new song i produced: 'another drag'

[jdjustice]

ok so a friend of mine wrote this song on acoustic guitar.
i took it and orchestrated it on piano with synths, strings, drums, and the like (all itb).


'Another Drag' ©2007 by D. Smith


let me know what you think of the arrangement and mix as this is what i was responsible for (i played all the instruments, he sang).


cheers!
~j.d.

[racemize]

I like the piano work (is it ivory?). The strings were nice when they were in the background, but when you brought them out at the end you could really hear that they sounded synthesized, and then that kind of cheapened their background sound at the end. Also, the drums sounded boxed to me. What are they? Did you do any production on them?

[jdjustice]

Originally Posted by racemize

I like the piano work (is it ivory?). The strings were nice when they were in the background, but when you brought them out at the end you could really hear that they sounded synthesized, and then that kind of cheapened their background sound at the end. Also, the drums sounded boxed to me. What are they? Did you do any production on them?

yep eveything was a virtual instrument on this track.
the piano was indeed Ivory, the drums were Strike, and the strings and bells and bass etc were all Xpand!.
i am lacking a realistic string sample library, but you are right, i should have kept them a bit more atmospheric since they are not genuine strings.
do you have any suggestions for a string library that is great and works well in PT LE?
i am looking at East-West's offerings.

thanks for listening!!
~j.d.

[Zeppelin]

I like the song, but I hate everything drums(sound/groove/timing). I also thin that you should either drop the bass or add some more notes. But the piano, voice and strings had a nice atmosphere

[virtualsounds]

I agree in everything except the drums, the drums are fine for this kind of music, many commercial releases have not realistic drums but just work more on their programming if you can. The song is really nice, I would also add that it would be better to lower the vocals during the verses...

[jdjustice]

Originally Posted by Zeppelin

I like the song, but I hate everything drums(sound/groove/timing). I also thin that you should either drop the bass or add some more notes. But the piano, voice and strings had a nice atmosphere

Originally Posted by virtualsounds

I agree in everything except the drums, the drums are fine for this kind of music, many commercial releases have not realistic drums but just work more on their programming if you can. The song is really nice, I would also add that it would be better to lower the vocals during the verses...

thanks guys!
Zeppelin: yes the bass is only one note and infrequently played, but i felt like it was necessary to give the track a bit of low end.
virtualsounds: i will try really programming the drums to make them more varied. and i will try lowering the vocals a bit on the verses as well.

i appreciate you taking the time to listen!


cheers.
~j.d.

[racemize]

I use EastWest (but can't answer your question about protools as I use Cubase). I used the gold package on symphony (you've heard this one, but its on my website) and homb soundtrack (also on my website). Didn't run any effects on it either, so its a true sound of the plugin.

[Zeppelin]

Originally Posted by jdjustice

thanks guys!
Zeppelin: yes the bass is only one note and infrequently played, but i felt like it was necessary to give the track a bit of low end.
virtualsounds: i will try really programming the drums to make them more varied. and i will try lowering the vocals a bit on the verses as well.

i appreciate you taking the time to listen!


cheers.
~j.d.

Are the drums a a drummachine/loop or are they manually played on a keyboard via midi? I don't think they need to be more varied, just need to find a way to make the pull the song forward. They feel kind of limping now. It would have been great with a real drummer because the rest of the song has a acoustic feel.

[jdjustice]

Originally Posted by Zeppelin

Are the drums a a drummachine/loop or are they manually played on a keyboard via midi? I don't think they need to be more varied, just need to find a way to make the pull the song forward. They feel kind of limping now. It would have been great with a real drummer because the rest of the song has a acoustic feel.

the drums are loops from Strike played via MIDI.
i agree, it would be awesome to have a real drummer (i wish i knew a good one).

thanks!
~j.d.