It's Warm Inside


Okay, here's the version for submission:

Kapitano - Frostbite (Submission Version)

There's a saying in computer programming: "90% of the project takes 90% of the time. The other 10% takes the other 90%."

In other words, the finishing touches take the most time, and it's them which make a project overrun. They're also what makes it work.

So, here are the finishing touches - at least the ones which got left in:

  • High-pass filter on main scratch at 220Mhz, and volume down c5%. Should make the kick and bassline clearer.

  • The same filter on the rap. Should make it stand out a bit more, hopefully being clearer, without increasing actual volume.

  • High-pass filter on vocoder chorus at 110Mhz. Again, should reduce the amount of "mud" cluttering up the bass end.

  • Octave doubling effect on the bassline that follows each chorus. It's a two oscillator synth - one is just pitched down an octave for those parts. The detuning between the two is also increased.

  • Big reverby kick added, for the parts where the kick is the only drum.

  • The clave is a little quieter.

  • Agogo bells added.

  • Tape hiss and crackly noise quieter.

  • Vocoder increased from 16 to 32 bands.

  • Probably the most important change from an engineer's point of view, though the listener might not notice. The five drumloops replaced with...sequenced drums. Which I think now sound crisper anyway.

    They were only loops in the first place to make them scratchable, but the scratching effects weren't much good, so I didn't use most of them. The ones I did use are still there, on a dedicated sample track.


The lyrics are there really just to give the voice something to say, but these are they:

Verse 1:
Sitting up at long past midnight
Drinking too-strong tea and freezing
Snow it falls and wind it's howling
Start to shiver turn up heating

Take another sip it's cold now
Do I want to make a new cup
Should I try again to get sleep
Dream till morning see what comes up

With the sun it could be oper-
-Tunity a piece of blue sky
Got to get some motivation
Say it three times that same old lie

Optimism always waiting
Every morning hope for new life
Evening comes on old sensation
Feeling of sunburn and frostbite

Chorus:
Wake up at midnight
Sunburn and frostbite

Verse 2:
Put on some old favourite CD
Sampled groove and shot dead MC

Stand and walk around the bedroom
Headphones on pump up the volume

Hungry not yet time for breakfast
Drinking coffee not just for thirst

Sitting up at long past midnight
Sunburn shading into frostbite

"Finished" is a relative term. But I reckon this demo is finished.

Besides, I've hit on some new production techniques and want to try them out.

4 comments:

  1. Doffs cap, taps foot and falls over with a good dose of audile joy.

    Yummy, though I like the 2nd verse better than the first which is too fast - he opines. But then I don't think you think the lyrics are of that much importance to the song ... which really rawks!

    Don't call it a demo. Release it!

    So, umm, what are these new production techniques? hmm? enquiring minds want to know.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Is Audile a word? It should be.

    Means a lot that you like my stuff, but I'm still practicing and finding my feet.

    Still want to hear some new Camymusic...

    New techniques...

    I've been piping everything through Reason - including the vocals, which were recorded in Audition then turned into an extraordinarily long "loop" in ReCycle to be played in Reason's loop player.

    On the one hand, that meant the whole song had a cohesive sound because everything was processed through Reason's effects and mixing desk. On the other hand...a lot of effects which would be useful weren't available because Reason doesn't have them. Noise shaping, excitation, wave travelling etc, and the various types of compressor and limiter Reason doesn't have.

    So I'm using more programs - the recording and editing facilities of Reaper, the wavetraveller from FruityLoops, partial pitch correction in MelodyneUno, some insert effects from Voxengo...and keeping the noise reduction of Audition. Plus...

    This range of VSTs. The main difference between the two versions of "Frostbite" is the first used Reason's compressor, and the second Yohng's XLimiter - which gives a much clearer sound, and is actually easier to use.

    ReplyDelete
  3. It's very early 80s hip hop/pop/electronic fusion. Excellent job! It sounds great.

    ReplyDelete
  4. It's very early 80s hip hop/pop/electronic fusion. Excellent job! It sounds great.

    Thank you very much. 'Cos that's the sound I was looking for.

    The 80s are my home - though I didn't hear much from before 1985 till the 90s.

    ReplyDelete