TUNA! LIVES FOREVER

[nowaysj]

Again, I agree. I already hear the back peddling! The ground work for the excuse, as to why he can't turn in a track.

[Aufnahmewindwuschel]

i dunno man i can understand the fear of getting negative feedback but than again all his knowledge counterparts any doubt in bad music

[SunkLo]

Nah it's not about fear of negative feedback. The times I've gotten close to submitting, I usually just end up adding a bunch of shit on last minute and then everything's a mess.

There was honestly a while where I contemplated making basic edm as a deliberate exercise to make super simple music. Maybe I'll start an alias called DJ Beatport Surfa or something.

[nowaysj]

Or you could just finish that song.

[SunkLo]

Oh yeah naturally, DJ Beatport Surfa would come after that.

[SunkLo]

The problem I always have is exactly like the experience of climbing up a tree when you're super baked. It's easy to keep climbing higher but hard as fuck to climb back down. That's why I tend to rarely repeat sections, I just keep progressing to something new. It's way easier to keep going up instead of trying to turn around.

I'm gonna record some more guitar to fill in some holes and then do up a rough arrangement. The benefit of submitting will be that all the problems will immediately become super obvious.

Then I can smack them with my fixin hammer.

Double post. Call the cops, I don't give a fuck.

[nowaysj]

Exactly. I feel you on so many levels. I'm getting to the point where I think I should be writing the song first. Like set up my entire arrangement. AND then fill in the music/sounds. Like then the music is in service to the movement of the song. Rather than the song moving to the music. The song is more important.

Like in last weeks track, in my sig, that fucker is changing constantly. Like some sections are like 2 bars long. The defualt uzer up there said he has trouble coming up with like unpredictable variations and what not. I used to write all the music, do all the sound design, create all my layers. Get a 16 or 32 bar nugget, and then just get totally fucking stuck, like what am I supposed to do with this? NOW I'm creating empty spaces, and then writing music and sound design INTO those spaces. Does that make sense?

It is totally revolutionary for me. Like a major change, from years and years of just whacking up loops. But it makes a lot of sense to me. Nature abhors a vacuum and so does my sequencer. You create that vacuum, and music comes flying in to fill it, and it is in service of the movement of the song. Like it is designed to get from A to B. It's point is to have this rhythmic characteristic, this sonic characteristic, this tonal characteristic, and it needs to get to this point, like a known point. Like I know what I'm supposed to be doing, what I am aiming for. And also, if I miss the mark, it is much easier to see/feel/hear that.

I don't know man, don't know if I'm articulating, but it is making so so much sense to me.

[SunkLo]

I get what you're saying about the loop-itis. I find it's better to write the whole song on one instrument and then add a whole layer on top of that and so on. Instead of trying to stitch together a bunch of loop sandwiches. The fracture lines don't usually line up right. Dealing with that right now.

What do you mean by the vaccuum thing? Just having the play written before you cast the roles?

[nowaysj]

Perhaps. Like having spaces in the arrangement. Like empty spaces. Maybe a bar or two. Or more. And keeping those spaces open knowing that I'll write into them.

[SunkLo]

128kbps Soundcloud? Really?
Should I do the transcoding myself or let them do it?

There go my crispy snares... Good thing I didn't already put Decimort on my hats

[nowaysj]

Upload a 24 bit wave.

And yeah. Take your track out of the crystal palace, and get it into the real world, with real world play back...

Not gonna lie, I mix for laptop speakers

[SunkLo]

Fuck it, I already ran it through Reaper for mastering and rendering to 320 mp3, didn't save the project file. Can't be assed to rebounce from Ableton and remaster in Reaper again just for it to still sound weaksauce.


Soundcloud

Mmm delicious tuna

Didn't even really mix it heh. Lowcut a few things, tiny bit of EQ on guitar and keys, Glue on the master. It could probably sound better but it's nice working with conventional instruments with predefined ranges. Motherfuckers stay in their lane instead of trying to eat bandwidth. (Apart from a section where guitar and keys are playing almost the exact same thing) Might give it the full treatment and push it past the prototype stage but you know how greasy that last 17% is.

[nowaysj]

HOLY SHIT

SUNK SUBMITTED A TRACK

[SunkLo]

Less first time anal compilation gifs, more


Your daughter's doesn't count, although it's good to know her musical compass is pointing North.


