The Knight

 
 
Here is a new prog-ish tune I did over the holidays. Lots of stacked guitars. I finally caused my DAW to choke with the track counts, but it was fun to do.
 
You can listen here:
 
http://www.soundclick.com/player/single_player.cfm?songid=13019255&q=hi&newref=1

or

https://dancumpian.bandcamp.com/track/the-knight

or

https://soundcloud.com/dcumpian/the-knight
 
Any comments or suggestions are always appreciated!
 
Regards,
Dan
 
 

Thanks Clint! At the point where Sonar started dropping out, I was in the low 90's. I had to do several submix exports before I could do a final mix, lol.
 
Regards,
Dan
 

This is a super nice song! Mix sounded good.

Always look forward to hearing your work Dan, and this is superb. First thing that hit me was that excellent build up at around 1:09, real goosebump moment there. Everything I enjoy trying to do myself is in here, melodic guitar leads, atmospheric synths and a good groove. Great stuff.

kakku
This is a super nice song! Mix sounded good.

Thanks Kakku!
 
Regards,
Dan

jamesg1213
Always look forward to hearing your work Dan, and this is superb. First thing that hit me was that excellent build up at around 1:09, real goosebump moment there. Everything I enjoy trying to do myself is in here, melodic guitar leads, atmospheric synths and a good groove. Great stuff.

Thank you James. I think you and I probably have a lot of the same stuff in our record collections, lol. Appreciate the listen and comments!
 
Regards,
Dan
 

 
 

kakku

dcumpian

clintmartin
I usually have like 10 or 12...Hahaha!

12? That's just the drum tracks alone, lol...
 
Regards,
Dan
 

I usually put only about 6 tracks. I am a bit lazy and fewer tracks means easier mixing, although more tracks might mean a fuller sound.

I use a lot of busses to create submixes.
 
Regards,
Dan
 

 
 

Guitarhacker
Cool stuff..... 90 tracks?  wow...I'm with Clint.... 12 is my average.  I call it a BIG project if I hit 16..... my last song was fairly close to big.... and if I go over 20 tracks.... well for me that's HUGE.  I don't think I've ever gone over 26 and in the final mix probably close to half of them were muted.
 
I could see this song in a movie as the Knight is getting his armor on... preparing for battle... grooming and preparing his horse..... very well done and the music fits the title well.
 
It's evident by listening that you put a lot of effort into this and it's very well done.

Yeah well, it's not as many as you might think. Keep in mind that the drum kit is spread across 8 tracks alone, then the guitars are all double tracked (this accounts for the bulk of the tracks in this song), drones are 4 tracks deep, lead synth is 3 tracks. Percussion and rhythm effects are around 12 tracks. Big drums at the end are another 5 tracks. Vocals are another 4 tracks (center, left, right, delayed), and finally there are at least another 10-15 tracks of instruments that come in and out in various places.
 
I tend to overdo it when I record, then pare things down during mixing. I hate having to go and add something once I start mixing. I'd much rather have the track and not need it.
 
Thanks for the listen and kind words!
 
Regards,
Dan
 
 

gusrogers
I had the same trouble when mixing https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AFQ074k54L8&feature=youtu.be My track count was also around 100 and my pc also hated it, made it a struggle to mix in the end. So new pc is on the horizon. :)

I exported busses that were mixed and ready to go, archiving the tracks as I went. Then I imported the bus mixes and completed the mix with those. I didn't do this with every bus, just the ones I knew were not going to need additional work.
 
Regards,
Dan

Dan,
 
Awesome track, your production skills are outstanding.   The layered guitars sound amazing and that synced tremolo guitar really adds to the introduction build.     I like your overall use of space, dimension and delay.   Are you using Waves SSL on this project?
 
 
Regards

markno999
Dan,
 
Awesome track, your production skills are outstanding.   The layered guitars sound amazing and that synced tremolo guitar really adds to the introduction build.     I like your overall use of space, dimension and delay.   Are you using Waves SSL on this project?
 
 
Regards

Thank you Mark! Yes, Waves SSL all over this track. I generally don't use it on simple tracks like the arps or synth drones, but I use it everywhere else, particularly drums, bass and guitars.
 
Regards,
Dan
 

great tune....love the double leads at 2:40ish...you did well keep everything in focus with the track count. DT tunes our track count can range from 25 on the lowest end to in the 100 range on some of our tunes. For me the tricky part is not how many tracks but what frequencies the instruments abide in...that's where it can be a challenge to ensure everything has some limelight....
 
great tune...lots of interesting things going on and as mentioned great mix.
 
So what are you using for the guitars...very nice tones!

 
 

thepogue
great tune....love the double leads at 2:40ish...you did well keep everything in focus with the track count. DT tunes our track count can range from 25 on the lowest end to in the 100 range on some of our tunes. For me the tricky part is not how many tracks but what frequencies the instruments abide in...that's where it can be a challenge to ensure everything has some limelight....
 
great tune...lots of interesting things going on and as mentioned great mix.
 
So what are you using for the guitars...very nice tones!

Thanks Tom! I've spent the last couple of years really focusing on learning mix technique, and I'm glad it is starting to pay off. I'm much more comfortable mixing now. I used to be terrible at it.
 
The tones for the guitars are mostly from a Digitech GSP1101. Certainly not top of the line, but it has a very good sounding preamp and the built-in amp sims are pretty good. I also used Amplitube and Guitar Rig 5, but all of the guitars go through the Digitech first.
 
Regards,
Dan
 
 

gusrogers
That Digitech unit is highly rated. I'm a big fan of their rack preamps. I had a 2120 from 1998 right up until 2010. Looked at getting the 1101 but settled on the Roland VG99. For me Digitech always gave me that glass breaking yet warm tone that I love for solos.

When I bought it, I was augmenting a Roland GP-16, really ancient. My intention was to use both, but since I've started using the Digitech, the Roland unit hasn't even been powered on, lol.
 
Regards,
Dan

It sounds really good on all levels. You're an inspiration!