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I’ve done a couple of songs about what is going on in Europe and what it will happen soon, so “The Falling of Europe” is the first song, and “Upcoming Riots!” is the follow up.

Cheers


The Falling of Europe
https://dl.dropbox.com/u/25529735/The%2 ... Europe.mp3

Upcoming Riots!
https://dl.dropbox.com/u/25529735/Upcom ... ots%21.mp3

listening to fall of europe:
interesting dissonances in the chords. Smooth transitions in tonality. The harmonics part sounds beautiful. hehe, wasn't expecting a vocal part. Very nice vocal sound making. That's really using the voice as an expressive instrument, not just a speaking person.
I like that the piece has distinct "movements", and not a simple song form, but more so as a sequence of events. Doesn't fit into the market standards, but I think music pieces are more expressive this way. Especially longer ones.

Upcoming riots:
Nice pad sound at the start.. Ah, more chilled. I love the progressions. I my theoretic foundations can't really explain them, but intuitively fits together. hehe, I love how on top of the complex progressions you still manage to sneak in catchy riffs. (bass/guitar unison parts) ah, guitar solo and slap. Your slap bass sound is sublime. Speaking sample sequence.. Wow, bass. man, BASS! In your face raw bass sequence there. And singing voice. Great voice again, is that you? "righ are rich, poor are poor" building up.. Guitars wailing and improving in the background, subdued, but expressive. And the crying. wow, this is a big story you're telling here. The piece was 6 min, and I felt like I traveled through a very wide range of emotions. I think the material was spaced out just right, I didn't feel pressured to pay attention, or got bored. This is like a sound poetry, where I could listen along and follow at real time. Fantastic pacing, that's really good composing. You are literally writing your thoughts with music my friend.

THis is an example of taking negativity and turning into something positive.

I am inspired to do one about the Democrats finally getting rid of their Masters in the public Unions. San Jose and San Diego were so inspiring.

Good work Brotha' Man Nestor....

kensuguro wrote: You are literally writing your thoughts with music my friend.

Yes, hi Nestor I am not allowed by myself to leave this work uncommented.

I have to second nearly all Ken has wrote above. Your signature brings it on the point, I now, really understood your actual emotional state,
I understand you through this music. You speak the musical language very well. I had to write this, thank you.

Hello there guys, thank you for all your comments. I wish I had the time to answer all these before, but I will now

To Ken:
The Falling of Europe harmonics where made with the bass, I could achieve a pretty loud output anyway. Highest harmonics are not so easy or evident to pull out from a bass sometimes, to cut in a mix I mean.The trick was adding some special reverb frequencies and some specific frequencies range compression before the Celmo’s BAM itself, in a way that high frequencies where risen up easily, simple and effective.

I wanted to add a voice alone, without words, because no words would represent what I felt. In fact, this is the center of the song because it represents the sadness of people in Europe, the rest of the song are instances of the struggle itself they are going through.

For me your statment: “doesn’t fit into the market standards” is a compliment in fact

(Sorry Ken, I am writing this phrase again, because I realized I misunderstood you): Yes, the short part of the slapped bass that comes at about 03:10. I too really love the sound of the bass achieved in this song, I will check for those parameters so to reuse them in other songs.

I sing in both songs yes. But I never did this piercing voice before ever, it sounds a bit like those heavy metal guys. The voice expresses frustration, I mean, the feeling in my body of what these people will feel in theirs.

“Sound Poetry”, wow, I truly loved this expression, thank you Ken! Allow me to make this expression mine from now and on!

To Jimmy:
Please Jimmy! Do it! You are such a talented musician, I think it would be great to hear you ranting with your keyboard man, what are you waiting for...

To Chris:
When you say: “I now, really understood your actual emotional state”, I feel fulfilled because this is exactly what I wanted to achieve. Words are not enough and my own expressions may not sometimes be the best to articulate my concern, particularly in English, but music can go directly to people’s hearts sometimes.

Thank you too for your kind words !

Ha..., I forgot to talk about the FX that I’ve created in The Falling of Europe; I used actual electricity samples of several short circuits for this sensation of pressure and alertness before the song regains speed after the voice. The very low sample that goes from up to down in a sweep was made with the demo of Diva. Cheers.

A couple of questions please:

How do you compare the mixing and mastering jobs in these two songs to commercial releases? I am sure that what I can do is below what some medium and large professional studios can achieve, you bet, but I would like to know how far I am from them.

Any comments in regard to general sound quality, volume, panning, EQ spectrum, etc., or anything related to mixing and mastering would be greatly appreciated.

