Process 6 - Long Term Project

[KuruPrionz]

I wrote this in 1978. I recently got copyright on it. 

I've recorded it many times but never quite happy. 
I'm pretty pleased with this one, maybe a tweak or two. I have a friend who is going add some free form backup vocals, she's amazing. 

Attached.

 

Anybody else have something they've worked on would like to share it? 

I played all instruments except the drums, I put the drum track together in MIDI - IK MODO Drum. The djembes here and there near the end are NI West Africa, a few slightly different loops. 

The "keyboards" were done with Fishman Triple Play and I put a capo on the third fret of my bass, first time I've ever done that. 

Hope you enjoy!!! Cheers, Kuru

 

 

[David Emm]

Very enjoyable. Your guitar work flows well. "You Guys" always manage just one more semi-abstract layer of balance and clarity that escapes me part of the time. Everything in your piece SOUNDS right.

 

I've learned to back up and stop passing severe judgements on things I'm still building. I know I'm slipping into that because I begin to itch in a certain way. When you say this one has been gathering dust since 1978... 😲 My most elderly unfinished opus hails from only 1986 or so. Phew!

[KuruPrionz]

25 minutes ago, David Emm said:

Very enjoyable. Your guitar work flows well. "You Guys" always manage just one more semi-abstract layer of balance and clarity that escapes me part of the time. Everything in your piece SOUNDS right.

 

I've learned to back up and stop passing severe judgements on things I'm still building. I know I'm slipping into that because I begin to itch in a certain way. When you say this one has been gathering dust since 1978... 😲 My most elderly unfinished opus hails from only 1986 or so. Phew!

By "you guys", you mean left-handed autistic weirdos who play right handed for reasons unknown? 🤔

Thanks for the kudos, much appreciated!!!!!! I never worry about results until I get to about my 5th or 6th mix down. This one may have a mix or two ahead of it but I really learned a lot doing it. 😇

 

EVERYTHING except the vocal is DI by the way. OOPS!!! and one acoustic guitar part!!!! I guess you'd mic a piano too?

 

I got into that living in a multi-unit condo where you simply cannot be loud or record drums and such. 

In that sense, I've very much like a keyboard player since I'm guessing you don't mic your amps either?

[Strays Dave]

Your song reminded me of a movie soundtrack. Nicely done. I tried to share an mp3 of my little Studio One song, but on my I'm not sure how to generate a sharable link on the MacBook . I can  (in Studio One)  do a "Mixdown" to an mp3 which I can email.  But I failed to share it here.  Maybe my GF can copy it to her iCloud for sharing.  

 

 

I've done some snapping to grid and punching in to fix problems. But the mixing with EQ and such will be something to learn about.  

[KuruPrionz]

34 minutes ago, Strays Dave said:

Your song reminded me of a movie soundtrack. Nicely done. I tried to share an mp3 of my little Studio One song, but on my I'm not sure how to generate a sharable link on the MacBook . I can  (in Studio One)  do a "Mixdown" to an mp3 which I can email.  But I failed to share it here.  Maybe my GF can copy it to her iCloud for sharing.  

 

 

I've done some snapping to grid and punching in to fix problems. But the mixing with EQ and such will be something to learn about.  

I'm on a 2014 MacBook Pro running Catalina. I just dragged the .mp3 into the section of the post directly below, where it says "Drag files here to attach or choose files...

It was a bit over 8 mb and it took a minute to upload but it did it. 

I'd like to hear what you are doing, try again!!!!

Another way around it is to use SoundCloud or Metapop or one of the websites where you can load music. Metapop will even upload .wav files, they require those for their contests. 

[Strays Dave]

Thank you Kuru. This should be it.  It may sound a bit rickety,  but I'm attempting to create a percussion combination.  Experimenting. 

BTW, this song is about a cat named Noelle, who fetches in the house for fun. Over and over. 

[David Emm]

On 2/16/2023 at 4:18 PM, KuruPrionz said:

By "you guys", you mean left-handed autistic weirdos who play right handed for reasons unknown? 🤔

 

 HA! No, I mean everyone else on here, whose gear lists cover the total store room of the mom & pop music store where I worked for a while. I've learned things in reluctant stages, hampered by a meaningful case of Piano-Think. Some learn synths from the panels inwards; I learned them from the keyboards inwards. Left brain, right brain, I always get them confused. 🧠💥  

 

On 2/16/2023 at 4:18 PM, KuruPrionz said:

 In that sense, I've very much like a keyboard player since I'm guessing you don't mic your amps either?

