[universe + rock]--> "white eyes" °(◒‿◒)

[enroe]

Sometimes - in your dreams - you see white eyes. Is it an
intimate talk with a near friend? About your life and about
the universe and about philosophy? That is what our latest
song is about:

Direct link: white eyes .

Website with animation: "white eyes"
Note: This requires clicking the grey "play"-button.

white_eyes_small.gif

Enjoy!

[Frantz]

Excellent song! I really like the idea of combining personal memories and cosmological questions in the same song: wrinkles on a forehead and the fate of the universe. It's all fair game for imagery in a song.

Although the arrangement is solid, if I had a minor criticism, I would say the parts tend to be rhythmically plodding. There isn't much here that grooves or is syncopated.

You had posted some questions which I think you removed. One of them was about loudness saying you mastered this to something like -10.4(?) LUFS. I do think it is mastered slightly too loud. I found myself turning down the volume on repeated listens. I am targeting -11.5 LUFS these days although that is officially too loud for Spotify.

[eassae]

Loved the delay on the vocal right of the bat. The instrument placement in the stereo field is great throughout the song.

Very cool song. I added it to one of my playlists.

[aaron aardvark]

enroe,
Thank you for the review! Now your song: it always sounds cool! Interesting vocal effects/pitch tweaks; nice vocals! Mostly because of the strings, and to a lesser degree with the piano: sounds a bit Beatle-esque at times, in a nice way. Sounds like you put a lot work into the recording. Two thumbs up! . Amusing video. I did speed reading of the space physics stuff. Ever hear the theory that the universe didn't just come into existing through one Big Bang, but from various random smaller "Bangs" across the universe (happening at various times)?

[enroe]

Excellent song! I really like the idea of combining personal memories and cosmological questions in the same song: wrinkles on a forehead and the fate of the universe. It's all fair game for imagery in a song.

Thank you for your careful listening! I really appreciate your feedback,
also your criticism!

Although the arrangement is solid, if I had a minor criticism, I would say the parts tend to be rhythmically plodding. There isn't much here that grooves or is syncopated.

The "plodding"-attribute is certainly right - that is one of the characteristics
of this song. Yeah, there's not that lightness that you have in your songs.
But I think: sometimes a song needs a certain simplicity.

You had posted some questions which I think you removed. One of them was about loudness saying you mastered this to something like -10.4(?) LUFS. I do think it is mastered slightly too loud. I found myself turning down the volume on repeated listens. I am targeting -11.5 LUFS these days although that is officially too loud for Spotify.

I deleted the questions again because I had the impression that such
"questions" don't fit the KVR community very well.

Mmmh, yes, we are discussing “loudness” here. My impression is: the
smaller the listening system, the more loudness is important.

[enroe]

I'll briefly add the questions that I deleted at first:

1. What strikes you most about this song?
2. What would you do differently if you were mixing the song?
3. The loudness is -10.9 dB LUFS-I. Is that too loud or too quiet?
4. Are the lyrics of a song generally important to you?
5. Do the song lyrics and animation here go well together - or is the animation rather distracting?

If you feel like it, you are welcome to answer these questions -
thank you for that!

[Frantz]

I'll briefly add the questions that I deleted at first:

1. What strikes you most about this song?
2. What would you do differently if you were mixing the song?
3. The loudness is -10.9 dB LUFS-I. Is that too loud or too quiet?
4. Are the lyrics of a song generally important to you?
5. Do the song lyrics and animation here go well together - or is the animation rather distracting?

1. The subject matter. How many other songs mention "Hubble math?" Probably none.
2. Make it a little quieter.
3. A bit too loud for my tastes.
4. It depends on the artist. In your case, yes, because they are interesting. In many cases, the lyrics aren't worth considering closely because not a lot of thought went into them in the first place.
5. With your music, if I am going to look at something, it will be the PDF with the lyrics and the credits. The animations plus the song overview text on the webpage plus the PDF create a sort of information overload. I end up mainly reading the PDF to simplify things.

[enroe]

Loved the delay on the vocal right of the bat. The instrument placement in the stereo field is great throughout the song.

Very cool song. I added it to one of my playlists.

Ohhh, thank you eassae!

[enroe]

enroe,
Thank you for the review! Now your song: it always sounds cool! Interesting vocal effects/pitch tweaks; nice vocals! Mostly because of the strings, and to a lesser degree with the piano: sounds a bit Beatle-esque at times, in a nice way. Sounds like you put a lot work into the recording. Two thumbs up! .

