Having a go at a disco instrumental

[Rolf]

Hi, just had a listen to your last version, The kick and the bass sound muddy to me. Also, the sounds overall are not modern. Likely the screeners want you to have an old-school vibe with fresh sounds. The composition as such is good, so it's worth the effort to find contemporary sounds for that track. Hope that helps.

[MJLeeman]

Thanks Rolf, Telefunkin, Cosmic Dolphin, Crashgates and Cass

I have heard and taken on board your suggestions, redone things, returned to the drawing board and all that, and finally came up with this, where I try to incorporate as much of your advice as I possibly can at the moment. If I have achieved an incremental improvement as a result of this process, then I consider that as a positive. Thanks very much for your inputs.

Here's what I came up with.

https://www.taxi.com/members/nwRU7pygQr ... r-the-vibe


Cheers
Michael

[Paulie]

So I got hold of a Scarbee MM bass plugin...

I hope this means you "purchased" Scarbee MM Bass. It is an excellent bass library that I use a ton.

[Paulie]

The four on the floor bass drum is good at the start, but then the synth comes in and it sounds dated, not professional to the levels expected today. I would also push the synths further back in the mix. As far as the bass goes, there need to be a lot more short notes and muted notes to really establish a funky groove in the pocket. The Rhodes lead also doesn’t really work in my opinion. What about adding some classic disco strings?

[myk247365]

May I suggest instead of playing your upper melody with a synth, try 1st violins above the treble staff, 2nd violins an octave lower(on the treble staff) and violas an octave below that. Take the key up higher till you get that sharp string sound that is characteristic of late 70's disco.

Also, if you can find an old pair of Zildjian New Beat hihats and set them up with the tilt screw set so they "sizzle" all the time then play your hihat rhythms and overlay that with what you have, you'll get the variation from your recording but with enough consistency from the current track.

Hope this helps.

Michael

[MJLeeman]

So I got hold of a Scarbee MM bass plugin...

I hope this means you "purchased" Scarbee MM Bass. It is an excellent bass library that I use a ton.

Yes, Paulie, I read about the producer of a Dua Lipa track using a Scarbie bass, combined with a Trilian and a sub bass layer, so I bought the MM bass and I started experimenting.

Cheers
Michael

[MJLeeman]

The four on the floor bass drum is good at the start, but then the synth comes in and it sounds dated, not professional to the levels expected today. I would also push the synths further back in the mix. As far as the bass goes, there need to be a lot more short notes and muted notes to really establish a funky groove in the pocket. The Rhodes lead also doesn’t really work in my opinion. What about adding some classic disco strings?

Thanks Paulie. I am looking to find new sounds generally which might be more appropriate to particular styles (rather than merely being not dated or of a higher quality).

Cheers
Michael

[MJLeeman]

May I suggest instead of playing your upper melody with a synth, try 1st violins above the treble staff, 2nd violins an octave lower(on the treble staff) and violas an octave below that. Take the key up higher till you get that sharp string sound that is characteristic of late 70's disco.

Also, if you can find an old pair of Zildjian New Beat hihats and set them up with the tilt screw set so they "sizzle" all the time then play your hihat rhythms and overlay that with what you have, you'll get the variation from your recording but with enough consistency from the current track.

Hope this helps.

Michael

Thanks Michael

I found a Zildjian closed hi hat sample on Splice. I haven't had a chance to fully put into place your suggestions re the strings and transposing the key upwards. I will definitely take your practical advice into consideration for any future listing in the disco category.

Cheers
Michael

[myk247365]

When you say "Zildjian closed hi hat sample" is it a software instrument, part of a drum kit? or is it just a wav file you'll drop into a sampler? The key to good hihat/ride is to have multiple samples that play somewhat randomly so that it doesn't sound like the same thing over and over. Humans never hit that hihat quite the same way twice... variation is key.

hope this helps

Michael