NappuccinoSurveyor of Things and StuffRegistered Userregular
It's about time for another update, I've made a bit of headway on another track, adding some shitty vocals. There's no lyrics yet, just testing my range and the melody. I need to figure out how to add some real percussion because my guitar doesn't sound that great as a drum (which is why it's only in there for a little bit)
I re-did the vocals and pacing of the song so hopefully the beginning isn't overwhelming (no one said that, but few people listened to it in the first place so far and it's something I just felt)
Now I just need lyrics. And I think I'll put this in the "done" pile.
MustangArbiter of Unpopular OpinionsRegistered Userregular
edited August 2013
Are you recording in one take or splicing them together? Some of the changes are coming in off the beat, I would really recommend throwing down a seperate metronome track, just to shure up the timing, and then cut it before the final mix.
Are you using a little bongo drum in the mid-section there? At the moment it's not cutting through the mix and sounds like a recording artifact. I would up the volume on it significantly, or if you're not feeling it, cut it all together. It's difficult to hear, but it did sound a little thin.
Also when you're doing your final vocal, never under estimate the power of reverb and layering in an acoustic heavy track.
Apart from that I like where it's heading.
Mustang on
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NappuccinoSurveyor of Things and StuffRegistered Userregular
edited August 2013
This is definitely multiple takes, though I try to do as much as I can in one (i.e. one guitar part = one track) and so on. In most cases, there are two tracks per part (for some reason with audacity, I cannot overwrite a section of track, I have to make a whole new one I looked for the options but alas.)
Some of the timing things is me missing cues or just missing time (there's one part with the harmonics that I really need to fix). I'd use a metronome (I actually did on a couple other tracks that I haven't posted here because they're hardly more than a solitary riff yet and I have no idea where to go with them) but this track took a life of it's own before I thought I needed to re-record it with one. Only one bit of the instrument parts (the harmonics) sounds like it misses a cue to me, is there any in particular you're thinking of? (I guess maybe the percussion as well.
I'm actually using my guitar body for that mid-section bit. I honestly thought it felt too loud so I toned it back a bit, but I can put it up in the mix a bit. It is a little thin and I'm not sure how to correct that.
I tried layering in an earlier take and it just came out really messy to my ear. I'll have to find a decent reverb effect because the one pre-installed in audacity is shit--makes everything sound like it's from a tin-can.
Thanks for the comments Mustang, I'll keep them in mind as I go forward with it.
edit: I did a quick little mock up to address a couple things you pointed out i.e. reverb and boosting the percussion a bit. http://hughes.bandcamp.com/track/8-21-4
MustangArbiter of Unpopular OpinionsRegistered Userregular
edited August 2013
Sounds much better
On the guitar druming, it sounds better but it's still not working. Maybe try simplifying it a little more, I think the complexity of it makes it sound a little lost.
The timing is definitely better. I hear what your saying about the reverb effect but your voice fills out the space a lot more.
Mustang on
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NappuccinoSurveyor of Things and StuffRegistered Userregular
NappuccinoSurveyor of Things and StuffRegistered Userregular
I'm working on a book layout at the moment: It's a collection of shortfiction, nonfiction, and poetry. (because it's poetry we probably won't be going with an all caps title, but I figured I might as well playwith it Any thoughts?
Is there a theme to the actual content of the collection? I feel like a lot of these are alright, but it may be a different choice if its like, a collection about nature or a bunch of poetry-horror.
I got a couple of questions. What format paper are you using? What kind of binding? Is it printed onsite or outsourced to a vendor? If it's a vendor, will it have bleed?
I feel that this layout is really cramped. If I were doing this, I'd give it bigger borders all around, but this will probably be a saddle stitch, so I would definitely put a bigger border on the inside so that the spine doesn't eat the text if the publication gets too thick. Then again, wide borders might not be everyone's style.
What I would really encourage you to change would be the white space between the title and text, and the white space between the text and page numbering. Make it bigger so that there is a nice amount of breathing room between the text and all the secondary information.
