All these tiny little details

So pass 2 is finished, lots of stuff tweaked. I have promised myself at least one more pass before mastering, and I still need to make some changes, but I feel like to some extent I'm mastering as I go along.

So tracks 2 and 3 changes. Seeing as I believe in making available my thoughts and such like, why don't I just paste in my ongoing notes (typos and all)....

2.1.1 Cognition (future) "We Can Work It Out"
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+I love the deep bassy notes. Don't happen much on laptop.
leave first 2 and take off rest?
- yes dropped the lower


2.1.2 Perception (present) "I Can See Clearly Now"
==================================================
Wok lid still a bit random
- bit of enhancing, but cannot enhance it too much
guitars could still have more presence - how did I do it on 3.2.2?
- just louder
do I have 2 tracks of solo that have unequal processing?
-yes I did. My ears are good sometimes
overall volume could be higher
- yes, boosted
more and clearer perc
- cleared a bit maybe, louder certainly
- whole thing MBC and several tracks gated to clear up background

2.1.3 Memory (past) "Thanks For The Memories"
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more humanising on piano chug - need an emphasis on the 1, and maybe a left hand
- added left hand, changed the humanising, LH continues into first 2 verses


2.2.1 Physics "Physical Acts"
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where da bass? make the bass rumble work at higher freqs too or drop it and get real bass
bass rumble irritates me, make it stop after a bit or fizzle or something
- kept - too good to mess with


2.2.2 Biology "Biological Imperitive"
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lose the bass rumble?
add something else at the low end for 1st part?
- see above, kept, not messing with it


2.2.3 Chemisty "Chemical Bond"
==============================
tidy up hammer-ons
- tried, failed left it


2.3.1 Rhythm "Beat It"
======================
handperc sounds a bit bathroomy
so does clapping - may need bigger reverb space
-changed reverb
last of the industrial noises hardly makes an impact
- bigged them up
review cymbal riff near end of some sections (used about 4 times)
- changed the riff for 1st 3 times

2.3.2 Harmony "Togetherness"
============================
drums -18.25 to reverb
can't hear bass on laptop on delay llama bit - strong on headphones but very low
- added a touch of the middle, but unwilling to mess too much
smooth transition into scales
chords still lack bite on scales bit (add bass?)
- changed guitar sound again
more bass synth on 2nd half of scales
- given it more
maybe piano now too loud in scales
- dropped a tiny bit
-crashing right now. Boo!
bring out snare in harpsichord
- done
harpsichord could be spikier?
(think I need to split of harpsichord and cannon)
- done
still need to deal with transition at end - or do I?
electric guitar feels like it's behind my head
overall feel at end a bit muddy - too much or wrong bass?
- string quartet fades

2.3.3 Melody "The Rutland Reel"
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guitars louder at start for transition?
bass very different from previous - could be more
can't hear bass on laptop
overall satisfactory
bring out solo instruments a touch? Esp pluck
solo pipes seems to lose something
- some general fiddling & MBC

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3.1.1 Father "Abba"
===================
L: been listening to the panets?
strings too quiet throughout
- lifted lots
get rid of "fire"
- done
work on smoother dynamics
overall quiet?
loving the thunder
hang the last note slightly longer
-extended and added discord

3.1.2 Son "The Word"
====================
does one of the screams (4?) lack reverb?
-fixed
"It is finished" is too choired
- reworked
beep bass louder?
-no leave as
Ney still not working for me. Louder? More presence? more processing? different instrument?
no matter how much reverb I put on it sounds dry
Can the tuning be improved?
- tuning improved, stereo enhancer added and AVOX punch, much stronger


3.1.3 Holy Spirit "The Comforter"
=================================
nice Uke work
bring flute out from echoes a little
-done
glossolalia will be controversial - it's a bit forward - could be quieter
- taken down
bring in some ride cymbal?
- done
bigger snare! all drums in 2nd half except hihat which could be ride
slap bass too loud (but working nicely) need a bit of reverb?
- reprocessed

harp (normal) centre -6dB
Flute (all) centre -0.3dB pb reange down -2.0St

Multiband Compressor - clear vox
Modmachine Delay - kontact for 313 spirit
send to reverb - -14.06

