Entourage Paul Tucci
EntourageForum Replies Created
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Nate,
Superb offering first time up to bat. I think your feedback will be overwhelmingly positive.
Drums sound great regardless of the number of mics. Minimalist approach worked tonally with the low end vocal and the KB bass with swerve on it. BGV layers are so tasteful. The opening is killer. It might even be a bit too much in your face. It feels like a separate piece of music it’s so strong.
I would try -3dB down to get closer to match the impact of the actual vocal starting spot. Also that sidestick/snare/percussive element is stealing the show early on when in my mind, the spotlight ought to be on the vocal arrangement. During the verses that percussive element might be more interesting if it were not repetitive. I’d try 2 and 4 on the verses, and your current 2, 4 AND for the B part. The song is sparse so help the listener find new, treasures to hang onto and enjoy.
The vocals are intriguing but feel a little under represented at times and confused when the delayed repeat is as full frequency range as the original. Dull the repeats to avoid high freqs demanding our attention.
I want more of your vocal magic, not the whistler guy.
That half time section at 1:20 is very effective, it’s open sounding and efficient while deep grooving. Try dropping the echoing vocal to help us find the drop after the build up. Things get a little busy for my taste. If you shoot the whistling guy you’d have more sonic space to feature the BGV. I love the vocal texture that much to sacrifice the whistler. Maybe feature whistler guy in the next song.
I enjoy the song and playing the “What if” game. These are all just my observations to make it cleaner, more accessible, and better if I had the talent to make what you’ve already made.
Carry on, and metaphorically speaking, carry off the whistler and bury him somewhere in the woods.
PT
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I think we may find out that Dana will put more importance on the attack and release times of the compressor than the ratio. Too quick an attack time and the transients won’t get through leaving your music unnaturally squished. Too slow an attack time and the result will lean toward not processing the signal enough. Those sub millisecond settings available on some devices are dangerously sharp. I find the 40-50 millisecond attack time more transparent and therefore, to my ear, more musical. The longer release times of 100 (ish) milliseconds seem to compliment the 40-50 millisecond attack times allowing more control (gain reduction) but not at the expense of audibility. My recent forays into moving away from stock settings has informed my opinions. Your mileage may vary.
PT
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Jeremy,
I’m late to the party on your new offering and I think it’s toe tapping good. I can imagine all the goodness Dana was suggesting to relentlessly keep the groove moving forward. The more I hang around here the more I see his keen insight. Hell, I might even come to like reverb. 🙂
I do like the forward nature of you bass and kick sitting in front of all that ambient wall of instrumentation and vocal. I love your dynamic between the chorus and how it drops down for the verse. It’s very compelling and effective. I would offer up this perspective. The hand claps in the chorus feel too present for a couple possible reasons. They are close to leading the charge during the chorus whereas in the verses the interplay of percussion elements has me focusing in on them. Its an abrupt change distraction when the claps come in hot like they do. Secondarily, the claps are decidedly electronic. Would the party groove not be better served with real claps, humanly imperfect, sitting in the mix, but not leading the charge? I’m thinkin’ that’s how they do it on Discovery Channel.
I certainly look forward to the next iteration of this infectious song.
To the point of your second post which was heard to be “scooped out.”.
Does anyone concur that it’s mono as mono can be?
I took each version, the first, obviously stereo mix, and then the second, “scooped out” posting and ran them both through my Imaging module of Ozone. The display is a polar plot of sameness. Think of it like a Venn diagram. Whats common to both left and right channels are in the intersection of the two circles. What audio information exists only in one side lives in only that side but not in the intersection of the two. The mono version, which I contend is the state of your second post, is a straight tertical line, indicating NO DIFFERENCE between the left and right. The Stereo version, your original post, shows a different concentration of energy. There’s a bunch of energy concentrated around the middle (in both circles of the Venn diagram) but a substantial amount poking off to the extreme sides occupying the left only or right only circles of the Venn diagram. That extreme one-side-only-energy is most likely that ambience you’ve got going on. It sounds spacious. it feels luscious, but is extremely dangerous when combined to mono because of the time difference between the two. When combined to mono it gets way weird. I love the spaciousness it provides and pity the fool who listens in mono. They’re missing out. I’m not suggesting you remedy anything about this other than checking the mix in mono and then undoing that button.
PT
Happy to be back.
I kinda missed you guys
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Jeremy,
Probably best to refrain from sending this mix to mastering until after you check the MONO button!!
PT
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No cacti (?) were harmed in taking of this photograph. It’s a found prop in the parking lot of the hotel.
PT
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Dana,
That’s fucking brilliant. You managed to distill decades of music production down to an easily digestible nugget of high density inspiration. If your allegory doesn’t make a trade mag article or at the very least, the monthly highlights of MP, the world would be missing out. It’s that good.
The muse visiting me lately said … “Less is more,” … paused for a good long while ..
then continued with “and more is better.” I took that to more or less to mean don’t let grubby hands get at your (my) guitars and allow the sonic space that opens up as the crunchy fades to reveal the calm quiet behind the the aerial barrage delivered by ACE, your imaginary bombardier friend.
