Themeless Themesong

[bmarlowe]

I originally recorded this a very long time ago. I admit the song is simple (mostly major chords), some of the arrangement is arguably a bit trite (drum toms panning, parts of the guitar solo…). My main goal was to learn how to use Addictive Drums 2 (AD2), here replacing the old TTS-1 drums. I had a lot of questions including whether to use one instance of AD2 per drum instrument or just one instance of AD2 combining all the drum instruments or something in between. This led to a lengthy Cakewalk Discuss thread in which knowledgeable posters helped me quite a lot, though they did not always agree with each other.

In any case, it sounded so much better (to me) with the AD2 drums that I decided to re-record the bass guitar, add a small additional guitar part, and make use of a lot of new plugins that did not exist before.  Anyway – it is still a simple song, but you don't have to spend a lot of time listening to it because the running time is under 2 minutes 🙂 

 

[Wookiee]

Mix is not to bad, the HH is perhaps a bit to present and samey, that's just my Two Triganic Pu.

[bjornpdx]

The intro is simple, maybe too much, but things pick up nicely ~30sec.
Very lively production which works well. The drums sound pretty good to me. 
-Bjorn

[bmarlowe]

Wookiee – thx for comment, especially about the hi-hat. As far as “samey”, I am guilty I guess.

I have an audio engineer acquaintance who helps me out a bit. He says that hi-hat volume is a very common subject of disagreement. This is due to differing personal taste, and also diminishing high frequency hearing ability due to age (that’s me) and/or years of loud live music. After listening to this one he suggested I drop the hat (and crash cymbals) by about 1.5 dB, which I had done before posting.

I do use EQ to partially compensate for my own hearing. It helps a lot but I still do need other opinions. Is that hat still to loud? maybe.

[bmarlowe]

Thanks Chaps and Free Ear Candy.

Bjorn - Thanks much for your comment and yes I know the piano intro is too simple - chalk it up to my own very limited keys chops and not having a more capable piano player available at present. 

[Amberwolf]

38 minutes ago, bmarlowe said:

I do use EQ to partially compensate for my own hearing.

I've been trying to work out something like this to compensate for my severe tinnitus that blocks out a bunch of high frequencies.  What is the process / setup that you use?

[bmarlowe]

1 hour ago, Amberwolf said:

I've been trying to work out something like this to compensate for my severe tinnitus that blocks out a bunch of high frequencies.  What is the process / setup that you use?

You might find these links informative, and I am sure there are others:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ov-5crjbHUc

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8NDOjtlyVO4

First you should have your hearing tested by an audiologist and follow any advice provided. There may be hearing aids available that can help you, but on that I really do not know.

My hearing rolls off above 5 kHz when using test tones. However I can hear the effects of EQ well beyond that for percussive sounds (like hi-hat). I add modest amounts of gain above 5 kHz and I adjust so that both ears are about the same. I can hear tones well above 5 KHz if I really increase the gain a lot, but that means you are pumping a lot of high frequency energy into your ears and that may be damaging even if you can't hear it.  Also it will reduce your signal headroom. So I guess expect improvement but not miracles.

I listen to my mix and then always get an opinion from someone who does not have my limitations. 

 

[Wookiee]

@bmarlowe unfortunately true re hearing, HH level is very subjective.

I used to play drums in a band with a bass guitarist using a Stereo Rickenbacker through a 100w with 2, 4 x12's orange rig on my left and a Marshall 100w with 2,  4x12's rig on my right, the ears can suffer. Fortunately for me the band had a decent mixer and I used headphones. 

[treesha]

I like its upbeat mood. Swift. Enjoy the guitars. I am kinda stuck on Addictive Drums myself even with a bunch of free ones and a few that came with Kontakt. So which method did you wind up using, multiple AD2s or one track of combined drums or ? I recently redid a very old song too with the new toys available, I think you did a good job.

[bmarlowe]

Hi Treesha - Thanks for the kind comment. The Addictive Drums 2 thread I referred to  is here:

https://discuss.cakewalk.com/topic/89321-freezing-addictive-drums-sythns/#comments

I started with a question I had about freezing AD2 synths, but it led to a 42 comment thread that was mostly about using multiple synth instances vs. a single synth instance. Since I had already set it up for multiple synth instances (except a single synth for all 3 toms I used), I stayed with that once I figured out my synth freezing problem. On my next project which is also an old TTS-1 song, I am not sure which way I will go.