Entourage Paul Tucci
EntourageForum Replies Created
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Christopher, I’m wondering, if with such a sparse, open musical arrangement with interesting and compelling ear candy happening, could you not take advantage of that open frequency range in the low end and really have a wall of low end when the bass comes in, effectively making it one of the lead musical characters? Bass/handclaps/lead vocal atop the ear candy talks to me. Good luck with the track! PT
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Jesse This is cool, and I’m assuming we have moved away from down by the river. Just when I was thinking “Would auto-tuning the whistle drift be a good idea?” you drop some seriously blue notes and a whack-a-doodle chord or two and then I said to myself… “Self, chill! The birds are flying up there for me as I watch the clouds drift by. It’s relaxing. The birds don’t fly along human-designated highways, the guitarist can follow their lead.” Very chill, effective, and dramatic simultaneously. PT
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Your ears so are damn good that you can just sense the “bringing back memories” experience I have from having worked for Franki Valli. That was 25 years ago and the live set was all about the hits, and they were at least 20 years old then. What a pleasure to help present his music to adoring, but aging fans reminiscing their youth. And the rock sound thing I’ve got going on in the drums… I was going for realism and grit as I recall the evening, but a more traditional hip hop sound on the kick will get me to a deeper and tactile bass which this version lacks. I’m excited to get to that revision. I have another song from that session that will benefit from the suggestions offered. Thanks. PT
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Alex, I am not an actual doctor, but I feel qualified to play one on the internet. I have a quick observation after a few listens that I’ll give you now, the rest after I dissect your specimen. I’m wondering if your arrangement would work better if you turned it around, meaning this. The outro, where the bass/drum riff breaks down to just the bass (or is it KB?) and ends with the explosion might make an engaging opening line. It’s slow moving, inviting, and intriguing AF compared to the busy, staccato, ping pong match currently offered. The on-ramp of a song can lure you in or be a bumpy impediment. The most effective ones draw you in. PT
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Very informative reply. I should have used the word “egos” instead of politics in my question. That would have conveyed my hopes of a group think to determine the best mastering choice. PT
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I was thinking something along these lines. I separated out the bass line dropped it down the octave, low passed out the 100 Hz and above, and mixed it back in to supplement the low end. Obviously playing it in the desired register would be smoother sounding than this is. I think the concept was good. The 808 lives above the Bass line and is separated well. The new weight of the new found low end forced my hand to work the top end too. How do you react to the experiment?? Thanks, this was much more fun than working on my taxes. PT
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Dana’s idea of deepening the 808 kick is one path. It would be foolish to ignore the Fuhrer ya know? His suggestion triggered my thought of what is the sonic landscape, and led me to believe there’s room in the low end to explore. There’s a big dynamic range in that area, from nothing going on in some verses to Bass/K support that feels a little polite, level wise. Deepening the tonality of the 808 K will change that considerably. Taking the Bass line down an octave and gaining it up a couple dB just might separate it from the K frequency wise and add some drama and weight to the lower end of the track. I say “might just” because I’m a 70 year old white guy. You may want to check in on some of my posted pieces here to see if I’m at all legit. 🙂 PT I will attempt this experiment my own self in a day or two.
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David, That’s a good find that I guess I missed on their educational website. Tonight’s reading for sure. Thnx PT
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David, Thanks. I solved my non flat mixing environment by going into headphones and using Sonarworks, the software that makes the frequency response neutral for hundreds of models/brands of headphones. Coupled with the tonal balance feature of Ozone that has amassed gadzooks of measurements to get a genre-specific target goal helping to we can get in the ballpark pretty quickly. Love that technology and the stabilizer too. That one is a dynamic EQ that keeps the overall tonality closer to the target curve offered up by the tonal balance even when the song’s frequency response changes somewhat.Have you explored that feature if it exists in your version? PT
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Muchos gracias, but naw bruh, that’s from the show itself, not soundcheck. The off axis sound of the audience response through open vocal mics isn’t worth putting in at the end of the song. IMO It’s an old picture of the theatre and fortunately, I have an appropriately sized PA now. I’m happy to share more when something good happens and I can get permissions. PT
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I stand by my statement that I had no clue what the song was about but I am now impressed you rhymed a line with “Mixing garden bowls and kidneys.” That’s impressive, I trust your talking beans. I agree, the song definitely feels and listens more whole now. Good one! PT
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Pete, Significant growth in this iteration! The vocal de-essing has greatly improved vocal intelligibility. The music seems to have a better loping movement throughout different sections.
In general, I like contrast of intensity and density during a song. It helps to grab and keep the attention of the listener, and that is paramount. If, for example, a musician plays the same riff front to back of the song it’s boring. Did the world learn nothing from the Beatles? If the musician develops the riff throughout the song, I find that appealing and worthy of attention. On the vocal side, that can be accomplished by using a single voice to convey intimacy, the doubling it later in the next verse to make it different. Different being potentially better. I suggest, you decide. And finally, I don’t know what the song is about, but the middle section breakdown where the drama happens, it seems like you added another (new to this version) line in the protagonist’ voice to further the story and add “flavor.” It works, even if I don’t intellectually grasp the intent. I wonder if you struggled with that decision. -PT
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The changes you made to this piece of music changed it dramatically. I actually listened to it and reacted differently. The fidelity it now has is the smooth on ramp to the song, to continue my analogy. Lesson to be noted re bandwidth: All frequencies matter. PT
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Thx, truth be known it’s all in the box, 57 on a banjo, KBs direct into a cheap DI, a large diaphram MXL on vocals, the NEVE console channel strips everywhere on the DAW, a couple flavors of saturation on select channels, soft clipping in the mastering process, and most importantly, judicious use of space in the arrangement.
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Don’t forget the Sonarworks headphone correction software.