2loose - Missionary Condition - Sep 11

georgeinar · Post by **georgeinar** » Tue Sep 27, 2011 12:06 am

This is from listening to too much The Dead Weather. I don't know if the inspiration is obvious or not, but I was trying to do a different take on the hard rock mixed with electronica and good fat drums. I would appreciate any feedback regarding how interesting this is, whether it sounds fresh and energetic throughout. It is less repetitive as some of the loopy things I often do.

http://www.soundclick.com/player/single ... i&newref=1

Pumpkin King · Post by **Pumpkin King** » Thu Sep 29, 2011 11:40 pm

Certainly less repetitive. Unpredictable would be the word I'd say. Love how you put this all together, really good work.

The one thing though is that it seems like it's missing something at times. Like either leads, or maybe just more layering on the rhythms. Or hey, maybe both...to give it a fuller sound. Leads though would be tough, since there are so many change-ups. Just my opinion.

Again, great job.

Must've taken awhile.

CharlesFerraro · Post by **CharlesFerraro** » Fri Sep 30, 2011 8:02 pm

This one is great! Real gritty, and again reminds me of Yoshito Hirano's work from the Advance Wars DOR series. Wish there was a real crazy drum breakdown. Like putting a heavy double kick drum around 3:00 minutes while the other instruments cruise along on top like they were.

georgeinar · Post by **georgeinar** » Fri Sep 30, 2011 11:32 pm

I'm going to toy around with this some more tonight. Both of your comments have some merit here. I usually relook at a song if I get comments that I find I do agree with and feel I know how I could implement the ideas. I do want a gritty dry-ish sound here, not a lot of verbs or delays, but if I can beef it more and I'll toy around with a few drum embellishments. Should be fun to see how it turns out. I'm working on another one, that I'm only just beginning to get a feel for.

ps: maybe it's time I played around with the pads on the m3, i've never used them in a song before, i could maybe do some killer fills with em

CharlesFerraro · Post by **CharlesFerraro** » Sat Oct 01, 2011 1:07 am

georgeinar wrote:maybe it's time I played around with the pads on the m3, i've never used them in a song before, i could maybe do some killer fills with em

hell yes
\m/

georgeinar · Post by **georgeinar** » Mon Oct 03, 2011 10:51 am

ok, so I toyed around and came up with another short segment around 3:00 that supplies a kind of drum solo thingy as well as I beefed up the overall fatness of the buzzy sound that carries throughout the song by mastering those programs using Trash for distortion and then layering that over the song at a low volume, but it's still noticeable. I do like the fuller sound there now. I had a hard time getting the pieces to fit in the new sections, but I do think it adds another dimension. The main thing is that I liked the idea of not just going into the final loops directly, but adding a bit of surprise elements there for the finale as it were.

CharlesFerraro · Post by **CharlesFerraro** » Mon Oct 03, 2011 7:50 pm

Drum section sounds sick. They're tight but still have great dynamic. End up using the pads for velocity?

Digging the sample of the girl at 3:14 and how the phaser at 3:16 sounds sortof like some ghostmonster answering back to her.

georgeinar · Post by **georgeinar** » Mon Oct 03, 2011 11:09 pm

I toyed with the pads but got stuck as far as sequencing them. I should have pulled out the manual, but i ended up keying the drums and editing them in the software, especially the velocity-i put it on random within a range and then tweaked a few notes here and there. I did add some more kick, and the phased part was partially to emphasize the kick when it comes in.

sewa · Post by **sewa** » Tue Oct 11, 2011 7:40 pm

This is very interesting. First of all the drums are awesome. The sounds are well isolated from each other so I don't get the feeling of being overwhelmed with the sound. Electronic sounds are good, such as the one at 2:42 for example. However - its the drums that keep it all together. The snare is excellent and so is the groove. Lots of variations, I wonder how you did that.

The action changes throughout the song and it all feels consistent until the end. The mix is of course superb too, a real treat for the ears.

sewa

georgeinar · Post by **georgeinar** » Tue Oct 11, 2011 10:50 pm

How happy it makes me to hear your kind words. I have just had the most fun with this piece, I think part of the magic is because often it's only one or 2 instruments going at a time, but each leads into something that is then picked up by another sound which echoes again in another and you never know where it's going to take you or when it will break into another segment. The drums are low-bit drums on the m3, it's a lo-fi very punchy drum kit, which i have used a lot as its grungy and very powerful and gritty. I mastered the guitarish buzzy sounds in Trash and added it back in at a low volume so it would fatten up that part, but not overpower as the trash result is very harsh at loud volumes. Also, I had fun trying to utilize hard hats, crashes, alternate snares, noise makers etc to keep things interesting. I would like to crank out a few more in this style, but sometimes it just happens and sometimes not so much.