How I Did It
Not Readyby Loveshadow
Uses samples from:
Tools I Used
Ableton Live.UAD Apollo Interface.
XO, Avenger,Spire,Nexus 3,Vallhalla Massive, Ozone 8 .
Original Samples
All of it. :-)
Process
It’s been some time since I have made, what could be called partly, a concept mix or any mix for a while come to think of it, but that’s another story.
It seemed to me that this lyric was obviously a very frightening account. When I imagined this story then I personally felt that I had to reflect the sentiment and respect the narrative. I am grateful to other mixers who reinterpret the song in other ways.
If you know the story of Orpheus then this felt like a parallel.
I tend not to think too much about why, but instinctively felt that there were four main scenes in the mix. The Opening Plea, The facts of the flight, The terminal and The return to Life.
The Opening Plea chords I chose are always moving down to a sub world; the higher strings represent the arrival of Angels. All of the vocals were cut and adjusted to remain at the same volume from beginning to end, meaning the arrangement falls away or only lightly embellishes to expose the vocal. They are the `In between' and so never change volume. No other sound fully occupies that frequency. Some lines are shifted two tones in key to fit and certain words are either shortened or lenthened with cross dissolves.
There are no breaths in the opening plea vocal. I decided early on there was to be no real rhythm track and the kick and conga beat felt like the repetitive sound of the bellows on a ventilator machine, and so mix wise were positioned over the vocals if you listen on headphones.
The airy sounds at the start are all Snowflakes breaths and create a loop for nearly all of the song. Other breaths used, are reversed and treated throughout.
The facts of the flight, puts us on the plane. The beats stop as now Snowflake is in the air and she’s on top, musically it keeps getting thinner and it slows to a possible fainting. The big gasp is one breath dropped two octaves and panned followed by a shock of air like a revival from unconsciousness.
In the next chorus that follows, there a more breaths and new ones inserted. I thought they might feel out of place making them so loud but it’s what this piece is all about.
In The terminal, the chords change slightly and for the first time become positive and move upward, whilst the breaths are more vigorous, often and sudden. It moves to a point of reflection with no music. Just before the arrangement repeats you will hear a door opening, back to life.
During this final repeating section the piano eventually follows her melody high above the bass line and strings for the first time adding to her plea.
The final statement ends with the `Not ready to Leave' which was always treated differently on a second vocal track to act like a phone call to another world.
We end with a heartbeat in a different time signature, i.e. continued life. That sound heavily gates a filtered sample loop from the main track.
Life Goes On
Thanks for Listening
Loveshadow
Other Notes
After being absent for some time due to my circumstances, it remains a pleasure to be a part of this community and reconnect with music making at its 20 year celebration point of existence and with such a great and personal vocal.
This site uses