Kill Only Tim - A Halloween song

[vomitHatSteve]

As spooky season comes upon us, I find myself pondering "what makes a song scary?"

Is it being longer than two and a half minutes?
Is it time signature changes?
Is it unusual, unguided harmonic and chord choices?

Yes, it's probably those things

Mix 3

KillOnlyTim3.mp3

Mix 2

KillOnlyTim2.mp3

Mix 1

KillOnlyTim1.mp3

Kill Only Tim

The full moon was calling, We'd go to the woods To make our sacrifice
Instructions on marquee, Would tell us what to do, So said the acolyte

"E" like leaves fallen, But how're we to know, That we read all the wrong signs
Timothy initiate, Oblivious and pure, Believed everything would be fine

Take only photos Leave only footprints Kill only tim tonight

A small menagerie, Was with us that night, Options for our dark lords
Along with a ple-thora of weapons, Axes maces knives and swords

Please stay on the trails, don't harm the fauna, kill only tim tonight

We came to do as we were bid
And to unlock an ancient lore
To find secrets where they are hid
Emerge drenched in poor Timothy's gore

<spooky instrumental break>

Daylight is dawning, yet nothing arrives, Heralding our great success
We remain trapped in, our own ignorance, With no Tim to clean up the mess
Rangers would fine us, for the animals, We had allowed to go free
Tim was the wrangler, he could have told us, They spread invasively

There is a burn ban, fines in the thousands, kill only tonight
Take only photos Leave only footprints Kill only tim tonight

We came (we saw) to do (nothing) as we (at all) were bid (that night)
To (our eyes) unlock (grew dim) an ancient lore (in darkening light)
To find (stagger) secrets (through grasping) where they (clawing) are hid (branch)
Emerge drenched in poor Timothy's gore (timothy's blood upon our hands)
Wishing we had Timothy once more


Did anyone remember to post Gonzo's werewolf song for him on the other forum?

[rayc]

That's fun.
Sonically it relies on heaviosity for the horror I know but it's pretty muddy.
Narrow cuts at 315 (-6 with a Q of 0.5) & 640 (-3 & 1), kept it heavy BUT a little clearer.
Also I think the demonic deep voices could be panned away from your main vocal.
OUTRO was ex.

[vomitHatSteve]

That's fun.
Sonically it relies on heaviosity for the horror I know but it's pretty muddy.
Narrow cuts at 315 (-6 with a Q of 0.5) & 640 (-3 & 1), kept it heavy BUT a little clearer.
Also I think the demonic deep voices could be panned away from your main vocal.
OUTRO was ex.

Yeah, muddy is right. I'll try to clear that up
Good call on panning the growled vocal somewhere

[JD01]

The Spooky Instrumental is cool.

Its really muddy though, I don't like calling your mixes muddy 'cos there always loads of weird bottom end and fuzziness from the abomination.
But I think is too muddy/woofy. Trying to think of real terms that mean something. Shit, is that a ring-mod at the end?

[vomitHatSteve]

I don't recall what effect it was... some kind of JS phaser that I picked semi at random

[musicturtle]

This is fun.

The arpy keyboard thing in the middle section is spooky as hell.

I agree with the others that there is some mud, or lack of shine overall.

The drums just feel burried to me.

[vomitHatSteve]

Thank you

Mix 2 is in the OP

Way less 'verb on the drums (Is that helping them pop better, @musicturtle?)
Panned the 3 bass channels farther out (previously, it was a sample bass in the middle and double-tracked abomination more or less in the middle. The bass channels of the abomination are now hard L/R), which should help the muddiness more
Then I did some selective muting and volume tweaking of the muddiest channels (the acoustic guitar is about 4 dB louder in the reverb bus than anything else)
More stuff happening in the high-end (plinky piano is louder, added some toy instrument samples)
Panning the growled vocals out in the last chorus to stop them trampling the lead vox, and then flying them to the interlude with a reverse reverb for extra creepiness.
Some other samples to bolster a few spots where the energy lagged for a few beats

@JD01, the effect on the acoustic is JS:Flange Baby set to its defaults. (plus, absolutely the cheapest possible acoustic guitar with a hand-soldered piezo taped into it, so it's all rattley mid-range)

[vomitHatSteve]

Am I overdoing the slowed/reversed train whistle?

