Module 2 Project Share: Perceived Space Graphs

[idelgadillo_o]

Here is the Graph of the song I chose.
https://docs.google.com/drawings/d/1ORyJev-fkTdETE-Hz5JSuLP6FurIYuAr7u2L9hxrteg/edit?usp=sharing

Hi, I chose this song not only because I love this band but because I love how simple it is yet so full of melody. I think the synth organ leads the song throughout as a mid sound. The guitars have this great reverb that makes them sound far away which interprets the song very well. I placed the drums an bass closer because once the song gets closer to the end it seems that they get way louder than anything else.

[mikecurtis]

@alexruthmann Thanks, Alex. Aurally teasing apart instruments in a mix is something I would like to become better at. Indie rock mixes are especially frustrating for me, because I usually hear one homogeneous swirl of sound, but always suspect there are many layers of relatively simple guitar playing contained.

I used the big front to back blocks to represent the volume swells with synth and horns. Which brings up a point I was hoping could be addressed in detail at some point in this course: how to control in a mix - or represent spatially - a sound in terms on close/far or front/back.

In this module stereo left/right seems straight forward - not withstanding the earlier pan L/R versus center discussion - but near and far seem more complex. I think of this distance aspect in a few ways:
1. closeness of an instrument to a listener
2. closeness of an instrument to a mic (not necessarily the same as #1)
3. the size of the room or the qualities of reflected sound
4. overall loudness, I guess in terms of decibels

I might even add another: a wide stereo placement could imply more distance since far left would seem to be necessarily farther away than right in front of my face.

I'm fumbling for words now... I hope I can learn more pro-tips on these aspects as the course progresses.

[davebee]

Here's my project for module 2. I took a country & western tune that seemed simple. But I was amazed at the complexity of the mix. The mix changed so much from verse to chorus and back that I decided to do an animation of the space graph to try and keep up with it. Seems to me that the producer of this piece had a strategy of starting off simple and adding depth and complexity to the mix as the tune progressed.

Hope this works for embedding:

Anne Murray is famous for serving as her own backup group. The Bk Vox track is supposed to have been created by superimposing several copies of the Ld Vox track. (Sorry that the lyrics don't go on. I started adding them but before long gave up - too time consuming.)

[chemacabello]

This is a classic disco
tune, but I love the happiness that transmit and its obvious and
pretty simple sexual references .

The song was international
success. The voices of Mayte and Maria were warm and passionate.

I think that Rolf Soja,
author of the tune pretended to emulate the sound of Phil Spector
with the amount of synth in the song. Some kind of “wall of sound
with synths”.

The percusive 1/16 hithat
and the bass give to the tune the mood for dancing. Who wants more?
http://youtu.be/KGuFn0RPgaE

[Jared_Johnson]

I chose to do Macklemore and Ryan Lewis' "White Walls."

And here is my graph for it.

I did not know this was such a complicated song when I started. Even this fairly complicated graph doesn't show all the instruments. I hear the Macklemore vocals on both sides and a bit in the middle. The producer definitely separated a few of the instruments and intentionally placed them farther away. Learned a lot doing this exercise, and I am not going to listen to or make music the same way again.

[Supertramp]

The song I´ve chosen is Butterflies & Hurricanes by Muse http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EzCKrwOme2U

I´ve chosen this song because I really like the middle section with the acoustic piano and the strings, it sounds like a prelude by Rachmaninov.

[Supertramp]

I´m sorry, I forgot to upload this section.

[vitalispopoff]

Track of my choice is quite unusual, and may be a good example of how the panorama constructing techniques evolved.

