Old 05-27-2012, 06:43 AM   #1
zeekat
Human being with feelings
 
zeekat's Avatar
 
Join Date: May 2009
Location: Polandia
Posts: 3,578
Default Carving in Calais

O hai. I made a tune. Took me ages. No idea about the genre - sure it's instrumental, has guitar, bass, synths and changes time signature like four times. Mildly post-prog something probably.

It's called Carving in Calais (don't ask), and is fairly ambitious for me, since it's not in 120bpm and not all in 4/4. There's even 7/4 somewhere in there. If I count correctly. Not sure how it sounds, listened too much to it and now I'm not certain which parts I hate the most. If you have valuable advice about mix, mastering or anything else, fire away. My idea of mastering is "make sure you hear everything then slap some EQ and limiter on master track and call it a day" so it might need a lot of work there.

It's on soundcloud

http://soundcloud.com/zeekat/carving-in-calais

and youtube too, with some shiny stock footage hastily thrown together:



cheers
__________________
AM bient, rund funk and heavy meteo
my bandcamp+youtubings

Last edited by zeekat; 06-08-2017 at 01:39 AM.
zeekat is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 05-27-2012, 10:11 PM   #2
OpIvy
Human being with feelings
 
OpIvy's Avatar
 
Join Date: Sep 2010
Location: Between the reef and the rainforest
Posts: 1,366
Default

I have no meaningful advice regarding mastering but I agree with your definition of what mastering is (in my case replace limiter with saturation and/ or multiband) so I probably shouldn't be one to offer any suggestions.

But the song sounds quite cool- reminds me a bit of ...Trail Of The Dead.
Guitars sound nice and although I generally dislike synths, I like that little riff repeating behind the guitars.

Kick drum could use more boom, boom though. It's a bit tap, tap.
But I am only listening through headphones at work atm.
It has some sweet time signature changes though. I likey!
OpIvy is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 05-27-2012, 11:45 PM   #3
zeekat
Human being with feelings
 
zeekat's Avatar
 
Join Date: May 2009
Location: Polandia
Posts: 3,578
Default

Quote:
Originally Posted by OpIvy View Post
Kick drum could use more boom, boom though. It's a bit tap, tap.
But I am only listening through headphones at work atm.
It has some sweet time signature changes though. I likey!
Yeah, I don't know how to make it more oomphy. There's envelope shaper thingie in BFD eco that makes it a bit more distinct (once you turn the attack up a bit), but other than than, I could make it either clicky or muddy I probably need to read a bit about compression, super important topic I never really got.

Thanks for listening!
__________________
AM bient, rund funk and heavy meteo
my bandcamp+youtubings
zeekat is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 05-28-2012, 03:45 PM   #4
OpIvy
Human being with feelings
 
OpIvy's Avatar
 
Join Date: Sep 2010
Location: Between the reef and the rainforest
Posts: 1,366
Default

Quote:
Originally Posted by zeekat View Post
Yeah, I don't know how to make it more oomphy. There's envelope shaper thingie in BFD eco that makes it a bit more distinct (once you turn the attack up a bit), but other than than, I could make it either clicky or muddy I probably need to read a bit about compression, super important topic I never really got.

Thanks for listening!
Not sure what BFD is like, I use Addictive Drums, but I've found you can do much more shaping the drum sounds in tracks, rather than using the vsti's inserts.

Again, I ain't no expert but perhaps just have a fiddle with some eq.
Find the nice lower freq and give it a small boost. Cut around 400-500 if it gets muddy.
I can't really see any need to add anything other than eq and a bit of compression.
And just try raising the volume a db or 2
OpIvy is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 05-29-2012, 01:27 PM   #5
zeekat
Human being with feelings
 
zeekat's Avatar
 
Join Date: May 2009
Location: Polandia
Posts: 3,578
Default

Probably routing everything to external (outside the BFD plugin that is) effects would be more flexible, but I like the tidyness and convenience of having everything on one track. Lazy isn't it.

Experimented with making the kick louder too - but then it stood out like a sore thumb for my ears, so I've decided it better be too timid . In hindsight, not a very good decision. That's what you get when you have only one pair of ears I guess.

Will try to apply your advice when mixing the next tune. And read about the multiband compression too - might be a key to making things loud without being boooomy (how people do that?).
__________________
AM bient, rund funk and heavy meteo
my bandcamp+youtubings
zeekat is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 05-29-2012, 10:16 PM   #6
Artbay
Human being with feelings
 
Artbay's Avatar
 
Join Date: Jul 2009
Location: Fort Worth TX
Posts: 1,757
Default

Quote:
Originally Posted by OpIvy View Post
Find the nice lower freq and give it a small boost. Cut around 400-500 if it gets muddy.

I can't really see any need to add anything other than eq and a bit of compression.
good overall - but yeah it needs some low-end eq tweakage...
__________________
www.valtraxysblue.com - www.reverbnation.com/valtraxysblue
"sometimes i like to sit by the fire, read some sheet music, and listen to a book on tape." - steven wright
Artbay is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 06-08-2017, 01:49 AM   #7
zeekat
Human being with feelings
 
zeekat's Avatar
 
Join Date: May 2009
Location: Polandia
Posts: 3,578
Default

Low effort necrobump & update:

Remixed the thing, shaving a bit of the low end, compressing crunchy guitars more because they were poking out a bit in places and replacing the drum track. I can't swap audio on youtube above, it has to stay in the old version as I don't want to reupload and lose my whopping 180 views.

https://soundcloud.com/zeekat/carving-in-calais

I think I made it crispier (learned that high passing exists in last 5 years), but oddly that bassy soup of the original (and the video) still sounds oddly pleasing to my ears. Go figure.
__________________
AM bient, rund funk and heavy meteo
my bandcamp+youtubings
zeekat is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 06-08-2017, 02:56 AM   #8
morgon
Human being with feelings
 
morgon's Avatar
 
Join Date: Nov 2012
Location: 'straya
Posts: 9,409
Default

Missed this first time around, well done. I ran the youtube version bc I wanted to watch some video. Cool riffing and ambient, you do it really well. These would be way cool movie soundtracks imo
morgon is offline   Reply With Quote
Reply

Thread Tools
Display Modes

Posting Rules
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts

BB code is On
Smilies are On
[IMG] code is On
HTML code is Off

Forum Jump


All times are GMT -7. The time now is 04:14 AM.


Powered by vBulletin® Version 3.8.11
Copyright ©2000 - 2024, vBulletin Solutions Inc.