dcumpian

Awesome cover! I can imagine how much work went into this. It always amazes me when I break down a song I like and see just how good the musicians are.

My only critique is that the kick is somewhat buried and could use a bump to get that beat locked in.

Dan

Really like the lyrics on this one...funny and they flow really well. As for the rest, another stellar Staypress production! Love the super clean mix.

Dan

Got it!

20 hours ago, Wookiee said:

Nice, has a groove that would be good to drive to, I like

 

Thanks Wookie!

Dan

22 hours ago, Starise said:

I like this style of composition. You are very good with the drums programming and parts layering. Omnisphere is an amazing kit of sounds to work with.

I love BFD3 as well. 

The music doesn't take any unexpected departures. Having said that, I think you do a lot with it!

I thought the cymbals were just a little too much panned, especially the left cymbal channel. As a suggestion, maybe let just a little bleed through come over to the right channel for the cymbals. This would give it more space and still retain the left/right feel.

You're right about the cymbals, but it isn't just the panning. Normally, I run the cymbals through a room reverb to make them a little less distinct. Been so long I forgot to do this, lol.

Thanks for the listen!

Dan

What Paul said. Well done!

Dan

Totally agree with Tom and Gary...more bottom. Nice tune and the rest of the mix sounds pretty good.

Dan

On 2/1/2020 at 9:35 PM, synkrotron said:

Hi Dan

I listened to High Road and realised how much I am missing listening to your stuff, amongst others, here in the Songs forum.

A great composition... Very uplifting. I really enjoyed the listen 👍

 

cheers

andy

Thank you Andy! Good to see your are still around these parts!

Dan

14 hours ago, Robert Bone said:

I downloaded the demo - which seems to operate for like 15 or 20 minutes, so I will try to work through all of their combi sounds.

Can you please confirm that these 'Moss sounds' you referred to, are Combi sounds?  Or, are they basic presets (not Combi)?

Bob Bone

Moss, or M.O.S.S., was a hardware addon for the Triton that provided an alternate synthesis engine. True synth rather than samples. I doubt that Korg included that in the VSTi. If they had, I'm sure it would be listed near the top of the features list.

The expansions are additional samples that were sold as addon cards, similar to Roland's JV/XV stuff.

Dan

I want this, partly because I used to own a Triton, but also because I'm sure it sounds great. I will probably pick it up at some point and maybe by then the kinks will be worked out.  I have the older Korg Collection, and it is pretty nice. I wish I could find a Kawai K4 VSTi, lol.

Dan

21 hours ago, Amicus717 said:

Really enjoyed listening to this, Dan.

It sounds really polished - nice writing, tightly recorded, mix sounds good to my ears. Holds interest all the way through, with lots of nice little details -- in particular, I really liked the ending, with the gradual emergence of the hand drums to close out the piece. Great.

Rob  

Thanks Rob! I wasn't sure how the ending would be received so I'm glad to hear you liked it!

Dan

8 hours ago, daryl1968 said:

It was worth the wait - an excellent composition Dan. Cinematic

Thanks Daryl!

Dan

16 hours ago, ABull said:

Hey Dan, as usual this was well written, well performed, well mixed and well arranged -- hell, it's just well, really good.~~Allan

 

Thank you Allan! I really appreciate it!

Dan

22 hours ago, Tezza said:

Do you have specifically the Acoustic Guitar 2.0?

I have all of the guitars and  couple of the basses.

Dan

What Kevin said...you're in offset mode.

Dan

Agree with bjorn/gary, and the point about using compression to level the vocal, or, even better, a levelling amp rather than simply compressing it. I'd also like to hear the drums more distinctly, particularly the kick which is pretty buried in the mix. Everything else sounds very good!

Dan

Excellent piece Paul! I think your vocals really push the song from "in the style of..." to uniquely your own. Yes, all of those influences are there, but this is still very much an original song.

Mixwise, I like the arrangement a lot. Lots of room and everything is clearly audible. Great job on this!

Dan

I have several Pettinhouse libraries and use them here and there. I prefer the sound of the OTS libraries, but the Pettinhouse libraries fill a niche when they are needed.

Dan

Wookie,

I hope that you are recovering well and that you will get your paws back on the keys soon. All the best!

Dan

On 1/24/2020 at 1:00 PM, Andrew Ball said:

Very classy Dan - post more soon please - great to have you back. I really enjoyed the listen - right in my zone this.

Andy

Thanks Andy! Glad to hear you enjoyed the track!

Dan

Sounds pretty good to me! I like the way everything meshes together. You've got a really nice bed laid down here, I would just like to hear a real melody to take it from ambient to another level. Really nice job on what you've got!

Dan

8 hours ago, noynekker said:

Dan . . . mix wise you surely know what you're doing . . . but also it is a very powerful and insightful piece of music you've created here, amazing stuff !

My BFD3 drums never sound as crisp and balanced as you've accomplished here, so I'll swing by for many more listens.

Thank you very much for the compliments! I'm truly glad that you enjoyed the music!

To get your drums to sound like this, I mostly just use the Waves SSL G channel strip. It's magical.

Dan

23 hours ago, Douglas Kirby said:

I really enjoyed listening to this - there's a lot going on in the mix.  I've never used BFD drums - I'll have to check it out.

Excellent mix - quite a bit of depth and well-balanced.

Thanks for posting.

Thanks for the listen and your kind comments!

Dan

1 hour ago, emeraldsoul said:

Yesssss. Don't be a stranger!  Hope your time away was for good things. Great dynamics in this piece. I liked the synth arpegg noodle around 1:00 mark. Catchy. As per your usual, many elements come and go and are balanced to mix perfection.

The only thing I might ask about is adding some more low end weight to the toms, bass, and kick. As they are, very polished and controlled. Nothing up top is overwhelmed by mud. So kudos there. And it might be just me because I really like bass-end stuff. But I think just a bit more heft, even if it were just the tom fills, might be interesting to try. 

It's all so subjective. And you certainly got your $$$ worth out of Omnisphere! Do you have Omni 1 or 2? I just have 1, never upgraded, always wondered of 2 was worth it.

 

Lastly, the guitar work is spot on for that grand epic atmosphere, good power there, well done!

 

great to have you and your tunes back, Dan!

 

-Tom

 

 

Building a new house, including a media room/studio. Stocking/setting up said media room (which was a lot of fun!). Finally, I bought a new motorcycle a couple of years ago so I've been spending a lot of time doing that, as well as building and setting up a shop for it. Just a lot of non-music activity, lol.

Omni 2, with a bunch of extras, including Trilian and Keyscape.

I had to cut the rumble in those toms as they were a little overpowering, but I added back some in the low mids. The real thing that I think would add some heft is another, deeper kick layered on top of the one in the kit, but, to be honest, I'm anxious to move on to the next one, and I'm pretty happy with what's there

Thanks a bunch for the feedback!

Nigel, this track is very well done! As they used to say on American Bandstand, "it sounds good and is easy to dance to".  Mix is very good, though I heard some distortion on the hats (left ear), but that may be intentional. Thanks for sharing!

Dan