World Ablaze | 80s New Wave/Post Punk + "EDM sidechain" on guitars (WTF?!?)

[sjm]

New song that is at least close to being finished. Maybe still needs some polish. I got some great feedback on the Image-Line forums that I've tried to address. There was the suggestion that the vocals are a bit poppy (meaning they pop on the plosives, not they sound apt for pop music) in places. I've done a lot of volume automation to try and keep things from going overboard. Of course, I'm hearing the lyrics differently from the rest of you, because I already know what they are. That makes it a lot harder to concentrate on how they really sound.

I also was told that the vocals sound like "the love child between Gary Numan and David Bowie." Make of that what you will. Got to be better than a drunk Robert Smith impersonator!

https://soundcloud.com/steevm/world-ablaze

Chords
Instrumental
C#m C#m7 F#7sus4 F#7 x2

Verse
C#m F#sus2 E F# x2

Chorus
C#m F# E F# x2

Bridge
C#m A E F#-> G#

Right now is the moment that you've always been waiting for
Grab it with both hands, you don't need to wait no more

It's our time
It's our place
And we're going to set the world ablaze
It's our time
It's our place
Yes we're going to set the world ablaze

Right here is the place that you've always been heading to
Throw down your marker, make it belong to you


This party is going down
This moment is our atonement
Just seize it, release it
Just seize this moment before it's gone

Post your thoughts, comments, feedback and dismay in the space below.

[wagtunes]

OMG...the first thing that came to my mind when I heard the vocals was this...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ExYsh1W22Wo

That was so 80s. Very well done. Nothing else to say. Bravo!

Now, if I could sing like that. LOL.

[fastlanephil]

It was a good tune with decent lyrics and a good hook.

Yes, it is sounds to me like it’s right out of the 80s era. But that was a few generations ago so why not.

[Frantz]

Another very cool song. The little bouncy rhythms are fantastic.

You have a tendency to write choruses that don't stand out enough from the verses. It's not a big issue on this song but this is the 3rd song where I've noticed this. Maybe on the next song you could start the chorus on a previously unheard chord and have some higher vocal notes in the chorus?

I don't think the "This party is going down" section really works to be honest. I'm not sure if I'm getting distracted by the sidechained guitars or perhaps the vocal part is less compelling than the other vocals in this song.

Despite all of that, I did enjoy this song. The above is meant to be constructive feedback.

[sjm]

OMG...the first thing that came to my mind when I heard the vocals was this...

You're not the first to bring up the Cars in the context of one of my more retro tracks.

That was so 80s. Very well done. Nothing else to say. Bravo!

Thanks! I guess you remember the 80s better than I do, I was just a bit young at the start of the decade (i.e. a toddler). The first song I can remember by name that I heard on the radio as a child was Bob Marley's I Shot the Sheriff, so presumably around 1983-1984 is where my conscious musical awareness kicks in.

Now, if I could sing like that. LOL.

Yeah, it takes a special kind of person to be able to hit those notes in between the actual notes I'm supposed to be singing with such conviction.

So given that I'm a pretty shit singer, I'm guessing not being able to sing like that is probably a boon for both you and your audience.

[Aloysius]

I assumed it was a click bait title so I wasn't going to entertain you (... "EDM sidechain" on guitars (WTF?!?)).

Sounds good until it gets to the 'this party is goin down ...'. The guitars are too timid at this point and the mix is over-limited.

If I were you, I'd actually go listen to The Cars to see what it was about their productions that made their songs work so well.

Just my 2c.

[layzer]

Ric Ocasek is in the house!
great 80s vibe, not gonna
pick production apart because
its just a good tune!

[el-bo (formerly ebow)]

Just listened to this via my Soundcloud feed, so my "feels like the 80's" comment probably seems redundant in the light of this thread.

Anyway, I resisted doing the "sounds like" thing, as I know many frown on it. However, it seems like you don't mind. Anyway, for me, I got much more of a Byrne vibe from the vocals, and indeed the whole thing made me look up some old Talking Heads stuff.

I hope you take that in the spirit intended.

Great track

[vurt]

reminds me of nights in the pink parrot new wave goth club in lpool, back in my teens. catchy piece, im sure ill be humming this as i try to sleep now...

[Aloysius]

... after you're finished with the sheep. Eh ... counting sheep.

[vurt]

you spyin on me?

[el-bo (formerly ebow)]

you spyin on me?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7YvAYIJSSZY

[Aloysius]

[vurt]

tbh im more used to being abused in my own threads, a new occurrence it happening in someone elses café post

[sjm]

Another very cool song. The little bouncy rhythms are fantastic.

You have a tendency to write choruses that don't stand out enough from the verses. It's not a big issue on this song but this is the 3rd song where I've noticed this. Maybe on the next song you could start the chorus on a previously unheard chord and have some higher vocal notes in the chorus?

That's an interesting observation that got me thinking. It's true that I've posted a few things here that don't have a big difference in sound. I think that's because I've recently begun experimenting more with subtle chord substitutions and the like rather than writing a more traditional verse section and chorus section. Back when I started out, almost everything I wrote had 2 very distinct sections.

I think that this is part of the "simplification" process I started relatively recently. Before that, I went through a phase of writing songs with multiple sections, loads of extended chords etc., and was coming to the point where I thought I was overcomplicating things. A lot of the stuff I listened to during my teenage years really just consisted of one simple progression repeated over the course of the song. So I guess I went back to basics there. Once again, the chords in the various sections (apart from the bridge) are similar, but not exactly the same.

So it's not like I only have been writing songs with this formula, just that the ones I've posted here all seem to have this commonality (and not necessarily on purpose). You could try something like this or this for something with a maybe more traditional chorus/verse thing. I'd be surprised if you felt the same way about them. Note that I don't consider either of these quite finished yet. The first one is pretty close to being done, the second one is distorting in the chorus and still needs some TLC. The mix is also a bit of a mess in general.

I don't think the "This party is going down" section really works to be honest. I'm not sure if I'm getting distracted by the sidechained guitars or perhaps the vocal part is less compelling than the other vocals in this song.

Despite all of that, I did enjoy this song. The above is meant to be constructive feedback.

I'm wondering - and hoping for feedback on the IL forum about this, where they've heard earlier versions - whether I ended up sapping a bit of energy out of the bridge when I automated the volume on the vocal takes. My initial impression was that a bit of the punch was gone; but I wasn't 100% sure. I was mainly trying to tame the popping Ps on things like "party", because it could get quite loud with 3 vocal tracks at once. So maybe I just need to take a look at this section again. It might simply be a case of turning up the volume to compensate for the automation.