Member Dana Nielsen
MemberForum Replies Created
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LOLOL – @-PT and @JLEW you are both CRACKING me up! 😂
Jesse, I love this as usual – your audio-visual adventures are magical and pure and inspired, and of them I shall never be tired. Bad dad-poetry aside tho, for real I mean it! And when I commented on this Youtube the other day (before you posted here) I had been wondering, “did he overdub the synth?”. MIDI guitar eh …..? More please!! 👏 How cool!
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I can’t wait to listen to this on real speakers, Jesse! And what a precious gift for your precious boy 💜
My preliminary quick phone listen had me agreeing with @CMN wanting louder J-Bear vocal! Sadly, however, on the phone I was unable to relish your Mid-Side badassery. I love that technique and can’t wait to hear how it came out when I get a chance on real speakers or headphones … soon!
Love love love the song, performance, and meaning!!
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K … sorry for the long, detailed response. So much good stuff here, homey! And I wanted to reward your patience (sorry MP fam I’ve been so tied up lately!) with some juicy suggestions and observations – as always, take or leave em brah!. Ok, so, per usual, here are my unfiltered notes while listening 🥰:
- Love the affected vocal intro hook!
- Love the vocal treament / fx / harms / adlibs!
- Great sonic treats in the pre chorus
- Chorus needs to explode! (in a suitable-for-the-song “gentle” type of explosion). It gets there, texturally as the chorus progresses and new synths and vocals join the party, but I feel like it needs a big wide signature synth pad/chord element that starts on the downbeat of the chorus to really let the listener know – to borrow a phrase I picked up in New Orleans, “Yeah you right! This is the chorus!” I’m imagining, synth wise, something wide and gooey and luscious, like a Juno-106-esque vibe with some verb and chorus and the high pass filter set to medium (so that later choruses could use the same patch but with the filter set a bit brighter 😉 always building the intensity as the song progresses. What @dolph, @andrew-feltenstein, @john-nau, @Wolfe, @Dewey and I refer to a GLB (General Linear Build), as in “GLB that shit, dawg!”
- 1:30 – top of verse 2… since the verse melody sounds similar to the end of the Chorus melody, it could be cool to start the drum dropout here and clear out all the leftover chorus bells n whistles here too, to again tell the listener, “Yeah you right – this is the next verse!” Keep the beat filtered and small for the first two bars of V2 instead of the 2-beat filter dropout you have at 1:34. I feel like the only fairy-dust awesome element you should keep in this 2-bar V2 dropout section is that super cool fluttery ascending synth at 1:33-1:34. Just that, and filtered drums, and your soothing verb-y Pet Shop Boys-reminiscent vocal stylings (slay).
- CH2 – could benefit from some new additional percussive loop or fun breakbeat-y thing. Again in the GLB spirit.
- 2:38 – pre-bridge reintro – I would try shortening this breakdown by half, getting into the bridge sooner.
- 3:07 – fake-out breakdown chorus – love this trick. Anything you can do to ratchet up the contrast between the broken down section and the full-blown chorus when it comes back in will help. Try clearing out more production for the breakdown, then hitting us with the full kitchen sink when it comes back in at 3:13. Maybe even try a riser or 16th note snare fill into the big chorus entrance, and then go nuts with the synths on full throttle, filters open and blazing and buzzing with heavenly-gates-parting technicolor magic. Add a brand new plucky synth too, possibly even arpeggiating to dance off the breakbeat percussive elements that you know you’ll wanna reuse from CH2! Blow the doors off that sucka!
- LOVE the easter egg vocal riff at the end of the fade-out!
This thing has great bones and is well on its way to radio goodness! I think if you wring a bit more out of the production (the fun part!) you’ll be in great shape. I also feel like Moby would be a good Spirit Animal for you for this track. If you get lost or overwhelmed while picking out new GLB elements and textures, just ask yourself: What would Moby do? (WWMD)
💜⚡️💥
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Homey! Sorry for the delay – been locked down in sessions the past few weeks with insane hours. Hoping to check out your latest magnum opus in the morn after some zzz’s!
Look fwd to hearing it, and reading the helpful ideas from others here in the community! 💜
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So sick!! Thanks a mill for sharing this, @Jon_Plett !! I can’t wait to download and dive in! 💜🙌🙏🏻
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Awesome, Joe! My pleasure, man! Cant wait to hear what u cook up next! 🎚️🧑🍳🎚️
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Joe! Damn, man – burning playing! 🔥 Great song too – thanks for sharing with us here!
My main initial mix observations are:
- EQ: the mix as a whole feels very “narrow”, frequency-wise. Not a whole lotta top, not a whole lotta bottom. Everything’s kinda hangin out in the middle of the frequency spectrum as if I’m hearing it through much smaller speakers than I’m actually listening on. I’ll offer some suggestions below.
- Compression: Everything sounds heavily compressed and I don’t think you need it! The meters on my system show some healthy activity, which tells me your mastering processing isn’t the culprit. I suspect what I’m hearing is some heavy compression on individual tracks or instruments. Trust me – I use compression all the time and love it! But when the settings are off (or when it’s used unnecessarily) the compression “artifacts” can really add up and become audible.