The quiet before the next explosive chord is either proof of the #1 rule in show biz, “Leave them wanting more.” or an effective terrorist psy-op leaving the listener aching for more incoming rounds. I believe the guitars got in your head. Fortunately, I know where my heart is.
Thanks
PT
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Roy,
I reckon I missed your latest while I was out west in July. This is so strong and so well crafted. It’s almost orchestral in its arrangement. There’s layered density yet easy to listen through to the nuance. …Yea, the hats are a bit aggro but I love it overall.
As they say here in NY, “I know a guy!” He’s (was) a whistler looking for a band. Perhaps your high hat player should meet him. 🙂
PT
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Vonnegut, huh? My English teacher wife would be proud. My early influences were actually Carlos Castaneda and Jack Kerouac.
A long time ago in a galaxy far away I did write publicaly about live audio, though I used a nom de plume because I was a bit snarky. I’ve mellowed in my old age like Obi-Wan Kenobi. Remember when Obi-Wan fought Darth Vader and had him one swing of his light saber away from death in episode 3 but walked away and let him live? That wise Jedi understood the bigger picture and later wisely said to Vader “You have no idea how powerful I will become” and let Garth slay him knowing that Darth Vader would eventually revert back to Anakin Skywalker and help restore order in the universe. That’s wisdom. I’m just trying to use my force for good at this time in my life and glad you’re diggin it. Should probably add George Lucas to my list of influences, huh? (motif alert!) I’m thinking Biden dropping out of the presidential race is a similar power move.
PT
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This reply was modified 4 months, 1 week ago by Paul Tucci.
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This reply was modified 4 months, 1 week ago by Paul Tucci.
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This reply was modified 4 months, 1 week ago by
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Jeremy,
We’ve been patiently awaiting this next update and it’s been worth it. Animals came back stronger, cleaner and more precise despite the fact you actually added more musical information. We can listen deeper into the ambient layers now, especially that we’re back to the modern stereophonic sound. (I had to. 🙂 That percussion ensemble feels like a well oiled machine. Not in any mechanical, non musical way, more so like a flock of birds that fly as one, changing directions simultaneously or a school of fish that swim in formation to fend off the bigger predator fish by appearing larger than life. Apparently, they’ve been watching the Discovery Channel too.
I LOVE all those added “Uh, oh, oh ohs” that were suggested. There’s something very primal about call and response that speaks to me. It’s not like I grew up as the son of a black share cropper in rural Mississippi or anything like that. To the contrary, I was an underachieving, surfing, stoned teen living in a waterfront home on Long Island. Zillow says that house is now worth a million but that’s not relevant to my point which is this:
There are 5 instances of the chorus, each one with the 5 syllable call “We are animals” answered by the 9 syllable response “Uh oh oh oh oh oh oh oh oh.” That’s pretty wordy when competing with the ambient layers of synths and even more vocals. On the third listen I heard the muse whisper something like “What if Jeremy just uses a 4 syllable response “Uh oh oh oh” in the first two choruses? It’s hooky as hell and allows the bass line to finish the phrase. In the third chorus, which is a breakdown chorus, try the full complement of nine syllables to make the phrase unexpectedly new and exciting.” She’s very loquacious and finished her musing with “Writer’s choice on the final two choruses.” As she danced away, and she was a bootyfull dancer like you had hoped, the damn AI sand worm that popped up in a previous discussion made a quick lunch of her. Pity, I was diggin’ her suggestions.
PT
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This reply was modified 4 months, 2 weeks ago by Paul Tucci. Reason: grammar
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This reply was modified 4 months, 2 weeks ago by
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Patrick,
Congrats, you and your old time piano are getting rave reviews and 40 something replies at this point! Re: the Imager module… I recall doing something very similar with the controls. I believe I took the sub 100 Hz to complete mono (all the way down on the control slider,) halfway ish down on the low mid, almost full up on the upper mid, and finally, back to normal on the tippy top band.
I was out on my motorcycle earlier this month in Austin, Nevada. It’s an old mining town with some period architecture. Straight outta the Ponderosa. I was hoping to see Ben Cartwright in the saloon I stopped at to have lunch. Apparently, he’s dead but the piano sitting in the corner was talking to me. Sounded exactly like your playing.
PT
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Jeremy,
I checked the Mono button by looking at the Imager section of some mastering software and the data agreed with Dana and I. There is no difference between the L and R channels. The scooped out sound that MixMaster D heard is most likely the result of comb filters created by the destructive interference of the addition of two identical signals of equal level but with different arrival times. ie, those beautifully W I D E KBs and BGVs that are created with time based FX differences left to right, combine to a lifeless mono with large EQ cuts determined by how large the time differences are. I think I can make some measurement aids to help visualize what’s happening.
PT
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Jeremy,
That offering was certainly just-for-fun but your “too pristine” comment struck a chord for me regarding reverb. Having fought the battle of mixing in reverberant, hostile, acoustic environments for so long trying to achieve the acoustic equivalent of photo realism that when I have the bone dry, highly intelligible possibility available, I lean into it.
Perhaps I should make friends with impressionism.
I was off grid for a solid month and see you have a new song up. I’ll give a listen as i catch up on things and especially my lawn.
PT
