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"The Serenity of Distractions" - ambient, jazz funk?


PhonoBrainer

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This once knew life as "'Round Corners" a while back, but it went to the big city, as you will see.  This is now v2.0, some tweaks made on good suggestions, and the horns dropped a tad in the mix.

Fun video if you like (stream @1440p if you can?) . . . audio-only is below . . .

 

Soundcloud:

I appreciate any comments very much, thanks!

cheers,

-Tom

Edited by PhonoBrainer
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Ambient Jazz Funk ..  All of my favorites . You can't lose with that combination. Great musical production and visual. As far as the horns in the second section , I thought they might be a "tiny" bit hot but they also had a nice "effect" .  I thought the First horns that came in (before the electric piano), were the ones that  needing lowering . All of the instruments sounded Amazing.  I Really enjoyed the entire production , the neon PhonoBrainer sign at the end was a Nice touch.     mark

 

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5 hours ago, SupaReels said:

My goodness ...you are a master sir .. absolutely amazing Video and music . Really draws you in I now have video envy LOL.

Steve

Steve! A master of disaster, quite possibly. Glad you liked the video - we are all at the mercy of the Gods of Stock Clips.

 

 

5 hours ago, Jesse Screed said:

Hey Phobra,

very nice music, mix, and video

to be honest, the music and video in no way matched up with the text at the beginning.  I had the impression you were to present a dystopian montage, and instead it was a thing of beauty.

maybe that was your intent, I suppose

Here we go - to be honest I didn't line that up but now that you mention it, yes they don't match. UNLESS you view urban beauty as something dystopian in itself. Which, I do.

When I lived in big cities, I was continually aware that the myriad daily stimulations could make it more than possible to live an entirely unexamined life. "The Serenity of Distractions." And as our wisest modern philosophers would have it: "And for that reason, I'm Out."

The video, I agree is beautiful! It is a collective beauty, like leaning in to an ant farm.

many thanks for the listen and excellent commentary!

 

2 hours ago, jack c. said:

way cool.what vst plugin horns do ya use?is the bass guitar going through bass simulation amp?jack c.horns are at a good level

Thanks, Jack! The bass guitar is most often a clavinet patch cooked up from the Acousticsamples D9 Clavinet, and the "fretless"-ish bass is from Dune 3.

The "horn section horns" are EastWest Hollywood Pop Brass, ad the solo trumpet towards the end, which I fear is too loud, is AudioModeling SWAM Trumpet.

thanks for the ear time!

 

2 hours ago, mark skinner said:

Ambient Jazz Funk ..  All of my favorites . You can't lose with that combination. Great musical production and visual. As far as the horns in the second section , I thought they might be a "tiny" bit hot but they also had a nice "effect" .  I thought the First horns that came in (before the electric piano), were the ones that  needing lowering . All of the instruments sounded Amazing.  I Really enjoyed the entire production , the neon PhonoBrainer sign at the end was a Nice touch.     mark

 

thanks a lot Mark! I'm still sweating the horns in the mix, will keep in mind your observations. Much appreciated, thanks!

 

1 hour ago, Hidden Symmetry said:

Enjoyed the retro disco/ funk vibe & visuals were colorful.

thanks HS for the listen, and the retro remark as well! This is all an in-the-box version at pulling off what you and your band does so well in real time. Much respect.

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@PhonoBrainer I have to confess Tom I am not a fan of pseudo vinyl noise, it irritates the { insert expletive of your own personal choice here } sorry.

The opening piano is cool and does not need a supporting act of scratchy noise, just my own personal furry opinion. As for the rest of the song when the bass kicks in nice groove you have going on that bass, sounds like it might have a bit of dirty Wurli supporting it? Are the horns to in the face not for me the sound OK here on the Adam's

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Tom

Visuals are stunning! Are the horns a smidge too hot?  Yes - imo - but please don't change them because they work really well.

Can I have a crit? I'm with @Wookiee on the vinyl scratch thing - didn't need it and at first I thought it was my cranky old MD7506s. ?

Overall great work all round.

Andy

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On 1/30/2022 at 10:36 AM, PhonoBrainer said:

The video, I agree is beautiful! It is a collective beauty, like leaning in to an ant farm.

 

Stellar music and a stunning video!  Your take on the video is right on!  Once upon a time, I used to be in a horn band, so the volume of the horns were about right for me.  Do you mind if I borrow this song as a template for mixing?  When I hear how pristine your mixes are, I start to understand what you are telling me about mine.  Please, Phobra, keep writing masterpieces like this.  

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awesome music....totally engaging video....notes while enjoying: great electric piano intro....finally, maraca's!!, i love maraca's....nice clavinet, wasn't expecting that at all but fits perfectly....great horns, maybe down a dB or so....nice drum entrance....nice riffing on synth....great entrance by trumpet....and they all come together at the end....the serenity of distractions, indeed!!!! ????

 

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Hi Tom.
I missed this one.

I always look forward to your productions as I learn a lot from them.

Your use of panning, delay, and use of eq is amazing to my ears and I make note of the subtleties to add to my learning skills.
Do you use automation?  You just have a liveliness to your mixes.
I'm experimenting with automation now.. but it gets pretty hot on the mix buss quickly.. so I drop the automation I have done about 10% and that puts it back in the ball park again.

Thanks for sharing.

Gary

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On 1/31/2022 at 12:24 PM, AndyB01 said:

Visuals are stunning!

Agreed!

On 1/31/2022 at 11:03 AM, Bajan Blue said:

horns sounded all good including the solo

Agreed!

Thanks for sharing the details on the horns. I think a master class in horns would help many here; what say you?
A cwp with some articulations etc.?

t

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Tom, the video has it all - great images accompanied by music that, to me,  describes an urban landscape perfectly.
I really liked the Prochnow and Morris quotes at the beginning and, like Jesse, I expected a bleaker story from the video because of that introduction. But I like your take on it, that the city is a made up world of constant distractions.
Anyway, I really enjoyed the video.  Top notch production for sure!
-Bjorn

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very nice. I see you have have been filming in my town. Do you live in Tokyo? Whatever, very well done. I think the horns could fit better in the mix, but its not "distracting." I usually go back and a forth about 50 times on these types of decisions. The mix I just did I mixed the organ so many times.
Very good stuff.

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