New Rubens Track

new Rubens track can be found at our MySpace page - "Cayla's Third"

Updated mix is available to download here also.

a sample of the kind of stuff to expect on the first Rubens album, due out some time end of year on Herb Recordings

NEW MIX UPLOADED.

If you snagged this first time around and decided to keep it, there's a slightly tweaked final version now uploaded. If you haven't heard this at all - then now's the time to give it a whirl. A wee bit fuller mix, some minor tweaks and slightly edited ending.

Rubens

Quite nice man. How did u do the drums? They got that kinda live sound. Dunno something about the mix just feels a little funny with the drums sounding a little too loud in parts. Mmm yeah not bad. I guess my criticism is that it feels a little on the simple side. I feel like something else musically is needed to kinda lift this to the next level of emotion. It all just sounds a little too predictable and boring. I honestly wish I could have been more positive but I just kinda felt it meandered on a bit aimlessly for its duration. Again not bad but I dunno felt a little lazy to me. Sorry.

cheers for the honest appraisal as ever Promo. pity it didn't quite tickle you...but you win some, you lose some i guess. might come back to it later, but we both feel this is finished and would probably overcook it if we did any more to it.

hot track! too bad the sound quality on myspace is so bad... but still the ambient it sets is really vivid yet dreamy. i dig the live drums, promo maybe if we'd heard it in proper quality it would sound even better and more balanced?

cheers kokoon. yeah, the sound quality is crap on MySpace...sorry bout that. this track in particular sounds noticeably shitter at low quality.

who makes up the 'rubens' then

  Beno said:

who makes up the 'rubens' then

me and Gump.

the twins

don't think the myspace player does the track justice

maybe should just upload it to here for our fellow watmm folks

rubens

good track. nice drum fills. the hihat sounds too loud in places (to me), but i'll have a listen to the hq version and see if it's still a problem.

this shows a little more of the talents of rubens. :) as mentioned the fillins are very good. the hat is ok to me... just in the starting process its a little bit in front, but that can be wanted.

what i like about the track is the "blippy bloopy" melody, as you called it yourself recently. the strings are a bit dry in sound, but they really underscore the abilities of the whole. i'm not really sure with the snare actually. other than that... this has the most potential i heard from you. looks to me like you start working

the best moment is round the middle of the track, when the noise comes up and everything is on.

listening now..

hard to tell, cos i'm on pish cans, and it's an mp3... the production doesn't sit that well with me... the kicks are muddy, and the drums don't sound right in terms of relative mixing.

also, you got a straight beat kick layered over a shuffle that makes it sound a bit like the timing's out occasionally.

it all gets a bit more cohesve when the bass comes in half way through, before the plinky sound.

nice kinda 2-step feel though, and the fills, like people have been saying are nice. i particularly like the fill about three quarters of the way through, when it all drops out and you get a couple of backwards hits.

did someone you know record the drum loops, or are they breaks/samples off record or whatever?

ableton right?

the ending sounds a little hurried.

not entirely my cup of tea lads, but it had my feet tapping from start to finish, plus teh ism and teh gump wail.

glasvegas two-step.

I liked it, but remember I'm not a proper music critic, so ignore this post.

thanks for the listens 'Boo, Max, PB and Benoid. Good to hear what you think - all adds to whatever we do in future, so it does. Glad you enjoyed Max...it's the fuzzy noise synth coming in that does it for us too, so happy daze. Fair comments on the bits and bobs with hihats and plinky bits and shuffled beats...hurried endings and such like....but hey ho, Rome wasn't built in a day (why the fuck do people think it was...i dunno??) and all that jazz.. so pretty much thanks for the good input feedback whatchamacallit.

As for the why's and how's regarding drums and whatnot - well, that's Rubens trade secrets innit. It's all studio trickery as mo would say. Though we do have a right good drummer and a bass player hooking up with us soon to have a go at live stuff, which could be fun.

Oh and Beno wins the Rubens 'Reviewer of the Year' award. hands down.

lol :laughing:

Quality once again from the Rubens. I really like the plinky synth, the bass lines and the rhythm in general. The melodies are particularly strong as the track builds. I also like the drums, but from a drummers point of view I think I would have prefered a more otherworldy less 'real' drum sound. I think this is because I can tell that the drum samples are real, and yet the playing isn't, particularly on the hi hats. However top track and i'm looking forward to the album !!

  Barrichello said:

Though we do have a right good drummer and a bass player hooking up with us soon to have a go at live stuff, which could be fun.

looking forward to this - should be good to at least give it a go and see what happens

cheers for the comments in general gents - always welcome

peace

rubens

Nice track, new album? that's great news. Hope it's a long un

nice track guys.....this has an RDJ vibe to it(when he is in a more serious mood).....looking forward to your album

  G. I. McGriff said:

Nice track, new album? that's great news. Hope it's a long un

cheers for the comments folks - loading music between levels?? LOL, that's at least an original comment...thanks for checkin it out anyway Jonas - appreciated.

We went back and mixed it down again, after some minor edits and tweaking of eq and levels..mainly towards the latter half and the ending. It's available to download in the first post of the thread, for anyone that wants to give it another go.

cheers,

El Rubenio

:grin:

Wow. Top-notch track, there. The percussion's particularly good.

I like the intro synth bit. The live sounding drums are a nice touch. The production sounds pretty muted, could use a boost in the high-mid range/high range. I like the layered apd work, very dense yet airy sound. Brighten up some of the tracks and separate the frequencies from sound to sound and your mix will sound a lot more present (I said the same thing on the last review I left too). I think some more dynamic contrast would really benefit this track. It coasts along pleasantly as is, but it would be nice to be taken on more of a journey. You could still maintain the repetition of the basic chord progression and maybe just fade more elements in and out, or chop synths up rhythmically in areas. Or maybe just vary it up a bit melodically. It's vibey.

i'd agree that it's maybe a bit bland- maybe seems that way cos it feels like it could be going somewhere epic. there's a sense that that epic-ness has been reached at about 4:30ish, only to realise a few seconds later that it's pretty much the same as before. maybe i would've liked to have seen something bigger and badder being pulled outta the bag for that last section...

sorry, my reviews are nearly always crap, and i'm out o' practice.

thanks fo' sharing though fellas, will definitely be interesting to hear the new long-awaited rubens album!

Cool drums good song Pads are nice.