People Who Look Like Other People/Whatever Happened To The Citizens Of My Abandoned Evony City? – 280811

Sponsored by the letters B and C.

Whatever you do, don’t panic!!!

Having converted all the album track wavs to MP3 over the last few days, and having spent a little time “living” with the MP3s, I encountered two major problems.

Where PEOPLE… was concerned, I could hear unintended and unwanted distortion on one of the guitar parts, which was particularly noticeable since that part was solo-ed in the fadeout. I checked the master wav and everything sounded fine, so I reckoned that the problem had emerged as part of the MP3 conversion process. I’d converted all the files at 192, so I thought that converting to a higher bitrate might solve the problem. I ended up converting all the tracks at 256 in AA3 and I thought that had solved the problem with PEOPLE…, but on further scrutiny, the problem was still there.

I thought then that maybe there was a problem with the master and that I might have to remix/remaster the track.  But there was no problem apparent in the CE5 project, so there was really nothing I could do to fix the problem at the mixing/mastering stage. I then thought that converting to MP3 at 320 might solve the problem. If not, I’d either have to live with the distortion and pretend that it was intentional and desirable, or else drop the track altogether (when you hear the track, I think you’ll realise why I’d really not want to drop the track…). Thankfully, conversion at 320 worked a treat, so then I had to convert all the tracks at the same bitrate. Handier than remixing/remastering fer sho’…

Meanwhile, the problem with …EVONY was distortion on the Ebow-ed guitar parts. The distortion was apparent on the master wav (hadn’t noticed at the time of mastering), but it wasn’t to be found on the premaster wav. So I decided to use the premaster on the album – track sounds a lot sweeter now.

So now you see the advantages of having one’s own studio set-up and of not creating a physical product. If I’d noticed the distortion issues after having sent a disc off to be manufactured, it would’ve been too late to fix ‘em. Or too expensive.

That’s it now. I’m not going to listen to the damn tracks anymore!

Regards,

 

djp

“In Heaven For A Conference” – 040811

Sponsored by the letter O.

Got an unexpected “window” this afternoon and had a go at remixing/remastering …HEAVEN in CE5, Cubase VST/24 and AA3.

I had to radically rethink my approach to the mix and as a result, the emphasis between the various instruments has changed quite significantly. But it’s most satisfactory now compared to previous versions of the track.

Ripped a complete new version of the album onto CD-R and went for a spin up the M7 in the Prius with the (surprisingly good) hi-fi up full blast. I think the essence of a good mix, IMO, is that nothing inappropriate catches your ear, and I think I can safely say that at this stage, I have ironed-out all the audio kinks out of the album.

That being the case, I think I can now sign-off on the album and concentrate on doing a spot of artwork. And about time too…;-).

Regards,

djp

“In Heaven For A Conference” – 240711

Sponsored by the letters D and E.

Did several remix/remasters of …HEAVEN in CE5, Cubase VST/24 and AA3.

After a number of attempts, I realised that the problem with the guitar parts wasn’t with the parts themselves, but with the pre-fader delay. Dropped that down a few notches. This seems to have solved the problem, but I’ll let things lie for a day or two before signing off on the album.

Regards,

djp

“In Heaven For A Conference”/”Vichy Circles” – 220711

Sponsored by the letters B and C.

Remixed/remastered both tracks in CE5, Cubase VST/24 and AA3.

VICHY… has been re-edited to lop some of the beats off the start (I was becoming conscious that a lot of the tracks on the album start with beats, so I decided to vary things a little) and I tidied up the last Rickenbacker 360 part which allows me to have a more “natural” fadeout .

Dropped the guitar part in …HEAVEN just a tad.

Now I need to do up yet another version of the tracklisting for evaluation purposes. Who’d be me, eh…?;-).

Regards,

djp

“No Position To Argue”/”A Truth You Can Happily Accept” – 210711

Sponsored by no letter at all.

Remixed/remastered both tracks in CE5, Cubase VST/24 and AA3.

…ARGUE should’ve been easier to remix than it turned out to be. After all, I was just replacing the bass parts, the rest of the mix was fine. Turned out that it took me most of the morning to get the bass to “sit” properly, EQ-wise, in the mix. Think it’s OK now – not too bassy, not too trebly, not too loud.

With …TRUTH, I’d realised that the “kick” element of  the beat parts was too gimmicky and prominent, so I adjusted the “voice” in MIDI and it sounds much better now. Took the opportunity to tweak the mix a bit, and I think the track is improved overall.

Having lived with the original mixes for a while and having made the adjustments which appeared to me to be necessary, I think I’m now in a position to do up a new version of the album with the revised mixes and listen to it for a bit. At this stage, any problems that might still be there will probably be down to me being a crap musician, and I can either live with the “problems” (on the basis that I’m being hypercritical and no-one else will notice the issues) or I’ll just drop the relevant track altogether and move on.

Cruel world, innit…?;-)

Regards,

djp

“People Who Look Like Other People”/”King Fidget” – 200711

Sponsored by the letter R.

Remixed/remastered both tracks in CE5, Cubase VST/24 and AA3.

Did two mixes of …FIDGET – an “album” mix” and a “single” mix. Did I say already that I’m going to release …FIDGET on an EP? Couple of weeks and we’ll see whether I’m lying or not…;-).

More work tomorrow.

Regards,

djp

“Vichy Circles”/Potential tracklisting/”In Heaven For A Conference” – 110711

Sponsored by the letter P.

