Tombstones of the Supernatural City

Jtucker

Jtucker

Jedi Master
I've been here on the forum for a number of years. I'm comfortable with posting some ideas that are speculative or evidence based - and I've learned a lot by testing those waters. There are so many people here with deep, investigative minds. And it's driven me to find a new direction in where I can feel good everyday spending my energy and focus on (hopefully) things that can help my family, friends, and maybe even the forum.

I've never been comfortable posting my creative work. But here goes. This is an old Sony drum machine syncopated loop with me playing a Casio synth, bass line and a Pentatonic minor box scale over all of it on an amazing guitar I don't have anymore.

Photos are from a trip to NYC years ago I took and cut to the audio. For anyone who listened to AOR 70/80's music this is my tribute to the guitarist from Roxy Music - Phil Manzanera.

The reason I chose the title "Tombstones of the Supernatural City", was a paper I read years ago about how Skyscrapers are a testament to ego of their builders and the Supernatural City dies in shadows of the monuments of the rich (Skyscrapers). Which I think is basically the view of St Petersburg. Agree 100%. But being from the prairies in Canada - the land is expansive, but the cities are imposed on by nature. We grew up with NYC TV and culture from a far away place. So NYC was the "Holy Grail" of culture to get to.

I think the feel of the song is more "proggy" and Urban than the real supernatural/ancient city is. But for me it was all magical at that time to be there. I'm adding a lot of notes about this track, but honestly the photos and the music just came out of me and there was nothing really intended to make a message. I just really love music :-)

Hope you like it.

 
Jtucker said:
I've been here on the forum for a number of years. I'm comfortable with posting some ideas that are speculative or evidence based - and I've learned a lot by testing those waters. There are so many people here with deep, investigative minds. And it's driven me to find a new direction in where I can feel good everyday spending my energy and focus on (hopefully) things that can help my family, friends, and maybe even the forum.
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I can relate to your feelings about being open when it comes to sharing your talent. I appreciate your effort and how well you layed each track down and maintained a good clear sound in the remixing. If you like, I'm very good at texting and putting a voice to finished tracks. Maybe we can take this to the next level?
 
Jtucker said:
Photos are from a trip to NYC years ago I took and cut to the audio. For anyone who listened to AOR 70/80's music this is my tribute to the guitarist from Roxy Music - Phil Manzanera.
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Thank you @Jtucker....I liked it very much....before I noticed the reference to Manzanera, I thought your piece had a sound like my most played album of its time, "Avalon."
 
Zzartemis said:
Thank you @Jtucker....I liked it very much....before I noticed the reference to Manzanera, I thought your piece had a sound like my most played album of its time, "Avalon."
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I do love Avalon! I can remember the day it came out and our local AOR station played it when I was in Grade 8. I was blown away by it's elegance and rich orchestrations. Bryan Ferry's voice is so smooth too. Truly magical music!
 
Toni Lorenzo said:
I can relate to your feelings about being open when it comes to sharing your talent. I appreciate your effort and how well you layed each track down and maintained a good clear sound in the remixing. If you like, I'm very good at texting and putting a voice to finished tracks. Maybe we can take this to the next level?
Click to expand...
Thanks, Toni! I appreciate the offer and will definitely keep it in mind. I'm still committed to create instrumental music only for now, but you're very kind for offering! Who knows about what the future might bring.
 
brandon said:
Yeah! I love "Avalon", the guitar sound and whole mix is so subdued and sort of watery, which I'm really into... And this is lovely Jtucker, thanks for sharing! Really evocative and atmospheric, and fits beautifully with the old photos.
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Thanks, Brandon! You pretty much nailed the description for what I was hoping to achieve. I'm glad it came through that way. Composing something in my head doesn't always translate into an actual recording.
 
Jtucker said:
I've been here on the forum for a number of years. I'm comfortable with posting some ideas that are speculative or evidence based - and I've learned a lot by testing those waters. There are so many people here with deep, investigative minds. And it's driven me to find a new direction in where I can feel good everyday spending my energy and focus on (hopefully) things that can help my family, friends, and maybe even the forum.

