Fragile Gods - "My Underground"

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layzer wrote:a solid, catchy track.. i didn't find the highs lacking too much as Tim noted but i did notice a somewhat "mid bassy"
bass than your usual fuller low end bass. vocals sounded great as usual and i especially liked the stereo seperation on the chorus.
good quality electronica ol boy! :tu:
Glad you enjoyed it Layzer. I agree the mix is quite mid-bassy but it felt right to me for some reason.

On the chorus vocals, I used the Eventide Ultrachannel which was a freebie at one point. The Micro Pitch Shift is providing the stereo separation on the vox. Quite a useful plugin. Too bad I need a microscope to read the GUI. :(

Thanks for listening and commenting on the mix. :)

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Jace-BeOS wrote: I find your stuff interesting because it has such a clear and sparse sound and a character that really stands out as YOURS, but also feels very familiar at the same time. It's like I'm listening to something from the early 80s synth pop trailblazers, but not. This is a good thing IMO, because it's original work, with your own stamp of uniqueness, but also comfortable on first listen (not needing to get used to a strange new thing).
That's a great compliment and perfectly summarizes what I am trying to do. I am pleased all of that is coming across. :)
Jace-BeOS wrote:While the Depeche Mode feel is noticed by me, I don't think of it without someone else first mentioning it (this happens a lot). This time what came to mind on my own was Frank Tovey/Fad Gadget.
Fad Gadget is a good comparison I think. His material was less commercial than the Mode. I liked his early primitive tracks like "Ricky's Hand" and the more polished "Collapsing New People." Too bad Frank Tovey passed away at the age of 45 in the middle of a comeback. :(
Jace-BeOS wrote: I think I preferred your vocals more this time than usual (your style is just slightly outside my personal listening repertoire(?), since I prefer melodically strong singing over more spoken styles). I liked the way you varied the vocal processing in this track and I liked that it was less heavily treated than usual.
I am getting a little more comfortable doing vocals so I am glad it shows.

Thanks for the great feedback!

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i don't like the crash sound of drum loop

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fergusonbbb wrote:This track is very well done - it gives a good feeling. I hear Kraftwerk in here ( Autobahn and even Robots )
and a nice catchy refrain. The bass as a fundament is good as always.
Congrats and cheers.
Glad you enjoyed it. I like Kraftwerk but I'm not hearing the resemblance to Autobahn or Robots.

Thanks for checking it out and commenting. :)

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Jace-BeOS wrote:i didn't feel anything was lacking there, personally, with regard to the drums and frequencies.
Thanks for chiming in again on the mix Jace. I appreciate it. :)

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seismic1 wrote: I wonder if layzer's "mid bassy" observation is due to the snare which is quite powerful/prominent and may be hiding some other sounds. I haven't stuck a meter on it, but it might be related.

The point about the lack of HF in the drums/percs stood out during my first listen. Maybe that's because I listen to your stuff quite frequently, or maybe because I "mastered" Vanishing Point 3 years ago. Call it a sonic footprint or some such mullarkey.
Yes, that snare is heavy in the mid-range frequencies. This is a downside of using pre-mixed drum loops. I am exploring different possibilities for drums on my next song. Even with the downsides, I think I prefer drum loops made by a professional drummer over my own machine-like drum tracks.

Vanishing Point was 3 years ago? Yikes! :-o They're going to have to move us into a Music Cafe sub-section for senior citizens soon.
seismic1 wrote: I find myself in agreement with other posters here in finding the vocals on this one to be your most polished yet, both in terms of performance and production. Believe it or not, I was thinking of the title track from Jethro Tull's Aqualung whilst listening to this. Ian Anderson used to "process" his vox back in the early '70s, and I can hear parallels on here.

Great job with the synths as usual, and the song itself was well arranged with another good set of lyrics.
I'm glad you thought the vocals were improved. I am getting a little more comfortable with practice. I'm not very familiar with Jethro Tull but I checked out Aqualung on Spotify and found it to be enjoyable with some adventurous vox effects.

Thanks for noticing the lyrics. I thought there were a few good lines mixed in with my usual filler. :wink:

I appreciate the helpful feedback. :)

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Sorry my fault,
I should have said it reminds me in someway to Kraftwerks Autobahn or Robots. Of course it is a totally unique well done composition in the way you like to do it.
Cheers.

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davidstiles wrote:Enjoyable track. I definitely caught some of the feel of Bowie and some Depeche Mode vibes in there. Like others, I do note the somewhat restrained high end on the drums, but I also think that it works really well for this track. Great work overall!
Thanks for commenting David. A lot of people seem to get a Bowie/Depeche vibe from my music. Not a bad thing I guess.

I have been thinking about how to improve the drums on my next song. After a lot of research, I purchased FXpansion BFD3 and was ready to go to work this weekend. Then my SSD drive flaked out. Oh, the joys of doing computer music. :help:

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DjMyMan wrote:i don't like the crash sound of drum loop
Thanks for commenting. I will be using BFD3 for drums on the next song to hopefully improve things. (Assuming I am not sidelined by a faulty SSD drive.)

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I agree with those who said the drums are lacking in the high frequency area but I can also see, that you are aware of it and looking for other ways to use real drums so that seems already covered.
Your song writing is excellent and you really know how to bring that 80's feeling into a modern context.
As a suggestion I will mention, that sometimes, it is good if an instrument takes the lead role inbetween the vocal sections. Something that really stands out compared to the verses and chorus.
I noticed this in my own tracks. It is all a little too balanced and the same.

All said and done: Still a great track (Very good vocals on this one) :tu:
Sound C loud
Band C amp
Clicks and pops is all I get

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fergusonbbb wrote:Sorry my fault,
I should have said it reminds me in someway to Kraftwerks Autobahn or Robots. Of course it is a totally unique well done composition in the way you like to do it.
No problem. I appreciate the feedback in any case. :)

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Frantz,
Thank you for the review! Now your tune: I like the intro bass synth. This songs sounds very 80's, which is fine by me. Verse vocals sound very good. Vocals during the chorus sound a bit pitchy at times. Everything instrumentally sound very good. I tried the latest (or maybe it's all brand new, I forget) Icarus lately, and most of the time it doesn't work right with my Mac OSX10.9 and Cubase AI8. Has it been buggy for you at all?

Edit: for various reasons, the trial version of Icarus is working better for me. I wonder how long the trial period lasts, it has some nice sounds.
Last edited by aaron aardvark on Tue Oct 18, 2016 4:00 am, edited 1 time in total.
You can hear my original music at this link: https://www.soundclick.com/artist/defau ... dID=224436

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sbj wrote:I agree with those who said the drums are lacking in the high frequency area but I can also see, that you are aware of it and looking for other ways to use real drums so that seems already covered.
Your song writing is excellent and you really know how to bring that 80's feeling into a modern context.
As a suggestion I will mention, that sometimes, it is good if an instrument takes the lead role inbetween the vocal sections. Something that really stands out compared to the verses and chorus.
I noticed this in my own tracks. It is all a little too balanced and the same.

All said and done: Still a great track (Very good vocals on this one) :tu:
I'm glad you appreciated the vocals and the songwriting. As discussed, I will be doing the drums differently on my next song.

That's an interesting comment regarding featuring instruments in between vocal sections. I like to reduce songs to their barest essentials and these instrumental bits often get left out. However, it's something to consider in the future.

Thanks for the detailed and thoughtful feedback. :)

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What a nice and powerful music. !
:tu:

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