All of my many questions, wrapped up into three minutes … The Jupiter Bluff

[Sundown]

Hey all,

 

I’m terrible with finishing music projects and I rarely share anything. This is my inaugural (first-ever) share so I figured Craig would give me a break. I know you’re normally supposed to share music in a dedicated group thread.

 

This is an instrumental track that I’ve been working on for a long, long, time and finally I decided to finish it. I learned *a lot* and made a lot of mistakes along the way. My hope is that all of the learning will help me finish other projects much quicker. 

 

Is this the best I can do? It’s the best I can do with this track, right now. I’ve got better material in the works and sometimes you just have to call it done.

 

I learned *a lot* about EQ and it amazes me how much audio was cut away to make things fit together. When I shut off the channel EQs the track is a bloated mess. Even with the right sound selections, it takes a lot of cutting to make space for parts.

 

I also learned the importance of tape simulation for synths. Synths and ROMplers have a lot of nasty resonances, and you can tame some of that with EQ and dynamic EQ, but knocking the transients down and smearing the audio a bit with a good tape emulation (such as the UAD Studer) goes a long way.

 

I definitely have more to learn with gain staging as I had to boost the overall mix at the end substantially, but since there was very little noise on the track I could get away with it. But I would have definitely liked the mix to be a bit hotter heading into Wavelab.

 

This particular track was tricky for me because it has a lot of dynamics. Some of my other works-in-process are much more even. All of the instruments and sounds are me on keys, excluding the electric guitar parts at 2:15 and 2:37 (my brother played these parts).

 

I broke one of my rules which is to never use a synthetic guitar, but the HALion acoustic guitar was exactly what I wanted and I don't know a finger picker who could play the part the same. I just wanted to be done and I can ultimately live with the choice.

 

Enjoy, and any constructive criticism or feedback is of course welcome.

 

Todd

 

 

 

 

[Philbo King]

I like it.  It's maybe a bit too perfected, sonically.  

 

It reminds me of the theme of one my favorite Alan Parsons albums, On Air.

[Sundown]

Thanks Philbo. 👍

 

I’m not in love with the song (partially because I’ve heard it 1,000 times), but I am proud that I finished something and put it out there. And I learned *A LOT* from all the time I put into it.

 

I was in the studio today mixing my next track and I accomplished more in one hour than I ever would have before. To be fair the arrangement I’m working on has already been optimized for blend, but tasks like EQ, leveling, ambience, etc. went a lot faster knowing what works and what doesn’t. And i had the confidence to mute or delete parts that were just getting in the way. It will be a better track and then I can continue to grow and try new things.

 

Thanks again.

 

Todd

[Anderton]

Very well mixed, with a clean and present sound. It's sort of like movies where you can see the money on the screen - you can hear the work in the music.

 

Personal preference: I wouldn't leave the voices in, you have the text already - then the music could stand completely by itself. But having the voices would make it a killer addition to the Natonal Air and Space Museum. Maybe they'd be interested in putting it on their website?

 

The only semi-negative comment I have is about the video. The images would be better without the bands that happen sometimes on the sides and top/bottom. As you probably discovered, images that don't conform to the video's native form factor limit your zoom and pan options. In some cases I can alter the image to fit the needed form factory, but if not, I trade off the limited zoom and pan to have the image occupy the full frame.

 

Finally...this it not a criticism, because I'm a perfectionist as well. But you were probably already 95% of the way there after 70% of the time you put into it. I can understand tweaking until you have exactly what you want - that's what I do - but sometimes I wonder if I just shouldn't have stopped at 60% so I can get more music done. I'd bet getting the extra 5% of sonic quality is something only I would notice

 

 

 

[Sundown]

Hi Craig,

 

Thank you very much for the detailed feedback. I really appreciate it. And with your experience and depth, the comments on the mix really put a spring in my step. 👍

 

I agree with you on the dialog. I could have gone either way (and I could easily mute them and adjust the ducking).

 

The video was an afterthought and I just did it to try and hold the typical listener’s interest a bit (which are really just friends and family). But your feedback is spot on and there are some frames that have the annoying boundary or letter boxing. I just threw it together in Davinci Resolve and learned as I went.

 

I also agree with your 70% comment. The differences in demos over the last few weeks were only noticeable to me, but when I could hear some bloat or lack of clarity, etc., it was driving me crazy. I finally reached a point where I could call it done.

 

Again, thank you for taking the time to listen and I hope to post something new in the general thread soon.

 

Todd

[Nowarezman]

Your video production, music included, opened up a few resonant channels for me.

 

1 - the music has echoes for me of Patrick O'Hearn.  If you haven't heard of him, I venture to guess you would find his music appealing.  The one thing O'Hearn does, that perhaps you could work into your compositions, is a bit more assertive presence for the parts as they transition section to section.  More drama I think I would say - not always a bad thing.  O'Hearn also uses percussion (clearly sampled in most cases) to great effect.  Check him out if you haven't heard him.

 

2 - I was in 9th grade in 1969 and watched the moon landing coverage - Walter Cronkite and all - when it happened.  Earlier even than that, I subscribed to a club for kids that NASA offered, and man, it was great.  I got, for free, some mailings that included photos, stickers, decals, and so on.  I can't even find any evidence that this existed on the web, but I sure remember getting the little packet in the mail with all the goodies.  So I bought in 100% to the 60s positivity about progress, science, a wonderful future just waiting out there for the adventurous to reach out and possess.  The U.S.A. space program seemed, at the time, to be the most inspiring endeavor of modern times that that didn't involve conquering and killing humans as enemies.   

 

There is a fantastic episode of Netflix series The Crown, set in 1969, where Prince Philip is gobsmacked by the lunar landing and the sheer audacity of the Americans pulling off this historic feat (only to meet the actual astronauts and find them disappointedly "common").  Highly recommended.

 

I don't mind the admittedly clean quality of your track.  It's a vibe - it speaks of careful editing and a concern for pure sound.  It jives with space travel and the little clean lab that every space capsule smacked of.  It's like the movie 2001 -  space exploration in the 60s was associated with precision and purity and vacuums and exacting, intricate. technology.  The space program urged an ideal of transcendence in an era that seethed with human struggle and base inequities.   We need our ideal North Stars that we will never obtain, yet still urge us on to a higher goal.

 

nat

  

 

[Sundown]

Thank you Nat for listening to my first “published” track and for the great feedback.

 

I know who Patrick O’Hearn is but I’ll confess I’ve never listened to his music.  I’ll check it out on TIDAL.

 

I share your passion for the space program. I wanted to fly in a capsule but I was born too late. If I had the ambition or drive I guess I could have pursued the space shuttle, but my interests shifted. But I still have an encyclopedic knowledge of the first three space programs and in a pre-internet world, I read and watched everything I could about the early astronauts. I certainly have seen “The Right Stuff” over one hundred times, perhaps even 300 times in my life (it has a great score by Bill Conti as well). 

 

Thanks again for the feedback and for taking the time to check it out.

 

Todd