I've never been comfortable posting my creative work. But here goes. This is an old Sony drum machine syncopated loop with me playing a Casio synth, bass line and a Pentatonic minor box scale over all of it on an amazing guitar I don't have anymore.

Photos are from a trip to NYC years ago I took and cut to the audio. For anyone who listened to AOR 70/80's music this is my tribute to the guitarist from Roxy Music - Phil Manzanera.

The reason I chose the title "Tombstones of the Supernatural City", was a paper I read years ago about how Skyscrapers are a testament to ego of their builders and the Supernatural City dies in shadows of the monuments of the rich (Skyscrapers). Which I think is basically the view of St Petersburg. Agree 100%. But being from the prairies in Canada - the land is expansive, but the cities are imposed on by nature. We grew up with NYC TV and culture from a far away place. So NYC was the "Holy Grail" of culture to get to.

I think the feel of the song is more "proggy" and Urban than the real supernatural/ancient city is. But for me it was all magical at that time to be there. I'm adding a lot of notes about this track, but honestly the photos and the music just came out of me and there was nothing really intended to make a message. I just really love music :-)

Hope you like it.

Click to expand...

On @987baz 's thread on his new music, I mentioned I'd post my son Chris's music. This is "Moving on Rough" (yes the mastering is too loud for my taste ;-)

Just as a background, he was exposed to all kinds of music as a kid. Primarily his mother and I played 70's and 80's rock and metal. Later, I played much more jazz and funk. I still prefer the softer stuff, although I enjoy all forms of music.

I also attached a track that my buddy and I are working in an un-mastered version. It's a jazzed up cover of Ian Thomas Band's, "Time is The Keeper". Most likely it's an unfamiliar song if you didn't grow up in Canada in the late 70's or early 80's. Our technical prowess in production is dramatically below what my kid or @987baz can accomplish. But as our ears have gotten older we gravitate towards more subdued sounds. Surprisingly we both spent years in pretty extreme speed metal bands...
 

Attachments

  • Moving On Rough Mix(1).mp3
    8.9 MB
  • MP3 Time is The Keeper Tuesday 1.mp3
    4.4 MB
Righto, just had a listen on my monitors in my studio.


Comments for Moving on:

Damn, great arrangment, love the lead work and tone and that bass sits so well, solid rhythm guitar great separation. Kinda reminds me of a cross between Animals as leaders vs Dream Theatre.

For me the mix is super clean! like, too much for me haha, I know it's personal preference, but it's so clean/digital which if that's what you are going for, you nailed it!! Very modern sound for sure, personally I'd like a bit more dirt.

Now as an instrumental track I am assuming the synth is kinda taking the "role" of the vocals? in parts, I find it too loud, but if it's as I said before, the vocal of sorts, it makes sense. Love the synth texture btw, almost a choral effect later in the track.

Not sure what you're using for drums, but I would say this is the my only real gripe .. I mean they're solid, and mixed well, balanced etc, but they are quite lifeless IMO, they sound like sampled drums to me but it's hard to tell these days. I would love to hear a bit more room mic on these, and maybe a bit of saturation. maybe even a bit of widening on the toms. The groove is rad but I want to feel it more haha if that makes sense.

All in all dude, great piece or work, you're obviously very talented, instrument wise and mixing/mastering wise, and to me very precise about your mixes, more so than me haha. If you ever want to collab, or want me to throw some vocals on something, I down for sure!

Time is the Keeper:

wow, groovy! not my normal style to listen to, but I can certainly appreciate the musicianship, love the bass, and the mix suits it perfectly IMO. Sounds like a fun track to jam with, I bet you guys had fun laying that down!

anyway .. just my opinion, we all have different tastes, enjoyed listening to both tracks.. keep up the great work and I look forward to hearing more
 
987baz said:
Righto, just had a listen on my monitors in my studio.


