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creating with the iPhone
Hey Mix Protege Fam!
I wanted to share a recent creation I made with you all. A few weeks ago I recorded myself playing some music down by a river on my iphone and later when reviewing the footage found that I really liked the performance/moment of what had occurred and wondered if iPhone audio could be good enough for a “professional” release? In the past I’ve used my iPhone to collect samples or field recordings but never leaned on it as my “main” track. I decided to try to combine the iPhone audio with some more HiFi sounds after the fact.
I leaned into the lo-fi ness of the phone recording and ran it through my Unfiltered Audio Needlepoint plugin (great and fun plugin) to make it even more lofi sounding with some vinyl wow/flutter and compression and then balanced it with some hi fidelity acoustic guitar recording that i did back home with good mics. I added some synth bass and used my acoustic guitar to create the sound design for the ambient swells and “kick drum” by dropping some harmonics down by 2 octaves.
Anyways – Thought some of you might enjoy and/or it might at least start a conversation on what passes for “professional” sounding audio in certain genres. I’ve noticed in some more ambient genres there can often be a element of “lower” fidelity.
Hope everyones good out there! – Jesse
Here’s the video:
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8 Replies
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Jesse, I, for one, am digging the “Down by the river series’ you seemed to be riding recently. This next step of additional layers grafted onto your acoustic performance is logical and encouraged from my point of view. I bought completely into the invisibility of the added acoustic guitar until the other layers (non guitar sounding) came in. I would suggest patience before those new layers come into play and I would suggest gentleness when they do. I’m feeling the au natural guitar getting buried by the bass texture and it takes my attention away from your performance space. At the end of the music I really wanted the flowing water and wind sounds to ground me back to your original location but it just wasn’t happening. As I’m writing this I realize that’s exactly what I did when I reworked your flugelhorn piece with bird calls and a bigger stream with a bigger stereo spread. I got stuck on how to place the original guitar so that is just sitting on my drive unfinished. As far as the nature of lo-fi sounds goes, that question is long since settled. Lo-fi and/or distortion has worked quite well for Beck, Link Wray, and Hendrix. There’s a whole lotta songs in the US Govt archives that are bandwidth limited. Chase your instincts and make your art. PT
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Hey Paul! So sorry for the long delay! Thanks so much for your feedback as always, and I’m glad you’re feeling the nature/music theme!
It’s so interesting that you bring up the lofi aspects of Hendrix because I’ve been listening to the Jimi Hendrix Experience for my entire life (he’s probably the main reason I picked up the guitar to begin with) and recently I’ve come back to the track “All Along the watchtower” because my son’s rock band is doing a cover of it, and I’m coaching the kids. It’s the first time I’ve listened to that recording with my current ears – knowing a lot more about mixing, production, and recording than I did the last time I listened to that track, which was probably a few years ago. I was shocked how, in some regards, the mix is lacking some things I’ve been taught to try to achieve when mixing, technically speaking. The bass, for instance, is really hard to hear on that recording, especially the definition and actual notes.
It’s funny because I never even once considered any of that when listening to that recording before. I just enjoyed the crap out of it and marveled at Hendrix’ genius as an artist. I found this to be a good lesson for me about keeping things in perspective. If it feels good, and takes you somewhere emotionally, than it is good! It’s just that simple. A good reminder that I need to tell myself a lot these days…
Also – have you ever tried to count off that song! I also spent my whole life counting the intro “wrong” too. Haha
Thanks again for listening and for your encouragement and helpful feedback.
Jesse
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Jesse!!! Dude, this is so beautiful, visually and musically! And I love that the iphone audio captured live is used in the final mix, surrounded and augmented by a richer overdubbed atmosphere … so freaking cool! BRAVO!!! 🙌💜⚡️
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Also – never even heard of Needlepoint, and turns out I own it as part of my Plugin Alliance MEGA Bundle, so I’ll for sure be messing with that thing in the near future – thanks for the tip!
And for anyone else who’s interested, it looks like it’s on sale for $29 at the moment. 🤘
plugin-alliance.com
Authentic, physically modeled vinyl effects from subtle to surreal.
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Thank you my brother! And yes – that needlepoint plugin is very fun and very cool. The compression module on that thing is also pretty groovy (no pun intended….)
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Thanks for the reminder about this, @JLEW! I just updated all my Plugin Alliance plugins so I could get access to this bad boy!
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Hey Jesse, you captured an inspiring moment. So authentic and beautiful and then embellished it nicely! Not even really sure what qualifies as “professional” anymore. I vote for real / authentic every time. Very nice!
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Thanks so much David! Very much appreciate the feedback and support! Best Wishes, Jesse
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