...and so I re-recorded the whole section

Well I have finished pass one of phase 2 (and already know things I want to change in pass two). Here is the tale of the changes.

The next section up is a jazz section. The thing I was most unhappy with was the kazoo in the refrain - a little too legato. I tried sticking in some volume edits to get drop-outs to get more edge, it didn't seem to work. I cannot find the kazoo either to re-record so I have added a noise gate with a sharp switch-on. This seems to work. As a side note, I seem to be getting more and more into the post-processing stuff, and yes, the multiband compressor is my current favourite. The other thing I did was process the trumpet solo, sampled solo instruments are are notoriously difficult to make convincing. I did a few minor note edits, but also added a mono-to-stereo to centre it and thicken it and you guessed it, the old MBC. In fact as a result of multiple tweaks the whole section is more alive, and maybe overall too loud right now.

The following section is just classical guitar. I was a little unhappy with some of the timing, there were a few minor hesitancies I was unhappy with, and I was unhappy with the feel of one of the little mini-bits. Also none of it popped very well. The problem with something like this with a nice live instrument is that it's really hard to come in and re-record small bits without them sounding radically different in tone etc, ... and so I re-recorded the whole section. Quite a lot of work, and of course in a phase where I am being generally critical, this led to self-doubt. I have removed the tune I didn't think worked, and replaced it with "the Entertainer" by Scott Joplin, and replaced some general wiffling with "in the bleak mid-winter" I am sure that it is better, and I am also sure there are things still to tweak. Listening back to it as I write now, I know a couple of places where transitions need something better.

The next section is fast and furious showing-off solos. All I did was some processing and changing the very last note - not by re-recording but just by processing. Again I have processed, and again I'm thinking the overall volume might be too loud. Either that or other sections need making louder.

The next section is the free-for-all that evokes chaos. A bit of processing, a bit of volume and sound tweaking and the addition of two glass smashes, a bass drum and a cymbal at a critical point.

The next section is a descending/ascending bassline, almost entirely untouched, an additional glass smash (glass smashes are the new thunderclaps). The biggest thing was a slight tweaking of an electric guitar sound.

And this brings us to the final section. The big thing I wanted to look at was the slide guitar cube that I spent so much time. Basically it was boring. And I was torn between bravely chucking it out and cowardly trying something to rescue it. The thing is, intellectually I'm quite attached to it. And so I changed a background synth sound, and searched for a more foreground synth sound to make an impact. After a lot of playing with synths I settled on a bell-like sound (there is a lot of sound in this section already, and with 8 guitars playing in the middle range, to cut through it needed to be high). After creating a tune with the bell-like sounds and listening back, it sounded sufficiently like a musical box sound for me to embrace that idea and add more notes in a music-box kind of arrangement.

And so there we are, phase 2 pass one track 3 finished. I hope that from now on changes will be more minor. The next thing to do is more listening, and eventually making a new set of notes of changes to be made, then implementing the changes.