BTW, if this was me, I would put the title on the left page by itself the first time then small and separated by white space the rest of the time. The lone title helps create a new section that says "This is a new section". I also like mock up full spreads, because some pages are balanced by themselves, but they get weird when you add the second page.
Edit:
On your last example, I noticed that you have an indentation on the first paragraph. You don't really need it there.
If you want to look for interesting font combinations, check out ifontyou.com.
MagicToaster on
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NappuccinoSurveyor of Things and StuffRegistered Userregular
edited March 2014
Awesome MT, thanks for the feedback
We're doing it letter-half and . . . it'll be perfect bound. And there's a book that my teacher has with the precise border/gutter requirements, so those will change slightly (I think it is .25" on all sides and .5" gutter, but I've certainly been wrong before. I can let you know by Wed since I'll be back at our campus press that day). But I will be locked into the borders, sadly.
If I understood your "BTW" right, I made a version like that--with the small title in the right page. Is this what you meant? I did add some extra white space for the body text as well.
Man, it's looking better already! I'll mock something up of what I meant when I get to work in a couple of hours. I'm at home taking care of my wife and daughter who both have the flu, the moment I sit down to work at my desk my daughter wants to draw on the tablet.
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NappuccinoSurveyor of Things and StuffRegistered Userregular
Thanks!
And take your time--I think I have more than a few days to work the kinks out. And your daughter is so adorable I can't possibly be mad she's making it hard for you to give me free critiques
NappuccinoSurveyor of Things and StuffRegistered Userregular
edited April 2014
I tweaked the layout a bit and put some of my own work in just so you can see the various versions possible. I used mine so you could see some real applications without posting someone else's work
NappuccinoSurveyor of Things and StuffRegistered Userregular
edited April 2014
I'm working on some magazine layouts for class--these are some of the images that I'm going to put in the layout (probably--our group hasn't done the basic layout, so I might be getting a head of myself . . . but I haven't got Illustrator or InDesign on my laptop so this is what I got to do.
NappuccinoSurveyor of Things and StuffRegistered Userregular
edited May 2014
So I had to make this cover super last minute. Is there anything particularly egregious about it? I'm not sold on the way the "UR" meets that coastline, but I also don't really know what to about it. Any suggestions would be awesome.
maybe use just a smidgen of layer styling to give the area directly behind the letters a little darker tone? The white letters on that background look good, and the photo itself is good, so it's tricky to fix that, but I think that would do it.
NappuccinoSurveyor of Things and StuffRegistered Userregular
@tapeslinger : Thank you! I didn't think of altering the other layers, I kept fudging with the text. Answer was staring me in the face lol. How does this look?
The unevenness of the pink filter on the back cover kind of bothers me. The heaviness in the upper corners combined with the lack of pink in the very bottom makes it seem off. If you want a more natural vintage look maybe see if you like the stuff VSCO produces.
No, I am not really communist. Yes, it is weird that I use this name.
Front cover is much easier to read the lettering at a distance now.
I am not sure that pink filter is uneven - - but the coloration looks like more of a saturation issue? The cloud cover seems like it's meant to be hazy. I'm viewing it effectively thumbnail sized, though.
NappuccinoSurveyor of Things and StuffRegistered Userregular
edited May 2014
Well . . . I am red-green colorblind so it's hard for me to tell what I'm doing sometimes, but what I was trying to do was have the top more red because of the atmospheric haze--but it is all post-effects so I may have done something very wrong.
Haha, I can do that. It's just ironic, I was going to add even more to make sure it popped :P
In general I consider the term "make it pop" to mean that something has more contrast as well as saturation. Putting a single color filter over an image that muddies the shadows does pretty much the opposite by reducing contrast. Maybe we are using the term differently?
No, I am not really communist. Yes, it is weird that I use this name.
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NappuccinoSurveyor of Things and StuffRegistered Userregular
I mean pop in contrast to the background (white) and along side the blue. But I'm certainly no expert
Posts
Definitely a work in progress: http://hughes.bandcamp.com/track/8-21-1
I re-did the vocals and pacing of the song so hopefully the beginning isn't overwhelming (no one said that, but few people listened to it in the first place so far and it's something I just felt)
Now I just need lyrics. And I think I'll put this in the "done" pile.