The track comes from Niemen - Enigmatic (published in 1970). The album is considered one of the greatest polish rock records and combines rock, jazz (in this particular song sax solo was played by a legend - Zbigniew Namysłowski).
What is so strange, is that part of the instruments is located against the rules highlighted in the course video, also the stereo separation is quite strong, which is easy to notice specially in case of bass guitar. Another thing is dynamics - I've put sax in two places, as Namysłowski is rather hard to be heard in the song's first part, then takes all the space for himself in improvisation, after which he gets back to the far plans but this time he doesn't dissapear and frequently breaks the harmonies and rhythms with spooky sounds.

https://docs.google.com/drawings/d/1L-cm5VCNHQBm1QIREoRCBAC5x88VefMEVMkLTuyP1pY/edit?usp=sharing

---

On the other hand I wanted to analyze The Bug w/ Warrior Queen - Poison Dart, however the structure is too complex for the graph sketch, so I'd like to point out two things instead:

• layering the drums: there are at least three different drum loops: effected drums (in back and little to the left), the main drumset (almost stricly centered), an additional snare drum at the end of some phrases (massive, sharp sound quite away and on the right side), percussion overs (a bit to the right in the middle of distance),
• although main vocal is rather in front center, the back vocs (ending phrases) are two layers, and because the left one is a few miliseconds after the right one, it soudse like it was just few inches farther, both however sound like they closer to the listener than main vocal.

…and of course the track:

… I'd like to mention, that might be completely wrong, as I often put my headphones backwards, and connect my speakers inversely - it's high time to label cables…

[mikecurtis]

@vitalispopoff I really enjoyed the Nieman track, and think your space map is spot on accurate.

[lekan011]

I chose Golden Child by Alicia Keys because it is one of my favorite, Unreleased, songs from her and also i like her use of the guitar as an accompany as well as a lead.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZvL9LLaeNCk

I analyzed this song starting from 0 to 1:00 because it is when the majority of the instruments and vocals meet.

[ebsynth]

Fellow sound enthusiasts,

I am sending a space graph for the song "Turn of the Century" by Yes. The song can be heard at the link

I have divided the song into four sections based on the expression of different melodic themes. The Space Graph is a static representation of the second section beginning around 3:49 (just after Chris Squire's "I am sure we know" background vocal) and extends via an instrumental build-up to the crashing cymbal at ~5:17.

I particularly like this song for several reasons:
tasteful virtuosic playing without any excess by the guitarist, pianist and drummer:
the drummer does not lay down conventional drum rhythms but instead contributes melodically using tuned percussion and cymbals;
the arrangement is distinctly original and the emotional power conveyed by the song is reflected by the layers of vibraphone harmonics and Polymoog pads drenched in reverb.

In addition to the deep emotions elicited by this music, the song is also particularly challenging to dissect technically. For these reasons, I find it irresistible.

I hope that you like it too.
Greetings,
Eb

TOTCSpaceGraph.pdf (88.4 KB)

[vitalispopoff]

@mikecurtis: thumbs up. I'd suggest more from Niemen, but it's not a place for that

[mdettelson]

I chose to analyze the bridge and chorus of Mayer Hawthorne's "Her Favorite Song". I really enjoy the dark pop sound, and I wanted to know how the producers made the bridge seem so dark tonally while still maintaining a constant groove.

It seems that the two parts that contribute most to this effect are the drums, which consist of a low passed kick and hi hat. The hi hat becomes more prominent in the chorus because the filter cutoff is increased (more frequencies are let through), but it still lacks its highest frequencies. The guitar in the background is also low passed, which adds to the darker tone.

I also really enjoy Jessie Ware's vocals, which give the bridge such a beautiful texture and are even more beautiful when brought to the front of the mix for the chorus. Drenching her voice in reverb doesn't hurt either.Her voice is drenched in reverb, giving it a hauntingly beautiful quality in both sections.

If anyone has any comments or suggestions for my PSG, I'm all ears!

[sblazicevich]

I chose "Chameleon Boy" by Blue October, because it's a favorite and also the lead singer of the group cited Peter Gabriel as one of his influences, so I thought it was appropriate. I went round and round on the location of some of the parts and I'm sure some of them are probably 'wrong' (I can't decide if the vocal is ahead or behind the Bass.) but this is the best I can come up with. Happy to hear suggestions or field questions.

I found it an interesting choice during at least one of the verses to stick the snare off to the left sort of by itself. Changed the dimension of the sound quite a bit, and that's why it has it's own box. I guess that it was gated, but correct me if I'm wrong. You can also definitely hear that individual drums on the kit have been panned around in certain spots.

