jimmarchi1's forum posts 8022

also, this?

https://soundcloud.com/lifeleveler/lost-but-won

I think that's a Hans Zimmer score in the background (I can never miss his distinct style, he has a way of splitting his harmonies up across the orchestra with certain cadences coming from the low strings... but I digress), I forget which movie, but the guy who made this just threw a bunch of speeches over someone else's music which is copyright infringement and just a generally shitty thing to do in my eyes

Hans Zimmer is great... very trained, but also a total synthpop guy too (he was briefly in the Buggles and even appears in "video killed the radio star" the first thing ever shown on MTV when I was a wee boy)

I apologise if I sound snotty, I am just trying to impress upon you that finding the right DAW, hoarding gear and learning the 'secrets of the top 40 mix' or whatever you imagine is going on with big budget productions is not the bandaid you imagine it is. The stuff you want to emulate has just as much craft and skill involved in the early stages and all that skill piled up taking it from the writer's initial inspiration is what makes a first rate finished project. A lot of this stuff takes a lot more man hours than you think too... just as many for seasoned professionals as novices.

You mentioned 'learning full music theory', you're not going to. That shit's bigger than both of us, buddy. Bigger than Beethoven. Every aspect of music creation is a lifelong chore. The magical ratios of harmony and rhythm between sounds will never stop surprising you no matter what you think you know and the minute you think you know it all is the minute you can go ahead and quit. The fun is the process, not the result. If I run out of discoveries in the world of music that get me all excited I'll find a new hobby. I always wanted to learn to ski....

anyway, did you want a ground up critique with a lot of constructive ideas to develop your new song? Is it meant to have a vocal on it and what's it about, broadly? What's the mood MEANT to be?

didn't get you?

right, you can't know what you don't know

nice music, mine looks crap in front of this tbh.

I have been doing this FOREVER.... it takes a long time for most people to be decent at all aspects of it which is why most concentrate just on writing, playing, programming or engineering... I'm also classically trained which despite what a lot of the talented but untrained 'intuitive' musicians on this site will tell you, gives me a distinct advantage if only in discipline and ear training (though it gives me a lot more tools than that, but it took half a LIFETIME to know as much as I know now and understand how to apply it and I still can't make a living at it, LOL)

learning to read a page of music and understanding how it got there and why are different things

perform live in a huge, acoustically interesting but controlled theater with an ace sound reinforcement guy working closely with a 1st rate live broadcast audio engineer? live sound and studio sound have very little in common up until the final mix and even then it can be much different if you aren't working in great big studios using lots of antural room sound for ambiance.... in short you aren't going to achieve that live theater sound and if you want to focus on being a live performer and work your way up to the nice big theaters (there's nothing like playing really loud with a band in a big concert hall, man).

EDIT: from an arrangement context? nothing special.... listen carefully and try to pick out all the parts and learn to play them individually in the correct register by ear and then you will (hopefully) wrap your head around why they are doing what they are doing and why it appeals to you

here's what I've been working on.... real rough mix but all the sequencing and recording done... take a listen to the openness, progression, dynamics by way of comparison with your new tune:

new song.... do you want a ground up critique?

most name brand and boutique pedals are an easy fix, DO IT

though the echo park could be trickier being a digital device.... there's enough going on around the chip that's way outside of basic electronics that I would hesitate to try that one unless I was sure it was in the analog sections

I had no idea they just threw T on some instruments... you, Boom, are the Takamine MASTER

if no one else replies I'll ask my dad next time we hang out... he's Mr Classical guitar

why don't you work on your songcraft and general musicianship for a bit first and worry about this other stuff when you have a year or two more in and a few hundred decent tunes under your belt. There's an English expression that applies here, 'putting the cart before the horse.' You are trying to overcome a host of learning curves at once, maybe stop multitasking and start at the beginning.

I am going to sound harsh and blunt here, but I am trying to impress an important concept of recording music into your head: in general you keep referring to mixing as some magical process that's the key to good recorded music when it simply is NOT. Even in purely electronic music the core material is the key. This starts with a good composition, continues through the arrangement and finishes up in getting great performance/sequences/sounds that flatter each part. Whether you are micing up an acoustic guitar, programming a synthesizer or manipulating samples, doing that in a way that flatters an already strong set of motifs that support the theme of the song is the most important thing. You can hire Bob Clearmountain to mix your track, but if the song ain't happenin', the arrangement elements fight eachother and the sounds are boring or inappropriate to convey the emotion then you will get a highly polished turd back. You place entirely too much emphasis on mixing. There's a lot you can do in that stage, but a mix is only as good as the sum of its parts and sometimes an adequate mix is more than enough on fantastic material whereas a phenomenally complex, polished mix will do little for material that needed a rewrite or more time in pre-production being thought out well. Its great when everything is top notch, but song first followed by arrangement and if there's live playing then performances and sympathetic capture of those instruments/voices.... without that you are wasting your time. The song's the thing.... without it there's nothing.

