KVR Audio

garret · Post by **garret** » Mon Jul 26, 2004 4:30 am

This tune came about in the Game V2 competition a few months back... The folks on my team (Shane Sanders, Rozzer, and Mystahr) were kind enough to let me steal it, and make my own mix.

So here's my jaaath pop arrangement of this lovely number. The mix needs a lot of work, but I think I've got the instrumentation where I want it.

http://www.worksongs.net/2004/moderntimes.mp3

Whatcha think?
-Garret

P.S. Donketh, you might want to close your ears for this one... too many chords, I'm sure. You might pop an artery in your brain or some such.

Ixox · Post by **Ixox** » Mon Jul 26, 2004 8:40 am

Sound jazzy, light and very nice !
This is a very nice song.

I don't hear what the mix still needs.. I think it's sounds very good as it is.

Except the strange percu "snare" (?) whose rythm sounds like a door knock in louder part (0'29 and 0'31 for exemple)... I find it a little disturbing.

koorby · Post by **koorby** » Mon Jul 26, 2004 9:30 am

This starts off nice with the sitar and tambourine, then a tempo change to a nice casual jazz riff. Cool percussion cleverly sprinkled in there too. The vocal is relaxed, confident, and easy to listen too.

My only complaint is the song is too short. I was just getting the martini out when it was all over

Try adding another verse maybe.

Glooper · Post by **Glooper** » Mon Jul 26, 2004 10:04 am

Wow this is superb... I love it... There's a great feel about it, and your voice is superb.

I actually like that snare. it sounds like a samba style snare (i.e. bongos hit with a stick!

)

By the way... Do you still have the brush drums set available for download. I tried downloading the link I'd copied from the original post and sent to my home address, but it didn't seem to work?

Ben

blaster78 · Post by **blaster78** » Mon Jul 26, 2004 10:13 am

excellent laid back jaathesque muzac

the vox are great and the drums are superb.

keeping this one, but can we have a longer version.

cheers,

steve.

garret · Post by **garret** » Mon Jul 26, 2004 12:05 pm

Thanks guys, I'm glad you enjoyed the tune.

I'll work on extending the arrangement... writing short tunes is a bad habit to break. And I'll try to soften up that drum accent... I have some loop variations that should make it less predictable.

Glooper wrote: By the way... Do you still have the brush drums set available for download. I tried downloading the link I'd copied from the original post and sent to my home address, but it didn't seem to work?
Ben

http://www.worksongs.net/2004/work/brushkitwavs.zip

-Garret

Glooper · Post by **Glooper** » Mon Jul 26, 2004 1:44 pm

garret wrote:
http://www.worksongs.net/2004/work/brushkitwavs.zip

-Garret

Cheers Garret.. I'll download it tonight..

Ben

griels · Post by **griels** » Mon Jul 26, 2004 3:03 pm

Excellent!

Not sure about that tentative vibraphone part at 1:50, but otherwise sterling stuff. I guess the vibraphone was supposed to be a bit like that though. Maybe I could render the MIDI with Cool Vibes? Has a more organic sound. Did you try the Chickensys vibes for EXS-24?

Great mix and vocals anyway. Excellent production.

Reminds me a bit of Belle and Sebastian crossed with Gilberto Gil.

garret · Post by **garret** » Mon Jul 26, 2004 3:19 pm

griels wrote: Not sure about that tentative vibraphone part at 1:50, but otherwise sterling stuff. I guess the vibraphone was supposed to be a bit like that though. Maybe I could render the MIDI with Cool Vibes? Has a more organic sound. Did you try the Chickensys vibes for EXS-24?

Hmm... the vibes are from the Realfont soundfont, through sfz.. they're the best free ones I've found. I might take you up the offer to render the track in Cool Vibes, but gimme some time to rewrite the vibe part after 2:08... I got lazy last night and doubled the bass line.

I think the tentative feeling is timing errors... I was trying to replicate the vocal melody, and after a few hours of fiddling in the piano roll, I just about gave up. Damn vocalist keeps moving between triplets and straight time. I think I'm going to fire him.

Excellent! Great mix and vocals anyway. Excellent production. Reminds me a bit of Belle and Sebastian crossed with Gilberto Gil.

Thanks for the generous compliment, my jazzztastic friend.

Now I think I'll pull this thread before Donkey T notices... I feel a hazing coming any second.

-Garret

donkey tugger · Post by **donkey tugger** » Mon Jul 26, 2004 4:26 pm

Sorry, can't stop, just practicing me min13aug7add9 chords.

garret · Post by **garret** » Tue Jul 27, 2004 1:22 am

donkey tugger wrote:

Sorry, can't stop, just practicing me min13aug7add9 chords.

min13aug7add9? You picking stuff up from Gordon now? I don't want to know what that sounds like.

The the wicked chord in this choon at 2:08 is bad enough... it's a dom7(b6b9)...

mystahr · Post by **mystahr** » Tue Jul 27, 2004 5:24 am

Sweet memories.....

Hopefully the game will be continued after the summer as it was a joy working together on this.

Soothing and great remix here Garret

Loving the vibes touch

Lunch Money · Post by **Lunch Money** » Thu Jul 29, 2004 11:44 pm

I didn't hear the original, so I can only comment on this version.

Ver' Ver' interesting.

There are a few things I might consider; however, my opinion is about as valuable as a handful of Mexican Old Pesos. To wit:

-A bit of sibilance reduction in the vocals
-The drum bit at 2:14 that's buried way in the background is nice and subtle, but TOO subtle! I want to hear it a touch more.
-There's a teeny tiny touch of congestion in the low register. On the other hand, that's how I've felt about my own mixes, too, so maybe it's just my crappy gear.
-The echo-ey bits for "times" on the vocals is nicely done!
-Having the kick so much in the right side is something I noticed, but am undecided on. It doesn't seem to detract from the song, but I'm accustomed to having the kick in the centre. Again, though, it's not a distraction so it may or may not need looking at.

Very chilled tune, great vocals, and a tasteful arrangement of instruments! I agree that nothing has to be done with the parts themselves, and I'll be interested to see if you end up refining the mix or not.

Cheers,
Greg

Shane Sanders · Post by **Shane Sanders** » Thu Jul 29, 2004 11:49 pm

Mystahr wrote:Sweet memories.....

Hopefully the game will be continued after the summer as it was a joy working together on this.

Soothing and great remix here Garret Loving the vibes touch

Yeah! We'll have to work extra hard to take those boyz to task!!

btw, one can stream the original here:

http://www.broadjam.com/artists/artisti ... stID=10230

austere · Post by **austere** » Fri Jul 30, 2004 12:07 am

This is pretty relaxed music! Noot fully my normal cup of tea but nice nontheless. From time to time I cant help but think that I am hearing a brief moment of "just the right bullets" by Tom Waits. I guess it's not much in the composition but more in the liveless of the sound, I don't know. I may be hearing things that aren't really there... I'm in a weird mood so it wouldn't surprise me.

But consider it a compliment anyway!

The vocals are nice only the shhs, shhs a bit. I don't know what that problem is called but I guess Lunch Money said it already with "-A bit of sibilance reduction in the vocals".

I also think that there is perhaps a bit too much bass / low end frequencies in the song. They sound nice but it it's just a couple of tads too much in my opinion.

anyway, nice relaxed song.

[jazz rock pop] Modern Times -- new arrangement by garret