On reflection, I’d faded out VICHY…too early, so I remastered the track in AA3 and lengthened the fadeout a bit. Sounds grand now.

All the tracks being in place, I decided I’d put together a test CD-R using Audio Cleaning Lab so that I can review the album as a whole on my car stereo. And this is the current tracklisting:-

1. King Fidget
2. The Tree Of Idleness
3. Flood Plain
4. People Who Look Like Other People
5. Hosanna In The Hiace
6. Vichy Circles
7. Private Sector Weather Forecast Service
8. Fly Me To Hecuba
9. A Truth You Can Happily Accept
10. The Cop Car Hand Hell Wheel Turn
11. In Heaven For A Conference
12. No Position To Argue
13. Perp Walk
14. Future Plans For Yesterday
15. Whatever Happened To The Citizens Of My Abandoned City?

Total running time comes to 52 and-a-half minutes, which compared to that of HAPPY DAYS IN THE GULAG (a tad over 74 mins) is like a gentle stroll through the park.

The idea is to group tracks together in “threes” and have a bass-driven track followed by a synth-driven track follwed by an ambient track. It doesn’t work all the way through the tracklisting, but I took it as far as I could.

Re. …HEAVEN, I’m going for the Ice Hall version rather than the Tabular version. I know a lot of people preferred the latter over the former, but it strikes me, on mature reflection, to be rather too “tinkly” and that ultimately it might irritate the casual listener. I had thought of combining the two versions, but not with any great enthusiasm, so I never got around to it. I’ll put out the Tabular version on an EP at some stage.

My initial reaction is that the tracks sound great over the car stereo. I already know they sound fine over the monitors and headphones, so I think the mixes will work alright.

I’m going to listen to the tracklisting for a while and see if I can live with it. At this stage, there are no cross-fades between the tracks, just the standard 2-second break. Cross-fading causes problems when you try to stream tracks off the internet, so since the album is going to exist in virtual form rather than physical, I may just forget about cross-fading. Saves a load of time for me, I should say…;-).

OK, things are going to be quiet around here for a while. When I have something to report, I’ll be in touch…

Regards,

djp

 

“Whatever Happened To The Citizens Of My Abandoned Evony City?”/”Vichy Circles” – 080711

Sponsored by the letters F, H, I and J.

Spent yesterday evening remixing and mastering …EVONY in CE5, Cubase VST/24 and AA3. For a track that isn’t hugely complicated, the mixing took me an age – sorting out the various competing EQs was a bit of a challenge, but I got there eventually.  An improvement on the previous mix. One valuable lesson I learnt (accidentally) while mixing was that a lot of the pops I hear in tracks on playback are caused by the Phonic Firefly. If I don’t route my audio via it, but via my PC’s default soundcard, the pops go away. Don’t know why, but it’s one to remember for the future…

Spent this morning remixing and mastering VICHY… I still haven’t fully removed the bass rumble at the start of the track, but it’s sounds fine over earphones, so I’m not too worried (when you hear how badly a lot of modern music is mastered, VICHY…sounds perfectly fine to me). The remix is significantly different from (and better than…) the original mix. Another lesson I learnt during part of this process was that there are limits to the compressor/limiter I use in Cubase VST/24. It adds a certain strange audio effect to bass parts (something I’d noticed before, but which I thought was caused by unsympathetic MP3 encoding). At a loss for something to use as an alternative, I experimented with the processing presets included in AA3 and found a nice multi-band compressor which I will use in future (it’s not as if I actually know what I’m dong when I’m mastering, but this compressor sounds “nice” to me, so…).

Right – that’s it. I ‘m going to spend a bit of time putting together the album running order. I have a fairly clear idea of what I want to do, but I need to hear the finished tracks to be absolutely sure.

Nearly there now…

Regards,

djp

Future Plans For Yesterday – 140611

Sponsored by the letter A.

Mixed and mastered the track in CE5, Cubase VST/24 and AA3.

Took me rather a long time to do this, as apart from one or two unavoidable interruptions, I decided to do a “spot” of re-editing of the track, which ended up being “a lot” of editing. Ended up with a bizarre mix which sounds like Jean-Michel Jarre in a dub stylee. Experimented a lot with effects automation and even got to use a ring modulator plugin for (I think) the very first time. Interesting results!

So, this, effectively was the last day or mixing and mastering. I have a potential tracklisting in my mind, but I won’t announce it until I am absolutely sure that I’m happy with the final tracks. I also want to take a bit of a break before going down that road, so I will not listen to any of the masters until the start of July, just to clear my head. Instead, I will concentrate on doing a bit of design/artwork.

You might think that I’d go and have a quiet celebratory pint tonight to mark the effective completion of the album. Unfortunately, tomorrow is a work day, and there are a tough few days ahead of me au bureau, so I’ll need to keep my head clear…

…for now…;-).

Regards (and thanks for sticking with me so far…),

djp

Flood Plain – 130611

Sponsored by no letter at all.

Mixed/mastered the track successfully in CE5, Cubase VST/24 and AA3. Had to use the old “generic mud removal” preset in AA3 to sort out some popping, but otherwise everything went smoothly. Three stereo tracks to mix together shouldn’t take too long should it…?

Tomorrow is hopefully the last day of mixing/mastering for the album (barring any last minute panic that might arise as I review the “finished” masters – it almost invariably happens…), so my plan for tomorrow is Future Plans For Yesterday.

Wish me luck, eh…?;-)

Regards,

djp