Progressive Rock - Century of Candlelight

[CrimsonWarlock]

OK, here goes...

After several years of having very little time to work on my music, I'm now back in the studio (still not as much as I would like). I've started playing keyboards in bands in the early eighties, and soon after doing vocals as well. Lately, I've been focussing more on the mixing and production stage, and I'm still learning.

So, this is the first track released under my new project name, "Inverse Machines". It is a progressive/symphonic/psychedelic rock track, with influences from Jazz Rock, Fusion, and eighties New Wave. I wrote this song back in 1985. I completely re-tracked and rearranged it, with a whole new bridge section. The song makes heavy use of vocoder, and the original in 1985 did as well; I performed it back then live with my band, with an actual vocoder on stage.

The song is about a person who is the first to travel into the future, but the time-machine works only one way. This person remembers its origin era when candles were still a thing. The song is sung from this person's perspective, while there are fragments of interviews with the science team interspersed with the verses.

This track was an absolute beast to mix, because of the dense instrumentation (which is normal in this genre). Also, I'm aiming for that eighties rock esthetic (yep, loads of reverb), with a pinch of arena-rock sound.

Century of Candlelight

A track by Inverse Machines

alonetone.com

 

[Tod_TVI]

This is not my kind of thing Crimson, but I like it. I have a professional control room and this sounds great, even if the content is a little over my head.

 

[CrimsonWarlock]

This is not my kind of thing Crimson, but I like it. I have a professional control room and this sounds great, even if the content is a little over my head.

Thank you very much for this, Tod. I mix mainly on small near-fields, with a little help from a set of Sony MDR-7506 headphones. Besides that, hearing high frequencies is an issue because of age (although I'm a good 20 years younger than you). I do test my mixes on several different audio setups, but the ultimate test if the mix translates to other systems is when other people listen to it. You stating it sounds great in your control room, makes my day.

And saying you like the track, even if this is not your thing, is the icing on the cake

 

[L]

Bravo on the mix Crimson, really 3 dimensional. Will listen to it again on the big speakers later.

Edit: Listened again on the Genelecs, and then on Audeze LCD-X headphones. The overall mix sounded too bright on the Genelecs for my taste. On the headphones, maybe just a hair bright. The original listen on a MacBook Air speakers sounded perfect.

I liked the song and the concept. I only wished the drum parts breathed more. I like the activity, but I think it would do the song more justice if there was an alteration between very active, and something more sparse and consistent. The constant variation started getting monotonous towards the end, if that makes sense. But that might have been your intention as part of the effect.

 

[CrimsonWarlock]

Bravo on the mix Crimson, really 3 dimensional. Will listen to it again on the big speakers later.

Thanks for that, I worked really hard on the overall soundstage.

Edit: Listened again on the Genelecs, and then on Audeze LCD-X headphones. The overall mix sounded too bright on the Genelecs for my taste. On the headphones, maybe just a hair bright. The original listen on a MacBook Air speakers sounded perfect.

Thanks for testing the translation to your systems. They are clearly several levels above my monitoring options.

The brightness is obviously the result of the current state of my hearing (age related). Nevertheless, this does surprise me. To counter the loss of high tones in my hearing, I do use a lot of reference tracks to calibrate my hearing as much as possible, and (to my ears) this track sounds actually less bright than most references I listened to. I also use a spectrum analyzer to be sure to not overshoot in the highs. This doesn't mean you're wrong of course, and I'm going to put more attention to this.

I liked the song and the concept.

Thanks

I only wished the drum parts breathed more. I like the activity, but I think it would do the song more justice if there was an alteration between very active, and something more sparse and consistent. The constant variation started getting monotonous towards the end, if that makes sense. But that might have been your intention as part of the effect.

The variation in the drums was definitely intentional, as it is very much Jazz Rock influenced. It is also going towards the tense atmosphere I tried to create, in line with the song concept. That was also part of the original we played live in 1985-1986.