Here are a few things to try and/or check out:
- Try bypassing all your compressors and EQs on the master fader as well as on individual tracks/instruments. Pull all faders down, crank up your speakers nice and loud, and build a very basic mix using the 4 steps outlined in this pdf. Keep your speakers cranked and follow the metering guidelines I lay out. This is always my first step when mixing and allows me to relish in the full-frequency, full dynamic-range of the instruments and vibe out to a mix with zero regard for loudness, mastering, frequency “containment” etc. It’s so much fun working this way. Keep everything really simple (as few plugins as needed, correcting only the most egregious EQ or level issues.
- Feel free to check out this deep-dive on setting compressors by ear for some tips on choosing the best compressor for the job and tips on how I determine the best settings.
Hope this is helpful stuff for ya. Lemme know what you think, and keep us posted on your progress! Really awesome having you here in the community and hearing you SHRED!! ⚡️🎸
mixprotege.com
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@nits!! So thrilled you’ve fallen deep into the Ableton abyss – you’re in good company here!
The Focusrite interfaces are an amazing bang for the buck. I use a 6i6 for my system sounds (zooms, youtube, etc.) and i’ve had it for years and it never bothers me with software updates and it always works. I regularly recommend the Scarlet interfaces for their ease of use, portability, and great value. And they sound good too!
One additional note re MIDI: if the 4i4 seems like overkill for your audio needs, you could opt for a 2i2 and add a cheap lil’ 1-channel MIDI-USB interface to your Amazon order. Not sure if that’d save money but just offering that as another option.
Can’t wait to hear what kinds of fresh beats you been cookin up!! 🎧
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Alesis QS8!!! What a classic! I had the the QS6 was my first midi controller (prob inspired by you) and I had it for YEARS. These days I use my Roland System-8 synth as my controller. I also often use my beloved, tiny, powerful Arturia Keystep 37. Both of those connect via USB without the need for midi, tho I still do use midi occasionally for sure.
I’m so thrilled you’re up and running with your new Focusrite. AND that it included the Lite version of Ableton to tide you over till your addiction takes hold and you pawn your pizza oven for cash to buy the full version. 😂🍕
Can’t wait to hear what you’re cookin up over there (ableton-wise and pizza-wise)!
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Yay! I’m so glad! Shoutout to @-PT for all his excellent insights along the way.
What an awesome piece of music, Bar. Drop us a Spotify link here when it’s out and I’ll add it to the Member Spotlight spotify playlist!
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👏⚡️ Yeah, Bar! This sounds awesome! Fantastic work! Whenever I listen to this I always imagine it working well in a film or TV show. Go get that sync!
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Oh, and thanks for turning me on to “Meet the Moonlight“! Sheesh, yeah that sounds excellent. I’m a big fan of Blake Mills and Joseph Lorge, so no surprise there … I looked at the credits and was like, “ah, yeah no wonder!” Great reference for your song.
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Drum timing: mainly at 2:09. The side-stick on beat 3 feels late. Once you scoot that forward the bar after it might need a little adjustment, but nothing too crazy.
Main acoustic guitar: overall there seems to be a bit of a phase issue between the two panned mics. The main sound on the left feels good – I would sweep around your IBP on the guitar mic that’s panned to the right to try to get it aligned with the guitar mic on the left. (do that step while listening in mono and once you think you’ve found the best, fullest guitar sound then check it in stereo to make sure you like your settings in mono and stereo). You could also try SoundRadix Auto Align, which is an amazing tool.
Vocal: really sounds great! – full body, sparkly top end👌. I would try a de-esser tho, and/or manually clip-gain down the S’s a bit so that you retain all that beautiful top end on the voice but without the piercing S moments. Not all of the S’s need this, but many of them do. Massey DeEsser is my go-to: quick, easy, and the blend knob allows me to mix in some of the original S, which helps things from getting to “lisp-y” sounding.
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This has really come along, Patrick! Such a sweet song, and fun to hear all the new production elements.
And @-PT, awesome work on the mastering (or did u use some of your AI magician tools as well? Do tell!). What you did sounds great, and really goes to show the kinds of effective, broad adjustments that can be made using the stereo mix alone. What I mean is, @Pat, is that your mix was feeling good (!), and often it’s a bit of mastering – by you or someone else – that can help get things sounding finished and competitive alongside songs by other artists you dig.
For me, some favorite mix finalizing tools are BX_Masterdesk_Pro, Fabfilter Pro-L2, The God Particle, and sometimes even the “Master” tab within Waves’ Maserati GRP.
I would prob still tighten up a few areas in the drums that feel a bit loose, timing-wise, against the track, but other than that this is feeling real nice, man! ⚡️
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This version right away felt different to me with your newly added processing. The vocal felt quieter than the other version and I thought I’d postpone listening to ask if you’d mind uploading this version again but with the identical mix settings as the previous mix (the one where u added the pad and solo verb)? That way we could more easily compare the vocal arrangement idea, apples to apples.
Also, would u mind adding mix numbers or version numbers on your next uploads? I promise this isn’t me being a type-A dork! hahaha. It would simply help identify which mix version is being commented on.
You rock, Bar!