 

I once mic'd a Pignose and was immediately sorry. Does that count?

 

I was sniffing new powered monitors w/bass bins when my sister turned me on to a LOGITECH alternative that was downright cheap. I needed a mid-power option for my desktop "studio." Three years on, its still performing well. I'm quite pleased, because it alleges a 20Hz-20Khz range and sounds like it. My aging ears are surely lacking on either end, but by Gawd, the crotales are crisp and the basses go BOMP! with authority. I can hear the bass crossover point kick in during Pink Floyd opii. That's my acid test, no pun intended. I had a decent JBL rig that was too big, too loud and aging poorly. The little upstarts I'm using now are creamy & dreamy.

 

As Homer Simpson says, "Praise Jebus!" 🤓  

 

[KuruPrionz]

2 hours ago, Strays Dave said:

Thank you Kuru. This should be it.  It may sound a bit rickety,  but I'm attempting to create a percussion combination.  Experimenting. 

BTW, this song is about a cat named Noelle, who fetches in the house for fun. Over and over. 

 

Thanks, I listened to it twice.

Seems like a good start on a song to me. Not sure if you want a mix synopsis but here goes. 

 

You've buried the vocals!!! That's the story and the purpose of the song, no?

More volume and midrange would help to bring the vocals to the front and make the lyrics more clear. 

 

It sounds like there are 2 melodic instruments but the piano is loud and it's difficult to hear the second one until the end. 

Instruments should be underneath the vocals. You may have to scoop some of the mids out to make more room for vocals. Play around with EQ on both instruments so they aren't taking up the same space, that can provide more clarity. Consider panning things out from the center and let the vocals have that space. 

 

The percussion sounds pretty good but should be turned down (and/or the vocals turned up!).

Some of the percussion tracks are quite a bit louder than others, if you can even those out and bring down the volume that will help. 

The timing on the percussion is pretty good but the groove is missing for the most part. It's not always easy to get a groove going but it really makes a song move. 

Hope any of this is helpful!!!! Thanks for sharing! 😇

 

 

[Strays Dave]

Thanks Kuru. I'll do the panning change tomorrow when I fool with it. And maybe try some of the EQ presets. 

[KuruPrionz]

On 2/18/2023 at 2:58 PM, David Emm said:

 

 HA! No, I mean everyone else on here, whose gear lists cover the total store room of the mom & pop music store where I worked for a while. I've learned things in reluctant stages, hampered by a meaningful case of Piano-Think. Some learn synths from the panels inwards; I learned them from the keyboards inwards. Left brain, right brain, I always get them confused. 🧠💥  

 

As Homer Simpson says, "Praise Jebus!" 🤓  

 

I recorded Space Reggae with an SSL 2+, a Heil PR-40 microphone, a Tech 21 Q/Strip DI (mostly for bass guitar) into a 2014 MacBook Pro with 16 gigs of RAM. I've got a 2tb TB2 drive that I record to, through the DAW on the MacBook. I used one set of Extreme Isolation headphones for all monitoring and mixing. 

 

OOPS!! Heil PR-40 not PR-90! I fixed above.

 

Except for vocals and one acoustic guitar, everything is recorded direct except the drums, which are IK MODO Drum that I bought on sale for $79.

I do have a 24" thrift store computer monitor, much easier to see things. As a guitarist for decades, I've accumulated an acoustic guitar, a couple of electrics - one has a Fishman Triple Play pickup on it that I use to play synth plugins. I have a decent bass - Peavy Fury, older one and pretty beat up but it plays and sounds good. Last but not least, I have a $30 Johnson short scale strat copy tuned to Nashville tuning to bring the chime. 

 

I'd say the studio rig by itself would all easily fit on a single closet shelf and it wouldn't be super expensive either. The instruments wouldn't take up too much space, I bought them all over time and the Tele and Strat were "screwdriver guitars" that I built from parts. 

 

The following plugins were used, I only buy plugins that are on sale and mostly use free plugins.

