Yellow Candy

Well, I'll tell you, that is interesting.  It's a bit long for an old guy to hold concentration.  LOL!  The first half is interesting and very cool.  I think you could cut some stuff out here and there where it is really repetitive.  Now, that is just for listening purposes sitting here.  If I danced and was on a dance floor, I'd say it's not too long.  Who am I lkidding, I'd last a second or two after ther 1st half.  THE SECOND HALF came alive with the vocal.  Does yellow candy have anything to do with the avatar for that song?  :-)   In the second half "IMHO"  I would find one of the monster guitar players up here and do some psychadelic, airy leads in the background, just to break it up.  Of course, I could be injecting personal preference into a genre I'm not so much familiar with.   EVERYTHING HAVING BEEN SAID,  I liked this enough to listen to the whole thing.  The mix seemed awesome and you have a lot of nice thingys in there. 

Hey Warren and Lynn, well everything you said Warren in particular the comments about length my ex housemate who gave me the backing tracks for the song basicly said the same thng.  I suppose I didn't know where to cut the track.  And it's dance, so if you are on some party enhancers 7 minutes doesn't feel that long.

Also I was originally going to put a lead guitar on this but I just couldn't think of anything to play, hence the synth sounds very guitar like and I could see myself playing an 80's keytar (you know the synth that you could play standing up and played like a guitar).

As for the subject matter, all I will say Warren woman these day's and I may be generalizing but western woman sometimes are so masculine, you long for that gentleness of femanity.  On saying that, I always put a cavet in my song, so as in the previous song: Space Monkey, I am advocating war but at the end I basicly put the pig noises in to say well may be not.  On this track, I play the dumb up themselves proffesor going on about racsist mysigonist clap trap, so I am taken the piss.  I am always taking the piss, something most people have not gotton about me.  I am always paying myself out, you can't pay the world, or people or customs out, or be slighty naughty if you don't take the piss out of yourself first.  We all have fetishes and mine is the subject matter of this song.  There you go Warren I said it but did I LoL.

Finally Lynn I listen to a lot of stuff, for me though I could write in any genre because if I am in the right frame of mind, I switch off and become a satellite, it helps to be creative and to have many years of different listening experience, I was listening to Without You, Nilsson, Electric 6, GayBar and Sneaky Sound System, Oz dance band last night.

At the moment, I am racing the clock and trying to write a three movment Concerto for a 50,000 dollar competition, going here in oz.  It has to be finished in 2 weeks.

It starts out normal (proper classical), I am using Notion 3 my orchestral instrument but in the middle of the first movment I add a 303, sea sounds, backwards seagulls and a electric guitar.  This leads into the 2nd movement which is basicly the seasounds and gulls with added whale sounds and wind.  It all goes through delays and pitch shifters, then this builds into the third movement which will be proper classical again but with a twist.  I haven't wrote the third movement but i can see it in my head, it's like Echoes (Pink Floyd) when you feel the submarine after the wind and seagull section.  You see it's all about nicking ideas and hopefully disguising them so people don't know you have nicked them, Lol.

Thanks for listening guys and comments, maybe I will really shock and put up my gentle acoustic number next, if I could only get the mix right.

Peace Ben

drumstixkev


Hey Ben
Not my norm listen but I did enjoy it.  If I had to nit it would be on the length of this piece.  The mix is really clean full sounding on my end.  Ben, if you don't mind me asking during your speaking intro what is your vocal chain and the verb/delays used. THANKS!


Kev

Hey Kev, well the "Can't Stop My Mind" has a vocoder on it (I unfortunatly don't have this particular effect anymore it was part of my Creamware effects bundle).  The main reverb is Perfect Space with a Short Thick Plate, I've also EQ'd the verb, using the low and hi pass filter.
 
Then I seem to have got the un-vocoded "Can't Stop My Mind" and fed it into two buss's paned the buss sends hard left and right, then I've used GR4's Tape Delay and fed them both into Project 5's Spectral Transformers Voc transposer one pitched up and one pitched down on those buss's, of course I've tuned them too.  What I've also done is made the low pitch delay a little louder, so you get this feeling of the whole delay moving right to left.
 
Also I've fidled with the other settings on the Tape Delay, I've added a bit of warble and even used the shelving filters on the Tape Delay.  Thats the best I can do Kev, for me I don't ever really have an idea, I can hear what I wan't in my head but then it's like sculpting.  On the original of this I used a Creamware effect called Single Side Band Delay, it was a pitch shifting delay and I was trying to emulate that.  Funny thing is GR4 does have one of these delays, it's actually what you would call a granular delay.  I hope thay helps.
 
I hope you are talking about that, if you are talking about the silly voice part I've put that through an early reflector, set on tile.  Note it's just the refelections not a full verb.
 
Peace Ben

Hey Kev, I am ashamed to say this and it was done over 5 years ago but it was a $150 Audio Technica mic into a 90, now 50 dollar behringer tube preamp. 

It goes a long way to prove the old adage if your a great singer (sorry I'm not, I just understand technique) then almost any old mic will do, it also goes along way to prove my point about consumer electronics have reached a point where 7000 dollar microphones are a little silly if you have a clue.  I will also say I didn't use a pop shield, I tend not to like pop shields.

Sorry for the ego, I know ego is not liked around these parts, lol.

Peace Ben

Not really my thing, but I found it uniquely quirky and I did enjoy it.. Pretty cool with all of that bottom going and those other synths. Kind of a B52s vibe to me.

Reminded me of Dr. Who.

I liked it. A bit long, but this kind of music usually is.

Couldn't understand a word you said in it, but I'm getting old and my hearing is going. Especially with the type of noise the synth's are putting out in this.

As for mix and mastering, it sounded great to me, didn't hear anything I would change in that regard.

Bub.

Since this is close to the trance stuff I like I can say that the length is not an issue.  To make it usable with a DJ though, you'll want to have more of a lead in with just the rhythm elements (gives a place to start it and match the beat).  The silly voice works (a bit Thomas Dolby-ish actually).  The vocoder - especially the first usage - has something that I find disturbing (and not in a good way).  I'm not sure exactly what, but I'd try a couple more shots at that part.  It's almost as if something about it is offbeat... again, not sure exactly.

As for the rest of the song, I love the transition area and would actually extend it slightly with more of the first stabs, then the turnaround and into the next section.  Personally, I would pull the whole thing (or, at least, the second part) closer to 130bpm and add some sparkly reverse high-hat to the second section.

Overall, I like it quite a bit!

I liked it.  It's probably the right length for dancing in a club.  It's also a tough balancing act to keep the rhythm and repetition going for the dance crowd and still keep things interesting.  I think you pulled it off.  

Not the kind of thing I would normally listen to... but I do appreciate the amount of effort that must have gone into the production... I also acknowledge that there is probably a huge market for this genre... well done Ben...

Love the vibe and the tone, but I'm with Warren, it's hard to stay with it.  It would make a great video track, the sound is cool.

Daryl

Not my cuppa char Ben, but this is as good as anything I've heard in the genre, nice work.

Hey Shawn and James, thanks for listening and the nice positive comments.

Peace Ben

Thanks Warren, yea in a club with some Candy dancing all around!!!

Peace Ben

You shouldn't encouarge me Philip, LoL.  You know what the orignal that was done in 2007 (this is a new mix and master) actually did have more echoes on the vocal.

Thanks Philip, Peace Ben