The WIP Thread

[Saieph]

Forrest H:
Nice track! Melancholy, airy, atmospheric. I'm 50 shades of moody now. Great stuff!

Rohan:
Your track scared me. I'm truly frightened. The cookie monster is so loud and in your face, perhaps bring the vocals just a tad down in the mix and bring out the kick and snare...more beef in the drums. Everything else sounds pretty nice for sure! I dig!

My recent foray. This is the last track on the concept EP, about 2/3's complete...more to add to this...a crescendo, a new theme, and a finale. But I am happy with this so far. Still have to go back and do a track 4. Hmmmm...

[SC]https://soundcloud.com/saieph/0005_saieph[/SC]

 

[Djentliman]

@rohan basically what everybody else is saying. The vocals are very in your face. Turning them down while turning t
he drums up just a tad will definitely help with this. Guitars sound great btw!

@Gashzilla Could you elaborate more on what the theme behind this track is? I get lost listening to it because it feels like one of those album interludes that nobody listens to. I do however like the part at the very end. It is a very solemn/creepy sound that keeps me on edge. This part is something I would smoke hookah to. Chill is another word.

I just recently had a breakthrough with writing whole songs so here is the WIP that I WIPPED (see what I did there) up earlier tonight. Comments on the mix and the writing would be great! p.s. the china is very loud so please ignore its harshness!

[SC]https://soundcloud.com/keegan-mcd/song-i-will-actually-finish[/SC]

 

[Saieph]

I just recently had a breakthrough with writing whole songs so here is the WIP that I WIPPED (see what I did there) up earlier tonight. Comments on the mix and the writing would be great! p.s. the china is very loud so please ignore its harshness!
[SC]https://soundcloud.com/keegan-mcd/song-i-will-actually-finish[/SC]

Wicked. My only complaint (personal preference) would be the wash on the cymbals. But that's just me. Fekkin nice track, dude...keep that S*^& up.

The theme of that track is as follows:
1. a battle has taken place, at the beginning of the track, the winners are gathering the dead from the battlefield...so many have died
2. the winners were previously animals who have been enchanted by a mysterious pod that appeared just before the enemies first appeared. This enchantment gave them abilities...one being the ability to sacrifice another animal by drawing a runic representation on the subjects back, and have this representation come to life in place of the subject. One of the animals gets the idea to try that concept out on the fallen enemy
3. This chance works, and all of the ritually sacrificed brethren of the animals is born back to life...thus, the enemy is defeated and sacrificed to bring their entire ecosystem back to life.
4. (untracked) the animals celebrate
5. (untracked) the enchantment wears off and the pod returns to it's owners...
6. (untracked) ...who are the protagonists of the over-arcing story...and who are now..
7. (untracked) ...chasing the perpetrators who attacked the planet in the first place.

Musically, I haven't tracked the celebration, which reprises theme D from 0001_Saieph...and I haven't even started working on 0004_Saieph, which will be the battle...0005_Saieph is meant to be more cinematic, foreshadowing things that are yet to come, but also summarizing what has already happened in the scope of the rest of the album...the next part to track is going to be more epic, with the bass, guitar and drums playing a bigger part...and then wash back and away at the end.

 

[JEngelking]

Had a sad, made this:

[SC]https://soundcloud.com/forrest-hooker/healing[/SC]

I really liked this, really atmospheric and pleasant to the ear.

My recent foray. This is the last track on the concept EP, about 2/3's complete...more to add to this...a crescendo, a new theme, and a finale. But I am happy with this so far. Still have to go back and do a track 4. Hmmmm...

[SC]https://soundcloud.com/saieph/0005_saieph[/SC]

Really like the atmosphere on this one too Gash, I see this fitting well into the concept EP as a whole, excited to hear it totally done!

I just recently had a breakthrough with writing whole songs so here is the WIP that I WIPPED (see what I did there) up earlier tonight. Comments on the mix and the writing would be great! p.s. the china is very loud so please ignore its harshness!

[SC]https://soundcloud.com/keegan-mcd/song-i-will-actually-finish[/SC]

Diggin' this, very nice production on this one. I don't have any issue with the cymbals, but I do think it could use a bit more bass and low end overall. Nice work though!

 

[Djentliman]

Oh i forgot to mention when the verse kicks in, there is no bass. I havent recorded it yet. Lol

 

[Forrest_H]

More boring ambient music, but with a twist!

[SC]https://soundcloud.com/forrest-hooker/homeward-flight[/SC]

Screwed around with panning my slide swells, I like it a lot but I think I've panned them too fast. The ending wasn't done well either.

