Hey Andy,
 
The way the piece grew, amazing. I think you did a really good job at moving this piece along. I don't think what you accomplished is easy, by no means. You managed to introduce this complex texture from the beginning, with a number of parts fulfilling a number of  relatively steady roles in the arrangement. I love how this texture exists for the duration of the piece, but you develop and work with this texture by carefully controlling dynamics, timbre, harmony and some very interesting passages of melodic activity. The contrast between the melodic parts in the brass and flute sounding patches and the other more pitched percussion/plucked parts was also a very nice touch, the way you worked with that throughout the piece really helped it move along. You used automation really well to also build some really nuanced points of tension and release, with the dynamics rising then backing off a bit, then doing the same but over different length of time and with different orchestration. I actually liked how the piece dies out, fading away.
 
It shows that you pushed yourself musically, I'm sure it was rewarding to finish the track. Awesome job.

Amazing Amine... I mean, all the comments above, and yours too, it's just amazing and I am so, well... lost for words right now.
 
Thanks for listening Amine, and your comments.
 
I'm grinning so much now 

beautifully executed. 8 minutes of evolving background music is something I would struggle to put together

Well done - a great mix of synthetic textures constantly morphing across a beautiful sound space - good job!

whack
beautifully executed. 8 minutes of evolving background music is something I would struggle to put together

 
Hi Cian 
 
Thanks for listening dood... I hope you got through it okay...
 

thegaltieribrothers
Well done - a great mix of synthetic textures constantly morphing across a beautiful sound space - good job!

Hiya 
 
Thanks for taking the time to listen to M81 
 
cheers
 
andy

Hi Andy - I enjoyed this.  Clean mix, and especially liked the plucking sequences, nicely panned too.   Interesting approach to the reverb - this cathedral preset, what's its decay time?   It certainly doesn't come across as muddy through reverb, so you have not overdone it.   Also thanks for all the info on how the song was constructed.   So you are basically mixing and mastering all in one session?   I might add a little mastering compression, just to tame a few peaks.

Hi Steve,
 
Thanks for listening to M81, and I'm glad you enjoyed it 
 

ULTRABRA
Interesting approach to the reverb - this cathedral preset, what's its decay time?

Here's a screenshot of my Breverb VST:-
 

 
It's almost an echo, with three second delay. This is as per the preset, I have not done anything at all with the preset except zero the dry mix.
 
What I do then is reduced each send to -4.4dB for any bass instrument (because, as I understand it, reverb on bass can cause this muddiness, but I might be wrong there, so don't quote me LOL), and -2.9 dB on each other part, except for the drums, because I use a send to the reverb from the drum buss itself and that is set to -4.4 dB, and finally, the buss that I use to parallel compress the drums also goes to the reverb buss, but at -7.7dB.
 
I have to say, this is all experimental and based totally on what I think I can hear, rather than solid knowledge and experience. Yes, I have been doing this a long time, but it is only recently that I have seriously get to grips with proper mixing and mastering.
 

ULTRABRA
So you are basically mixing and mastering all in one session?

Of a fashion, I suppose I am. I know you shouldn't master until you are happy with the mix, and that is how I used to work in the past. But I am currently adding basic mastering tools to the master buss straight away, although I may not actually start to tweak any of their settings until much of the composition and mixing is almost complete. Then I spend time sculpting individual EQ's while keeping an eye on SPAN on the master buss, and tweaking the overall EQ and limiter settings on the fly.
 

ULTRABRA
Also thanks for all the info on how the song was constructed.

Ha! Steve! Did you read it all?? Well done if you did LOL... Took me hours that did haha 
 
Thanks again for listening and reading 
 
cheers
 
andy

I think this is the best thing I've heard from you.
 
I picture James Bond (Daniel Craig) driving up the M1. Thinking deep spy thoughts.  In this Aston Martin:

 
Definitely not Johnny English.
 
The most interesting thing in the mix was the kick drum, which I thought stood out really well. Or is it a bass? Maybe you should provide a few details?  :)
 
cheers. really nice work!
-Tom
 
 

emeraldsoul
I think this is the best thing I've heard from you.
 

Blimey! Tom, thanks a lot for that... I've got another one of those stupid grins on again. It does appear that I have sort of excelled myself with M81, given the comments above.
 

emeraldsoul
Maybe you should provide a few details?

Haha... You'll have to sift through that seven page dossier I wrote... It's up there somewhere 
 
Thanks again for listening Tom, and you comments 
 
cheers
 
andy

I briefly glanced at that post, and thought it's better to save that for my vacation.