Entourage Paul Tucci
EntourageForum Replies Created
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Michael, I spent my day learning some new mastering software and let’s see if this result addresses any of the mentioned suggestions. Ozone 11 is a mastering suite in the digital domain. There are many modules that range from analog simulations, digital EQs, compressors of different flavors, limiters with or without parallel processed grit, AI powered shapers that try to aim the frequency response to a reference. There’s even a variable band-with EQ low frequency that can identify transient or sustained sounds and accentuate on or the other. I used that one to bump the Bass Guitar up a couple dB to be more audible against the kick. Another module can identify the Vocals and treat them separately from the rest of the two track. (Unlike the RIP-x mentioned the other day which does stem separation.) I gave the Vocals +.8 boost. I think it makes your work take a step into a poppier place. See if anything moves you. -PT
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Michael, Hello or welcome, not sure if I’ve heard anything or yours yet. This is a pretty damn good pop song to my ear. I am in agreement with some of the comments already made. Save the vocal distortion treatment for the final spoken. Between the telephone eq and some grit the angst will be huge. Your arrangement has movement. The guitar bass interplay varies verse to verse and thats good. I can hear deeper into the music when the bass and guitar play more sparsely. The musical stabs they play have impact and leave open space. I understand your words of “more pop than punk.” If its a pop song, and I do truly believe it is, let the lady’s vocal shine through without having to compete with your overly energetic guitarist, especially in the first verse where the tone is trying to be set. Eighth notes from the bass and the guitarist feels too heavy to me. That might feel gentler if they combined to one sound. Bass notes but with the fuzz of the guitar slightly on top. I love the couple stops in arrangement. At that quick tempo even a measure of silence is so refreshing. Once again, I favor the space. The chorus is dense. Love the BGVs and its spread and level behind the lead vocal. I get confused where my attention is being drawn to. The lead vocal? The counter melody slightly underneath? That “energetic” guitarist again? Then again, I am old, closer to dead than my prime. I also come bearing gifts. I took your tune and ran it through some AI software I’ve been playing with. It can take a two track and separate out 5 stereo stems of BASS, DRUMS, GUITAR, PIANO, VOCAL, and a catchall, OTHER. I might just be able to easily experiment with some of these ideas and quickly implement a VOCAL up GUITAR down, etc version. Here’s three snippets of your catchy composition. I wanted to see if recombining the separated stems had audible artifacts compared to your original. I think the RIP-X stem version fared very well. (No processing done other than mixing the stems back together at unity.) Then I went nutty and said “I wonder if we can tell the difference if one version presented here had a channel (L) from the original and the other channel (R) from the post RIP-X recombined. Michael, I had a great day going down this rabbit hole. Thank you. Far more productive than the Taylor Swift conspiracy from last week. -PT
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Jesse, That is strong! The visuals augment your musical vision and I retract all my previous comments except the vocal bus EQ. You should be proud of the gravitas of this project. -PT
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Well said, and with the details and caveats that i was reaching for. Far be it from me to give compositional advice to the likes of Nate or Stuart who clearly have musical fluency. PT
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I think Dana’s suggestion of an additional vocal at the ending is a great springboard to the conversation of the songwriter’s intent. Our discussions might benefit from the binary of love it / don’t comment at all to a more nuanced one where the songwriters defend their choices and probably get previously unthought of variations into the work Admittedly, works in progress is a more practical time to try this. -PT
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Jesse, I applied a +8.83 dB shelf with the +6 db point at 2500 Hz across the entire track. It works wonders for the vocal but when I listen to the track without the HF shelf me thinks that the instruments work better without the shelf because the contrast of music to vocal / background to foreground is tonally more interesting. The HF shelf on the vocal pushes it into the foreground, into our attention while the music recedes slightly. That would negate the “need” for any ducker to my ear. Funny how the right tool in the right place prevents using yet another tool. Simplicity is good. With the HF shelf engaged, the high hat percussion at the ending jumped way too far forward so definitely just think of brightening the vocal. I did like the guitar much better with the HF shelf and I reacted to the pace of the guitar positively. Slow, methodical, discretely placed. If it were early in the process of this piece I would try forgoing the synth, which is way “busy” and using the guitar and maybe a slow moving pad or strings as the propulsion mechanism. The open space the guitars provide compliment the vocal more so than the density of the synth. I love that section of the song. All that said, these are only my observations. I throw them into the ring because you asked. Like I said to Dana, I have a lot of stories, some of them are even true. 🤠 I have a lot of opinions also, some will ring true, others fall by the wayside for more important reasons than my viewpoint. I do thoroughly enjoy the exploration. PT
