Re: Project: "Sweet Hour of Prayer"
Posted: Fri Sep 22, 2017 3:42 pm
I doubled the electric bass with an electric guitar in the fast section . . .
It's the native NOTION 6 Electric Guitar but without the amplifier effects . . .
Instead, I ran it through AmpliTube 4 using a simple Orange amplifier rig after I recorded the NOTION 6 generated audio in a ReWire session with Digital Performer 9.5 (MOTU) as the ReWire host controller. Afterward, I ran it through Pro-C (FabFilter Software Instruments) to constrain it and give a bit of bite and sustain, which included running it through TrackPlug 5 (Wave Arts) to focus it in a specific frequency range using brickwall frequency filters, which ensures that it doesn't overlap the electric bass.
It took a few hours to find an electric guitar sound that I like, which is the way it works with virtual instruments here in the sound isolation studio . . .
While I was working on the doubled electric guitar and soloing it, I kept hearing reverberation, which was puzzling for a while, until I noticed that there was a Timeless 2 (FabFilter Software Instruments) effects plug-in on the Master stereo output, which as best as I can recall was an experiment I did a few months ago but then forgot to remove; so I removed it, which made the overall mix a bit more dry and improved it, since everything that needs reverberation, echoes, and ADT already has it--no need to reverb it another time . . .
I like reverberation, but it needs to be managed ruthlessly . . .
It's a tighter mix, and removing the ambient reverberation from the overall mix improved the clarity of the Reel ADT (Waves Audio) on the lead vocals, which in the fast part are two tracks (melody and minor-third harmony, all droning in a rapid chant during the verses) . . .
[NOTE: I am continuing to do headphone mixing, which is what I do most of the time when I am working on a song and focused on arranging, orchestrating, as well as producing. I have a few more bits to add, and then I will do a calibrated, full-range studio monitor mix, followed by some fine-tuning with headphones . . . ]
THOUGHTS
At this point everything switches to embellishing and ornamenting with tiny bits that most folks probably don't notice in an immediately conscious way . . .
I'm pondering the idea of repeating the "sweet hour of prayer" phrase a few times at the end of the last verse before the big ending, which I can do easily with copying and pasting audio clips . . .
I'm also pondering the idea of adding some subtle "Morse Code" style synthesizer notes in the background during the verses in the fast section, as well as having a bit more FUN with "Blue" (Realitone/Realivox) in the background during the fast section verses, probably at random times--nothing blatantly obvious but enough to give it a sense of "tent show revival" excitement . . .
I might do something in a few places like the reverberated guitar chords in "Blue Ain't Your Color" (Keith Urban), which is a truly amazing song . . .
I'm working on the vocal producing chapter in my new book on digital music production, and the vocal producing on Keith Urban's singing in "Blue Ain't Your Color" is what I call "modern dry enhanced", where the "dry" part refers to the near absence of reverberation and is in contrast to the vocal producing style I call "classic wet", which is the combination of a condenser microphone, compressor-limiter, and vast reverberation with the original audio being first brickwall filtered to tailor the reverberation . . .
There's doubling or ADT (probably the latter, since it's very precise), Haas Effect processing, subtle "slapback" echo on word tails, and a tiny bit of brickwall constrained reverberation that's noise-gated to end virtually instantly when the singing stops (it's there but it's controlled ruthlessly) . . .
There's plenty of reverberation in "Blue Ain't Your Color", but it's on the rhythmic synthesizer, drumkit, acoustic guitar, and electric guitar . . .
Lots of FUN!
It's the native NOTION 6 Electric Guitar but without the amplifier effects . . .
Instead, I ran it through AmpliTube 4 using a simple Orange amplifier rig after I recorded the NOTION 6 generated audio in a ReWire session with Digital Performer 9.5 (MOTU) as the ReWire host controller. Afterward, I ran it through Pro-C (FabFilter Software Instruments) to constrain it and give a bit of bite and sustain, which included running it through TrackPlug 5 (Wave Arts) to focus it in a specific frequency range using brickwall frequency filters, which ensures that it doesn't overlap the electric bass.
It took a few hours to find an electric guitar sound that I like, which is the way it works with virtual instruments here in the sound isolation studio . . .
While I was working on the doubled electric guitar and soloing it, I kept hearing reverberation, which was puzzling for a while, until I noticed that there was a Timeless 2 (FabFilter Software Instruments) effects plug-in on the Master stereo output, which as best as I can recall was an experiment I did a few months ago but then forgot to remove; so I removed it, which made the overall mix a bit more dry and improved it, since everything that needs reverberation, echoes, and ADT already has it--no need to reverb it another time . . .
I like reverberation, but it needs to be managed ruthlessly . . .
It's a tighter mix, and removing the ambient reverberation from the overall mix improved the clarity of the Reel ADT (Waves Audio) on the lead vocals, which in the fast part are two tracks (melody and minor-third harmony, all droning in a rapid chant during the verses) . . .
[NOTE: I am continuing to do headphone mixing, which is what I do most of the time when I am working on a song and focused on arranging, orchestrating, as well as producing. I have a few more bits to add, and then I will do a calibrated, full-range studio monitor mix, followed by some fine-tuning with headphones . . . ]
THOUGHTS
At this point everything switches to embellishing and ornamenting with tiny bits that most folks probably don't notice in an immediately conscious way . . .
I'm pondering the idea of repeating the "sweet hour of prayer" phrase a few times at the end of the last verse before the big ending, which I can do easily with copying and pasting audio clips . . .
I'm also pondering the idea of adding some subtle "Morse Code" style synthesizer notes in the background during the verses in the fast section, as well as having a bit more FUN with "Blue" (Realitone/Realivox) in the background during the fast section verses, probably at random times--nothing blatantly obvious but enough to give it a sense of "tent show revival" excitement . . .
I might do something in a few places like the reverberated guitar chords in "Blue Ain't Your Color" (Keith Urban), which is a truly amazing song . . .
I'm working on the vocal producing chapter in my new book on digital music production, and the vocal producing on Keith Urban's singing in "Blue Ain't Your Color" is what I call "modern dry enhanced", where the "dry" part refers to the near absence of reverberation and is in contrast to the vocal producing style I call "classic wet", which is the combination of a condenser microphone, compressor-limiter, and vast reverberation with the original audio being first brickwall filtered to tailor the reverberation . . .
There's doubling or ADT (probably the latter, since it's very precise), Haas Effect processing, subtle "slapback" echo on word tails, and a tiny bit of brickwall constrained reverberation that's noise-gated to end virtually instantly when the singing stops (it's there but it's controlled ruthlessly) . . .
There's plenty of reverberation in "Blue Ain't Your Color", but it's on the rhythmic synthesizer, drumkit, acoustic guitar, and electric guitar . . .
Lots of FUN!