Orbital (v3 update)

[jonetsu]

UPDATE Oct 29th: see further down in the thread for details. The link remains the same.

A smooth base of arpeggiated synths upon which are expressions of a violin and saxophone. It is largely improvisation-based and during its 7 minutes, smoothly moves its coloration. Slowly developing, an ambient piece but still one that has movement.

Comments welcomed.

https://soundcloud.com/nominal6/orbital

Update:

I uploaded a new version(October 28th) in which the saxophone as well as the violin are blending better in the general ambiance. Basically the volume were adjusted and delay was added on a bus. The bass was adjusted at times using the existing track. And the percussions do not end so abruptly at the end.

[jonetsu]

Technical details

OS: Linux Mint 18 KDE
Creation: Bitwig 2.4.1
Mixing, mastering: Harrison Mixbus32C 5.1

Audio processing used

Creation

sax solo: TRS LA2A emulation, TRS CSR Hall reverb
pad: TRS Tape echo
snare and percs: u-he Protoverb

Tracks were then exported for mixing.

Mixing

Harrison Mixbus32C built-in compressor used on many tracks with a ratio of 2 or less.
Harrison tape saturation at default setting on masterbus

kick drum: MFreeformEQ for making space for the bass
drums: Harrison XT-DC for adding 'character'
bass: TRS Black 76 1176 emulation
short occasional pad: TRS CSR Hall echo
sax, violin added delay: MTurboDelay
violin: TRS Black 76 for tonal M/S
violin end: short use of MSpectralDelay
bass and drums were fed through a TRS Fairchild emulation

Mastering, on master bus

Harrison Mixbus32C built-in master bus tape saturation
Harrison Mixbus32C built-in master bus tone control

TRS One with volume at 0 and push at 9
Voxengo Elephant with flowing +3dB preset
MStereoProcessor for added width

[lilith]

That's a great piece and I like it much more than HOMERUN! I think this version is also better (more ambient) than the previous one which I only listened on the phone.

Indeed it's special and has an unheard character. The saxophone fits very well and I like how the violins replace the sax. The transition sounds very smooth. The bass also fits perfect and is well integrated. The arpeggios at the beginning are sometimes maybe a bit too harsh (e.g. @ 0:23), but it's still totally ok.

[jonetsu]

Thanks ! I agree about the arp. I might put out another version that snooths them.

Cheers.

[jonetsu]

UPDATED October 29th: smoothed out the edges of some synth arps, adjusted violin sound and expression so that it blends better, removed some midrange from the latter part bass.

Cheers.