 

[Forrest_H]

I feel awkward about posting again, but shameless self promotion engaged

[SC]https://soundcloud.com/forrest-hooker/cascade[/SC]

Dicking around on my lunch break is fun.

Also I LOVE CHIPTUNE SYNTHS

 

[Djentliman]

@Forrest_H, That second one is hilarious! It sounds like something that would tie in with early ratchet and clank games!

The first one is very pretty! I like that a lot! I do agree that the panning is to fast. It should be more on beat with the music itself.

Here is an almost finished product of the song I posted earlier. Should I make a new thread because this is my first whole song EVER?

[SC]https://soundcloud.com/keegan-mcd/song-i-actually-finished[/SC]

 

[TallestFiddle]

Ya make a new thread, not everyone looks at this one.

 

[JEngelking]

I feel awkward about posting again, but shameless self promotion engaged

[SC]https://soundcloud.com/forrest-hooker/cascade[/SC]

Dicking around on my lunch break is fun.

Also I LOVE CHIPTUNE SYNTHS

Now I can't unhear it, it does kinda sound like something from the Ratchet and Clank games. I dig it though!

Here's something I recorded today that university has been keeping me from all week.

[SC]http://souncloud.com/oceansbuiltonsinkingships/golem-wip[/SC]

 

[Warlus_Of_Doom]

Here's something I recorded today that university has been keeping me from all week.

[SC]http://souncloud.com/oceansbuiltonsinkingships/golem-wip[/SC]

Cool chord choices I also like the mix. I hope you're making that into a full song!

It's 4 am and it's monday tomorrow... OH WELL I finished the song, here it is:
[SC]https://soundcloud.com/onni-korhonen/payment-is-not-due-original-song[/SC]

It's a song about entitlement and making peace with the world (I'm such an artist, right?).

 

[MetalDestroyer]

@Forrest: Uhhhh
@Djentliman: This sounds great. Not much else to it
@Walrus: I don't really understand atmospheric music but I have no complaints. Could use a master I guess.

In other words, this semester has been kicking my arse and with switching majors and everything going on I needed some time to myself. So I'm back to mixing the songs from my highschool friend and I's album. This song to me really illustrates what the 5150 III can sound like.

[SC]https://soundcloud.com/metaldestroyer-1/too-weak-to-fly-first-master[/SC]

The end should fade out and I'm closing my eyes to the snare because it cuts and isn't obtrusive, though I'll probably end up bouncing the overheads again without snare bleed so it's more punchy and less snare-y.

 

[theo]

Warlus: Really like this, the synth thing going on underneath your bass is really cool, adds some great texture/harmonics.

Metaldestroyerdennis: I feel like your snare is a bit lost. Chuck an EQ on that track and with a slight bell boost move around until you find the spot that most embodies "that" snare, then head over to your guitars and cut the same freq on them (and anything else occupying the same area in the mix).

 

[Warlus_Of_Doom]

Thanks theo! Actually, it's not a synth. I just sent the bass signal to a bus with modulation, reverb and stereo delay. Glad to hear it worked the way I intended though!

 

[Saieph]

The last song I have to track for my concept arc (EP 1 of 3). This is just rough tracking right now, as I am still composing. Let me know what you think of the general dynamics overall (no bass yet)...

[SC]https://soundcloud.com/saieph/0004-saieph[/SC]

 

[DamienE7]

Walrus: Im with Theo, that was cool and clever work with the bass!

Gashzilla: That was a cool track, loved the little clean section @13s. can't wait to hear it all put together!

[SC]https://soundcloud.com/damien-evans-7/into-the-abyss[/SC]

This is a track i have been mucking around with for the last week or so... trying to get better at this mixing thing! all tips welcome.

 

[Saieph]

Done. Tracking. Editing. Mixing (for the most part...I'm anal).
Done. This is the playlist from 1-5. The revisited themes follow the pattern:
Song 1 (A [intro], B [delay part], C ["chorus"], D [bridge to outro], E [outro - this theme is unique to this song, but will constitute the intro theme on EP 2])
Song 2 revisits theme C
Song 3 revisits theme A
Song 4 revisits theme B
Song 5 revisits theme D

The story:

Part I (Sa Vrengawr - "The Waking")

- A mysterious pod (the "elym-bateir") appears within the heart of an alien forest
- The animals become enchanted. They are able to speak telepathically and converse with each other in a singular language

Part II (Cvuwrucrym - "Dark")

- A dark presence(s) begin lurking in the forest. Many animal groups are affected. There are numerous murders, kidnappings, etc. Signs point to an outside force (physical and ethereal) being the culprit. Attempted resistance to this force proves to be useless. It is posited that whatever the force is, it has somehow taken the form of the various animal species of the forest. Hence, it is difficult to distinguish neighbor from foe.