I'm not trying to sound mean or start a flame war, I am just saying that the trouble with a lot of mixes, yours included, begins earlier in the process and a 'fix it in the mix' attitude isn't going to solve the problems. A more polished mix has great clarity and often highlights the issues accrued while writing, arranging, recording, sequencing etc.... I recommend focusing on one thing at a time. Work on writing songs, playing the piano well, sound design, microphone technique or arranging and 'master' that aspect and then move on.

its funny, I am a closet motorhead fan, but I really can't stand Lemmy... he was a big musical presence but kind've a butt-head of a human being.... that said I am sure I will break down and watch the film, thanks for the headsup G!

I think you are in the wrong DAW for a guy programming MIDI with a USB controller and using all softsynths and samples. Read the EB article, its pretty decent:

http://equipboard.com/posts/best-daw

I will give you more info later. I was starting to type a longer response about DAW's, freeware synth plugins with links etc when my toddler came in and deleted it so he could watch YouTube on my PC that has the good sound systems (you will need speakers, I have 3 ets of different monitors hooked to my DAW to get a clear idea of what my stuff sounds like across different systems and it sometimes feels inadequate to me... but that's why my boy likes daddy's studio, the sound is great, better than what's in my living room). He's such a mischievious monkey!

but start out rethinking the song from scratch, working out tonal parts on your piano outside of the box and getting them down pat. Really think about which parts belong in what register and WHY. It wouldn't hurt you to jump behind a drum kit and screw around a little to come up with a more hypnotic groove to program later (write stuff down, musical notation is our friend). If there's not a good reason for an arrangement element don't do it unless it jumps out as total magic. Serve the song.... the mix will follow, grasshopper! Keep your hands off the PC until you are 100% on all your ideas. Delete the file you have if you need to. Let it go and begin again. A lot of professional engineers and producers have done this very thing working for name acts in top shelf studios. Sometimes the ebst thing to do is start over so that you aren't trying to bandaid problems that were generates early in the process. I think you are in that situation. There are so many thigns I would change in what you have from arrangement, to vocals performance to mix that (maybe even change the tempo) that it will be best to begin againa nd call this a learning experience.... because it was ;-)

EDIT: It gets easier... consider finding a collaborator. In early days having a co-writer and co-producer, even an equally inexperienced one, can really help you. Committee writing and production has generated a lot of classic records. Large groups of musicians are not just for 'bands'... you will find many electronic music duos, trios and quartetsdoing great stuff and pop music in all of its idioms and iterations has a long tradition of working by committee dating back to Motown and really earlier if you look at how the majors functioned viz-a-viz A&R, arrangement and production in the Sinatra era.... how many folks contributed good ideas to a Madonna hit in her heyday? more than you would expect.

imprisoned IN MY BELLY!

what about a free beer instead?

I don't do facebook anymore... my music email is jimmarchi1 @ gmail . com (no spaces)

Ironically I'm kinda turned off on this song right now because I got carried away with the arrangement trying to use all my toys in one pop song. But whenever I mute a part or change a sequence I miss it. I know its cluttered compared to my other synthpop songs but I have lost all objectivity... maybe a good vocal from you will get my head out of my ass on this one!

ground up, rethink the arrangement... a great arrangement mixes itself adequately with just a balance and anything else you might do to it is icing. Analyze every part and rebuild it, then focus on more expressive performance/programming and then back track to any programmed sounds and work on SOUND DESIGN and DYNAMICS.... while you are at it maybe consider some rhythic shifts and maybe a key change to break the monotony without deviating from your basic melodic themes

when the track is surprising and exciting for even you to listen to after not listening to it for a day or two then you can consider polishing the mix. When you have the core material to that magic point post it here and we'll toss mix suggestions out there. There are a lot of tricks that even the recording rags don't cover that you only learn by hanging around guys who learned them by hanging around guys (or invented them in a moment of genius). But you aren't there yet. Pre-production. Make it shine without any tricks. Don't mix as you go until you've mixed a 100 more tracks. I know the computer age encourages people to start mixing while they are recording/programming, but if you don't have a concrete vision for the arrangement that's ass-spank-tacular and know how to execute it quickly with the gear and personnel at your disposal, then I suggest not muddying the waters while you are constructing the tune by trying to mix it while you are working out parts. Yu'll inevitably get a monotonous and often muddy end result and you will feel really tied to mix decisions made while arranging that would be ebst discarded....

