blinder's Journal: [SFB] A Simple Restart

lately i've been going through old songs i recorded, and after the initial disgust subsides, i'll usually pick one out to "re-do."

i can't play drums where we live (too loud) so i've been tinkering with other parts of the songs, since the drums, for the most part, i can live with. but i've been re-doing guitar parts, tweaking limiting/compression and eq here and there.

well, i just got done doing said treatment for this song. i re-did the guitar tracks, messed a lot with the "outboard" stuff. i know it needs something else, i'm not completely satisfied with the over-all tone... i tend to back off on the higher-mid frequencies for fear of introducing "harshness" but then the mix often lacks detail. i'm still working on that.

oh, for those who are new to my journal, you may or may not have noticed but i tend to fancy myself as some kind of musician. we have a little recording studio setup in our apartment (basically a pro tools studio based around a dual g5, and i use the command|8 control surface with the digi002 (rack) firewire interface). i play all of the instruments, and nothing is ever sequenced.

anyway, take a listen. this was a song i did a while ago, during a tough time, but i always liked the riff, so it got some attention.

SFB

[Shadow Wrought]

I really like your music. It is very compelling and really seems to lend itself to telling a story, so to speak. In other words, while a lot of songs talk about this girl, that emotion, or the other guy, your music really seems like it telling more of a narrative. I consider that to be a great thing!

I used to play Star Fleet Battles with a buddy of mine, so every time I see SFB that's what I think of first;-)

Re:

[blinder]

i've been meaning to respond to this. first, i really enjoy your responses to my music. they typically are always very thoughtful.

second, yes, the whole story-telling aspect is something that i never set out to do, and am really not conscious of it, but what i'm always aware of is the mental imagery i have when i'm coming up with a piece. its always been kind of a (very silly) dream of mine to have my music included in a film, in that is how i always see my music, as a series of scenes. i suppose that comes

My drums

[rk]

Always come out of a sequencer, since a) I don't own a set and b) I can't play the damn things at all.

I tend to draw out chord progressions on a piece of scrap paper, sketch a melody with guitar or piano, refine the chord progressions and do some voice leading work on a computer, write a drum track, mix it down to a MIDI sound file, then lay down bass, rhythm guitar, and some keyboard tracks using the MIDI as a guide. I then throw out the MIDI file, re-do the drums to sound a little better (but still seq

Re:

[blinder]

I can't play the damn things at all.
heh yeah, i mean there is something to be said for sequencing drums. it is it's own skill. in fact, i've been toying with the idea, since i can't play my electronic kit (ddrum4 -- which is actually an acoustic kit modeler). but i've been playing the darn things since i was 6 or 7 years old... so its what comes natural to me.

i just sit down with the sg, and start plucking out a rif. usually it'll be something i've played a million times before, then i'll most likely start

Re:

[rk]

I forgot to mention the other thing that gets in the way of finishing music projects: My Warhammer 40k Dawn of War [dawnofwargame.com] addiction.

:-)

kicks you

[SolemnDragon]

correction: You have a studio setup. I have a microphone i don't get to use.

you already know the answer

[subgeek]

don't fear the high mids. i think part wise (the composition) there isn't anything missing from this mix. if you added vocals, you could give that part of the mix to them, but without anything occupying that space and no other dominant frequencies there isn't a lead in the mix even though there is in the song. you could get away without having much high mids, but it's probably the easiest way to get rid of the something missing feeling. i'm picking knits here, because it's a damn fine track. i mean it

I like it

[Randle_Revar]

Very good as always!

This comment is a little late because I almost forgot to get the song out of ~/Downloads, but now it's in my main playlist where it belongs :-)

Interesting

[Engineer-Poet]

A little predictable compared to my tastes of the moment [1], but not bad. When it was a minute or so in I was worried that it was going to be like a Daft Punk repeat-fest (why do they bother playing more, if they've played it all already? - I have no idea what my ex heard in them) but all in all it was well done.

[1] My current favorite tunes are David Sanborn's "hObbies" and Eric Alexander's "A Few Miles from Memphis". I like music that throws a few curves. I also like "The Roots of Coincidence" by Pat Me

Re:

[blinder]

make sure to check out the appleseed cast at some point. unpredictable, very unusual, very cerebral, moody, emotional, melodic.