[Ardour-Users] [Music] A couple of prog rock pieces

[Q]

Carlos Sanchiavedraz wrote:
> Hi Q.
> 
>     Anyway, I give you the short, and hopefully sweet, Beyond Triple
>     Point (part 1):
> 
>     FLAC (14.6 MB):
>     www.quirq.ukfsn.org/Quirq_Beyond-Triple-Point_Part1_16-03-10.flac
>     <http://www.quirq.ukfsn.org/Quirq_Beyond-Triple-Point_Part1_16-03-10.flac>
> 
>     OGG-10 (7.4 MB):
>     www.quirq.ukfsn.org/Quirq_Beyond-Triple-Point_Part1_16-03-10.ogg
>     <http://www.quirq.ukfsn.org/Quirq_Beyond-Triple-Point_Part1_16-03-10.ogg>
> 
>     MP3 (6.2 MB):
>     www.quirq.ukfsn.org/Quirq_Beyond-Triple-Point_Part1_16-03-10.mp3
>     <http://www.quirq.ukfsn.org/Quirq_Beyond-Triple-Point_Part1_16-03-10.mp3>
> 
> 
> I liked a lot that theme. The sound is very clean and nice. Reminds me 
> of late 60s and 70s psychedelic and prog-rock, most of all when I hear 
> the Mellotron, which sound I love.
> 
> BTW, ¿What did you chose for your Mellotron? ¿Is some 
> app/soundfount/whatever free/libre? Actually, I'd be grateful if you would
>  

Hi Carlos

Thanks for listening and commenting, I really appreciate it. I'm sorry 
I've not responded sooner, but my life has been turned upside down 
recently so I've not kept as close an eye on my mails as I usually do.

Prog-rock is definitely my thing, both 70s and quite a few newer bands 
as well. I have a few ideas for the sections to follow this, I just need 
to find the time to write and develop them!

Sadly, the Mellotron sounds I use are not free and not libre: I use the 
excellent GForce M-Tron Pro running as a standalone instrument using 
Wine. It's got a couple of hundred well sampled sounds from all models 
of Mellotron and even some Chamberlin and Birotron sounds as well. I 
love the Tron also and the M-Tron has been a fantastic and joyous 
instrument for me.

I think it really is a shame that there aren't more Tron sounds 
available in Gig format as Linuxsampler works so well. I think there are 
some Gigs, but they're fairly limited -- just the usual well-known 
strings, choir and maybe brass sounds.

> 
>     It's called Lovatnet (parts 1-4). Caution: it starts off very
>     quietly but gets a fair bit louder in places:
> 
>     FLAC (22.7 MB):
>     www.quirq.ukfsn.org/Quirq_Lovatnet_pts_1-4_mixdown_26-10-09.flac
>     <http://www.quirq.ukfsn.org/Quirq_Lovatnet_pts_1-4_mixdown_26-10-09.flac>
> 
>     OGG-7 (6.6 MB):
>     www.quirq.ukfsn.org/Quirq_Lovatnet_pts_1-4_mixdown_26-10-09_ogg7.ogg
>     <http://www.quirq.ukfsn.org/Quirq_Lovatnet_pts_1-4_mixdown_26-10-09_ogg7.ogg>
> 
>     MP3 (7.2 MB)
>     www.quirq.ukfsn.org/Quirq_Lovatnet_pts_1-4_mixdown_26-10-09.mp3
>     <http://www.quirq.ukfsn.org/Quirq_Lovatnet_pts_1-4_mixdown_26-10-09.mp3>
> 
> 
> 
> Again, really clean sound. And yes, volumes... the song is quite/too 
> much dynamic, especially at the beginning. Warm spanish/acoustic guitar, 
> the electric seems to me again 70s prog (I like that), and nice MiniMoog 
> classic sound at the end, makes you want lo listen to the next parts.
> To put my two cents in, maybe I'd check the levels and time of the 
> drums. Maybe there's something strange in there or in the way it wants 
> to mix with the rest.
>  

The comment about the volume was there as a warning more than anything 
else -- I'm actually very happy with the dynamic range and the levels in 
the intro. One or two other people have complained to me that the start 
is too quiet: I don't need to turn the volume up or down when listening 
to the piece. With the volume set right for the loud parts, the acoustic 
guitar, when it comes in, is reasonably quiet so the piece builds up 
nicely to the loud sections and the opening Mellotron strings have the 
desired effect of being a subtle, barely audible, ominous background 
sound -- they're meant to set a mood rather than be listened to as such.

For the electric guitar, I actually had in mind the 90s band Änglagård, 
but they always aimed for a 70s sound and feel, so I suppose it's all 
the same in the end!

The synth was actually the GForce Oddity VST, again running with the 
help of Wine. The Oddity is an emulation of the classic ARP Odyssey, 
which sadly, I think, often gets overlooked in favour of the Minimoog.

It's a long time since I programmed the drums, but I recall trying to 
humanise them a bit so that they weren't too perfect -- perhaps I 
overdid it a little. I definitely need to remix them as I'm not happy 
with the way they're processed; the snare particularly has suffered in 
an attempt to bring the level up.

> 
> Thanks for sharing.
> 
> -- 
> Carlos "sanchiavedraz" Sánchez Gª-S.
> * Musix GNU+Linux
>   http://www.musix.es

Once again, many thanks for taking the time to listen and comment. It's 
always nice to get feedback.

Q