anyway, you get it

but generally the other big weakness is the vocal.... not a fantastic performance and there's way too much lower midrange energy. Sometimes you want a boomy vocal, but not in the frequencies that are booming in yours.... it could also use more presence, the ESSes could use more sizzle high up and less hiss in the upper mids.... I could go on. Just pay attention when positioning your microphne and setting gain levels and when you EQ the vocal make sure to be DRASTIC. If there's a problem with how the vocal sounds in the mix go ahead and overcorrect until it sounds unnatural, then back off slowly until it sounds less like a telephone or space transmission. When you put a vocal on a song it needs to be an outstanding performance that is nice and clear unless you are doing garage rock or something... I also second all of tel-nobody's comments about your vocal. A great vocal performance that's well recorded sitting in the track properly can sell a mediocre song/arranement and liven up a dull mix just thru its human-voiciness, err humanity.

stuck in your head? what a nice compliment...

if you wanna take a stab at it, be my guest... I can send you the backing track, vocal demo, lyrics (feel free to change them, just try to respect the notes because I wrote it melody out) and a chord chart

all of these are supposed to have vocals....

http://equipboard.com/forums/general/topics/anyone-want-to-sing-a-few-songs-for-me-pretty-please I am kicking stuff back and forth with 2 guys right now, but I'm basically auditioning by collecting takes from people song by song and maybe I'll end up mixing and matching in places to get an optimal synthpop opus

yeah, Oolong and Darjeeling are the jam... no sugar

oh, herbal tea.... ahh, I don't know about that so much.... I'm highly distrustful of hippy foods and beverages... ,y medicine ball is an extra dry martini

hey, I have an OS2 OD/dist somewhere with my SD1 and BF2 (unless I sold them all)... I was always impressed with the OS2 for having its own voice thatw as nothing like a DS1 or SD1, but I don't think I plugged her in since 2004 or earlier.... man those 80s pedls take me back

I don't think they are rokkits, they look like V series

I do.... ask me a question

I have a MIDI Moog, Sub Phatty, ARP Odyssey, DX7, two 303 clones, a korg volca bass.... bass is not a problem... if anything I am typically taking my recorded hardware tracks and making surgical cuts with EQ to thin them out and free up dynamic range... I tend to have at least 3 bass tracks into a single insert channel, one of which will be a vst and the other 2 will be hardware, generally a moog and the DX7 for pop songs.... but there's no rule. Lately I have been enjoying warming up my DX7 thru the Sub Phatty's filter and envelopes which allows me to MIDI sync everything so all the filters are modulating the same way in response to velocity in the master sequence that drives all 3 tracks

sorry, TMI

but honestly, Harmor and Harmless are great bass plugins for most purposes and if you know what you are about mixing you can get wonderful stuff even from the little 3xOsc

I used to use dropbox to collaborate but now I use google drive since EVERYONE has a gmail account.

back before apple I was a logic guy strictly for MIDI and it wasn't much of a lead to go Steinberg when Cubase sx came out providing all the audio handling I could want at the time.... now I literally use FL for everything. I was an early adopter when it was just a PC based sampling beatbox and I am really happy not having to export my sample based tracks to another sequencer/recorder now. It makes everything so quick to be able to arrange little snippets of audio, program vsti's, sequence and record hardware synths and create live instrument loops all in one continuous arrangement/mxing process. Since hardwiring some of my equipment in the corner of my son's playroom I can get a rough mix done in a day when I have a clear vision for the arrangement going in.

welcome, post early, post often

figures he uses Logic, even protools is more compatible these days

I remember trying to do this when broadband first came out and it was a nightmare zipping files to fit as email attachments... my internet connection was good but the mail servers of the day were not up to it and the DAWs of the time didn't handle mp3 yet and mp3 is just fine for people to overdub to, though getting high res tracks back from contributors was horrible before dropbox and google drive. Modern file sharing is a godsend.

