EDIT: New version coming this week. This track has become my practice track for trying out (finally) parallel compression, which I've been putting off for far too long. It is yielding great results.
The current soundcloud version linked above is well overcooked on the mixbus compression.
Still working on basics of the sound and bass drum/config. Its finally coming together tho. Bits of this keep sounding like what I can hear in my head. Its not there yet tho. There's a clear set of chord changes that I need to get the bass to adhere to later in the track which I havent got round to yet.
Still busy overcooking the intro and then pulling it back again
I'm not sure whether you might be putting this out a bit early for useful comment? It has a nice groove and the vocal samples have the makings of an interesting story, but for me there is not enough development in the track at the moment to sustain my attention to the end. Perhaps you could do more with the samples, maybe repeat them a few times in various ways? Maybe the track needs to be a bit shorter?
You almost lost me with the length of the long lead up to the bass and drums coming in, but once that started, I was back in. I really liked the funk-inspired rhythm of the matched pulses happening between the bass and drums. As the track went on though, I felt like it needed to develop further, but it sort of stayed the course.
Thanks folks, Im still getting the first couple of bars of bass/drums proper done how I want it. Its constant over doing it, then pulling it back and getting it right. Same as I had to do with the intro, which I think is now done.
Once I've got those two bars done, its copy/paste those as a backing (which is what the track already is, but with the unfinished bars copy/pasted), then add guitar (chords coming in the second half, which will change the tone somewhat), and the rest of the drum kit (its purely closed hihat, kick drum and snare atm). Then the track will dictate back to the copy/pasted bass/drums what they should be doing to accommodate the other parts.
Once I get to that point, the track may end up flying off in a totally different direction.
The track is telling me what to do atm, I'm not in charge
EDIT: Im a very slowly working one man band, and at the moment, mainly just the bass player and drummer are working out the songs basics. Or maybe even just the bass player on their own, using a crude drum machine And they dont know how to play the bass yet.
EDIT2: Next time, I'll leave version 1 up for comparison.
EDIT3: Ladies and germs, I believe I have achieved funk level 1.5. All previous mixes achieved funk level 0.5. We done funked up! New version, DEMO 6, now up on https://soundcloud.com/ear/grapefolder Its a headphone mix tho, so YMMV on speakers.
I've cracked the basic bassline and drum locking when the whole song kicks in around the 1min 20 mark, but it doesnt last for long just yet, maybe just 20 seconds. Pace is gathering tho. I've finally cracked the bassline in my head, just about.
Thanks! It had to get worse before it got better, having to pull the thing apart and rebuild it. Deconstruction prior to any real construction work!
I think I've cracked it now tho. It feels like the song is all blue printed in front of me now and I just have to follow the instructions from here on in
I think the drums are the weakest part, they don't sound like a drummer would play and they are too literal to the other instruments that there is no groove to make the rhythms work.
I think the drums are the weakest part, they don't sound like a drummer would play and they are too literal to the other instruments that there is no groove to make the rhythms work.
Right, im gonna get a load of the guitar editing finished tonight, and then try and get some more groove into the drums by loading the rest of the kit!
In the second "can you fix it", may I suggest a space in the sample between "I said" and "can you fix it", so that the second "can you fix it" falls on the start of the next bar? The difficulty would be chopping of the "I said", because the ending may need to be slightly elongated. Picky, I know.
In the second "can you fix it", may I suggest a space in the sample between "I said" and "can you fix it", so that the second "can you fix it" falls on the start of the next bar? The difficulty would be chopping of the "I said", because the ending may need to be slightly elongated. Picky, I know.
Picky, or specific? I'll check that! Nice one. Specific is good That sounds like a useful suggestion to me. Whats the exact time of the next bar you're talking about please?
I've only done one bar (i use the word bar loosely) of slight hi hat and cymbal work, and adding more kicks/snares for groove and then looped it thru the rest of the track as I work fairly logically from left to right thru the timeline, adding and changing a bar at a time.