Collab with my brother

[bigbluebarry]

Last week my family came down to celebrate Christmas at our place. Without getting too personal, my brother and I have never really been that close but over the last couple of years our relationship has definitely improved. This last visit was without a doubt one of the best we've ever had. On Friday night we spent a few hours in the studio and worked on some music together. We came away with two songs. One of them was a true collaboration, the other one was more or less me being an engineer for him to come up with a track of his own. I thought I'd post both tracks on here to see what you guys thought about them as well as to get some sort of ideas what kinds of listings they would work on.1) "Something In Common" - http://www.taximusic.com/song.php?song_ ... m=trueThis was the first song we did and it was the true collaboration of the two. I think it would work good in a "high octane" type of listing, which is what I had in mind when we were writing it. I figured hey, if we're going to come up with something, why not make it something that I could pitch!2) "Gear 42" - http://www.taximusic.com/song.php?song_ ... m=trueThis was the second song and I was basically the engineer for him on this one. I did all of the drum programming and helped out a little with the arranging, but all of the keyboard/synth stuff is my brother.ANY feedback on these, from production to writing to GENRE or listing types, would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!- Big Blue

[devin]

Hey Blue...great re-union you had there!!"Something in common" - yup, high octane/sports instrumental it for sure! On my lousy sound-card & headphones, I think the one synth pad that is swelling in the background (the one that ends the song) needs a just a bit more cooking. I don't know what, but it doesn't have the stereo bite that your other elements do...maybe a bit too far back in the mix, I dunno?"Gear 42"...besides saying "I like it", I have to admit it's not my genre (my loss). Good luck with it though! At times all the elements stop in unison after a double drum hit...check out 1:08 - 1:09 for a sample. I wonder if it's too noticeable when there's a gap like that? Or was that the intended effect? Again...I don't have the cred for guidance, just suggestions.Enjoy the new year Bro, I know we're both going to have alot of fun!

[bigbluebarry]

Thanks Devin... I'm still in the learning phase of mixing in "synth" type elements. That particular one was red-lining pretty hard for some reason so I ended up putting a limiter on it to keep it from clipping. I guess I should have also said that I only spent about 20 minutes each on the mix so I'm sure there's plenty of room for improvement. About the "stop" in the 2nd song... umm... not sure if it was intentional or not. I basically threw together a bunch of loops from the Claustrophobic kit and then he just played over top of that. I doubt it was an intentional thing.And speaking of Claustrophobic... "Gear 42" used loops from that kit exclusively and then on "Something in Common" I alternated between Claustrophobic for the "verses" and Drumkit from Hell for the "chorus." Did you order your new pack yet??? I'm right there with you man. I think next year is going to rock!- Big Blue

[ideascapes]

BBB,That's great that you and your bro bonded over music. Given the synth lead in SIC, you might consider a more electronic sound on the drum kit. In any case, it got buried a bit by the other sounds--you might need to filter to get the kit to be heard/felt more.The drums were more audible in Gear 42 and the snare was processed enough that it sounded like a bit better match to the music.My guess is this might be tough to place via TAXI. My experience with the screeners is they're very literal in interpreting the listings. So anything with crunchy guitars probably wouldn't have dominant synths, and anything with synth leads would be "electronica." Might be worth a try to test the theory, though, and there may be more leeway with the "high octane" listings.Vince

[billg]

Howdy Blue, always wished I had a brother! I think both of these tunes are pitchable. A bit out of my genre for me to guess where they would be best, but I like them!

[devin]

Check the bass frequency content of the synth in song #1...there may be some really heavy fundamental in there that I couldn't hear on my lousy headphones.If you don't need all that sub energy, you can carve it out a bit.

[teleblaster]

#1 sounds like a high octane forward to me for sure. Might consider bringing the drums out a touch is the only thing I hear; LF on this sounds fine on my studio monitors#2 -- The distressed kick/snare bothers me for some reason; but I'm probably just an old fart . I think the lead synth patch might be a bit 'aggressive/edgy' sound wise too, but then again see my disclaimer for about the kick/snare thing.... Maybe it's the fact that the synth patch and the drum loop both have the same sort of 'hair' on them. Maybe take that resonance on the synth back and the kick/snare will have room to pop? Just a thought.Cool pieces; must have been fun collaborating with your brother on music. My bro' and I usually just eat unhealthy foods, make scatological references and engage in anti-social behavior; but it helps us bond in our own way.Cheers and thanks for posting.Erich

[bigbluebarry]

Thanks for all the feedback everybody. I really didn't spend a whole of time mixing these before I uploaded them. I guess I was really more concerned with the overall content of the tracks than I was with the mix. Wanted to see if they were worth pursuing before I put too much more time into them. I'm definitely going to submit the first one to any "high octane" listing that comes along looking for rock/electronica type stuff. I'm still not sure what to do about the 2nd one. Anyways, thanks for everyone's feedback so far!- Big Blue