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Casino Nightlife


CornetTheory
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I've been working on this for a while, and I wanted see what you guys thought. A few months back my father was visiting to work on an unrelated project, and I thought, why not record him for this?

https://soundcloud.com/michael-hillard/casinonightlife-v10-wip WIP 10

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Edited by CornetTheory
mr complete
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Very nice stuff here. The recording and playing is fantastic. I like most of the electronic touches - Things work pretty well. Casino Zone is one of my absolute favorite sources so I'm glad there's more coverage for it.

Sometimes the reverb that kicks in at like 0:26 is a bit overbearing and unnecessary. I also feel like maybe the track is just a bit too slow for its own good - It feels like the theme is dragging or plodding a bit. Love to see a version just a little bit faster.

All things considered? great stuff and a fun listen.

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I also feel like maybe the track is just a bit too slow for its own good - It feels like the theme is dragging or plodding a bit. Love to see a version just a little bit faster.

I was kinda thinking the same. For me it's because the snare/backbeat here occurs on every other beat instead of (a half beat) after every beat, as would be normal in electroswing and jazz. Effectively halves the perceived tempo. But I assume that was intentional, and it still sounds great.

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[MODREVIEW]

Hey there, nice mix.

- Right away the mixing doesn't seem full enough to me. Your life instruments are way in the background and you have a beat way up front.

- I appreciate the American Patrol reference

- The live performances are fantastic. There's some intonation issues when you're doubling the saxes - I might also suggest separating them by panning them a bit differently to add dimension to the mix. Right now they sound both dead center, creating a strange wave effect that might not be a problem if you panned them.

- In general, the live stuff needs to come forward and the synthetic stuff needs to go back. With more nuanced mixing, this could sound really, really nice.

- There's also a "flat" sound to the mix. You might want to try some EQing on the master while listening to a reference track to see if you can't get it to develop a little more.

- I would have appreciated a little more variation in the drums. With as slow as it was, I kind of felt like I was being dragged along rather than moved along.

All in all, this is a great mix, fresh take on a cool source. I think the mixing needs some work before it'll pass, though, and I think that you can help yourself learn by using reference tracks. I might suggest Caravan Palace, but that's a little bit too much electro for this, so I'm not sure where to suggest you turn.

Great job!

[/MODREVIEW]

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I think the BPM is fine, but I think having some more evident hi hats would help a lot. Having swung eighth notes can really add nice groove that would actually go pretty far. I hear ride cymbals and some sort of thip/pseudo-cowbell, but aside from that, I'm not getting that swing that seems inherent, I would think, to this kind of jazz.

The mixing feels weird. I'm not on my good headphones right now, but it feels like the drums are upfront and "glued", while the soundscape feels a bit empty otherwise. The kick drum also sounds like it came out of a dance sample pack, and the snare has quite a bit of reverb.

I guess

can be a decent reference track. It's somewhat like what you're doing, I suppose. Edited by timaeus222
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Okay, I'm on my regular headphones now, and here's what I'm hearing:

  • The brass in the beginning is a little too in-your-face, and the backing brass is a touch too far in front (but less so)
  • The drums lack punch. I can hear the kick but it sounds like it's for a different genre, and the claps are thin.
  • I'm confused by the reverb at each brief pause. There's quite a lot there, but I don't hear a lot of muddiness in other spots. Is that automated or not? Maybe it's mudding up the bass, because I can only feel the bass, but not hear that it's that acoustic bass from earlier.
  • The lead sax at 0:52 feels narrow, and the backing brass feels a touch too quiet. They could be brought up a bit, while the lead sax can have some more spatiousness on its reverb. Also, perhaps it can sound a little nasal, and can be a cut a little bit in the upper mids.
  • In general, the drums are still a little plodding and pretty basic. They're the weakest part of this set of instruments.
  • The arrangement might seem a little bit copy-pasted, but I think there is some variation in the live performances that it makes up for it juuuuust enough. Anyone wanna chime in on this point?

Overall, the mixing on the lead brass is too upfront and narrow (needs more spatiousness and less nasal quality), the backing brass is just barely too far in front (but less so than the lead brass; literally, probably by about 1~2 dB in dry mix), and the drumwork (mainly the kick and snare/clap) can be beefier and more up to par with the live performances.

Edited by timaeus222
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