Re: [LAU] [Music] Horror prog: Spiral Torso Op

On 20/04/13 21:33, Len Ovens wrote:
>
> On Sat, April 20, 2013 12:59 pm, Q wrote:
>
>> It's nothing special rhythmically: starts in 11/8, then 10/8, then
>> free-form, then 10/8 and finally back to 11/8 with the reprise. I tend
>> not to solo "in time", just continuing a phrase until it ends, wherever
>> that may be, so I guess that makes it seem a little more complex than it
>> really is.
>
> Thankyou for the explanation. That explains the feel timing wise. I wasn't
> paying that much attention to the beat but just felt it was different. (It
> has been a long time since I did much drumming, but I should have caught
> it anyway)

I went (mostly) for fairly simple drumming on this and it was a bit
difficult to know where to put the boom and the chick with it not being
in 4/4.

I guess the fact that it just felt a bit different but didn't scream odd
time signature suggests I was successful -- I always try to make things
feel natural and not draw attention to the "oddness".

>> I've not consciously done anything different with my drum processing --
>> probably just slightly less unskilled use of EQ and compression. Same
>> for the mix as a whole. Perhaps I'm actually learning.
>>
>> But I don't have any standard ways of doing things, I just process stuff
>> in what seems to be the best way at the time that I'm doing it.
>>
>> I tend to lean towards more sparing use of reverb, although probably not
>> as sparing as a lot of classic prog from the 70s. I think too little is
>> probably better than too much, so better to go easy.
>
> It is always good to hear how something was mixed/effected. I am still
> just learning. I do tend to go over on the reverb I think, good pointer.
>

Over-use of reverb is something one sees fairly consistently mentioned
as a give-away for an amateur mix. Of course, I suspect there's a wide
range of wetness that would be acceptable and just accounted for by
different tastes before you start getting into the "definitely too much"
territory.

I've just re-opened my session to look at the drum processing. Normally,
I only ever use EQ subtractively, but I used a new tool that didn't
always allow that. But I think it's all fairly basic high-passing
(usually aggressively so on cymbals), scooping out the mids, maybe a bit
of a low end tip on the drums, rolling off a bit of high-end on the
snare (I don't like them too crispy), maybe a bit of a high end lift on
the cymbals, that sort of thing.

> I haven't really tried out A3 yet, I am still working with A2 as my DAW. I
> don't find it limiting though as I record all analog signals right now. I
> have MIDI equipment, but I am still exploring having lots of tracks. When
> I was last recording, I had only 4 tracks and so using one for timecode so
> I could track drums and some other things as MIDI was worthwhile (almost
> 20years ago). Having unlimited tracks is a new experience :)
>

Normally, the only thing I use midi for is over USB to control
LinuxSampler or Hammond and Mellotron virtual instruments. I only have
three synths with midi capability, everything else pre-dates it. Like
you, I record audio played live.

However, I did have to use Ardour's midi capabilities as Hydrogen and
Ardour wouldn't play along nicely, with a weird phasing issue on cymbals
at tempo changes. So, I exported a midi file from H2, imported it into
A3 and drove H2 from Ardour to record the audio.

I've seen people say that "limitless" tracks is a curse, people just
pile on many more layers to the detriment of the music. I might be
partially guilty of that, but I do feel some genres demand more and it
certainly isn't helped by working with non-programmable monophonic
synths to build sounds. I have just counted the tracks and busses...
yikes, 100! Many of those are disabled and others are bounces of three
or four of the disabled ones. I always feel very limited by processing
power as a mix draws to a close :-)

Anyway, thanks for listening.
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Received on Sun Apr 21 16:15:01 2013