Please, be free and real, I don’t mind criticism, all on the contrary, this is what I want. Cheers

Plese, give me a hand with the mix, tell me something about it guys... I will thank you a lot

What's the problem with the mix ? sounds good to me as I can hear everything well.
May be the bass could be cleaner, but may be it should be like that ?
or may be the snare is not loud enough like in some modern heavy metal grunge tracks.
But for me the main problem could be that the track is too loud/compressed sometimes, it overdrives a little sometimes, or makes the mix "blurrier" (more blurry, lol)
But for you, what makes you unhappy about the mix ? it could help giving ideas.

Hi Spacef, thank you for taking the time to answer this one

Well, it is not that I am unsatisfied with the result achieved; the bottom line is that I want to improve in this, I want to get better and better at mastering. I have lately heard some amazing mastered tracks and I would like to see how my mastering skills compares with those tracks, from the point of view of “other listeners”, and not myself.

My gear is limited, my monitoring system is not one of the best, it’s average, so this add more interest to the quest for me, as many of you can listen to my music in much better systems than myself at home.

TWO PRECISE QUESTIONS:
1 - If you want to help me straight to the point, the best answer would be to rate me with a percentage, let say from a radical “0%” going up to a “100%”, in the level of mastering you think I have achieved on these tracks. Of course, comparing them with some good mastering you have heard yourself, but I am not referring to “The Dark Side of the Moon”, of course… something a little more humble that could adapt to the situation

2 - The second question would be “Do you think this is enough for a commercial release in nowadays standards?”

That’s it. I put it very clear now. Thank you again, this is very useful for me coming from experienced listeners and musicians and mastering-engineers alike.

If I can sound better, I will!

1/ 80% ?
2/ no

because of the distortion on master. some commercial releases have that, it is not nice if you bought the cd version for "good" sound.
How to solve ? not easy. may be at the mix so the mix is already inside boudaries (things that are too loud compared to the rest should be lowered).
May be try to have it done at a mastering studio with lots of gear because i think that's the secret of professional sounding mastering.
The best is to send the same uncompressed mix to several mastering studios and to listen to the results.
Some of them do pre-listeniung sessions with advices on the mix.
It's an idea, I think it is worth it to try even if it leads you to conclude that you can do better at home.

Very usable answer Spacef, thank you Now, of course what I want is being able to do it myself..., this is the joy of it!

Anyone else please?

One thing I don't hear in modern mixes that might be worth a try are the old 8 track Tape mixes of Grand Funk, Hendrix or Mountain w/ that FAT BASTARD Leslie West.
Having an instrument HARD panned with no leakage to opposite side of the stereo spectrum was something I loved.
I listen to my ancient 8 tracks every month just because I think the tape is degrading, and it sounds even better or something, but I just don't hear mixes these days where dry instruments move around the stereo spectrum.

Maybe try that. I have been trying to do it, but using all ITB is harder for me as these sounds tend to sound better w/ some sort of FX as they are so sterile compared to a real Guitar or Drummer.

Just My 2sense.

XITE-1/4LIVE wrote:I just don't hear mixes these days where dry instruments move around the stereo spectrum.

Very interesting Jimmy, its true! I guess that this is happening because in the last 20 years the way people listened to music is more and more through headphones, so the industry has changed the “mixing” ways, forced by the consumer.

You make me remember that there are some old records that I dislike to listen at with headphones, because they may eventually hart your ears, and it is uncomfortable to get strong sound pressure from only one side of your ears instate of both. But modern mixing is not a problem for your ears when you listen at those new songs through headphones.

When I was a kid we would gather with musician friends to listen to the best possible albums of the period in the house of the guy with the biggest audio system of the moment, and it was amazing to listen to these kind of mixing you are referring to, because with wide open spaces in big rooms and a good separation between loudspeakers, you could listen at all the details of this hard panning ways, and it really was great! Today, nevertheless, we hear almost everything through headphones which have become superior in quality, and homes are much smaller than they used to be.

My house and the houses of my fellow musicians at that time were enormous compared with the tiny boxes the market offers today. So I guess this is the very reason of mixing in such centered way in regard to panning.

Now, according to my two questions, what would you tell me please?

I actually think it's because that so many ITB apps and VSTi synths, DSP synths are all made in Stereo, even the Kick drum seems to come as a stero file.
I think it's due to less and less mixes using mono and recording with effects instead of recording dry, then adding FX too.
I always listen to the tracks when driving, or when I set up the ancinet Kenwood /JVC rig by the Pool.
They sound best in the car, like a radio mix or something.
A CD that demonstrates the style really well is the Cry Of Love by Hendrix where several guitars are being used, and I am quite use to this mix now, but as kids we were stoked by that sound, and of course the double tracking of Peter Twonsends " I can see for miles " by the Who.
I am still lost on the last century.

I will be uploading new mixing-mastering versions of both songs until we reach an agreement It is really fun for me to try improve myself on this stuff.