PhonoBrainer

OK, let's see. Love the lead voice, so calming, fits the lyrics, well done! And the visuals are eyebleach to anyone hunkered down in the north hemisphere, in which me and my PNW mates are feeling are feeling grey as hell if hell were grey. So thanks for those as well! The video found me trying to hear a guitar but I can't, so that's a bit wtf. But I still liked it! cheers, looking forward to hearing more from you! -Tom

I like the room sound, I don't know how much was live recorded but it sounds like all elements are nicely presented in the same space, and your vocal "yeah's" and scats and such are a nice touch! Bass is tre cool and the piano ain't half bad either! cheers, -Tom

Fleer, stay strong. Call a friend before you give in.

Hey I'm not trying to be a buzzkill here, and I always appreciate well-crafted videography! Just wondering if the Deals forum is the place. Or is there a better place on the forum? If not, maybe we could lobby to create one? thanks, -Tom

I have no dog in this fight, but since I've been using and abusing a 2013-era pentium i7 computer, I'm curious because I know an upgrade can't be too far off. So I looked up the price of your Mac flappy that you are waiting on. I found $3999. Please tell me it ain't so??? If that's the price, think of all the blockchain you'll have to mine in order to recoup that. I don't know if I said any of that right. Feeling for you, Fleer. Btw this weakens your gripe with paying WUP. Chump change ?

I hope you find this aspirational . . .

I can hear the fingers attacking the bass strings. The bass is so very well articulated and recorded. Well done there. Timing seems impeccable throughout the piece, great chops. Perhaps the drums could be a bit more present in the mix? That's about the only maybe crit I could offer. This is pretty stellar. cheers, -Tom

Well I was digging the James Bond retro vibe, really well done on that! I especially liked the very end, a bit of suspenseful upper string remnants that linger. Really great string sounds all the way through. Then I caught the "Bridge to Somewhere" from whomever "Emeraldsou"l was . . . Mark that was a fun project for sure, you completely took that to a new and much more listenable level - thanks for that project! cheers, -Tom

I've slowly warmed up to his presentation style and now find his work enjoyable. That one about Christopher Cross' guitar solo was fun.

Hope they make it more than 40% off

What a treat to hear this! Great job on a really cool song. Guitar tones are spot on, and the vocals turned out surprisingly well! Mixwise I could only add maybe less severe panning on the vocals, they are really out there on the edge and could do with a bit more blended focal point. Might be worth a check. Super cool job here, thanks!

I bailed on BFD about 7? years ago and went SD3. Don't regret it. But, I still think BFD cymbals >SD3 cymbals.

Heh! He said "pen is"

I liked the tranquility and the tones! As for the timing of your guitars sliding around a bit, it's only noticeable because you have the metronome of that percussion hit, sounds like a hi hat or cymbal, it's on the 2 and 4 most beats. You might get rid of that completely, and then your guitar meanderings will just seem rubato. Does this piece really need a metric timekeeper? I also had to turn it up, it's a pretty quiet mix but maybe that's what you were going for. Very dreamstate guitars with that chorus and mesmerizing arpeggio. Cool! cheers, -Tom

Nice, Gary, thanks so much! Do I use automation? Yes, on every. single. track. I'm always doing volume automation, pulling things forward, pushing them back down. You know how you can have a 160 bar song, and let's say a track of tambourine or whatever that only plays for eight bars? I always automate the volume of those tracks completely down to zero if there is no information coming from them. Something about a bunch of empty tracks adding whatever preamp noise into your mix - I don't know if it's a real thing but if I get rid of all "empty" volumes, I think the noise floor goes way down on the whole piece. Did that make any sense? Probably not, just a ramble then! I also mix directly into the "mastering" plugins on the main bus, so any adjustments in tracks can have the overall effect judged immediately at the master bus. I know that's a crime in the minds of better mixers than me! many thanks again, I sure appreciate the encouragement! cheers! and I hope you are receiving good news on the issue you shared recently . . .

very cool comments, yes I agree the horns down a tad, and that clav was a fun add for sure. I appreciate the listen and the thoughts, thanks! thanks, Makke! I did sweat the structure of this and it went through more than a few revisions - thanks!

