you'd feel about that. It would certainly be easier for me to do than try to explain it. Let me know if that's something that you'd be interested in. I'm certainly no expert, but I could get it in the ballpark. It would be fun :tu:

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Hi el-bo,
many thanks for all your help! :-)

I think now that the main problem is my first pad sound.
I now changed it with a synthetic choir sound. I hope it works now better together with the strings.
Here is a new version:
https://soundcloud.com/musikus/time-goes-by

In one month I will add a real guitar and release the song again.

Is it now better for you?
I make it now downloadble. So you could mix it.
Greetings and thanks!

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Gucky wrote:Hi el-bo,
many thanks for all your help! :-)

I think now that the main problem is my first pad sound.
I now changed it with a synthetic choir sound. I hope it works now better together with the strings.
Here is a new version:
https://soundcloud.com/musikus/time-goes-by

In one month I will add a real guitar and release the song again.

Is it now better for you?
I make it now downloadble. So you could mix it.
Greetings and thanks!
I prefer this sound, but you still have the same issue. I took a snap at a portion of the track where the bass guitar has already been introduced:

Image

You can see the area where most of the energy is sitting, which is common when you have a bass drum, bass guitar, full-range pad, strings etc playing at the same time. This will only increase with a guitar.

Ideally, these parts will need eq sculpting so that they can occupy a space without overlap. It's kinda like trying to fit 5 people onto a 30-seat sofa. Start chopping off some limbs, shave off some excess from the hip area etc, and eventually they'll all be able to squeeze in :tu:

But before any of that, look into the reverb as ChamMusic suggested. Each of those presets is likely to have a lot of it's own type of reverb. They sound great when played alone, but can easily mud things up, especially if the reverbs are not also eq'd


In the meantime, have a look at these videos:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=woMvjrnkayQ

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jakAv0LETww

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on further reflection, it might not be wise for me to do a full mix; at least, not for the moment. It's better that you learn these skills so you can apply them to other compositions.

If we don't make any progress this way, then getting to see the individual tracks would help. Until then, see if those videos help with this mix :tu:

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