Helpful ReplyThe Sound and the fury

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SquareSpiral
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2015/11/17 16:46:31 (permalink)

The Sound and the fury

Hi guys Rich Thomsen and I have been at it again crossing our Sonars over the inter-web thingy and finally pushed out this new track the other day - Would love for you all to take a listen.
 
https://soundcloud.com/richthomsen/the-sound-and-the-fury-draft
 
Cheers!!
 
Chris - SquareSpiral
post edited by SquareSpiral - 2015/11/17 20:29:32

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Mesh
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Re: Sound and the fury 2015/11/17 18:52:20 (permalink) ☄ Helpfulby SquareSpiral 2015/11/21 20:21:22
I really liked this track Chris and the mix/performance/production is very good. If I had to critique anything (and this is just personal taste), would be to add a little verb on the verse parts of the song.....(in the first verse it seemed a little dry, but that might very well be what you're after).
 
 
I like how it builds up nicely.....well done mate!!  

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Jesse Screed
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Re: Sound and the fury 2015/11/17 19:38:39 (permalink)
Hello Sir,
 
I must tell you that there are several things that stand out to me.
 
The first is the different textures that are present in this piece.  The changes @ :30, 1:03, 1:33, 2:02, 2:31, and at 3:00.  There was some thought put into this, and the palette is wide. 
 
The opening bass sound is very interesting. Some of the other sounds starting at 1:30 are almost industrial sounding, like valves on some great hydraulic machine opening and closing. I think the song really kicks in at 2:00.  I really want to start dancing .
 
What do you mean by “You are the light?”
 
The backing  male choir ahhs  are well mixed. Did you use a synth for that, or record them yourself, or am I hearing things?
 
What do you mean by “shaking the flowers”?.
 
On my headphones the sonic quality is very good.  I can’t hear any real issues.
 
If I were the producer I would suggest turning up the vocals, both the lead and the backing. I wouldn’t turn it up a whole bunch, but I just think that there is a tendency to fear exposing our voices, and there is nothing about the vocals that shouldn’t  be exposed a little bit more.
 
Thank you for your contribution.  You have helped me think a bit more about the textures and the dynamics of the pieces I work on.
 
Jesse
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SquareSpiral
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Re: Sound and the fury 2015/11/17 20:18:04 (permalink)
Thanks guys for taking the time to listen and comment - glad you enjoyed the track!
 
To answer some of your questions Jesse:
 
I am the producer on this not the singer / lyricist so cannot comment on the specifics of the words - maybe I can get Rich to drop by and explain himself.
 
This song was stuck on my backburner for a few months as I had created the track for the first chorus but couldn't find a way to treat the rest of the song. One session I pulled it up and just had a flash of inspiration and it fell into place. I decided to create a few change of gears through the song to keep it interesting and this was easy to do as it runs at 135bpm (from memory) but works on the half beat for the slower sections.
 
The male backing vox is a triple track of a single note line spread L C R across the speakers. I then used Melodyne to create a harmony part of each voice around a 3rd up and this is panned to match but kept just lower than the 'real' vocal. I added plenty of compression, a little reverb and also a little 'doubler' effect from the Cakewalk VX64 to get them really smooth and full sounding.
 
Thanks again for listening
 
Chris - SquareSpiral

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dcumpian
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Re: Sound and the fury 2015/11/18 08:54:06 (permalink) ☄ Helpfulby SquareSpiral 2015/11/21 20:21:41
Very pro sounding mix! Very cool song and the variety of textures during the track really do keep your interest. Great job!
 
I think this mix is done, honestly. I wouldn't change a thing.
 
Regards,
Dan

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Re: Sound and the fury 2015/11/18 14:33:05 (permalink)
This sounds very well done. I can't say I like it but it is very well done.

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Re: Sound and the fury 2015/11/19 15:07:38 (permalink) ☄ Helpfulby SquareSpiral 2015/11/21 20:19:37
Nice build-ups, good mixed. I liked the song effects, dont think it need more verb. Well done!

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emeraldsoul
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Re: Sound and the fury 2015/11/19 21:32:38 (permalink)
Cirque du Soliel meets the early 80's meets . . . I dunno, maybe Lamb Lies Down? Pretty cool this.
 
I'd bring the snare up a tad once it gets in there.
 
cheers,
-Tom
 
 
 
 

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SquareSpiral
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Re: Sound and the fury 2015/11/21 20:08:43 (permalink)
Thanks again guys for taking a listen - Some encouraging and unusual (Cirque du Soliel meets the early 80's meets . . . I dunno, maybe Lamb Lies Down?) comments here.
 
It's a little but of an odd song I would agree. Pretty happy with the mix, with maybe a few pushes on the lead vocal here and there where it gets swamped. Good to hear that it is translating well to others systems.
 
Cheers!
 
Chris - SquareSpiral
post edited by SquareSpiral - 2015/11/21 20:32:01

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jamesg1213
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Re: Sound and the fury 2015/11/22 09:04:54 (permalink)
This sounds excellent through headphones, very crisp, clear and with plenty of low end. Top notch mix I reckon. Cool song too, I'm not even going to attempt to compare it to anything else, has a sound of it's own. Vocals are particularly well performed and mixed, very good indeed.

 
Jyemz
 
 
 



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richthomsen
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Re: Sound and the fury 2016/01/06 22:33:18 (permalink) ☄ Helpfulby SquareSpiral 2016/01/21 17:21:18
Hey Jesse,
I'm late to the party but will give you the lyrical play-by-play since you had a few questions:
 
Excessively styled, her photos flood the page
Thousands of likes to prove she's real
Breaking the silence, she asks whats on your mind
Feeding distraction with her words
It's a young lady doing her thing on twitter/instagram, maybe she's a celebrity, maybe not.
She's posting her photos and trying to ask her 'fans' mindless questions to get them to look at her pictures.
 
The sound, and the fury, Can You Feel It
Get down, and don't worry, Can You Feel It (Yeah Yeahahah)
The sound, and the fury, Can You Feel It
Get down, and don't worry, Can You Feel It  (Yeah Yeahahah)
This is a play on Shakespeare's Macbeth:
"Life's but a walking shadow, a poor player
That struts and frets his hour upon the stage
And then is heard no more: it is a tale
Told by an idiot, full of sound and fury,
Signifying nothing."

She tries to make a lot of noise for attention, it's not really genuine... does it matter?
 
Suddenly wild, her smile fills up the screen
Posing for patrons of her face
Shaking her flowers, she's asking you for more
Fueling your fires with her gaze
Based on the number of young women doing it, there must be a huge audience of people who love looking at these peoples' selfies.  The shaking her flowers reference is about doing whatever she can to get your attention.
 
Chasing lights, you find the dark
Chasing lights, you find the dark
There's no light inside the darkness baby
Chasing lights you are the dark
The daily selfie crowd are trying to shine a light on themselves but the way they are filling the void will leave them sad.
 
It's no Shakespeare, but I had fun just trying to do something with the 'Sound and the Fury' concept.
With all that out of my system, I've got to set up some pictures for my next blog/post
;)
 
Thanks for listening and giving Chris your feedback!
Rich
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