DAR - Fate [REDUX] | { OLD VER. } @Davester2296-B

Davester2296 B-Sides | DAR - Fate [REDUX] | { OLD VER. } @Davester2296-B | Uploaded February 2020 | Updated October 2024, 57 minutes ago.
[Lyrics]:

And they fade, they fade
They never seem to think
They never seem to
Why's your media
Propagandized

I see the things we face
How could we be so blind
An empire of hate
That feeds us wrongful lies

I feel I'm drowning with you
I can't escape these chains
Is this what they call fate
Would you let me go
If I
If I plead insane

And their fate: they fake
Mentalities, ideologies
Why's our media
Propagandized

I see the things we face
How could we be so blind
An empire of hate
That feeds us wrongful lies

I feel I'm drowning with you
And I can't escape these chains
If I plead insane
And I see a painful fate
Would you let me go

If I
If I plead insane
Is this what they call fate
Is this what they call
Fate

====================================

So, to get back into the swing of things, I've decided to revisit Cyclic Divide. In particular, I chose to tinker around with "Fate" (since it had been my personal favorite from the album). I also chose it because every once in a while when I goof around on my acoustic and sing, I'd always pick Fate to warm up with. In the past year or so I wound up singing the chorus differently and started to wonder how it would sound in harmony with the original.

I also remembered that a good friend of mine had long ago suggested that Cyclic Divide could use some vocal harmonies. This also provided a good opportunity to practice trying to get that "commercial loudness" that you hear in pro mixes (and I think I've FINALLY figured it out!).

I was very tempted to just redo everything from the ground up... However, that didn't feel quite right to do. I wound up re-recording only the rhythm guitar parts, and recording my bass guitar (as opposed to the VSTi Bass I had used in the original). I also made some very subtle changes to how the bass and rhythm guitar are played.

I kept just about everything else the same, only messing with mixing and volume. Of course, there's the all-new vocal harmony during the chorus. I really love this sound, especially the bits where I sing "chains". It just sounds really cool to me, it also reminds me a lot of something else, but I can't think of what. Needless to say, I can't listen to the original now without feeling like something is missing!

I should note that the drums had a bit of tweaking in certain parts, as well as changes to mixing. I must say, its kind of nice going back to the old snare samples that I used to use back then.

As for my experiments into achieving maximum loudness, I've finally figured it out! I don’t think it’ll be all that obvious when listening to the video. The reason for that is because Youtube (like most other platforms) normalizes audio to either -13 or -14 LUFS (its gone back and forth, but I think they’ve settled on -14LUFS). However, the .opus file clocks in at -8.5LUFS, which should make it about as loud as a commercial CD. Its certainly louder than the original, that’s for sure!

I’m pretty happy with how this redux turned out. The original had always sounded pretty solid to me, but this redux takes it a bit further. I think it sounds brighter, and more crisp. The lower frequencies still have good punch, but are tamed a bit more this time around. The drums also have a bit more clarity to them when the mix gets busy. The snare really comes through nice and bright, and the kick drum is a lot more noticeable (thanks to the wonders of sidechaining the bass to the kick channel!).

Anyways, I hope you guys like this redux, and hope you all look forward to the rest of the Cyclic Divide Redux album!

With this different approach to mastering, I think things are going to sound pretty interesting from here onward! A new year no, a new decade, a new DAR!

~DAR

.OPUS Download: mediafire.com/file/ny3tohaubq4li7h/DAR_-_Fate_%255BREDUX%255D.opus/file