Well Lynn, truly kind of you! I just ruthlessly carve away anything below say 400hz if it's not a bass instrument, and often suck "350hz out of most of the bass tracks (like bass guit, piano, kick) because things usually sound better with a big hole in them, around 300-350 hz. You can always add it back. Other than that, I've got nuttin'. Appreciate the comment and the listen, thanks!

Hi Steve! I was emulating a fretless bass with a patch from Dune 3, primarily, mixed in with a bit of ABJ jazz bass in spots. So glad you liked it, and thanks for the comment! Thanks Douglas! Glad you dug it, and in the end I chickened out and dropped the horn leads 1db just so as not to kill anyone's hearing. Many thanks for the thoughts and the listen!

this is a totally legit comment, I think it could go either way. thanks for the listen!

also hi @thegaltieribrothers, and @David Sprouse, much appreciated your comments, and I in the end pulled the horns down a smidge, just for safety's sake. Thanks much for the listen!

hi also @AndyB01! I appreciate the song thoughts and here's what I did - I dutifully took your advice on board about hating the vinyl crackle thing, I was not married to it - so I opened up Omnisphere and spent an hour going through presets, grains, noises, pads, hisses, then went through my file collection for sound effects, then opened up a few Output plugins and looked for whooshes and such. It was alas a fruitless search so I kept the abhorrent crackles, having no other option other than simple city traffic noise, which I thought might be overly cliche to start the song with. But I do feel this fruitless process at least put me in mind to use the also-cliche crackles a bit more sparingly in future efforts, because yes they can get annoying. thanks both of you for the observation . . . cheers, my musical friends, -Tom

Overall I liked it a lot, but I couldn't help thinking that you have given yourself, or anyone really, a fair mouthful to sing. You could polish and in spots tune the vocals, it will sound great and be a good song indeed! But there's a lot of words going into measures with a midtempo feel, and I was thinking to myself, dang I'm not sure if I'd want to sing this! A tough ask, lotta words, and you actually do a very decent job! In the second half the rhythm guitar comes is and picks up the drive nicely, very cool add there. It's a bit of a depeche/tears for fears vocal on top of a older Irish feeling song. cheers, -Tom

Friggin great! Keep the t-rex! The owl/harrier and that kid with the ball were also amazing. Full kudos to those crisp chromakeys, wonderful stuff! Let's not forget the music - I agree it's meditation worthy and the panning especially was duly noted and appreciated! Super clean and clear mix. loved it! cheers, -Tom

I appreciate this on many levels. The music holds interest, grooves well, lyrics are solid. Your video presentations are amazing - such detailed editing moves and fun ideas. A total treat for the eyes! I agree, drums could get punchier but with this song you may not want to overplay that. So here's my question - to me it looks like you love the inventive videos, the gobsmacking color, the trippy effects, and the eye-candy fun! But I could only watch your vid @720p in the lower quality AVC codec. I have no clue what original rez your source files are, or what your video editor has for export options, or if your computer can only process files of smaller sizes? But jeeeebus if I was doing such fine video work as you are, and spending all that editing time, it would be so worth it to upgrade what you are putting up on YouTube. For example, let's say your original source files (like the trippy space backgrounds and brain images and such) are standard 1080p stuff. 1) Does your video editor have the ability to output the final render at 2560 x1440p ? . . . if you upload a high rez video like that up to YouTube, then YouTube will get "tricked" into processing your video with a much better codec - the vp09 codec. The result will be detailed clarity of video image, no smears and pixelations like the AVC codec always leaves. You probably know this already, apologies if you do, but on YouTube, watch your video, then right-click on it, and go to "Stats for Nerds" - there you will see the codec they used. AVC bad, vp09 good! Whatever limitations you face, you are doing a helluva job with your music and videos - well done indeed. cheers, -Tom