[Paul Tucci]

Nathan, Congrats man! What an accomplishment. So I grabbed some popcorn from the bag above the fridge, turned the lights off, settled into my chair, and put the headphones on. My first listen felt a good bit quieter than a movie theater presentation. Second listen was maybe 6dB louder and that felt kinda pocket level. The intro translated as present, the dynamic peak later in the song translated as in my face. Perfect, I’m in. Now for tonality. The perceived the overall tonality as slightly dark. This was later confirmed on an RTA running during playback. There’s a definitive rolloff above 1K. But what might the correct long term frequency response be for a hybrid orchestral piece look like anyways? It’s a different genre than I listen to. Being a tinkerer I busted out an EQ and applied a high freq shelf, 2.5dB tops. What I liked about that result was that more of orchestra presented itself. The woodwinds and horns had more clarity and could play alongside the wall of bass. The idea of orchestral and electronic instruments aurally melded together for me. I’m thinking that concept has some importance to the intent of this piece. A little more clarity went a long way. Perhaps I should have said that first instead of coming dangerously close to sounding like a pompous ass in the previous paragraph. Congrats again! PT

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[Dana Nielsen]

😂😂 descriptive, intuitive, technical, helpful and hilarious as always, @-PT ! 🏅 I’d love to hear what this mix sounds like with a couple two tree “deebs” more top end!

* deebs = dB, i.e. decibels
* couple two tree = Chicagoan for ‘two or three’, or ‘a few’

[Paul Tucci]

I’m aiming for Informative AND Entertaining! … seems to be working. PT

[Nathaniel Earl]

Hey @-PT thank for this feedback, and charming narrative! haha. Not pompous at all! I hear you on it may be leaning a bit to the darker side of things – will see what can be done to bring a bit of air back into the fold.

[Dana Nielsen]

Oh MAN!! What a lush, gorgeous, emotive, electro-organic, ring-modulated, tribal-techno-orchestro TREAT! Massive and haunting and beautiful. 👏

I’m on my trusty headphones at the moment and can’t wait to crank this in the studio. Perhaps the studio listen will inspire additional thoughts or ideas, but for now here are the only things that caught my ear:

• When the percussion entered – good lordt I almost spit out my coffee! What a fun surprise that was to hear the perc and choir elements join the party toward the end. For the perc, I felt like it could benefit from some big ambience/verb to help the perspective. What I mean is… the rest of the ensemble is living in this enormous, vast, expansive mountain range of a sound stage; but then the percussion comes storming in and it feels right up close to my face, full of detail and presence and a “dryness” for lack of a better word, that makes it feel disconnected from the rest of the ensemble. Perhaps that was your intent – and if so, cool! But my natural instinct was “I want these drums to maintain all their power and low end while also being drenched in a bit of that “grand canyon verb” that the rest of the synth orchestra is living in!” I guess I kinda imagine it emanating (loudly, powerfully) from behind the orchestra, like in a traditional stage setting. But again, totally viable to break from that tradition too, so just my first impressions.
• The choir chant might be perfect where it is, level-wise, but it’s such an awesome emotional sound I’m so curious if it could be louder!!!!

FABULOUS work, homey! Wow. Can’t wait to see whatever film this is, hear the rest of the cues, and point at the TV while shouting excitedly at my family who are watching other things on their own separate devices, “THAT’S MY FRIEND @Nate WHO DID THE MUSIC! I KNOW HIM!”

[Nathaniel Earl]

haha I already do that point at the screen and say “I know him” thing every time you pop up.

Thank you for your kind words and encouragement! After sharing this with some other mix folk, everyone seems to agree that the drums are poking out a bit on the dry side. I definitely wanted them to hit you in the face, but I like the suggestion of trying to fit them a bit more into the overall soundstage. Will experiment with approach on this and report back.

And heard on the choir! I’ll get them to stand out a bit more. 🙂

Thanks again for taking the time to listen and provide such great feedback.encouragement!

[Paul Tucci]

Nathan, Another country heard from here. Bang-bangistan to be precise. I loved the forward nature and different ambience of the toms. I took that to mean that for a brief moment in the conflict, someone or some idea took control and was winning. PT

[Nathaniel Earl]

🤣

[Dana Nielsen]

Ok just listened in the studio – it’s massive and amazing! Here are my slightly revised thoughts:

• Percussion: didn’t strike me as much “out of perspective” as they had during my previous headphone listen. That said, I might try rolling off a bit of the top end on the percussion to smooth it out. A lot of times I reach for Decapitator to do this cause I can quickly filter the top or bottom AND add a touch of saturation while I’m at it.
• Choir: same as before … love it, want more of it, but also dig it where it’s at if it’s supposed to be more “felt” than heard.