Butter Comp 2

Aura, AU High Pass (included in the Mac OS)

Chandler GAW9T (great guitar amp sim)

Baby Audio Baby Comeback (free delay plugin)

Baby Audio Pitch Drift (free plugin)

Valhalla Supermassive (free reverb/delay plugin)

Fuchs Overdrive Supreme 50 (another great guitar amp sim)

#TStereo Delay (included with Waveform 12)

 

I don't think I fall into the legendary and assumed "everyone else here, whose gear lists cover the total store room of the mom & pop music store, etc.." category. 

It's a pretty minimalist rig. I did forget to mention the red and black K&M mic stand that I put together from 2 broken stands or the 2 mic cables (one is 2' long) or the guitar cord but that's about it. 😇

 

You can get a LOT done with very little gear. I do own more gear but I didn't use any of it for this song.

You might even be using more gear than I am, you could use less but not by much. 

It's all set up on a folding card table right now, another lovely thrift store item and just a few bucks. 

[Strays Dave]

Kuru....I panned the piano left maybe around 45. It's stereo but I don't know that I can separate the two channels for panning.  I panned the various percussion to the right....some around 30 and some around 40-45.   Left all the vocals in dead center..... I pulled some instrument volumes down but pushed up vocal1, and maybe the other two vocals. Don't remember. 

 

After I try some EQ (I'll have another Obedia tutorial Friday) , if it's called for, I'll post the new version. 

[Strays Dave]

I went ahead and dragged over my panned mix. I like it better Still need to clean up a ragged vocal spot or two.  But regardless it'll soon be time to move on to my next effort. I found a pair of mallets with the fluffy cotton ball like ends. I'm going to try them on some stuff. 

[KuruPrionz]

Thanks Strays Dave, I'll be at my condo with fast internet today. 

Your last post with revisions on your song comes up "Error" and it's probably just my slow interwebz where I'm currently staying. 

I look forward to checking it out. 

 

I've usually got several pans in the fire, I'll start something and move on to something else and maybe come back to the other later. 

Time provides perspective, I'm not very good at "manufacturing" my Art, be it music, photography or drawing/painting. 

 

It all comes in waves, last night I just took a complete break from trying to accomplish anything and played guitar for a few hours. There is peace in those times.

[Strays Dave]

So....Kuru,  I'm finding that I most enjoy working out arrangements for my songs.  But then I'm lacking in the patience to stand with headphones on, listening for things in the mix.  I do have an old pair of M-Audio AV40 speakers I bought some years back.  I'm going to try playing things thru them - once I receive the AC power adapter (currently lost) that I just ordered from Amazon.  

 

Thanks for your input. 

[KuruPrionz]

36 minutes ago, Strays Dave said:

So....Kuru,  I'm finding that I most enjoy working out arrangements for my songs.  But then I'm lacking in the patience to stand with headphones on, listening for things in the mix.  I do have an old pair of M-Audio AV40 speakers I bought some years back.  I'm going to try playing things thru them - once I receive the AC power adapter (currently lost) that I just ordered from Amazon.  

 

Thanks for your input. 

Thanks for bringing this back up, I've been slammed with busy lately. Faster internet, it plays right off the bat now, as it should. 

I put this up on my monitors, Yamaha MSP5, terrifyingly honest 5" 2 ways. I've never heard the M-Audio speakers, cannot comment on them. I do like listening to speakers AND headphones instead of one or the other, you will enjoy having another option. 

Objectively speaking, the rim shot on the conga and the shaker are both much louder than they should be for the mix. The conga slows down and loses the tempo in a couple of earlier parts of the song. Subjectively, I'd like to hear the lead vocal a bit louder, above the harmonies. That's your story, tell it clearly so all will understand. 

 

Just my 2 cents, hopefully you find it useful. 😇

[Strays Dave]

I have the M-Audio speakers working now so I'll be able to play back and listen easily and not be tied down by wired headphones.  I'll also be able to play them when on the phone with an Obedia teacher/coach.  I have a learning "hump"  I need to hurdle in mixing.  And I'll listen for the off-pulse problems in the conga strikes.

 

Speaking of internet, AT&T did a lot of digging and cabling a couple of months back.  I signed up for their fiber cable internet, and scheduled a router installation.  I've actually been happy with my internet speed, but still signed on to the upgrade. Hopefully I'll still be happy. 

 

Thanks for the feedback Kuru.