The James Webb / Module Violin

LinearLineman

I had forgotten about the new Module Violin pack. Quite good and perfect for this track. Improvised with background ensemble strings from PureSynthPlatinum, 2 tracks Module Violin and SWAM Trumpet. Perhaps @McD will comment on this one.

With reverb on horn…

McD

Perhaps...

You know I love your work but I hit these spells where I can't listen to some music. I need a specific stimulation to maintain my mental state. I'll listen to a bit and if I don't get the right chemicals flowing I move on.

I know you also get a chemical response from our reactions to your muse so we are in effect, out of phase. The cycles will align again. I just need to catch a few breaks in the on going drama of aging and disease.

I now you are fighting with your own mental windmills and could use a good Sancho Panza.

I will say that I love this return to the classic instruments phase.

I generally don't comment unless I listen to the whole piece and I have not.

I've been bingeing Steely Dan and similar artists that iTunes recommends when I do and even there... I pick up the needles and jump tracks seeking that release of endorphins. Of course, I'm musically impotent in these spells. If I'm not posting I'm probably not really listening.

Be well my friend and keep finding the time and energy to create. It is more than a reason to live and enjoy life.

I don't get the James Webb reference unless it's Jim Webb: the composer of "MacArthur Park" and more. "Someone left the cake out in the rain." An cold case by the way from 1968. MacArthur Park was also where my (music) fraternity took me for a pleb hazing experience... cleaning pidgeon shit off of the statue using a toothbrush. It was caked on. Hmm... maybe I have solved the case. "Sweet creme icing" would be an image and not a flavor.

McD

Oh! That James Webb... the NASA Administrator that negotiated detente with the aliens after they killed JFK. All they asked for was to replace Rupert Murdoch with one of their own in disguise.

The original Keith Rupert Murdoch was taken to the alien's home world where he started a cult that destabilized several of the governments and made science and "the truth" open for the common alien to invent. Seems fair to me.

JudasZimmerman

@McD said:
Oh! That James Webb... the NASA Administrator that negotiated detente with the aliens after they killed JFK.

Your ideas are intriguing to me and I wish to subscribe to your newsletter.

@LinearLineman: Another very strong track; very nice string/trumpet combo and excellent timing.

GeoTony

Nice one… put me in mind of Copland for some reason which given the pioneering nature of the mission is probably appropriate.

Edward_Alexander

@LinearLineman said:
I had forgotten about the new BeatHawk Violin pack. Quite good and perfect for this track. Improvised with background ensemble strings from PureSynthPlatinum, 2 tracks BeatHawk Violin and SWAM Trumpet. Perhaps @McD will comment on this one.

Love the violin sounds and the concept of the piece. There’s something about the trumpet that doesn’t feel right to me (JMO) feels kinda robotic and maybe a little too edgy? Maybe just needs a thicker reverb like some Blackhole or something on it?

Lady_App_titude

@Edward_Alexander said:
Love the violin sounds and the concept of the piece. There’s something about the trumpet that doesn’t feel right to me (JMO) feels kinda robotic and maybe a little too edgy? Maybe just needs a thicker reverb like some Blackhole or something on it?

It needs reverb badly. And some vibrato and volume expression. Beautiful sketch of an idea. I guess one could consider this a demo of something that could be developed and more fully produced.

LinearLineman

Thanks @GeoTony. Yes, Copland indeed, sir.

@Edward_Alexander @Lady_App_titude… the second version, above, with reverb and a bit of EQ on the trumpet. You know, I tried the Touché for expression, but couldn’t get it to work. So, no vibrato.

McD

@LinearLineman said:
Thanks @GeoTony. Yes, Copland indeed, sir.

@Edward_Alexander @Lady_App_titude… the second version, above, with reverb and a bit of EQ on the trumpet. You know, I tried the Touché for expression, but couldn’t get it to work. So, no vibrato.

Does your keyboard have a "mod wheel" next to the "pitch bend".

LinearLineman

@McD, no it doesn’t. I sometimes use the Cubasis keyboard wheels, but this time they didn’t affect the sound.

McD

@LinearLineman said:
@McD, no it doesn’t. I sometimes use the Cubasis keyboard wheels, but this time they didn’t affect the sound.

You might consider a 2-4 octave MIDI controller to be able to add vibrato for your instrumental lines. The Arturia 2 octave is $119 has smaller keys but a reasonable touch.
4 octave is $229 I think.

Just a thought.

LinearLineman

@McD, I’ve looked at the Arturia lineup over and over. The 49 key MKll is so much better in build quality, but twice the price… that holds me back but I keep looking, especially since the Touché didn’t work out for me. My error was not getting the Kawai MP7se instead of the ES8. Regrets, I’ve had a few.

JudasZimmerman

@Edward_Alexander So this is for realism, right? Like an uncanny valley effect? I didn’t get that, but I think I haven’t listened to enough jazz to know how the trumpet is «supposed» to sound in this context.

