The choice

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kamiluni
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The choice

Post by kamiluni »

This is a song composed many years ago, but till now I was not able to give it the sound I wanted to get

https://soundcloud.com/kami-luni/the-choice

Comments will be very appreciated :D
Thx
KL

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Re: The choice

Post by folderol »

Very dramatic presentation, and clean production. Good work.

The Yoshimi guy {apparently now an 'elderly'}
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Re: The choice

Post by jeanette_c »

Hi @kamiluni , thanks for sharing this song. You have a really good hand for your vocal arrangements and the way you process and mix them. Also there's a really good flow to the song as a unit. This is very homogenous.
If I had to point out one element that doesn't sit just right, it's the drums. I can't exactly put my finger on it. Perhaps the kick sits a little too up front, perhaps it's the full frequency range. It does not crush anything else and sometiems it sounds just right. Maybe some volume automation would make it even better. That only stands out, because the rest of your production is so well polished.

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Re: The choice

Post by kamiluni »

@jeanette_c thanks for your comment. I'm taking in account your advice but I'm not able to find the point, where you found the issue :cry:

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Re: The choice

Post by oscillator »

This is a supersmooth song, both harmonically and soundwise. Great stuff! Love the drums and the deep bass that enters about 1/3 in. 80s but taken farther into here and now.

I also like your singing very much as well as the mixing of the voice (as well as the whole song). The choir is super!

Could you give some description on how you record and mix the vocals?

Very impressive and inspirational!

MusE DAW running on Debian 11 Testing/XFCE4.
https://oscillator.se/musik

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Re: The choice

Post by kamiluni »

@oscillator before all: thank you for your words! :oops: :D

I will try to explain the rec/mix procedure I follow...but would be better to do a video to show all, anyway:

RECORDING:
Every sound is played by hands, so it result more natural with its defects! :roll:
I record vocals in the same way I record everything.
I use a good but not expensive mic; I pay attention to the floor noise and I use transformers to avoid ground loops. Then I go into a mic amplifier and usually
I record the voice with some effects.
When I sing, I search for the good sound, right for the song and, I search the good distance, this may be the trick :lol: : the proximity effect can be used instead of avoided :wink:
Proximity effect, if correctly used, give you character and a natural rich bass content.
The recording volume is the maximum allowed to have the maximum signal/noise ratio.

MIXING:
It is very time consuming and if a good result is not achieved I return to the recording step!!!
I start always from the voice, with a template of 3 busses (only wet 100%) with:

  1. exciter and in cascade an HPF @ 2.5kHz
  2. very short delay mono, delay time = tempo, panpot 100% Left,
  3. very short delay mono, delay time = tempo/4, panpot 100% Right
    I send a % of vocals to these buss. 1. for an airy sound; 2./3. for presence and to put voices in front of the mix if needs
    Each vocal track and buss is sent to a "vocal buss" where I put some compression (very slight compression), some effects like reverb or delay

I set up a limiter on the master (not so true because I use another buss before...but for semplicity...) to emulate a sort of mastering. Then, the first mix step (fader, equalization) is done in MONO and checked on various speakers (in-ear monitor, headphone, Lo-Fi, small, mid and big speakers).

When I mixed and panned every sound, I check the balance lowering the volume till everything disappear to see which track dominates in every part of the song.

I leave all my new songs to rest for a while and every week I try to listen it. Never, never, never I found a song that works on the first shot!...never! :cry: ...so I have to reiterate.

In addition, I have a great friend with the best ears I never found. This is Marco Siciliano, a very capable sound engineer, I bought his mix/master tutorials in the past, then we became friends and now all my songs pass through his ears to check...so the result is granted! :)

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Re: The choice

Post by oscillator »

Thanks a lot @kamiluni, that is very interesting! And gave me a few new ideas to try out! Very valuable!

Keep on making music -- looking forward to your next piece!

MusE DAW running on Debian 11 Testing/XFCE4.
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Re: The choice

Post by baconature »

The choice, is an excellent song. I enjoyed listening very much. I don't analyze the songs of others, I simply enjoy them or I don't. Thanks for sharing.

Tom ~ Idaho USA

UbuntuStudio 20.04, Intel i5 3.30GHz 6600, Asus Q170Mc MotherBoard, 32Gb ram

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Re: The choice

Post by Basslint »

I always appreciate your productions, very clean. It sounds like actual, real italo disco from the 80s, with a bit of more modern "French touch". I don't know if the it's the intent but if so, you absolutely aced that sound! Please share your music (and the precious tips you give so generously) more often :D

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Re: The choice

Post by kamiluni »

@Basslint thank you,you are very kind! I don't know what you mind for "french" ... I do it without any reference: I have it in my head but I don't know if it is in some other production. Anyway, good to know :D

Linux OS: Manjaro
Intruments: Yamaha MODX8; Korg Nautilus; Yamaha Tyros 3, Akai Force, Korg ModWave, Upright bass, Electric bass
Audio Card: MOTU M4
Monitors: Yamaha HS8, Auratone, M-Audio BX5, PreSonus Eris E3.5
Engineer and Musician

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