• TalkBass has been independent since 1998. Add your voice.
    Create a free account to reply to discussions, view embedded media, and browse with fewer display ads.
    Join free Log in
    Want zero display ads or expanded classifieds tools? Compare plans.

Discipline.... again.

Benjamin Strange

Benjamin Strange

Commercial User
Dec 25, 2002
9,737
310
49
New Orleans, LA
www.ufodeathcult.com
Disclosures
Owner / Tech: Strange Guitarworks
#1
I've been fooling with this King Crimson song on and off for several years now. I work on it a bit, get frustrated and quit, and come back to it months later, work some more, and quit again. I started working on this during downtime between recording sessions for my acoustic album. Here's a current form:

Link Removed

I wasn't planning on putting this up as a download, as the mix is pretty terrible - but I tried putting it on Myspace and their player totally ruined a mix that I've been working on for two days. It's amazing how bad it sounds through their player vs. the mp3 form. For sake of comparison, here's my Myspace page: Link Removed

And that's about it. Your comments / criticisms are welcome.
 
#4
You'll get no criticism from me. I didn't recognize it at the very beginning, but then I caught on to what was going on. Cool take on it.

That is one of my favorite songs of all time. Good luck finding a pair of guitar players that can pull it off. Adrian Belew stated that it was the hardest song he's ever had to learn.

Thanks for sharing
 
#7
Till,

You need to send some bass tracks to Benjamin Strange. This is the proper way to ressurect "SWISS QUEER"!! Awesome tune......

Matt Till said:
I don't know what you did different from the original mix you did (aparently it's no longer on my computer), but I like it better than your first take at it. You really make it your own song instead of just covering it, which is the best way of doing things.
Click to expand...
 
#11
Man, this is sick! Heavy and Loud. Sound like a industrial type of music. What did u used for the main sequenced hook (that recriates the guitar lines). An instrument with heavy fx, or a synth? U programmed the drums?? Excellent Work! Overall, the mix is quite muddy, too much sounds of the same range of frequencies, middle frequencies....Im not with wavelab here, but at first it seems that are some fight around 1000/3000 hz. Maybe it was your intention that sonority...if yes, thats ok. I will come again to listen it more times, and check you my space page. Now (and ever) im in a hurry!
Cheers!
 
#13
mulambo said:
Man, this is sick! Heavy and Loud. Sound like a industrial type of music. What did u used for the main sequenced hook (that recriates the guitar lines). An instrument with heavy fx, or a synth? U programmed the drums?? Excellent Work! Overall, the mix is quite muddy, too much sounds of the same range of frequencies, middle frequencies....Im not with wavelab here, but at first it seems that are some fight around 1000/3000 hz. Maybe it was your intention that sonority...if yes, thats ok. I will come again to listen it more times, and check you my space page. Now (and ever) im in a hurry!
Cheers!
Click to expand...

Well, it sounds like you know a bit more about mixing than I do - I'm just throwing up faders and EQs and hoping for the best. I tried to clear up the mix as best as possible, but it was pretty tough with 38 tracks going on.

The main line is a synth patch I made. I programmed the whole thing, including drums.
 
#14
Hey Benjamin - I really dig your arrangement and the textures you bring to this piece - but the mix/production is hiding a lot of the cool stuff you have going on in there.

38 tracks is a problem if it obscures the musical intent.

I think all your ideas in this piece can work - but the production has to support them. I'd actually love to have an hour with the multi-track of this.

Good stuff though.
 
#15
jeff schmidt said:
Hey Benjamin - I really dig your arrangement and the textures you bring to this piece - but the mix/production is hiding a lot of the cool stuff you have going on in there.

38 tracks is a problem if it obscures the musical intent.

I think all your ideas in this piece can work - but the production has to support them. I'd actually love to have an hour with the multi-track of this.

Good stuff though.
Click to expand...

I'll send you the files if you'd like. Heck, maybe I could just post the whole thing and see if any TBers can do better with the mix. I wish I knew what I was doing with mixing - each time I fool with this it gets better, but I am still far from being a mix master.

I'm currently recording some acoustic material, but based on my experiences with this song and others, I'm going to farm out the mixing to a professional.
 
#17
Benjamin Strange said:
Well, it sounds like you know a bit more about mixing than I do -
.
Click to expand...
Not necessary, Benjamin. Your version is agressive, maybe too much for whom is familiar to the original. As i said, it seems its your intention to go further on the experimentalism of the composition, so thats ok. Anyway, its a very difficult work u are doing, so there is room for improvement. I gone to your page and really dig what i saw and listened. Your work with a 80s rock accent is really, really cool to me, and overall your recordings are in a high level.
One thing i did not saw is how u do the monitoring. Wich monitors do u use? are u using nearfields? they are essential in a studio for mixing.
 
#18
I've got a pair of cheap M-Audio Sp5bs. I guess they sound alright, but aren't at a super high quality.

I'm generally aware of my mixing problems - I seem to always end up with a very muddy low end, and I don't have alot of separation between the instruments. Unfortunately, I don't really know how to fix these kind of things, especially as most of my sounds tend to lean towards the overly thick side of things.

Funny, I've actually had a request to post the original sound files online for another TBer to work on. I may just make them publically available, just to see what people will do with them.
 

Latest posts

Top Bottom
Back