I've been making a synthpop record with 2 other EBers tapped to provide vocals.... slow going though

hes on soundcloud

https://soundcloud.com/gpb3ar

no no, that was my virgin ass

speaking of gear, even having a lot of stuff in the stripped down home studio setup I put together a few months ago I have to thin the ehard again. I just can't get into my walk-in closet, too many boxes, cases, keyboards.... argh, the clutter is getting to me

GPBear just reminded me how much I want to be 22 again.... those were the days! Maybe Santa will bring me my youth back for Christmas if I'm good for the next month.

welcome... EB is definitely a small, friendly community

I would bet it went down vaguely like this:

Pilat - who the hell caused that big ruckus at the temple today? I want a nice, quiet Passover this year so I can send a good report back to Tiberius and hopefully get promoted out of this shit hole and get a choice gig like governing Spain or Gaul!

Priests - Jesus of Nazareth, another crazy Galilean holy man, sir. Hes a big pain in the ass and he's religiously unclean too, always hanging out with hookers and lepers. One of his followers is a zealot rebel too. Saul over there even heard him say he was king of the jews and that in his kingdom the meek will inherit the earth.

Pilat - The meek? What a crazy idea. Well there aren't anymore kings in Judea and there aren't going to be unless Tiberius picks one of you for the job, so you better get him out of the city or bring him to me for some Roman justice. If there's any more trouble this weekend I'm going to fine all of you a talent and get some new priests who can keep the peace! Wait, you said he's from Galilee? I think that means he's in the Tetrarch's jurisdiction. I can't go stepping on Herod's toes, he might write a letter to the senate and he's got a lot more frinds than me back in Rome. Herod's in town for the Holiday, round him up and give him to Herod's people ASAP... can't you offer a reward or something? What about 30 Sesterces? That'll buy a lot of unleavened bread!

I have a nearly photographic memory... often more of a curse than an asset. But it serves me well as a musician....

I also REALLY love to play music and a great day off from work/parenting for me entails driving around to every music store I can find playing gobs of guitars, synths, pianos in the stores and occasionally buying myself a present at the end of the day

I could literally purge all my possessions apart from my bed, cooking equipment and music equipment.... and my tools like the soldering iron, meter, etc

there was a time when I lived in a HUGE apartment full of instruments with a restaurant grade kitchen setup and virtually no furniture but a futon and dinette... I just don't care about anything else! If I hadn't been married I don't think I would own a stick of normal furniture

DO NOT READ THIS RESPONSE IF YOU ARE EASILY OFFENDED BY DIFFERING VIEWPOINTS:

I highly doubt Pilat actively avoided killing ANYONE. Pontius is Oscan, not Latin, making the man a Samnite, some of the meanest fuckers in Italy at the time. Before Jerusalem the guy served on the Rhine too. I can assure you that despite the gospels' assertions that the Procurator of Judea had a casual disregard for human life, especially non-citizen lives and that he wasn't losing any sleep over executing a troublemaker like JC. I wouldn't be surprised if in reality the guy delegated the hearing off to an underling and just rubber stamped the execution. In general the events as outlined by the Gospel writers fly in the face of everything we know about the Roman empire and constantly contradict the contemporary the writings of Josephus. I actually find it easier to swallow the miraculous bits than the blatant lack of historical grounding that makes it pretty obvious that the gospel writers were putting all this stuff down at a 2 or 3 hundred year remove and adding details from their own era. To further confuse things, each version has its own agenda. For instance the Pharisees you mention are a complete anachronism. They became a real force in Judaism well after the Herodian period.... if you found any of this to be interesting you can read more about it for yourself! None of this info really reflects on faith, it just casts the new testament in a different light whether you believe in the theological side of the story or not.

you can get a used Chet model for well under 2 grand if you shop around, much cheaper than even a run of the mill 335 these days.... the current production ones are pretty good guitars and very consistent so its safe to buy offa flEaBay

there are some Guild models that do a good Gretsch impression and they're really great guitars that fly under the radar.... even vintage Guild hollow bodies are affordable... pretty much any pre-fender guild is a great guitar though there's a lot of changes to the models over the years between the 50s and the early 2000s... the 90s and 2000s westerly RI guitars are great, probably even better than the earlier Newark NJ ones

its just the flattop acoustics I would stay away from.... they crank them out really quickly and the bridges often peel up during shipping because of the humidity at sea and Hoshino just has the checkers glue the bridges back down with epoxy and send them out to stores anyway

EDIT: living close to the Ibanez QC facility (literally up the street in my suburb of philly) I personally know a lot of the employees so I can speak with authority about the shenanigans that go on there

I live next to the USA Ibanez checking/distrbution facility... do not buy their acoustics