Elsewhere, I liked the use of vocal effects like echo, though I was less sure whether the use of a heavy vibrato effect quite came off. For instance, the second song has some very good harmony phrases on the first verse but doesn't give the same embellishment to some of the later verses.
Having said that, the individual backing vocals, where they are used, are very effective but are placed a little erratically in the arrangements. Many of the songs could also be taken to a more complete production level with the addition of block harmony vocals and I'm almost surprised at their omission. A high-quality outboard EQ like a Neve or even a valve module like the old TL Audio EQ1 would do the job without making the vocal sound harsh and would be well worth renting for mixing if their budget allows. Even so, a touch of upper-mid EQ boost at around 5kHz would add a bit more energy to the vocal sound on the more upbeat songs.
Lesa Smith is a capable vocalist who is at her best on their jazz/soul numbers but can also crank up the intensity level when necessary. Provocateur are a five-piece band from the Huddersfield area who manage to conjure up a contemporary sound, whether it's the out-and-out dance of the opening track or the more R&B stylings of other cuts on their self-penned CD. While searching for Provocateur's web site (the URL given no longer seems to work), I kept being led to the Agent Provocateur lingerie company's site, whose products, male readers may recall, were famously advertised by Kylie Minogue, and there are some similarities to the diminutive one's music in this demo.
#Terratech demo base pro
ProvocateurĮquipment: Apple Mac G4 running Digidesign Pro Tools LE recording software, Digi 001 interface. This, coupled with some excellent mixing and understanding of the equipment, makes for a fine demo. In fact the loops, arpeggios and use of rhythmic echo amply demonstrate a strong sense of rhythm which forms a solid base to all the tracks. With the addition of some echo and tasteful use of pitch-bend, this makes for a cracking hook line.
Yet it's on the second track that he's got things just about perfect by splitting the high electric piano notes of the main theme to opposite sides, creating a question-and-answer effect. For example, often a sound in the middle of the frequency range will skip across the stereo field while simultaneously undergoing a filter change. His solution to what could easily become a cluttered mix is to use quite wide stereo panning, not only as an aid to separation but also to tease the listener. The use of backwards effects for the breakdown about two minutes into the mix is also masterfully executed.Īs you can gather, keeping these tracks moving with the introduction of different sounds and effects is a strong point of Adrian's approach but this inevitably means that he's got a lot going on in his mixes. His arrangements are also well thought-out, and on this first mix he cannily leaves out the excellent, warm-sounding bass line for a whole minute, confident that it will have a big impact when it arrives. It's always good to hear little touches like this that only happen once in a track and Adrian's judgement is impressive. The beginning of this track is packed with little gems like a fast comb-filtering effect in the background stepping through the harmonics and a tom fill run through what sounds like a dynamic pitch-shift effect. In fact all the mixes feature similarly competent use of both subtle and more dramatic filtering effects and it made me wonder if Adrian might have cut his musical teeth on analogue synthesizers. It's a nice change to hear the reverse of the usual trick of applying a low-pass filter opening up from bass to treble. I liked the way he introduces the drum track with all the bass squeezed out by a high-pass filter and then opens up the filter, creating a dynamic lift. The first track uses a dry drum sound, putting the drums right up front and giving the production a contemporary dance feel.
#Terratech demo base full
Composer Adrian Kelly achieves a pleasingly full sound with the equipment at his disposal and comes up with some well considered mixes. The music on this CD could be loosely described as ambient but it also draws inspiration from artists like Moby and Massive Attack.
#Terratech demo base Pc
Equipment: PC running Steinberg Cubase sequencer and Wavelab editor, Image Line FL Studio soft studio, IK Multimedia T-Racks mastering suite and various plug-ins, Terratec soundcard.
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