Night Drive -- first final mix and questions

Hi:

I promise this will be the last post in here for awhile. I have finished the first final mix of "Night Drive" (formerly called The Number 11), and have a few questions. Link is Steve Mueske - ReverbNation

The song is fifth in the player.

1.) How is the mix?

2.) Is the song good enough to include with the others on my album?

I like this piece a lot but I have a few concerns. First, it's really short -- 2:30 on the dot; second, the instrumentation is very simple; and third, it's got a different feel than a lot of my other pieces. I'm not terribly concerned about the last thing because the mastering engineer is very good at making the songs play well with each other.

Please give me your honest feelings on this. I'm sitting on the fence with this one. The song I originally planned to be the 13th song on the disc I've given up hope on -- it needs more time. If this isn't right for the album I'd like to know. Twelve songs would be enough for a full-release and I don't want to include something just because I can. I've worked pretty hard on it and gotten it as good as I can get it, but sometimes, as we all know, that isn't enough.

is the sixth song in the player ...

It can be good enough to be in your album,

The synth sound of the initial motif is very common, if you use some more advanced sound can enhance the whole thing. There are a few other "common" sounds, try to use change the generators or better presets, other VSTs.

The harmony of the background in the beginning is very good but the kinda whistle sounds is too far, you can repeat that doubling the notes with other sound.

The beat is ok, ....

more sounds like the high-overtones-whistle at 1:36, something that sounds more professional, maybe try different stuff, new things you haven't used before.

Daniel:

Thanks for listening. I've tried a billion different things for that first arp sound. Nothing seemed to work right. Then I asked myself, what do you really want to hear there? I wanted a saw. Just a simple saw sound. So I created a patch using three oscillators, each of them with a saw, and detuned slightly. I don't think I'll get a different sound in there that'll work. Maybe we'll agree to disagree but you use that word "common" a lot -- to me, I'm starting to think you mean "recognizable" (when common often means ordinary). I construct every patch by hand and I do work very hard at creating sounds. Just wanted to put that out there. It's not like I'm using freeware and selecting a patch and saying "wtf, this is good enough."

I do, however, thank you for your time and honesty. Good to see you around here again.

Well with common I mean ... when you add a new generator like "Wasp" or "Simsynth" .... what are the sounds they produce without editing the knobs ? ... well something very easy ...

Perhaps some triangle wave ^ like a synth-clarinet with some delay ? .... take a break and try again ... :thumbsup:

But my point is, it's not. I don't use FL Studio and I never use patches without editing them to death. You can say what you want to say but it certainly doesn't sound like taking the easy route and using whatever patch from the first vst synth I load in the host. There's no way in hell I'm using a triangle wave that sounds like a synth clarinet. Look, you may not like something. That's fine. But to even think that I'm being lazy and just taking whatever a synth gives me is not right. I hope I don't sound like a prick, but I do want to challenge your assertion (because you say it a lot, as does Jose) -- that sounds "common" as if somewhere there is a group of people all using the same sound. It's a recognizable sound because a saw waveform sounds distinctly different than, say, a sine or triangle wave. As I said, I built the sound up using three oscillators using a saw wav (what some would call a super saw) and detuning each of them slightly. Anyway, I'm done challenging. I just get riled up sometimes. It's weird, I don't care if someone doesn't like a song -- but if they challenge the time I've invested in designing sounds, then it bothers me. It's my issue. I own it. But I still feel it is important to correct misconceptions. If someone thinks I'm taking shortcuts, that bothers me. I care deeply about sound. At the same time, I wouldn't really care if the sound I'm using sounds like something already used. Sounds are just tools -- like colors. No one says "Geez, I've seen red before". It's the whole thing, the whole package, the sound as an image -- that's what matters to me.

I know you don't use FL, but that was to show you what I mean with common, ...

You can do 2 things, ...

- keep searching for the right sound you want ... or

- explorer your past projects to se what can be useful and repeat that sound/VST preset whatever ..

sometimes I do re-use things because I can't find something new that satisfy me and I end using something "known" .... known but good. ....could work...

"Night Drive" was mastered this week. As promised, it is now posted on Reverb Nation and is available as a free download for two weeks. Also, all 13 songs from the forthcoming album have been uploaded in the highest MP3 resolution available.

Steve Mueske - ReverbNation