Amusing video. I did speed reading of the space physics stuff. Ever hear the theory that the universe didn't just come into existing through one Big Bang, but from various random smaller "Bangs" across the universe (happening at various times)?

Thanks Aaron - especially for the comparison to The Beatles.

Yes - we like to associate our songs with real content,
here with the expansion of space. And you're right: There
were various expansion phases - and today there are
above all a lot of question marks: The Hubble constant
is actually “the expansion rate”. But we don't know its
exact value. Weird!

Thank you, Aaron!

[seismic1]

"Double, Hubble toil and trouble"

[seismic1]

Some thoughts regarding the loudness. If I listen to this song in isolation, I don't notice the loudness much, although the chorus is quite a lot louder than the verse. I think that contrast between the levels in those elements is very effective in adding energy to the music at the right moments.

When I played this song alongside tracks by other artists, I did notice an increase in levels. That could be partly due to the type of music I usually listen to, but not definitively so.

Here is a link to a reddit thread which contains some info which may be useful or merely interesting:-

https://www.reddit.com/r/mixingmasterin ... t_14_lufs/

It would appear that the loudness wars are not quite dead. Minor skirmishing persists

I have been aiming for -16 LUFS (for my mainly ambient-style music), but even my more beat-oriented tracks are at a similar level. One of my New Year resolutions for 2024 was to push the levels up a little. The only problem with this scheme is that I haven't made a new track this year

I thought the mix was great, making good use of the stereo field, and the song was fun to listen to, but when I decided to research the lyrics further, I quickly became confused by "blackbody spectra of the optical counterpart of neutron-star mergers", and had a glass of Port instead.

P.S. I usually watch the animation the first time I listen to one of your songs, but during subsequent listens, I open the PDF lyrics.

Good work

[enroe]

1. The subject matter. How many other songs mention "Hubble math?" Probably none.
2. Make it a little quieter.
3. A bit too loud for my tastes.
4. It depends on the artist. In your case, yes, because they are interesting. In many cases, the lyrics aren't worth considering closely because not a lot of thought went into them in the first place.
5. With your music, if I am going to look at something, it will be the PDF with the lyrics and the credits. The animations plus the song overview text on the webpage plus the PDF create a sort of information overload. I end up mainly reading the PDF to simplify things.

Hello Frantz, my comments:

(1), (4) I am happy that you have identified the special feature -
the Hubble mathematics - as content. This seems quite
unusual for music.

(2), (3) Yes, the guitarist would like it to be even louder
... we discuss it all the time.

(5) Yeah, the PDF does indeed contain the essential
information. You have your stringent, almost optimized
approach.

Thank you very much, Frantz!

[enroe]

"Double, Hubble toil and trouble"

Yeah, it used to be the Hubble constant that drove an
entire generation of scientists to despair! Today it is the
Hubble parameter ...

Really a Hubble-Trouble.

[justin3am]

I enjoyed it! I liked the vocal treatments and the mix is well spaced.
I hear a lot of simple elements that have some complex relationships, which make for surprising moments when a groovy syncopation emerges for a moment.

Thanks for sharing!

[enroe]

Some thoughts regarding the loudness. If I listen to this song in isolation, I don't notice the loudness much, although the chorus is quite a lot louder than the verse. I think that contrast between the levels in those elements is very effective in adding energy to the music at the right moments.

When I played this song alongside tracks by other artists, I did notice an increase in levels. That could be partly due to the type of music I usually listen to, but not definitively so.

Yes - the loudness war. There has been endless debate
about this so far. The philosophy we follow is quickly
summarized in two points:

1. Each song is brought to “its” loudness individually and
according to the song - and regardless of the platforms
(Youtube, Spotify, ...).. For "white eyes" it is -10.9 dB
LUFS-I (integrated loudness).

2. The smaller the listening boxes are, the more high
loudness “improves” and “increases the listening experience”.
Unfortunately, the reverse also applies: on high-quality hi-fi
systems, high loudness quickly becomes annoying. So if
your audience mainly listens to small speakers or via
smartphone, you need a certain loudness.

I thought the mix was great, making good use of the stereo field, and the song was fun to listen to, but when I decided to research the lyrics further, I quickly became confused by "blackbody spectra of the optical counterpart of neutron-star mergers", and had a glass of Port instead.

Yeah, the lyrics ... ultimately, it's about our origins or the
creation of the universe. But enjoying a glass of wine isn't
bad either.

Thank you, Seismic!