 

[Ibofobi]

Very nice song and very nice mix, congratulations! I enjoyed listening to it.

As @Louie said, you got good depth in there, so well done with that.

I'll add my thoughts about the mix, though of course there is always a fine balance between personal preferences and more objective improvement areas, so keep that in mind.

As mentioned, I also think the mix is a bit on the bright side. More specifically, I think that the highs sounds good, but the low end lacks some body in order to balance the highs out, for example in low drums and bass instruments.

As you say, there are many things going on in the song, and personally I'd pull down the level of the (high) drums a bit in order to make better room for all other instruments in the front, keeping the drums at a certain distance.

In regards to getting a mix to translate well, in addition to listening to your music in different setups, you can also pay extra attention to the frequency area which is actually present in most listening systems.

If you cut away everything below around 150 - 200 Hz and everything above 5 - 6 kHz for example, you should still hear everything in the mix come through the way you want. If things are missing here the mix will probably not translate well to all systems. You may need to work with adding harmonics and such to get low frequency instruments audible / up into this range.

With this in place, the lows and highs outside this area can just fill out nicely for the systems that can provide it.

 

[proggermusic]

OK, here goes...

After several years of having very little time to work on my music, I'm now back in the studio (still not as much as I would like). I've started playing keyboards in bands in the early eighties, and soon after doing vocals as well. Lately, I've been focussing more on the mixing and production stage, and I'm still learning.

So, this is the first track released under my new project name, "Inverse Machines". It is a progressive/symphonic/psychedelic rock track, with influences from Jazz Rock, Fusion, and eighties New Wave. I wrote this song back in 1985. I completely re-tracked and rearranged it, with a whole new bridge section. The song makes heavy use of vocoder, and the original in 1985 did as well; I performed it back then live with my band, with an actual vocoder on stage.

The song is about a person who is the first to travel into the future, but the time-machine works only one way. This person remembers its origin era when candles were still a thing. The song is sung from this person's perspective, while there are fragments of interviews with the science team interspersed with the verses.

This track was an absolute beast to mix, because of the dense instrumentation (which is normal in this genre). Also, I'm aiming for that eighties rock esthetic (yep, loads of reverb), with a pinch of arena-rock sound.

Century of Candlelight

A track by Inverse Machines

alonetone.com

I'm a total sucker for all this stuff. Awesome job. Makes me want to just immerse myself in the wonderful worlds of gated reverb and Oberheims. '80s TV, film, and game soundtracks were the first music I ever loved, and this could be in a John Carpenter film (I mean that in a very good way).

 

[CrimsonWarlock]

Very nice song and very nice mix, congratulations! I enjoyed listening to it.

Thanks

I think that the highs sounds good, but the low end lacks some body in order to balance the highs out, for example in low drums and bass instruments.

This is an esthetic thing: With late seventies and early eighties rock, there is not much happening below, say, 75 Hz. This kind of music doesn't have sub-bass or things like that.

My monitors go down to 60 Hz, so for my style of music that's good enough. My problem with low frequencies is because I don't have a sub, is the risk that there is too much bass. Currently, I use a spectrum analyzer to prevent that.

In regards to getting a mix to translate well, in addition to listening to your music in different setups, you can also pay extra attention to the frequency area which is actually present in most listening systems.

If you cut away everything below around 150 - 200 Hz and everything above 5 - 6 kHz for example, you should still hear everything in the mix come through the way you want. If things are missing here the mix will probably not translate well to all systems.

This is already covered in my studio. I do check mono compatibility while mixing, and I have a 'small' frequency profile that basically emulates a (old) transistor radio. I also test my mix on my phone, and on laptop speakers. I'm pretty sure the mix translates well to setups with limited frequency ranges.