Comments for Moving on:

Damn, great arrangment, love the lead work and tone and that bass sits so well, solid rhythm guitar great separation. Kinda reminds me of a cross between Animals as leaders vs Dream Theatre.

For me the mix is super clean! like, too much for me haha, I know it's personal preference, but it's so clean/digital which if that's what you are going for, you nailed it!! Very modern sound for sure, personally I'd like a bit more dirt.

Now as an instrumental track I am assuming the synth is kinda taking the "role" of the vocals? in parts, I find it too loud, but if it's as I said before, the vocal of sorts, it makes sense. Love the synth texture btw, almost a choral effect later in the track.

Not sure what you're using for drums, but I would say this is the my only real gripe .. I mean they're solid, and mixed well, balanced etc, but they are quite lifeless IMO, they sound like sampled drums to me but it's hard to tell these days. I would love to hear a bit more room mic on these, and maybe a bit of saturation. maybe even a bit of widening on the toms. The groove is rad but I want to feel it more haha if that makes sense.

All in all dude, great piece or work, you're obviously very talented, instrument wise and mixing/mastering wise, and to me very precise about your mixes, more so than me haha. If you ever want to collab, or want me to throw some vocals on something, I down for sure!

Time is the Keeper:

wow, groovy! not my normal style to listen to, but I can certainly appreciate the musicianship, love the bass, and the mix suits it perfectly IMO. Sounds like a fun track to jam with, I bet you guys had fun laying that down!

anyway .. just my opinion, we all have different tastes, enjoyed listening to both tracks.. keep up the great work and I look forward to hearing more
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Thanks so much for the feedback, @987baz. Chris really appreciated it. His comments below:

Great feedback! I completely agree with everything he said, especially in regards to drums. Definitely a weak point of mine. Also probably explains why I was so enamored by his snare!! The drums I use are 100% samples though. Perhaps I should spend more time making them sound more alive!

But he also went a lot easier on me than he needed to which was nice! I actually left the email with quite the confidence boost! I'm gonna have to add him up on something because I definitely want to collaborate with him at some point!

So thank you again! I'll step aside and if you guys make contact on your own, that's great. Somehow he has almost zero social media presence and none of his music is up. But I suggested he contact you through your YouTube channel if you guys are interested in more "shop" talk or collab.
 
Jtucker said:
Thanks so much for the feedback, @987baz. Chris really appreciated it. His comments below:

Great feedback! I completely agree with everything he said, especially in regards to drums. Definitely a weak point of mine. Also probably explains why I was so enamored by his snare!! The drums I use are 100% samples though. Perhaps I should spend more time making them sound more alive!

But he also went a lot easier on me than he needed to which was nice! I actually left the email with quite the confidence boost! I'm gonna have to add him up on something because I definitely want to collaborate with him at some point!

So thank you again! I'll step aside and if you guys make contact on your own, that's great. Somehow he has almost zero social media presence and none of his music is up. But I suggested he contact you through your YouTube channel if you guys are interested in more "shop" talk or collab.
Click to expand...

My pleasure :headbanger:

I use sampled drums too FWIW, although atm I am jamming with a drummer who uses an electronic kit and plays through my DAW.

It's all a matter of taste in the end, there is no right or wrong, just what we like. I reckon with just a bit more "liveness" and maybe even a touch of random velocity the drums would come alive. All I do when I mix is, do I like this? does it sound the way I want.

I am happy he got a confidence boost out of it, it's not easy as artists to hear things that aren't 100% awesome, but that's the key right, take what resonates from the feedback and leave the rest. He is talented and the world needs more people putting things out, so i would highly recommend getting things out! I suffered from perfectionism for quite a while, it's crippling, my advice is just to keep putting things out, and learning and growing, we're never 100% satisfied with the results (speaking for myself) but that's the way it's meant to be, like in our personal lives, we aim to be better than yesterday, so too with our craft! For me my music is imperfectly perfect ;) hahaha

awesome, yeah would be great to collab, he can hit my up on YT any time!!
 
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