3.2.1 "The Lust Of The Flesh"
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something over drums into - sfx? female vox sexy
add night club background to whole thing?
- crowd & resteraunt at the beginning
- voice over "Party People, how are you feeling?"
bring in piano with bass?
- done
whole thing too loud? (compared with other sections). On general I have a few sections in a row which have got a bit louder
- nothing done, can deal in combiner
too much reverb on kazoo solo
- taken off a little
piano solo a touch too loud?
- dropped back a touch
check transitions into Chorous - need drumfill?
- added drumfill

[3.2.2 "The Lust Of The Eyes"]
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into pink floyd still a little "off" transition jumps sound
- better
I think that one of the two tracks is louder than the other
- not really but some changes at point
can I change the note at the end of the entertainer to a chord?
- yes
transition at end still not prefect. could an "ole" help?
- maybe in next treack
whole thing loud
- left
rasquiado too trebbly
- modified volume and compressor
nose noise near end of bleak midwinter
volume drop from bleak to god rest ye
- lots of work on transitions and getting the volumes right
- sounds much more like one take now

3.2.3 "The Pride Of Life"
=========================
something still not totally smooth about transition
- added an Ole
solo spanish getting lost in backing
- brought up a touch
drum solo is out better
bass may be too loud (very audible on laptop) - don't lose much though, as solo is clear
whole thing loud
- left

3.3.1 Sin "Darkness"
====================
chords in first half too loud? make them move about? vary volume a bit, and maybe timing
- no, fine


3.3.2 Repentance "180"
======================
perfect
- good


3.3.3 Sanctification "The Gleaming Cube"
========================================
music box works well bring it out a little
if in doubt add an sfx - over end of cube?
- added flatline
check bass timing in end section
- leave as is for now, looked OK

Any questions?

If in doubt, add SFX

This is phase 2 pass 2 and I have officially named this pass "if in doubt add a sound effect". I have always loved sound effects in music and so here we go.

Lots to report, I have finished track one. I have added rain at the start (not sure about it yet), and a steam train between sections 1 and 2 (very sure about it).

In section 2 I have slightly unhumanised the flute, I reckon it was slightly over-humanised.

In section 3 I have reworded the Xylophone solo so it makes more sense and is less random. Funny you didn't notice that when it was too quiet to hear. I've also microedited shaker, guiro, bass and guitars for timing. Once you have started microediting you never go back. It makes such a difference.

In section 4, I have changed the lead-in note to a chord, and done lots of work tidying the whistle which replaced the organ. And then spent ages trying to get a mixdown - it kept crashing. Theis was the point where it started to come home to me how far I have yet to get, and how close my slef-imposed deadline for release is (11.11.11) Eventually I fixed it by combining the whistle back into the 1st instance of the sampler. Unfortunately the process seemed to kill my pitch bends, so I will need to revisit them at some point.

In section 5 I did one micro-edit where the guitar solo hesitated slightly. Microediting is my new best friend.

in section 6 there was no substantial changes

in section 7 the big thing was the electric violin which had replaced the electric piano. It seems to be a theme that when I chuck something out and replace it, then that will need some work when I come back to it. In this case, the tuning was really annoying me - the clever sampler I have which bills this as "fiddle" has some tuning modification to make it sound authentic. In other words, when played with other instruments, it sounds wrong, so I found the switch marked "switch" which turned that effect off. Much better. Add a little chorus to thicken the sound up a little and Bob's your Auntie.

in section 8 I dealt with a brass band off to the side (I sorted out the panning) and tried to deal with some solo trumpet issues but eventually left it. This is a section where I am fighting with the sampler to make it behave well, and for once I can say "it'll do" because it's not really bad.

And in section 9 the only substantial change was to replace the old bit of reversed stuff from the start of the track with the new version.

All through there are slight modifications to volume and tone which I have not bothered to tell you about because they are manifold, important, but boring.