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Thread: Daze Of Milton Smallkettle. (A psychedelic rock opera)

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    Daze Of Milton Smallkettle. (A psychedelic rock opera)

    Hello there
    I have recently remixed this original work from 2010 mainly adding a few keyboard lines and ambiences.
    the piece is a psychedelic rock opera utilizing many different genres.
    Recording was done by bouncing tracks between 2 revox 4 track machine ,hence the "rough" edges, but i believe that this adds to the retro feel.

    Please have a listen and let me know what you think......good or bad comments welcome. i can only improve by knowing the strong points and fixing the bad.

    thanks in advance to anyone who spares the time. cheers ,Trench


    https://soundcloud.com/trench-2/sets...on-smallkettle

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    I've only had time to listen to 6 or 7 tracks and it's an interesting work of music you've done.
    I found several of the songs including the first where there didn't seem to be much space for all the instruments, and lacking in separation by panning to left or right, so to me it seemed everything in the first track was packed in the middle.
    I also noticed some mistakes as well as distortion and wonder why you decided to leave those as is and not fix them.

    But I think the next song you had a nice and interesting space in the mixing left and right, plus the reverb used in some of the songs gave it, in my opinion a "retro" feel, like some of the early 60's studios recordings sounded like.

    It must have taken a very long time to write, record and mix this much music, so kudos to you on completing a very difficult project and overall I like what you've done.
    There is nothing more rewarding then seeing a project go from idea to a completed body of work and then sharing it. Congratulations.

    I would like to go back and listen to the whole thing at one time rather than picking out interesting song titles and then listening.
    Soundcloud page: Richard Hermans, musical meanderings https://soundcloud.com/precipice YouTube: [https://www.youtube.com/@richardhermans4457

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    Thank you very much Top Cat for taking time to listen to this monster.
    I know there are a few mistakes along the way but unfortunatly i am unable to undo these due to the fact that one of the machines has gone to the analogue cemetary in the sky.
    this version of "milton" was recorded from the remaining revox to a tascam neo for digital rendering. Also a lot of the hums and buzzes are due to the fact it was all recorded live into a vox ac30 which has toured quite a bit.
    thank you very much for the retro comment,this is what i wanted to achieve,i love organic sounds.
    For all its mistakes and sound issues ,i am really proud of the results. It was recorded during a particular difficult time in my life and provided a great way to escape from real life for a few months.

    once again many thanks.
    Trench

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    Quote Originally Posted by Trench View Post
    Thank you very much Top Cat for taking time to listen to this monster.
    I know there are a few mistakes along the way but unfortunatly i am unable to undo these due to the fact that one of the machines has gone to the analogue cemetary in the sky.
    this version of "milton" was recorded from the remaining revox to a tascam neo for digital rendering. Also a lot of the hums and buzzes are due to the fact it was all recorded live into a vox ac30 which has toured quite a bit.
    thank you very much for the retro comment,this is what i wanted to achieve,i love organic sounds.
    For all its mistakes and sound issues ,i am really proud of the results. It was recorded during a particular difficult time in my life and provided a great way to escape from real life for a few months.

    once again many thanks.
    Trench
    Proud you should be, that is a huge amount of music to write, record and then mix.
    Speaking of Revox, what a great company, I love them and have a Revox A77 2 track reel to reel here in the studio for mixdown. Also had a Tascam 2488Neo for a year and loved it's sound, I found the A/D conversion to be transparent but in a warm analog like way.

    Any chance you would make the entire album available for a few moments as a download for me?
    I'd love to be able to burn this to cd and listen on the big stereo in the living room.
    It's very long and I'd like to give it my full attention, rather than bits and pieces with my headphones on here in my studio.
    Soundcloud page: Richard Hermans, musical meanderings https://soundcloud.com/precipice YouTube: [https://www.youtube.com/@richardhermans4457

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    Hi Top cat,

    I have made the album fully downloadable now for you to listen to at your own leisure.
    Sometimes i think that the album is a bit long. Let me know what tracks you think could be edited out without affecting the concept too much.
    thanks for taking the time mate.
    Trench

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    Quote Originally Posted by Trench View Post
    Hi Top cat,

    I have made the album fully downloadable now for you to listen to at your own leisure.
    Sometimes i think that the album is a bit long. Let me know what tracks you think could be edited out without affecting the concept too much.
    thanks for taking the time mate.
    Trench
    wow thanks... will let you know.

    ok, songs #1,2,3,11 and 12 did not have download available...I think I got all the rest.
    Last edited by Top Cat; 09-08-2018 at 05:33 PM.
    Soundcloud page: Richard Hermans, musical meanderings https://soundcloud.com/precipice YouTube: [https://www.youtube.com/@richardhermans4457

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    Here is the story Top cat , i knew i had it in some old files.

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    Quote Originally Posted by Trench View Post



    Here is the story Top cat , i knew i had it in some old files.
    very cool, did you write this?
    Soundcloud page: Richard Hermans, musical meanderings https://soundcloud.com/precipice YouTube: [https://www.youtube.com/@richardhermans4457

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    Finally got around to listening to it, and I love it.
    You did a great job and it's a wonderful opera once you understand the subject matter and the story you found and posted helps a lot.
    Wish there were lyrics as well since some of your vocals have a lot of reverb(not complaining it's part of the vibe).
    Please check your PM.
    Soundcloud page: Richard Hermans, musical meanderings https://soundcloud.com/precipice YouTube: [https://www.youtube.com/@richardhermans4457

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    Glad you are enjoying this,i too hadn't listened to it for years til about 6 months ago.
    i agree, i do tend to overuse reverb, this is due to my lack of confidence in my voice and also a pretty piss poor mic doesn't help much.
    here is the instrumentation i used prior to adding the additional tracks.


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    Quote Originally Posted by Trench View Post
    Glad you are enjoying this,i too hadn't listened to it for years til about 6 months ago.
    i agree, i do tend to overuse reverb, this is due to my lack of confidence in my voice and also a pretty piss poor mic doesn't help much.
    here is the instrumentation i used prior to adding the additional tracks.
    Nice to see all the gear you used.
    I don't know what order these songs were recorded, but it seemed later in the album you didn't have as much reverb and your voice was stronger and more confident.
    One thing I use on my vocals sometimes along with a hint of reverb is a slight delay(plug-in), just enough to thicken the vocal a little bit, and this can help smooth out your tone and texture a bit(so it's not so bare and raw).

    thanks again
    Soundcloud page: Richard Hermans, musical meanderings https://soundcloud.com/precipice YouTube: [https://www.youtube.com/@richardhermans4457

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    A little artwork to accompany the music.......................







    Last edited by Trench; 09-15-2018 at 03:38 AM.

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    Quote Originally Posted by Trench View Post
    A little artwork to accompany the music.......................
    Still enjoying this fine work.. if you just listen quickly it just seems like regular music done by some guy in his home studio.
    But investing the time to take an hour and half or so, relax and listen to the continuity of the pieces(this is where the background story is critical to read)
    Yes, there are some recording/production issues, but I'd rather have this album as it is, warts and all, then a slick overproduced piece of, well, slick overproduced music without the magic.
    it ebbs and flows and for my wife and I it's magical.
    I do prefer the original cover art, very fitting to the story, but that's me.
    Good job mate!
    Soundcloud page: Richard Hermans, musical meanderings https://soundcloud.com/precipice YouTube: [https://www.youtube.com/@richardhermans4457

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