I can’t begin to tell you how excited I am to be working on another piece with Shadi! :-] I was thrilled with her selection of Forough Farrokhzad’s poetry for The Wind Will Take Us and even more delighted with her outstanding vocal performance.
This is VERY early in its development. Shadi hasn’t even heard it as I upload this, but I’ll drop her a DM on Twitter in a moment and keep my fingers crossed. Right now (as usual) there’s no thought been given to arrangement or mixing. This is simply a preview of some of the instruments and the overall theme of the track. Brain dumping indeed.
Update: [25/11/2009]
Took on board Fernando’s comments below and added a filter and sequence to the opening bass line to give it a little more groove. Responding to Doyle by lifting the vocals and EQ-ing some of the instruments to give them more room. Also glitched up the percussion track and generally remixed (levels / EQ / some compression on one of the other bass lines).
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Update: [24/11/2009]
Now mixed with vocals (thank you Shadi!!!). MP3 below is not mastered. Any feedback very gratefully received. Would love to hear from you so post a comment below. Do it!
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Update: [27/09/2009 Arrangement 1]
I’ve added drums, worked on a couple of extra layers and put together the first arrangement. It’s a preliminary mix and in terms of levels / EQ, I’m going to leave it pretty much as is until the raw vocals are back. I want to hand over to Shadi now for her input.
Shadi: Keep in mind that the mix / arrangement is still very fluid and can be amended in way you like.
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Update: [18/09/2009]
Not a huge amount been modified since Wednesday’s update and since I’ve been full of a cold, I suspect the mix might be very weird. Feels like my head is stuffed with cotton wool!
I was inclined to agree with Fernando’s comments about the piano, so for now, I’ve deleted it. Sounded a bit Happy Mondays to me and changed the feel quite a lot.
Still just a collection of ideas and with the Great North Run on Sunday, I don’t think I’ll be moving this one on much until next week now. (Sorry Shadi!)
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Update: [16/09/2009]
I’ve lifted the tempo by 6bpm to help this one groove, but it still isn’t gelling for me (yet). I’ve got confidence in the track and I’m sure it’ll pull together, but right now, it’s just not happening. Being full of a cold and having had a couple of very intense days at work, guess I can’t really expect to be in the most creative of moods. Probably best to leave it for now.
As per previous posts, should point out that this is still not an arrangement. Just some of the possible themes for the final piece. Zero attention has been given to the mix (levels or EQ).
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Update: [13/09/2009]
Uploading a couple of additional parts, though must stress that this is NOT an arrangement at all. The piano is unlikely to kick this track off (but who knows!) and some of the synth sounds still need lots of work (EQ too). What’s more, this is a VERY rough mix. Levels are all over the place. Drums are toppy (but expect to hear another drum part too, this is mainly percussion for texture). Definitely needs a lot more sub/bottom end and bigger drums. I can hear the SBB sequencer drifting slightly out of time too. Loads to fix!
The feel of the piece has changed quite a lot over the weekend. It feels much brighter and lighter now. I’m not sure that’s entirely the direction I had planned, but I do kind of like it. Let’s see where it takes me next!
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First Upload: [11/09/2009]
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To all intents and purposes, this track is now finished. As ever, I may return to mix with fresh ears in a couple of days and once I’ve had a chance to run it through the car stereo test. So far, I’ve monitored on my god awful computer speakers, a pair of Beyerdynamic DT-100s, some Sennheisers and my UltimateEars earbuds. Seems OK(ish) on those.
It’s been quite a weird journey this one. It started out with a “lost chord” – the second prominent chord on the AtmoEPiano (Green Oak Crystal VST plugin). I was fiddling around on the piano and really liked that chord.
Started to build an ambient piece, but upping the tempo to 165bpm against the lazy lead chords caught my attention. The addition of dialogue from American Graffiti came right at the end. I’m still not sure if I like it or if the track should remain instrumental.
What do you think?
Stream Original:
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Stream Mastered by Pure_Tone:
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Download: Good Time – 320 MP3
Had a little more success last night with the drum n bass track. Still only have around 40 bars (an intro of sorts), but I like some of the percussive beeps and blips on this. I’ve used a number of filters on several kits to generate these, along with Cubase 5’s REVerence reverb plugin.
What’s still not working for me – and I’m struggling to find the right sound – is the bass line. I think the drone is generally OK, but it’s the bass pattern which isn’t gelling yet.
The other BIG question: “Where does it go from here?”
There’s no doubt that I’m the passenger here. The music is driving this composition forward and though I’m uncertain as to the route it’s taking, I’m really enjoying the ride again!
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