 

[CrimsonWarlock]

I'm a total sucker for all this stuff. Awesome job. Makes me want to just immerse myself in the wonderful worlds of gated reverb and Oberheims. '80s TV, film, and game soundtracks were the first music I ever loved, and this could be in a John Carpenter film (I mean that in a very good way).

Thanks progger. Knowing a little bit about your background, makes your compliment even greater for me.

And mentioning a John Carpenter movie can of course only be meant in a good way

 

[Tom Spell]

OK, here goes...

After several years of having very little time to work on my music, I'm now back in the studio (still not as much as I would like). I've started playing keyboards in bands in the early eighties, and soon after doing vocals as well. Lately, I've been focussing more on the mixing and production stage, and I'm still learning.

So, this is the first track released under my new project name, "Inverse Machines". It is a progressive/symphonic/psychedelic rock track, with influences from Jazz Rock, Fusion, and eighties New Wave. I wrote this song back in 1985. I completely re-tracked and rearranged it, with a whole new bridge section. The song makes heavy use of vocoder, and the original in 1985 did as well; I performed it back then live with my band, with an actual vocoder on stage.

The song is about a person who is the first to travel into the future, but the time-machine works only one way. This person remembers its origin era when candles were still a thing. The song is sung from this person's perspective, while there are fragments of interviews with the science team interspersed with the verses.

This track was an absolute beast to mix, because of the dense instrumentation (which is normal in this genre). Also, I'm aiming for that eighties rock esthetic (yep, loads of reverb), with a pinch of arena-rock sound.

Century of Candlelight

A track by Inverse Machines

alonetone.com

This is great. I love the cinematic / 80s feeling and the overall atmosphere. The sounds, especially the synths, are very well chosen and balanced. Also good integration of sound effects and spoken parts. +1 regarding the depht of the mix.

My highlight: Excellent vibe from 0:39 to 1:13 !

Great work!

 

[CrimsonWarlock]

This is great. I love the cinematic / 80s feeling and the overall atmosphere. The sounds, especially the synths, are very well chosen and balanced. Also good integration of sound effects and spoken parts. +1 regarding the depht of the mix.

Thanks, Tom. Much appreciated. Especially your remark on the sound effects.

My highlight: Excellent vibe from 0:39 to 1:13 !

Aah, I added that part last, to push the cinematic atmosphere. And that Oberheim-ish brass line is of course a bit of a rite of passage in this genre

 

[HCMarkus]

Nice! I'm just listening on a laptop, and the mix sounds solid here. (Oh, the challenge of mixing for so many different playback environments!)

One small suggestion: consider putting the melody synth @0:25-38 in legato mode to allow the quick phrases towards the end of this section to be slurred and thus sound more natural. Just a detail.

 

[CrimsonWarlock]

Nice! I'm just listening on a laptop, and the mix sounds solid here. (Oh, the challenge of mixing for so many different playback environments!)

Thank you for listening to my track. Indeed, getting a mix to sound good (almost) everywhere is quite the challenge.

One small suggestion: consider putting the melody synth @0:25-38 in legato mode to allow the quick phrases towards the end of this section to be slurred and thus sound more natural. Just a detail.

I get what you mean, but it was a conscious choice to have the envelopes re-trigger each note, to keep the attack of the filter.

 

[Tim Nash]

This sounded good on my HD650's. For the high's ( and lows), just check the levels against your reference songs and if they look and sound the same , you should be good.

 

[L]

@CrimsonWarlock, how did you deal with the audio file resolution. I was thinking about posting something but am hesitant about posting an .mp3. In other words the file I listened to from your source site sounded good. Is it an .mp3? (I've had mixed results with audio quality posting .mp3)

 

[CrimsonWarlock]

how did you deal with the audio file resolution. I was thinking about posting something but am hesitant about posting an .mp3. In other words the file I listened to from your source site sounded good. Is it an .mp3? (I've had mixed results with audio quality posting .mp3)

I used to put my tracks up on SoundCloud, but for obvious reasons I've removed my tracks from that platform. When I was looking for another option to share music, I came across AloneTone, where this track is now hosted.