Graph: https://docs.google.com/drawings/d/1KX9Tnum5nsgRJwKlyrCCfCPBAdv2u-QrDU7T3RsnHnI/edit?usp=sharing

Song: http://youtu.be/7QBEUYVy-vY

[ricci]

Mogwai - I Love You, I'm Going to Blow up Your School
(Intro e first section 00.00 - 02.30)
Mogwai - I Love You, I'm Going to Blow up Your School

One of my fav bands and one of my fav of their song.
I picked up just of parte of the song beacuse it' s a bit long (7.33) and the mix is really dynamic.

BASS : the song starts with a bass solo. The first low note gives a dark tint to the wide sound.
it' s close and in front.

DRUMS : the kick is really "weak", back the bass and placed at the center.

GUITAR: on the left side back the bass, the arpeggio steady the mood of the song.

GUITAR2 : on the right side back the bass, it gives brightness and shades to the section of the song.

SNARE : it' s back at the guitars, almost in the middle. dry sound (registered in a big room?).

PIANO : it starts on the right side, in the middle, to expand 'til the center of the space.
Giving a dash of "mystery" and "opening" for the synth.

BLINK (synth) : on the left side, after the mid and after the piano.
Giving interest to the listening and a touch of magic.

SYNTH : it starts at the end of the section of the song, far away and from side by side.
it gives an unusual, unknown weird ambient to the song.

[Wes_Chester]

I chose "Lead a Normal Life" a classic from Peter Gabriel, knowing it had a limited set of instruments, but also because I love the power of the song. I worked 17 years in mental health, so it carries a lot of meaning for me as well.

The sonic landscape is very complex, so I chose a section that passes through some of its most interesting features, including the sole section of vocals in the song. Beginning at :46 and ending around 2:30. As the note says, all the timbres and instruments do not exist throughout the section...they drop in and out.
https://docs.google.com/drawings/d/1ji0HkdWh9PwbE5i0jyL4L8MmlpWzITFBkKzyhJb0kxs/edit

The most interesting sonic phenomenon is the return of the marimba, as it had three simultaneous changes: the balance in the dry versus echoed, the level of reverb and the volume bring it from a mile away right into the front of the speaker in about 10 seconds. As an aside to mystery sounds, there are these Cuckoo sounds at the end that sound to me very much like what Adrian Belew used to do on his Strat with his Leslie rotating speaker and feedback... or is it synth??

Copy of #PWYM Perceived Space Graph Template (1).pdf (92.2 KB)

[Wes_Chester]

I love that idea that the other tracks timber can make you feel the space differently... that is a phenomenon I think I could use in some cases, leaving off reverb in tracks... Sometimes they sound great solo with reverb then seem to muddy up in playback. Or it could be the tascam ...
anyway, a nice thing to consider

[Wes_Chester]

@stratopaul Nice work on a good song. Love this early Eno. You know, I guess I've always assumed the Saxes were real, since he had sax players at hand, but in any case I can't argue with the placement.

[jilld58]

Hey everyone, this is our first time making one of these and we could really use some opinion on our work. We're beginners and just want to see how we did. Check it out! We chose Lana Del Rey's song Blue Jeans

Here is the space graph:

Let us know what you think! Thanks

~Jill and Rita

[Andres]

Hello! I've seen a lot of great analysis of a variety of genres and styles of songs here in this post! Great works!
I love to hear songs to try to identify instruments, effects, arrangements, but never did a graph like this before! Please I'll be very thankful for your feedback. Feel free to write to me.

Notes:
0:00 The song starts with a clean electric guitar arpeggio, with a very little subtle staccato violins.
0:11 Dave start to sing with a Quiet Doubled voice.
0:31 SNARE SNARE SNARE SNARE ignite the song!
0:33 The guitar riff starts here with the rest of the song.
3:20 Here is when the little staccato violins appears again just for 8 seconds together with the quiet voice and the arpeggiated electric clean guitar.

PS: obviously this song have a tons of electric guitars, I just show 2 blocks (L and R) to represent the idea.