Fresh Popcorn! electro-disco-orchestral-dubstep

[Chimpazilla]

Fresh Popcorn - Chimpazilla remix

A friend of mine recently reminded me of this old tune, "

" written by Gershon Kingsley in 1969 and remixed disco-style in the 70's. Once I heard it again (after so many years), I couldn't get it out of my head for days... so I decided to remix it again, but couldn't decide on a genre, so I just tried them all. Enjoy!

[AngelCityOutlaw]

Great remix, Kristina!

[Chimpazilla]

Thanks Chris! Glad you liked it!

[timaeus222]

I think my favorite part was 2:16 - 3:01.

[Chimpazilla]

Thanks T! The orchestral part took me the longest because of the detail required to make the instruments sound somewhat natural. That is something I've been trying to practice getting better at. That part is high and low strings, high and low brass (with mid brass playing the response part), and a church organ, and the lead is that layered flute I mentioned (Kontakt flute plus Zebra "singing flute" preset). I'm glad you liked that section.

My personal favorite parts of this mix are the section with the piano harmony, and the epic solo before the outro. And of course, the cheesy outro.

[timaeus222]

Thanks T! The orchestral part took me the longest because of the detail required to make the instruments sound somewhat natural. That is something I've been trying to practice getting better at. That part is high and low strings, high and low brass (with mid brass playing the response part), and a church organ, and the lead is that layered flute I mentioned (Kontakt flute plus Zebra "singing flute" preset). I'm glad you liked that section.

My personal favorite parts of this mix are the section with the piano harmony, and the epic solo before the outro. And of course, the cheesy outro.

Hm... did you do any stereo separation? I can hear the wind, shakers, triangle, Damage drums, pseudo-chime (2:19), organ, flute, and strings, but I don't hear the brass very well. I kind of hear something that sounds french horn-like at 2:30, but its timbre is really similar to the flute at that point.

Edited July 20, 2013 by timaeus222

[Chimpazilla]

Great ear as usual, T! Ok I'll explain that section better. The backing structure is what I described before, but what you mostly hear is the high and low strings and the organ. The high brass is only adding some bite to the high strings, and the low brass is only one voice, providing support for the lowest end. (initially I had the organ part written in low brass but it sounded muddy. Gary my orchestral friend suggested the swap-out for the organ) That French Horn is what I mentioned as "mid brass" (name of the patch), and I used that for the response countermelody to the flute. That's the brass that's easiest to hear. Also, you're hearing pizzicato strings and a bell playing the Popcorn melody, and the triangle hits and chime-y effects are indeed from Damage, and the drums that start up at 2:50 (before the snare pattern) are from Evolve (so much good stuff in that library!). I have a very soft kick playing there too, and the shakers. And T, I forgot to mention that wind, I used your Sirocco preset, it is awesome!

Oh and there is tons of stereo separation going on in this song, but not much in the orchestral section. I generally don't stereo separate the orchestral samples as they are already well positioned. The only widening I did on the orchestral section was to the very high bells, that Evolve drum loop, and Sirocco.

[timaeus222]

Great ear as usual, T! Ok I'll explain that section better. The backing structure is what I described before, but what you mostly hear is the high and low strings and the organ. The high brass is only adding some bite to the high strings, and the low brass is only one voice, providing support for the lowest end. (initially I had the organ part written in low brass but it sounded muddy. Gary my orchestral friend suggested the swap-out for the organ) That French Horn is what I mentioned as "mid brass" (name of the patch), and I used that for the response countermelody to the flute. That's the brass that's easiest to hear. Also, you're hearing pizzicato strings and a bell playing the Popcorn melody, and the triangle hits and chime-y effects are indeed from Damage, and the drums that start up at 2:50 (before the snare pattern) are from Evolve (so much good stuff in that library!). I have a very soft kick playing there too, and the shakers. And T, I forgot to mention that wind, I used your Sirocco preset, it is awesome!

Oh and there is tons of stereo separation going on in this song, but not much in the orchestral section. I generally don't stereo separate the orchestral samples as they are already well positioned. The only widening I did on the orchestral section was to the very high bells, that Evolve drum loop, and Sirocco.

When you use Zebra patches, it's wise to check in the Mixer section of the oscillators (Phase/Sync, Osc FX, Mixer) and look at the Width knob. If it's all the way up, it's really wide already, so widening it with Fruity Stereo Shaper is somewhat redundant. As you might imagine, if the Width knob is at 0, then it's mono.

Hm... yeah, I hear the pizzicato now. It didn't really sound like pizzicato at first, though. I think it's because it's a sample that's a little far from the mic, which makes it a bit duller. When I write string parts, I do a little more than just EQ and "String Section Hall" reverb (ArtsAcoustic preset with less wet mix). I put it closer to the listener with Fruity Stereo Enhancer's phase inversion since an orchestral diagram has strings pretty much next to or right in front of the conductor.

Edited July 20, 2013 by timaeus222

[BlackPanther]

Nice work! Interesting take on a classic I enjoyed the beginning section but the whole song was pretty boss.

[Chimpazilla]

Nice work! Interesting take on a classic I enjoyed the beginning section but the whole song was pretty boss.

Thanks for that, friend!