Stories About You Two

January 5, 2013 1:04 PM

Remix of this. Rather more....umm....lively sounding now I reckon.

posted by MajorDundee (6 comments total) 1 user marked this as a favorite

I'm posting this before listening to it to tell how much I am looking forward to it!
posted by unSane at 2:03 PM on January 5, 2013


Gulp.....no pressure then!! Rushing to dampen expectations, I have to say that I'm still getting to grips with the whole NI/Reaper thing and this is firmly in the "experimental" category. There are some obvious problems with this that are quite interesting - one of which is a very slight timing anomaly that tends to make things sound like they're galloping away a bit now and again. Another is having to kind of backwards mix a track to fit with something - the drums - that should really be part of the initial construction work. Anyway - whatever the glitches it's a big improvement on the original I think. Things can, as the cliche has it, only get better.
posted by MajorDundee at 3:08 PM on January 5, 2013


I especially like the guitars in this, which are like a field trip through my high school years, lurching from sounding like the soundtrack to Fast Times at Ridgemont High to the stabbing rhythm guitar of the Police.

Here's to clean, sharp, appealing chord riffs!
posted by Bunny Ultramod at 3:50 PM on January 5, 2013


Ok, two listens now, one on nice monitors and one on apple earbuds. Overall, YEAH, it rocks and a huge step forward. I would look at two things:

1. Room sound. The drums sound a bit boxy and narrow right now. I would experiment with more of the room mic or maybe just a bit of room verb on the drum bus The peril of doing everything digitally, especially when the tracks are as pristine as yours, is you don't get the sense they were all recorded in the same space, which tends to take you 'out' of the song.

2. It's a bit metronomic at the moment, especially the high hat but also the others. It's worth figuring out a way to get some feel in the velocities. The ear seems to baulk at quantized velocities more than quantized timing for some reason.

I was going to put in a 3 which is that it doesn't sound like anything any drummer I've met would ever play but I actually think that's a positive now I've listened to it again. It definitely works with the track and it perked my ears up.

I'm in London for the week of the 21st - any chance you could make it down, Major?
posted by unSane at 6:28 PM on January 6, 2013


All valid comments unS - many thanks. The narrow/boxiness thing is spot on. Partly a problem of trying to fit two things together that weren't recorded together. The actual drum track is a composite of presets with a few midi overdubs. It's indeed a bit like Animal from the Muppets is playing - well aware of that and, no, it's not really very good. BUT........even though it's a bit shitty it IS going in the right direction and that's sort of what I'm taking from this. I chose this track as a sacrificial lamb because it's a very straightforward one rhythmically and therefore I would minimise the risk of frustration in trying to get quick results. I'm not going to have another go though because it's one of my "b-sides" and, well, I'm not that arsed about the track itself.

However........what I'm working on right now is going to be a ot more on the money. Famous last words....

London w/c 21 - work commitments prohibit I'm afraid. But one day we will meet up for that much-mooted pint. You know, as a screenwriter I reckon there's a potential story for you in a bunch of ageing musos meeting up online and having a freak hit single and never actually meeting up until one day in a pub a chance meeting reveals true identities, and that's where the fun really starts..............(golly, that's an original plot-line isn't it....not!!)
posted by MajorDundee at 11:58 AM on January 7, 2013


I gave up on using midi patterns. They just never sit right and I found once I read a book on drumming (long before I ever sat down at a kit) that I could bash out a kick/snare pattern on the keyboard in about 2 seconds, then just listen to the track to hear where you need a fill to cue in the listener to an upcoming change, or make a point.

Now I do have a kit I find that what I play on the kit is FAR simpler than what I tend to program, but often works better. The key thing is to vary the velocities and throw in some ghost notes here and there.

Nobody ever complained that the drummer wasn't playing enough fills.
posted by unSane at 1:14 PM on January 7, 2013


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