SO good man!!

[Nathaniel Earl]

ooo I like the decapitator suggestion. gonna roll with that

[Nathaniel Earl]

I tucked the drums back into the soundstage, and brought out the choir. I’m vibing with it! Also added some high frequency back into the mix @-PT

Would love to hear yall’s thoughts!

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[Paul Tucci]

Nathan, Oh hell yea! I put my cans on, closed my eyes and went for the ride your composition offers the listener. Even though I knew the drums were coming eventually, when they entered I involuntarily gasped. Originally I said I didn’t mind the drums poking out as they did. I very much like that shock value in a live audio presentation. That’s where my perspective has been for decades so I’m comfy there. Comparatively, the recording world is so nuanced. One has to fit all that sound in a little speaker. Fortunately, you get many attempts to refine the presentation. I think your compositional skills are so strong, and your layering subtle. I have learned something about my own self from interacting with the community conversation of the piece. Thanks. Are you familiar with nitrous-oxide? Not the recreational usage, that;s none of my business. Rather the use as an accelerant for internal combustion engines. Think drag racing. The entrance of the drums, then choir is a powerful emotional peak of
the song. I was asking myself “Do I want a smidge more vocal or just
the tonality of the vocal to match the drums and strings/synth?” I think the choir entrance with either the high end character of the strings would light the rocket even more so. PT

[Nathaniel Earl]

nitrous-oxide…..love it. Thanks for the kind words man! I love getting these narrative replies from you, they are a film-like journey in and of themselves! Very much appreciate your feedback and encouragement. I think giving the vocals a bit more sparkle could be a great idea. 🙂

[Dana Nielsen]

Holy goose-bumps, Batman!!! 🦸 Wow, @Nate – absolutely amazing, man. As stunning sonically as it is musically ⚡️⚡️. I can’t get enough of that powerful upward horn/synth glissando motif and the cascading suspensions it creates against the changing chords as it’s lush reverb tail lingers. Super emotional. This beautiful score you’ve created makes me feel like I’m sprinting through the woods in Last of The Mohicans while boss battling the sand snake from Dune. BRAVO!!!!!

[Nathaniel Earl]

Can’t get enough of the image of you sprinting through the woods to battle a sandworm. Gotta get some photoshop guru to create that (or midjourney?)

And thank you for the kind words! Appreciated the adjustments you recommended, they added some extra intention which really propelled the final moment. Those glissando things are a bunch of slide guitars and some Oberheim.🤘

[Dana Nielsen]

Dall-E (via ChatGPT) wasn’t understanding my “sandworm from Dune” descriptions (nor example images I uploaded) even after many revision attempts, haha. But here’s as close as I could get it with my limited image prompt experience – makes me laugh.

[Nathaniel Earl]

HA this is amazing. We just gotta superimpose your face now.

[roy-matz]

DAAAAAAAAAMN Bro this is something.

Really lush and expansive, the choir sounds insane and the drums are on point now man! good job, sounds fire

I think I know what this movie about:

In this movie, from the director of openhimer, It is 3054, Chuck Norris Jr decides to test his limits and jump on a spaceship that is actually mounted on the back of a sandworm because spaceships take too much petrol by itself. Also, in this movie mark zuckerberg acts as the sandworm and apparently has different plans for the spaceship… Will Chuck Jr persevere? By the way, he doesn’t have a space suit (dum dum duuuum)

[Dana Nielsen]

Hahaha

[Nathaniel Earl]

Damn you nailed it bro. My favorite part is when the Zucker-worm is singing “Bigger man”

[Charissa Nielsen]

💪 It’s epic, Nathaniel! 🌟 Tell me more about your choir and how I can join!!!!! Seriously! Would be stoked to collab ASAP! 🎤

[Nathaniel Earl]

Thanks Charissa!!! I’d LOVE to collaborate on something. This choir is actually from an iphone recording of a school in South Africa singing in a courtyard. I pulled a couple clips from different parts of that recording and built a new choir from it. But maybe next time there will be a budget for a custom choir!