Now to your question, most platforms (including SoundCloud) do processing (transcoding, etc.) on your uploaded tracks. This makes it (sometimes) hard to predict the final online result. AloneTone, on the other hand, does not process your uploads. You can only upload MP3 files, but in any quality you like. You prepare the MP3 yourself, and you can check if it sounds good. After upload, that is what you get. Check the first items on their FAQ:

Frequently Asked Questions

alonetone.com

Now, AloneTone is completely free, there are no paid tiers or anything like that. It is also pretty basic (what I like), no player you can embed in forum posts, just a place to host your music and link to it. It is not useful to have people discover your music, and the community is rather small. But it is great for sharing music on forums like this one.

 

[Spirit Groove]

Now, AloneTone is completely free, there are no paid tiers or anything like that. It is also pretty basic (what I like), no player you can embed in forum posts, just a place to host your music and link to it. It is not useful to have people discover your music, and the community is rather small. But it is great for sharing music on forums like this one.

Thanks for posting this, I'll check it out as I'm wondering where to share my music when it's ready. I really like that they publish what you send them without additional processing.

I have been a video producer/editor for a long time and every platform changes the output you send for the worse. Early Youtube was a total crapshoot.

 

[Paulieworld]

Very very cool! Brings back pleasant memories of the 80s. Great synth music and fun, big hair bands. Too bad I was married to the wrong girl at the time. Fortunately, I remarried. Now when people ask me… Are you married, or happy? I can say… both!

This sounds big and aggressive in my headphones. Others here have weighed in on the production, so I will discuss the actual composition. It “almost” sounds like something that I’ve heard before. but then again not. If that makes sense. It was an entirely new track for me and held my interest from start to finish. I wish I wrote it! I can hear this being played at Mothers on Division Street back in the 80s. Google it. Great track for a packed dance floor full of weekend warriors, flush with cash from their last paycheck. Everybody was dressed to the nines and looked marvelous. Hey babe, wanna dance?

If you made this sound good on 2” laptop speakers, please tell me your secret!

Great stuff CW! I’m listening to it again.

 

[CrimsonWarlock]

Very very cool! Brings back pleasant memories of the 80s.

That's great to hear, and obviously what I was aiming for.

It “almost” sounds like something that I’ve heard before. but then again not. If that makes sense.

That makes a lot of sense (to me). My music is heavily inspired by a whole host of bands across several genres, but the resulting mix of those influences doesn't sound like any of those influences specifically. At least not to my own, obviously biased, perception.

I wish I wrote it!

That is the highest praise I can get. It is what I think myself when listening to favorite tracks from my idols: I wish I wrote that track.

If you made this sound good on 2” laptop speakers, please tell me your secret!

Obviously you can't make 2-inch laptop speakers sound like (in my case) 5-inch powered studio monitors. What you can do is make sure your mix doesn't collapse on smaller speakers. There's no secret; it is just listening to your mix on smaller systems and solving any problems that arise. Part of that is also testing your mix in mono, as people also listen on mono speakers (who would've thought 'that' would come back), like a smartphone or an Alexa.

To prevent myself from constantly moving my mix to other systems for preview, I have set up listening profiles in my DAW, that limit the sound spectrum to what smaller speakers can produce. I use McDSP's Futzbox plugin. But as you are working on an iPad, I have no idea if something similar is available for that.

 

[The Holographic Rodeo]

Wow! Lots going on here - this must have been a difficult song to mix, but to my ears you do a good job of keeping things balanced. I'd wonder if there's possibly a bit too much reverb in general for my taste - but I read above you're going for an 80s aesthetic here in line with when the song was originally written so this probably does make sense in the context of that.. Love the effects on the vocals. Arrangement wise there's plenty enough to keep me interested as a listener throughout the song.