===================
All Rights Reserved 2015, 2020

$DAR - Fate [REDUX] | { OLD VER. } [Lyrics]: And they fade, they fade They never seem to think They never seem to Whys your media Propagandized I see the things we face How could we be so blind An empire of hate That feeds us wrongful lies I feel Im drowning with you I cant escape these chains Is this what they call fate Would you let me go If I If I plead insane And their fate: they fake Mentalities, ideologies Whys our media Propagandized I see the things we face How could we be so blind An empire of hate That feeds us wrongful lies I feel Im drowning with you And I cant escape these chains If I plead insane And I see a painful fate Would you let me go If I If I plead insane Is this what they call fate Is this what they call Fate So, to get back into the swing of things, Ive decided to revisit Cyclic Divide. In particular, I chose to tinker around with Fate (since it had been my personal favorite from the album). I also chose it because every once in a while when I goof around on my acoustic and sing, Id always pick Fate to warm up with. In the past year or so I wound up singing the chorus differently and started to wonder how it would sound in harmony with the original. I also remembered that a good friend of mine had long ago suggested that Cyclic Divide could use some vocal harmonies. This also provided a good opportunity to practice trying to get that commercial loudness that you hear in pro mixes (and I think Ive FINALLY figured it out!). I was very tempted to just redo everything from the ground up... However, that didnt feel quite right to do. I wound up re-recording only the rhythm guitar parts, and recording my bass guitar (as opposed to the VSTi Bass I had used in the original). I also made some very subtle changes to how the bass and rhythm guitar are played. I kept just about everything else the same, only messing with mixing and volume. Of course, theres the all-new vocal harmony during the chorus. I really love this sound, especially the bits where I sing chains. It just sounds really cool to me, it also reminds me a lot of something else, but I cant think of what. Needless to say, I cant listen to the original now without feeling like something is missing! I should note that the drums had a bit of tweaking in certain parts, as well as changes to mixing. I must say, its kind of nice going back to the old snare samples that I used to use back then. As for my experiments into achieving maximum loudness, Ive finally figured it out! I don’t think it’ll be all that obvious when listening to the video. The reason for that is because Youtube (like most other platforms) normalizes audio to either -13 or -14 LUFS (its gone back and forth, but I think they’ve settled on -14LUFS). However, the .opus file clocks in at -8.5LUFS, which should make it about as loud as a commercial CD. Its certainly louder than the original, that’s for sure! I’m pretty happy with how this redux turned out. The original had always sounded pretty solid to me, but this redux takes it a bit further. I think it sounds brighter, and more crisp. The lower frequencies still have good punch, but are tamed a bit more this time around. The drums also have a bit more clarity to them when the mix gets busy. The snare really comes through nice and bright, and the kick drum is a lot more noticeable (thanks to the wonders of sidechaining the bass to the kick channel!). Anyways, I hope you guys like this redux, and hope you all look forward to the rest of the Cyclic Divide Redux album! With this different approach to mastering, I think things are going to sound pretty interesting from here onward! A new year no, a new decade, a new DAR! ~DAR .OPUS Download: http://www.mediafire.com/file/ny3tohaubq4li7h/DAR Fate_%255BREDUX%255D.opus/file All Rights Reserved 2015, 2020$ $DAR - Not There [REDUX] | { OLD VER. } OPUS DOWNLOAD: https://www.mediafire.com/file/shm1bn2zrt465x6/DAR Not_There_%5BREDUX%5D.opus/file LYRICS [curse my habit of typing too much, it wont all fit here :( ]: https://www.newgrounds.com/audio/listen/943495 [alternatively, Closed Captions can be enabled] Im nooooot theeeere, hah, the irony here is that I havent been posting at all (apologies for that)! So a bit of history with this song. I wrote this one waaaay before I ever even did Always Right (which was 2014). In fact, this was among some of the very first songs that I ever wrote that had lyrics (one of the others also being Remember). According to my really old demos folder (before I even made a proper folder called DEMOS), the rough acoustic version was recorded back in late November of 2011. Im pretty sure though that I wrote the lyrics for this before that date, possibly early 2011 I think. Also, the guitar solo in this holds a very special place in my heart, because it was the very first guitar solo I ever wrote (that didnt suck!). So, as simple as this solo is, I always feel a bit nostalgic whenever I hear it! Now, as one can easily tell from the lyrics, this songs about falling out of love... pretty hard, I might add. Thankfully though, yours truly never went through what our protagonist in the song goes through! However, Ive known quite a number of guys that have personally lived this song. So this one goes out there to all the friends and dudes that have had to deal with a really toxic gal. Anyways, on to the technicals! So this one definitely went through a few evolutions before getting to where it is with the Cyclic Divide version. The original was reeeeal slow and not as rhythmic (though to be fair I only had about less than a year of experience playing the guitar up to that point). A couple years later in late 2013, I recorded a new acoustic demo for Not There, and that version was a lot more like the version that would later be heard on Cyclic Divide. The main thing I changed with the Cyclic Divide version is that the opening is a lot stronger. The original intro felt really lacking in energy and just felt lame in comparison to the C.D version. I wound up writing a completely new opening for the album version. The outro also underwent a change as well, and thats a bit of a toss up honestly, but I think at the end of the day, the C.D version is the best iteration of this song. Ive kept the structure of the song totally in tact for the redux album. Ive recorded my bass (as opposed to the VST-i bass in the previous), and tracked new distorted rhythm and leads. The leads didnt quite sound right though, so I wound up blending together the old lead guitars with the new ones. I found that blending both of them really helped the leads cut through the mix better for this particular song. I also fiddled with the low pass filter for the clean (er, cleaner I guess) guitars in order to make them sound more crisp. The original vocals have also had their mixing tweaked. I wanted my voice to sound cleaner and more natural, so along with some EQ tweaks, I also did away with my chorus-effect VST. The BIGGEST addition to this redux version is the new vocal harmony during the refrain. I really wanted to make the chorus just really pop! I felt like it needed to be more powerful and melodic in order to further differentiate it from the verses. Also, it took me forever to record these new vocal harmonies. Whenever I had finally finished practicing and warming up, I would go to record only to realize that I overdid it earlier and burnt out my voice for the day. This process repeated itself over the course of a week before I finally nailed it, and recorded the nine new vocal harmony tracks that I needed. Gotta say, Im very happy with the results! The chorus sounds catchier and more interesting now compared to the old one. Overall, its been great working on this track again. Nostalgia for my first written good guitar solo, as well as the fact that this was also the first song that I wrote that tried to sound grungey/post-grunge. Anyways, I hope you all enjoy this redux! ~DAR Make sure to Like, Share, and Subscribe if you enjoyed! Follow me at: Discord Server: discord.gg/uEAfRWP Twitter: https://twitter.com/Davester2296 Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Davester2296/ ReverbNation: http://www.reverbnation.com/dar9 Wordpress: http://theofficialdavester2296.wordpress.com/ All Rights Reserved 2020$

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