Felt weird typing those two sentences in the same post...

[nowaysj]

I say you gotta wait. But here is a sneak preview (I've got to listen a few times before I share my worthless feedback)

Bud knows my wife is my bellwether. She was singing your progression after listening to it once.

Am listening on headphones, sounds better on headphones. Space makes more sense, which is the curse of headphones

Wish I heard more of those horns.

I hear no cymbals.

This song has got to break (I just copy and paste this crit every week on everyone's songs, I'm a breaker [of hearts ]).

I've got issues with the drums. I was referring to the mix space earlier. The drums are really weird though, in the space. Personally I'd like to hear the drums pushed back, and that deep reverb space moved closer up front. Kind of a depth compression. Take the drums back, back wall moved forward.

Main guitar line needs to break, or alter, or if it is going to be so persistent, drop it down in prominence.
The mix though, is clear. Snare is like a knife hand strike to the nose, like not so much punch, but SNAP! Very clear and precise.

But the song has got to break man. We need some sections. I know you're not making pop, but pop will teach you thing or two about magic. You were talking about too much progression etc. but I at the end of the line, I keep hearing it, like I've already started to move into a new chord or something, and then we start back at the beginning of the loop. I think the line itself is asking to be broken and to progress.

I like all the guitar work.

I am betting that you are monitoring (oh wait, that is a hh, thought it was a really thin snare playing the hh line) in a VERY BRIGHT environment.

What did you use for acoustic bass?

Okay, the track is unfolding for me. Hearing some of that early brass, nice, would like to hear more.

====

Lemme actually listen to this thing some more, and give you some better feedbacks.

You gotta talk to Mks though, bro. He is a CS dude like you, plays the rhodes. Think you guys should team up.

Overall sounds good, man. Got a good groove, clear mix.

Absent gifs, I'm really glad you submitted this week. I really hope you'll stick around for next week.

[SunkLo]

Yeah a lot of that is spot on and due to time constraints. There was originally going to be trumpet melody and more horns in general but it's a ton of of work programming realistic horns.

Drums are boring as fuck because they're basically the exact same the whole time. Usually I'd be trying to build up and tear down more but I was occupied by harmony. That's a perfect descriptor of that snare. Nothing fancy, just a snare with a nice body and then a higher tuned pingy snare with moderate attack and decay envelope just to add in the chop. Hats are actually foley samples. Beads on a drum head I think, repitched and enveloped. That probably accounts for the lack of high end you're hearing? The shakers got their attacks rounded out a bit too so they're not that bright. My Sennheisers are what I usually use actually and they're fairly dark. Audio Technicas are a lot brighter but I usually just use them as a reference. No cymbals because laziness. Same for reverb. Drums are completely dry. Like I said, I didn't really mix it at all.

Guitar parts are definitely repetitive. That was one part not wanting to keep recording new guitar because I have to unplug my keyboard to use the long USB cable to reach my guitar rack, and one part trying to maintain cohesion between disparate sections. In the same way you were talking about keeping a root drone playing while writing, I'll use a riff from the previous section. Ideally I'd then go swap out the guitar riff for something similar but different.

I feel you on the breaks thing. A lot of my shit ends up being a giant obelisk of progression. No time to relax and dwell on the present, must press onward! Probably comes from a fear of having too little energy going on. Especially when you're making instrumental music, it's tricky to have a verse section that doesn't feel like a boring placeholder or karaoke backing track. Usually I do try to strip back sections and then build them up but then track ends up being 11 minutes long.

Acoustic bass was a kontakt instrument. Away from the desktop ATM, forget the name. Pear bass or something?

Glad the lady digs it. You know what they say, bitches love Dorian chromatic sixths.

[nowaysj]

Let the other TUNA!ers have at you.

[nowaysj]

May be a good chance I'm tripping, but I think I've only seen Sunk's and Bud's tracks so far? People talking big talk got 8 tracks? Where dey at? Very good chance I missed em?

Putting this here for safe keeping.

Soundcloud

[Aufnahmewindwuschel]

sunklo entered the basement

hm no jizzman and defaultzr entered too
you might need to go back a page or two

will try to give feedback later our dog was sick and we dunno what happens atm but if not i give some over the week

[Jizz]

Ye i put in three tracks on the previous page bruh