I bought a small, used keyboard that had aftertouch just for the SWAMS when they came out, but it turned out the aftertouch didn’t work.(*) Now I got a small midi flute/recorder for them which I love, but I still have no idea about the realism of the things.

*) no regrets though: it has _wooden panels_.

LinearLineman

@JudasZimmerman, I can appreciate your considering what’s up with the reverb question. I wasn’t going to say anything because, frankly, the convention is that reverb is almost always necessary and good. You can’t really change that perception because it's what our ears are used too, like compression.

There is no doubt that reverb has a gluing effect, I think. It helps put all the instruments into a similar sonic landscape. You can hear that, I believe, in my two versions above. Of course, I want listeners to be comfortable with the production values If I can. I ask folks, sometimes, to stretch their ears melodically and that’s problematic enough. Ask @McD! He just commented on that very subject on my track “Triumph Of Trenton”. While I thought it has one of the best melody lines I ever laid down (it gave me chills listening and has haunted me for days) it didn’t work (melodically and sonically) for our musically expert friend.

In the case of Trenton I chose a reedy, nasally, patch called “Reedy Leady” from Digitalism2000. I backed it up with two flutes to soften it, but if you don’t use headphones that softening is lost and it’s a strange (but familiar) retro sound, indeed.

Here’s what McD had to say…
“ Whoa... what's that robot singer doing in the row boat? "Reedy Leedy"?

This one puts me in that "listening for musical quotes mode" and evaluating notes for suitability against the chords. I listened to too much academic jazz and created that filter to
determine if the soloist did all the right drills for mastering playing on standard changes.
Not sure I really want to change my brain now or even if I can.

Too many violations of jazz harmonic theory and I get anxious and start watch the clock.”

McD isn’t wrong, he just can’t sip some unconventional soups cause they insult his well worn neural pathways. I think, to some extent, that is true with reverb, vibrato and compression, too. Our ears want to hear these things. They are familiar… like the verb in this sentence. If you wrote “They familiar” you still have the meaning, but the elegance is lost. “They familiar” sounds coarse, uneducated, crude. You crave a verb.

Our good friend @Edward_Alexander would never let his GeoSax escape without some healthy reverb. He creates a classic sound. But for me, especially in “The James Webb” the colder, more brittle, sound of the trumpet worked for cold, brittle, space as I heard it. Still, when @Lady_App_titude remarked about the lack I immediately tried to ‘correct” it cause she is one of the many voices I respect here (you, too, Ed. We just have a reverb disjunct). We cannot easily change our ears. You could say I have trained to hear and take in unconventional melody. I would say the same for weird, raw and unconventional sounds and effects as well. I realize, for sure, that my choices are not to everyone’s tastes. At least I don’t have to make a living by them. The analog scratching of vinyl is a good example. Why, on earth, would we need an app to add vinyl defects to music in this era of pristine recording and playback? Because our human ears crave what we heard so much of that it became part of the musical experience. That goes for tape hiss, wow and flutter as well.

Maybe @rs2000 will chime in on the subject of reverb and fox in general. He has sophisticated insights into the sonic realm.

JudasZimmerman

@LinearLineman said:
But for me, especially in “The James Webb” the colder, more brittle, sound of the trumpet worked for cold, brittle, space as I heard it.

Yes, I thought the combination worked very well (also, no drums), so I was a bit surprised, but then I thought I don’t really know how a trumpet should sound. It’s just not the kind of music I’ve listened to much. And of course, the SWAM trumpet is famously realistic, which could cause the uncanny valley phenomenon for people who have.

I still want to use the swams myself for stuff, so I guess it’s just a risk to consider.

Lady_App_titude

@LinearLineman said:

Our good friend @Edward_Alexander would never let his GeoSax escape without some healthy reverb. He creates a classic sound. But for me, especially in “The James Webb” the colder, more brittle, sound of the trumpet worked for cold, brittle, space as I heard it. Still, when @Lady_App_titude remarked about the lack I immediately tried to ‘correct” it cause she is one of the many voices I respect here (you, too, Ed. We just have a reverb disjunct). We cannot easily change our ears. You could say I have trained to hear and take in unconventional melody. I would say the same for weird, raw and unconventional sounds and effects as well. I realize, for sure, that my choices are not to everyone’s tastes. At least I don’t have to make a living by them. The analog scratching of vinyl is a good example. Why, on earth, would we need an app to add vinyl defects to music in this era of pristine recording and playback? Because our human ears crave what we heard so much of that it became part of the musical experience. That goes for tape hiss, wow and flutter as well.

Maybe @rs2000 will chime in on the subject of reverb and fox in general. He has sophisticated insights into the sonic realm.

It's just horns. Must have reverb. You never hear horns in real life in a bone dry space. Especially if you're trying to create the virtual impression of real brass, a little reverb works wonders. That's all.