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Hey Jesse, Interesting, and in a good way. Firstly, I checked your waveform stats in my waveform stat checker. -14 LUFS, True Peaks of -.5 db. All good stuff. I do think the track is tonally a little dark to support the very personal, spoken word eeriness with a positive message. The intimacy of the vocal delivery is paramount to the effectiveness of the piece. We’re listening , but we might be halfway inside your head. I trust my headphones, Audio-Technica 70s with Sonarworks correction to flat phase, linear, but with the consequent latency which is a non factor for playback purposes. That said, I found a big improvement in the presentation when I put a sizable HF shelf on. All the intimate sibilance popped out, including the doubled vocals out on the sides. Now we’re definitely listening to you from inside your head. I would try cutting the intro (without vocal) and the space between the first and second verse in half. Undoubtedly, I can be accused of brevity and getting to the point in my silly songs so I have a prejudice. It may make your piece less radio friendly because of the time, but focus and concentrate your intent. Do you have any ducking tools to suppress the instruments when, and only when, the spoken word is in play and only in the frequency range where they overlap? The spoken word is the star but still connected to the support instrumentation. I think as is, the darkness slightly shadows the word. Keep churnin the stuff out! PT
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David, thank you Boomer! I do love sharing my silly songs after a career in the live sound world. -PT
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That’s my buddy Skip singing. He could easily get up there into falsetto land and I loved utilizing his range on many a song. I contributed only at the song’s end on the last “yea.” My idea, arrangement, and production. I have a nearly finished piece that Skip also sang all parts including the super falsetto in a language that I made up that sounds Swahili-ish. It’s a post -Ferguson cop killer song, but humorous, with John Bonham on drums. Thank you internet.
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Very valid point. Context is key for your observations and suggestions so here’s the 2nd verse leading to the middle 8 and the 3rd verse. that should give the listener a better feel for the song. The half time middle section sets up a huge rhythmic contrast to my ear and because I stole the song form from elsewhere, I never gave a thought to dumbing down the rap section to two chords though it certainly works for many jam bands. Verses are presented without my vocals because I have some pride. -PT
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That must explain why I was looking at the tail end of the camera’s viewpoint the entire time.
Take two.
PT
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This ought to make it easier to dissect the music. Unlike Nate’s luscious composition, I favor the simplicity. KB bass, AC Gt, and the El Gt. The KB bass is possibly the culprit but it is an interesting twist.
PT
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Dana,
I’ll take “groovy.” That sounds complimentary to me, thank you very much. That Santana inspired playing is not from me. I can only take credit for giving the guitar player a direction to short for and I think he nailed the feel. My music playing prowess peaked a long time ago when I was the drummer for the Hall & Oates road crew band. The actual musical director, who played guitar with us in the crew band said to me one day “You’re the worst drummer we’ve ever had in the road crew band BUT I love playing with you!” He’s dead now and I take it as a compliment to this day.
That story is true in case you were wondering. 😉
I’m gonna dig into that brief section where it sound major / minor conflicted to you and have to learn the re-pitch part of RIP-X.
I’m feeling more confident in my mastering chops nowadays compared to when many of these “songs” were taking shape. I’d take comments along those lines anytime.
Appreciate the effort you put in to us here in the community.
PT
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“Out of pocket?” That’s Gen Z talk. Not groovy.
Thank you for posting the isolated tracks. I think I can tell why the timing of the snare / tambo catches my ear. The pre-delay on the snare verb seems to blossom on the second part of the tambo hit and it just stretches out the pocket. Love it!
PT
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Stuart,
There’s some nice trickery going on that I want to borrow, if I may. Early in the piece the snare drum almost has two voices. It’s extremely catchy and propulsive. On the two it has a dry as hell tambo or small cymbal playing with it, except not simultaneously. It’s sitting so deep on the backside that it reminds me of Levon Helm. I can’t quite count it as the “and” after 2. What’s the magic of that timing?
PT