Part III (Bavuwruqes Tatruv - "Illustrated Sacrifice)

- One animal finds that he/she is able to draw on another animal, and whenever a life form is drawn on the subject, the drawn life-form manifests physically, but at the cost of the life of the subject initially drawn upon. They learn they can, within limits, "upgrade" the beings they bear. Because they can create figures more insightful and powerful than themselves, the animals realize that in order to combat the enemy force, they must sacrifice parts of their population to this artistic transmogrification process.
- Through a spiritual and somber ritual, the sacrificial subjects are chosen/volunteer...all of this as the enemy force seems to be literally eating away at the forest itself, as well as devouring the animals contained therein.

Part IV (Draugknyr - "Erupt")

- A great battle occurs between the animals and the enemy force, which is revealed to be an army of mutant humans who can shapeshift into living forms. Because of its recent assimilation of this forests life forms, the mutant humans can now shapeshift into the local animal population species, and have been blending in with local populations.
- The animals of the forest overcome and drive away the mutant humans (the "Threjcyn")

Part V (Sul Sykkein Aerguwlys - "Return to the Air")

- The animal populations gather the dead bodies of friend and foe alike. One of the animals draws the figure of one of the sacrificial victims on the back of a foe, and the animals friend returns from the dead! The animals then use the "illustrated sacrifice" on the bodies of their enemy, drawing their lost loved ones on the perpetrators, and returning the animal populations back to the forest.
- After much celebration, the enchantment wears off. The elym-bateir disappears. It is an ancient inter-dimensional weapon used to enhance the ability of a native population to combat an enemy force, without it's owners using direct influence. This greater alien species is called Quenvalys. They have been chasing the enemy force that attacked the planet ("Nethmeteste") for aeons.
- The Threjcyn were not eradicated entirely. The remaining faction escape Nethmeteste.

[SC]https://soundcloud.com/saieph/sets/un-mixed[/SC]

 

[TallestFiddle]

Djentlemen: Sick song, the mix is awesome. The drums especially are really good. The way that the guitar/bass/kick drum are forming into one sound is really nice. I also like how clear all your layers are. The song as a whole is really good, great job on your first full song! I love the slow down that leads up to that ending.

Damien: I really like how aggresive the track is, especially the drums. The guitars are really fuzzy though, so I'd work on the tone a bit, and I think they're a bit loud compared to the rest of the track.

Gashzilla: I listened to that first song, its really cool. I like how it embodies a certain vibe that you're trying to go for. I'm excited to listen to the rest of the songs later, I'm interested in how they all piece together. Its cool that you took the time to make a concept for all of the songs.


So this is a really rough draft, I'm basically just writing the song at this point, not really paying too much attention to the mix. I am trying to experiment a little bit with how layers are fitting together in different sections, dual tracking, quad tracking, etc. I'm having a little bit of trouble getting my lead melodies to stick out from the chords behind them. I have a lot going on with the chords in some sections, but I really want the chords and lead to both have their own space in the mix.

I'm curious what you guys do to distinguish your rhythm tones from your lead tones. I'm using a POD and I used to same amp for my rythm and lead, should I try to use different amps for each? or would that make the tone too different? I think I answered my own question, lol. Either way, I'd like to hear what you guys think about it. Also what do you guys do for EQ'ing leads compared to rhythm?

[SC]https://soundcloud.com/nickareiaswip/3-18-15rough[/SC]

 

[Saieph]

My goto sound recently has involved quad tracking the same general amp/pedals, with slight variations in mic and EQ:

Rhythm (Treble) - 100L / 80R - Mic mix 75% SM-57 / 25% SM-58, EQ to taste (more mid/treble), Less Gain
Rhythm (Bass) - 80L / 100R - Mic mix 25% SM-57 / 75% SM-58, EQ to taste (more bass/mid), 8 on the gain

For leads I use a completely different amp and 100% favoring the SM-57 mic, with the same general pedal setup as the rhythm guitars. For single, I pan center, dual I pan between 60 and 75% L/R even and bump about .5 - 1db over the peak of the grouped rhythms.

 

[Deepcut]

Yep
[SC]https://soundcloud.com/jamie-denham-2/one-shade[/SC]
Did it work?
Have to build an isolation cab yet.