Eriksimon Posted July 3, 2013 Share Posted July 3, 2013 Silent Eyes is based on part of a song written around 1981(?) by Simon Nijhoff (†) and Marcel Levano. I could only remember a few things: the lyrics of the chorus (they were pretty odd, since Simons' father was very much alive at the time), the chords of the chorus, the slow-ska aka quickreggae rythm, and the chromatic lick Marcel played on his acoustic guitar over these two chords. All this was never written down or recorded, so I reproduced it from memory. I don't know why this particular piece suddenly reappeared, it just happened. In spite of the gloomy, semi-sinister lyrics, it is quite a cheerful little thing. The vocals are fully vocoded, perhaps to create a bit of distance from the (overly?) dramatic, almost surreal lyrics. I sidechained the spoken vocal not only into the vocoder but also into the first ES2 (the carrier synth), which created a very nice subtle 'gating' with the vocoding. I used two seperate synths for the vocodal harmonies. As a matter of fact, this track started out as a bit of experimenting with vocoders, triggered by DP's release of RAM and a discussion with Tristancalvaire about the subject. Hope you enjoy it. [soundcloud]https://soundcloud.com/artflywork/silent-eyes[/soundcloud] New and improved version! Removed some of the fills as per Davids' tip, and 'mastered' it slightly (about 2 dB more RMS) louder. Downloadable as 256 kbps MP3. [soundcloud]https://soundcloud.com/artflywork/silent-eyes-v-2[/soundcloud] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
David Nahmani Posted July 5, 2013 Share Posted July 5, 2013 Erik, this is great! But one thing... good luck finding a "genre" for that song! It's like Santana jamming with a guy from Daft Punk while someone is getting really creative with the drums... great, great stuff in your drum programming, it's fun. If anything, I would remove some of the fills ... so that when you hear the fill it's more exciting! Keep them rare! Keep us wanting for more! I'm thinking of the fill with the open hat that comes at the end of every 2-bar section starting at 1:10. I would only have that fill once in a while. LOVE the big hit at 1.56! (completely unexpected) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rev. Juda Sleaze Posted July 6, 2013 Share Posted July 6, 2013 Very cool! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
uncle808us Posted July 6, 2013 Share Posted July 6, 2013 Sweet! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
camillo jr Posted July 6, 2013 Share Posted July 6, 2013 I don't know why but this made me laugh while listening to it, and again at the ending (in a good way). Yep, very cheerful and totally captivating. I'm a fan of style-mashing. Great groove, with that trumpet taking it to a whole other place. Keep 'em coming! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
basils Posted July 7, 2013 Share Posted July 7, 2013 Wow, great fun, and you have an very admirable skillset. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eriksimon Posted July 7, 2013 Author Share Posted July 7, 2013 Guys, thank you all very much for the kind words, praise and observations! Very nice. @ David: thanks also for the constructive construction comments. I removed most occurances of that minifill, which was a remnant of the Ultrabeat pattern mode with which I started out, and which had slipped "under the radar", to my ears it was no longer a fill pattern, which can (and will) easily happen when hearing a piece so many times... I will post the newer version soon. Oh, and about the genre, I had come up with this one: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
efiebke Posted July 19, 2013 Share Posted July 19, 2013 I listened to version 2 of "Silent Eyes". Very nice mix. . . thoroughly enjoyed the listen! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
David Nahmani Posted July 23, 2013 Share Posted July 23, 2013 @ David: thanks also for the constructive construction comments. I removed most occurances of that minifill, which was a remnant of the Ultrabeat pattern mode with which I started out, and which had slipped "under the radar", to my ears it was no longer a fill pattern, which can (and will) easily happen when hearing a piece so many times... You're welcome. It was a really nice track to listen to. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
clearitup Posted July 31, 2013 Share Posted July 31, 2013 I really enjoyed your track Eriksimon! If you have a moment can you describe how you go about programming your drum tracks? When I program, I start in Logic's piano roll and come up with a "main beat." From there, I'll create variations and fills but this takes me a long time. Do you use the piano roll? external instruments(mpc/mashine/other pads)? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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