The inargural tune in my new setup

[Dean Roddey]

So, I got back into this thing of ours a couple years ago, and have been trying to get some chops back and get a setup going. I've now got to the point where I don't think I can really do much better given my apartment lifestyle. This is the first tune in my new setup. Any feedback is appreciated.

https://soundcloud.com/writhingbabym...down-the-stone

For the record, this is really old school by modern standards. No tuning, no editing, no MIDI, no automation. Only one plugin, which is BFD3 because I'm an apartment so real drums ain't an option. And the levels are old school as well, so it's meant to be played loud, not to sound loud (the Soundcloud folks pretty obviously seem to adjust levels on upload, so that ones probably hotter than the original.)

I'm really trying to mix myself as I record it. And since I don't fix anything, this is literally what I can do. If I want it better, I have to get better.

I did a little bit of manualomation during the mixdown.

[Reapology]

Hello- yeah,not bad at all...couple of small pitch discrepancies later on..but it kinda finishes with a PF vibe.

TBCH- #IF you truly beilieve you can do no better- you are programming that into your core belief system - without exploring the infinite potentials that all human contain within.

1 can certainly rea_program these belief systems..and FULLY believe,having full faith & confidences in new results coming from this introspection.
Thanks4sharing.

[Dean Roddey]

Oh, no, I meant my setup can't get much better, i.e. if there are limitations, they are in me, not in the gear, other than the ones driven by the fact that I'm an apartment (like no real drums.) So, I have no excuses there.

I definitely do plan on getting a lot better, which is why I don't play any of the modern 'cheater' tricks with the computer. I have to get better to make better output.

[Reapology]

I have to get better to make better output.

Well,that is for you to decide and judge..not others
Fact is..many many many people will fall flat on their musical faces without electricity (i would,because am using electic devices)
#IF you can hold your own on a stage without props- you ARE performing something raw (hopefully.)

Drum samplers do have a place- #if you allow it,and with practice these can sound just as good the real "thing". < (or,dare to say...even better than the real thing!)

Music started without electricity- people often forget this massive factor.
You either make a friend of it,or not..like automations etc.

[wobblybits]

Nice combo vibe of the Floyd and Barclay James Harvest. The one thing I would change is the drums. I wouldn't call them busy but I actually find them distracting. A simple time keeping (especially less kick) would improve the feel of the song - IMnot-so-humbleO.

Welcome back to the show- looking forward to hearing more.

[Dean Roddey]

Something went awry with the drums at the end there during the mix, and I didn't catch it. They were originally more fluffy and less compressed, so they weren't as intrusive. I must have turned up the input gain on the channel I guess (which is pre-insert.) Oh well, not worth worrying about at this point. It's time to move on and apply lessons learned.

I sort of consider this and the next set of songs to come as late stage demos that I will come back to in a year or two after my skill set has significantly increased, and readdress them, maybe as part of an actual album or something.

This one is actually the second rendering of this song. The original version of it was done, much more primitively, back in the 2000s. Though, as is often the case with such things, despite being very primitively done it had a certain atmosphere to it that I tried to recapture here but didn't really get it a 100%.