KVR Audio

Frantz · Post by **Frantz** » Fri Aug 26, 2016 4:29 am

Autumnal synthpop made during the hazy days of summer:

https://soundcloud.com/fragilegods/myunderground

Fragile Gods "My Underground"

A pretty minimal setup this time: Icarus, Monark, M-Tron Pro, Audjoo Helix, Drum Loops. Using drum loops instead of a drum synth was probably the biggest change.

The lyrics are on Soundcloud. Any feedback is appreciated.

Allomerus · Post by **Allomerus** » Fri Aug 26, 2016 10:22 am

Nice track Frantz! Cool! Sounding like David Bowie to me...
Well done.

jackoo · Post by **jackoo** » Sat Aug 27, 2016 12:55 pm

I love you instrumental bassy intros. I think I'd like to hear more instrumental solos or fills (I'm thinking of brief moments in your songs where the music is instrumental only - like 1:39 and 3:08).

Enjoying here the Depeche Mode base and majestic synths.

I think the vocal is less darker than in your other songs. I don't think that's a bad thing

Other than that, just your usual good sound quality and overall mix. Good work!
Cheers!

markkuja · Post by **markkuja** » Sun Aug 28, 2016 6:09 pm

Well done synthpop. Nice groove... I liked the vocals and orchestration.... good mix and sounds.

Frantz · Post by **Frantz** » Tue Aug 30, 2016 2:39 am

Allomerus wrote:Nice track Frantz! Cool! Sounding like David Bowie to me...
Well done.

Thanks, glad you liked it! I used less processing on the vox this time. If it came out Bowie-ish, that's fine by me even if it wasn't the intention.

seismic1 · Post by **seismic1** » Wed Aug 31, 2016 11:32 pm

I'll have a few more listens to this later in the week, but I noticed something here. The use of drum samples seems to have removed a lot of the high-freq component from your sound, apart from the crash cymbal on here which still sounded quite "restrained", and maybe too far back in the mix.

Frantz · Post by **Frantz** » Sat Sep 03, 2016 2:27 am

jackoo wrote:I love you instrumental bassy intros. I think I'd like to hear more instrumental solos or fills (I'm thinking of brief moments in your songs where the music is instrumental only - like 1:39 and 3:08).

Enjoying here the Depeche Mode base and majestic synths.

I think the vocal is less darker than in your other songs. I don't think that's a bad thing

Other than that, just your usual good sound quality and overall mix. Good work!

I'm glad you noticed the bass. I was reading up on five note Latin clave rhythms and it gave me the idea for the bassline. It seems to have a nice, propulsive quality.

I don't normally do pure instrumentals because I have lots of ideas for songs with lyrics. But maybe one day I'll shut up and do an instrumental.

I do seem to be operating in Depeche territory these days, more by accident than by design.

I got used to the undistorted vox in the verses and decided to leave them as is.

Thanks for the detailed, enthusiastic comments.

layzer · Post by **layzer** » Sat Sep 03, 2016 6:24 pm

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!

Frantz · Post by **Frantz** » Mon Sep 05, 2016 6:03 pm

markkuja wrote:Well done synthpop. Nice groove... I liked the vocals and orchestration.... good mix and sounds.

Thanks very much for the feedback.

Jace-BeOS · Post by **Jace-BeOS** » Wed Sep 07, 2016 4:27 pm

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. It's not really a strong resemblance but it's what I thought of

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). I would think this would make you marketable somewhere

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.

fergusonbbb · Post by **fergusonbbb** » Sat Sep 10, 2016 6:16 am

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.

Frantz · Post by **Frantz** » Sat Sep 10, 2016 5:32 pm

seismic1 wrote:I'll have a few more listens to this later in the week, but I noticed something here. The use of drum samples seems to have removed a lot of the high-freq component from your sound, apart from the crash cymbal on here which still sounded quite "restrained", and maybe too far back in the mix.

I used fully mixed drum loops that are available with StudioOne. Presumably they were professionally mixed but, you are right, there is not a lot of high frequency content here. I suppose I could EQ the drums but I don't mind how they sound. I will pay more attention to the high frequencies in my next song. Thanks for pointing this out.

Jace-BeOS · Post by **Jace-BeOS** » Sat Sep 10, 2016 8:09 pm

i didn't feel anything was lacking there, personally, with regard to the drums and frequencies.

seismic1 · Post by **seismic1** » Sun Sep 11, 2016 10:57 pm

Time flies, as we've noted before. I meant to comment on this one last weekend, but work and some outdoor electrical maintenance have conspired against me.

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.

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.

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.

Great job with the synths as usual, and the song itself was well arranged with another good set of lyrics.

Good work

davidstiles · Post by **davidstiles** » Sun Sep 11, 2016 11:03 pm

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!

Fragile Gods - "My Underground"