Last Tango

astroman · Post by **astroman** » Thu Jan 13, 2005 6:28 am

great tune

the filtered trumpet fits perfectly imho, much better than an 'ethno'-voice, which would have dragged it into a certain clichee.
Is the PsyQ (aside from level) the main influence of the sound character's change between the 2 versions ?
then i got a creeping suspicion...

cheers, tom

Post by **hubird** » Thu Jan 13, 2005 8:52 am

thanks Tom, good to hear the trumpets do fit the song IYO

The main difference coming from the PsyQ was that the drums, and specially the snare, got backward in the mix.
That, together with a boost of 2 dB on the bass, changed the song to a more laid back and warmer picture.
I was glad with it, because the intro's voicy stringlike sample part and also the Absynth 'guitar' are a bit penetrating sounding.

Yet it's hard to say Tom, because I also let the Optimaster make a new print.
And unless my own 'review' of the PsyQ the thing keeps puzzling me...

I friend of mine, kind of sound designer type, is missing now a fat rolling beat...ahhhrgh, it's never good

creeping suspicion? wha...?

[ This Message was edited by: hubird on 2005-01-13 08:53 ]

astroman · Post by **astroman** » Thu Jan 13, 2005 9:28 am

well, we've a small car radio, a really humble box and it's constantly tuned to the same station (1-life) NOT i-life

...
I always found their tunes stunningly impressive, even suspecting they used special 'promo' mixes...
Since it's a top 40 station most of the stuff was quite familiar from variuos places - and that car radio just wasn't real...

recently I found them on CWA's Cutmaster customer list - seems they deliberately optimaster and psyque their stuff to push it another 5-10%

cheers, Tom

jungleherbert · Post by **jungleherbert** » Sun Feb 06, 2005 11:35 am

Have only just started listening to stuff from this forum, and am very impressed with this tune. Would love the synth change at 01:56 to 02:12 (repeated later on) to be turned up a bit (just coz I like it!) and maybe the kick/hihat roll you've got going on at around 02:30 could be varied in velocity (as it stuttered a bit for my ears). But really this is just nit-picking - great work.

Post by **hubird** » Fri Feb 25, 2005 7:51 pm

sorry to bump this, but I just posted a mix of 'Last Tango' that should do it.
If you like to keep track, you could listen another time

I went forward and backward through it, don't get it better anyway, let alone trying new approaches

Don't know what it is after all, I let it go for now.
thanks everybody for your comments, very usefull things

Basic Pitch · Post by **Basic Pitch** » Tue Mar 01, 2005 7:42 pm

This kicks azz!

Very cool music hubird, love the sax and the entire overall vibe to this is totally chill, most excellent work indeed! the little subtle noises really add to the mood this piece creates, but man that sax is just killer, love the pinano with the old scratching pops goin on.

Great stuff!

next to nothing · Post by **next to nothing** » Tue Mar 01, 2005 8:16 pm

love it

Post by **hubird** » Tue Mar 01, 2005 8:26 pm

OK BP, thanks Piddy

scratches come from the same trumpet fragment, and are made by cowriter dj Gerwin.
By piano you, BP, mean the original piano that sometimes comes thrue in the trumpet sample?
I had to eq it out now and then, but sometimes it's perfect like it was

Did I mention it's Louis Amstrong on Trumpet?

btw - I used the Masterverb Pro for general medium Hall reverb in this song.
At the moment, as a final act, I'm trying to replace it by a more or less identical Hall reverb from my hardware Lexicon MPX1.
It looks like I really get a better room suggestion than from the MasterverbPro.
I will upload the new version soon (without bumping the thread

).
Hm, a bit disappointed is what I am, so far it's clear I can't sell the mpx1 without loosing the best reverb I have...

[ This Message was edited by: hubird on 2005-03-01 21:21 ]

Liquid EDGE · Post by **Liquid EDGE** » Tue Mar 01, 2005 10:25 pm

nice. i like it a lot. big improvement from orig..

it was good to hear the evolution of the mix..

one thing i would like to know is how you get the track to sound softer (but just as phat). Carefull and specific eq'ing of the hard area's? Reverb and compression?

_________________
Keep Rollin'

http://www.mutationrecords.co.uk

[ This Message was edited by: Liquid EDGE on 2005-03-01 22:49 ]

Post by **hubird** » Tue Mar 01, 2005 10:48 pm

good ears you have

I worked hard on cleanness of the sound, I guess that's what you're talking about.

Previously I had PSP MixTreble applied to several sounds, just and only for its Transients module.
Modulation of the transient's frequency worked as a subtle filter, but it turned out that the overall sound got noisy and nontransparant, so recently I exchanged that by classic filtering by Creamware's Interpole.

A second thing is that I deminished the amount of reverb on almost all elements.
And now I'm even exchanging on its turn the masterverb pro reverb by the one of Lexicon MPX1 (which alas needs rebouncing of former tracks).

And a third thing can be that I lowered the high compartment of the Optimaster compressor with 2 dB.
This gives a softer performance also

So yes, it sounds softer, but except for the highs there hasn't changed anything else in the Optimaster, let alone in the PsyQ.
It isn't pushed to the ceilings anyway

Don't wanne bump, so here's an edit

edit 14-03-05: ok, and I mean it, now it's ready

I added an ambient Absynth thingie with the same preset as the main Absynth, replaced the Masterverb Pro by my hardware Lexicon MPX1, did some drum edits, and added a reversed trumpet riff that starts up itself.
and 1000 other details

thanks for listening and comments, all of you

[ This Message was edited by: hubird on 2005-03-13 22:02 ]

wayne · Post by **wayne** » Tue Mar 01, 2005 11:10 pm

Dig it, Huub

Spirit · Post by **Spirit** » Tue Mar 08, 2005 1:09 am

Beautifully put together, really coherant. Everything sounds like it belongs exactly in its place.

AudioIrony · Post by **AudioIrony** » Tue Mar 08, 2005 2:45 am

Can't remember what this sounded like last time I listened - I have it somewhere.... anyway - love this - very hypnotic and tastefully mixed.
Saving new version as I type