Are you using a little bongo drum in the mid-section there? At the moment it's not cutting through the mix and sounds like a recording artifact. I would up the volume on it significantly, or if you're not feeling it, cut it all together. It's difficult to hear, but it did sound a little thin.
Also when you're doing your final vocal, never under estimate the power of reverb and layering in an acoustic heavy track.
Apart from that I like where it's heading.
Some of the timing things is me missing cues or just missing time (there's one part with the harmonics that I really need to fix). I'd use a metronome (I actually did on a couple other tracks that I haven't posted here because they're hardly more than a solitary riff yet and I have no idea where to go with them) but this track took a life of it's own before I thought I needed to re-record it with one. Only one bit of the instrument parts (the harmonics) sounds like it misses a cue to me, is there any in particular you're thinking of? (I guess maybe the percussion as well.
I'm actually using my guitar body for that mid-section bit. I honestly thought it felt too loud so I toned it back a bit, but I can put it up in the mix a bit. It is a little thin and I'm not sure how to correct that.
I tried layering in an earlier take and it just came out really messy to my ear. I'll have to find a decent reverb effect because the one pre-installed in audacity is shit--makes everything sound like it's from a tin-can.
Thanks for the comments Mustang, I'll keep them in mind as I go forward with it.
edit: I did a quick little mock up to address a couple things you pointed out i.e. reverb and boosting the percussion a bit. http://hughes.bandcamp.com/track/8-21-4
On the guitar druming, it sounds better but it's still not working. Maybe try simplifying it a little more, I think the complexity of it makes it sound a little lost.
The timing is definitely better. I hear what your saying about the reverb effect but your voice fills out the space a lot more.
http://hughes.bandcamp.com/track/12-303
http://hughes.bandcamp.com/track/01-10-142
I got a couple of questions. What format paper are you using? What kind of binding? Is it printed onsite or outsourced to a vendor? If it's a vendor, will it have bleed?
I feel that this layout is really cramped. If I were doing this, I'd give it bigger borders all around, but this will probably be a saddle stitch, so I would definitely put a bigger border on the inside so that the spine doesn't eat the text if the publication gets too thick. Then again, wide borders might not be everyone's style.
What I would really encourage you to change would be the white space between the title and text, and the white space between the text and page numbering. Make it bigger so that there is a nice amount of breathing room between the text and all the secondary information.
BTW, if this was me, I would put the title on the left page by itself the first time then small and separated by white space the rest of the time. The lone title helps create a new section that says "This is a new section". I also like mock up full spreads, because some pages are balanced by themselves, but they get weird when you add the second page.
Edit:
On your last example, I noticed that you have an indentation on the first paragraph. You don't really need it there.
If you want to look for interesting font combinations, check out ifontyou.com.
We're doing it letter-half and . . . it'll be perfect bound. And there's a book that my teacher has with the precise border/gutter requirements, so those will change slightly (I think it is .25" on all sides and .5" gutter, but I've certainly been wrong before. I can let you know by Wed since I'll be back at our campus press that day). But I will be locked into the borders, sadly.
If I understood your "BTW" right, I made a version like that--with the small title in the right page. Is this what you meant? I did add some extra white space for the body text as well.
And take your time--I think I have more than a few days to work the kinks out. And your daughter is so adorable I can't possibly be mad she's making it hard for you to give me free critiques
(I imagine this will be a page and a 3rd or so)
edit: . . . I think I made the moth too big.
Uncanny Magazine!
The Mad Writers Union
I am not sure that pink filter is uneven - - but the coloration looks like more of a saturation issue? The cloud cover seems like it's meant to be hazy. I'm viewing it effectively thumbnail sized, though.
Uncanny Magazine!
The Mad Writers Union
Maybe knock the saturation down, or something?
Uncanny Magazine!
The Mad Writers Union
In general I consider the term "make it pop" to mean that something has more contrast as well as saturation. Putting a single color filter over an image that muddies the shadows does pretty much the opposite by reducing contrast. Maybe we are using the term differently?