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Here I've tried to incorporate modernist twelve tone techniques into a tightly structured song - what do y'all think?

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pcrecord Tue, 03/31/2015 - 13:37

Very creative and interesting song. Thanks for sharing.
The only thing I would say that is out of personnal preferences and taste, I would have put the instrument in a more common space. You're mix sounds like every instruments are in a seperate room and not together in a formation. But again, this could be exactly what you wanted and it would be ok ;)

audiokid Tue, 03/31/2015 - 13:56

I like this better to OP song. Its a bit pitchy for me. I think if you are going this direction (vocally), you do need to have a more comfortable swag about you (is swag the right description?) . Right now you sound tense and therefore your pitch doesn't have that confident sound where you can "get away with being in and out of tune" what you need if you aren't singing dead on. Does this make sense?
I do however love your British , very 70's art rock approach and sound.

Check out Caravan. 'Pye' Hastings A band from this era that might inspire you. Your vocal tones are very similar.http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caravan_(band)

Jathon Delsy Thu, 04/02/2015 - 09:39

pcrecord, post: 427091, member: 46460 wrote: Very creative and interesting song. Thanks for sharing.
The only thing I would say that is out of personnal preferences and taste, I would have put the instrument in a more common space. You're mix sounds like every instruments are in a seperate room and not together in a formation. But again, this could be exactly what you wanted and it would be ok ;)

Thanks for your as usual sharp eared comment pcrecord. I know what you mean about the "common space". Maybe the reason is firstly that I use BFD drum programme, and I use the stereo room mics feature in this programme to create the ambience for the drums, but I use a separate reverb for the other instruments. Maybe I should just use the one reverb setting for all the instruments? What do you think?
Also, I always add as little reverb as possible. I know that reverb is essential for verisimilitude and blending of instruments, but also it takes the punch and detail away from the mix, and also I feel that it makes things sound old fashioned. When I listen to a lot of old records I feel that they are depreciated by over-liberal use of reverb.
Re your comment, I definitely do want a common space for my sounds. But also I am reluctant to change what I'm doing engineering wise, because although I fully agree and appreciate your comments, many of my listeners like and compliment my engineering, so I definitely have something here that works (to a degree), and I don't want to lose this. However, I suspect that few of my listeners have the acute listening skills of yourself.

audiokid Thu, 04/02/2015 - 10:03

Jathon Delsy, post: 427455, member: 48800 wrote: Maybe I should just use the one reverb setting for all the instruments? What do you think?

Without question. If you are watching your band play, are you all playing in different rooms or are you all playing together? Where are you playing? Inside a room, building or outside?

Music and painting is very similar to me. I tend to record/produce and mix music with a very clear image of what I am planning to paint. If you are painting a picture , is there a frame around a picture and would all your content in the picture have little frames around them too?

To me, a wall reflection is a frame or a stop point. It defines the edges of the canvas or way to define the image. So, I don't think we have to say you can't put a frame around something inside something else, but it needs to make sense within to whole picture, otherwise it just sounds wrong, out of place, noticeable. I alway see music as a picture. The question is, what is the picture and story all about.

audiokid Thu, 04/02/2015 - 10:25

I love BFD btw. It has everything we need to define incredibly accurate realism for drums. The hard part is learning how to mix a less than stellar home studio quality track with the most incredible drums recorded. The trick is to degrade BFD until it matches your studio sound. Not the other way around. You will never get a home studio to sound like BFD so the smart trick is to reduce until everything matches the weakest link in the chain and then mix it together.

Right now, your music sounds pieced together with good, better best sonic boarder around things.

bouldersound Thu, 04/02/2015 - 10:37

audiokid, post: 427457, member: 1 wrote: If you are watching your band play...

Right there, that's what informs my mixing. I may optimize and idealize, but it all starts with that.

audiokid, post: 427457, member: 1 wrote: Music and painting is very similar to me. I tend to record/produce and mix music with a very clear image of what I am planning to paint.

I grew up just surrounded by modern art. From that I learned about the dynamic between the expected and unexpected that requires careful balancing. If it's too conventional it will be boring, but if it's too unconventional people won't connect with it. You draw them in with the familiar and then thrill them with a surprise. It's a tricky balance to achieve because it's a different point for each listener.

I've always been fascinated by sound but I process it visually, if that makes any sense. It's sort of synesthetic.

bouldersound Thu, 04/02/2015 - 10:44

Jathon, I just listened to Suffer Gently and I have no suggestions for the mix, but I had a vision of you performing this on a soapbox in Hyde Park and then as a beatnik in a coffeehouse in Greenwich Village. Oh, and now I'm seeing you with a wig in Parliament. If I had a budget I could put together an awesome video for this.