[Armistice]

Am I overdoing the slowed/reversed train whistle?

This is very definitely the question of the day, not just here, but on the entire internet! Personally, I don't think so, in that I can even identify the sound you're referring to.

I'm loving the "toy piano" if that's what it is. How are you doing that? Some VST or is it a preset on some ancient synth you've undusted and set free?

I didn't get all the way through Mix 1 as I got interrupted, but Mix 2 is sounding pretty good. All the elements are clear enough and it all hangs together well as far as I'm concerned.

When will Rolling Stone release their list of the top 250 abomination players is the question that remains.

[vomitHatSteve]

Am I overdoing the slowed/reversed train whistle?

This is very definitely the question of the day, not just here, but on the entire internet! Personally, I don't think so, in that I can even identify the sound you're referring to.

I'm loving the "toy piano" if that's what it is. How are you doing that? Some VST or is it a preset on some ancient synth you've undusted and set free?

I didn't get all the way through Mix 1 as I got interrupted, but Mix 2 is sounding pretty good. All the elements are clear enough and it all hangs together well as far as I'm concerned.

When will Rolling Stone release their list of the top 250 abomination players is the question that remains.

Lol! I've got to be in the top 50 "jerry-rigged combination bass and guitar players" for sure! It's gonna be both guys from PotUSA, 47 random Chapman Stick players who shouldn't have been on the list in the first place, then me!

It is actually one of those toy pianos (one quite likely older than me) that I recorded and loaded into my sampler. It's a pretty simple instrument to sample that way since each key is really only capable of one thing.

[musicturtle]

@vomitHatSteve

I like the second mix much better as a whole. Good changes all around.

Snare definitely cuts through more.

[vomitHatSteve]

Excellent. Thank you!

[vomitHatSteve]

Mix 3 in the OP

A little less reverb on the acoustic during the first interlude to cut down on the build up a little more

A pretty big EQ cut on the vocals to tame some of those sibilant Ts

[Armistice]

A pretty big EQ cut on the vocals to tame some of those sibilant Ts

I've had moments in editing when I've thought, why, why, why, did I use this particular sibilant / plosive / fricative word EVERYWHERE in the song...


Perhaps Kill Only Ethel would have been a simpler task for you...

[vomitHatSteve]

A pretty big EQ cut on the vocals to tame some of those sibilant Ts

I've had moments in editing when I've thought, why, why, why, did I use this particular sibilant / plosive / fricative word EVERYWHERE in the song...


Perhaps Kill Only Ethel would have been a simpler task for you...

Lol!

Tragically, it wouldn't fit the meme very well, so Tim's gotta die.

[paulman]

I'm late and listening only to the latest mix, so of course you've hashed things out by now. It sounds great. The one thing I would say doesn't sound scary is your vocal. That trademark VHS vocal that sounds perfect for everything you do doesn't quite meet your stated goal for this track. You sound too friendly. I feel like you need some kind of "Halloween costume" on your voice, whatever that might be. I know auto tune scares the shit out of Bubba. That's one possibility to give it an inhuman sound, if you can do it without sounding like all that pop and mumble rap bullshit we're all so sick of hearing. Maybe some layered vocals in other octaves, either through manual tracking or pitch shifting. For my Nirvana cover I did this with manual tracking, one an octave below and a screamer up high. I tuned the bass vocal for that inhuman sound, and left the other two natural. Something along those lines could work great for this.

It's a bit late in the month now, but I feel like "Scary Songs" is a recording challenge we should do.

[rayc]

The friendly voice in spooky situations works for me...juxtaposition.
Mix 3 is a goodie.
The only thing that stands out now is the phrasing of "Please stay on the trail"...with the emphasis and timing of "the" being the thing I keep going back to.

[vomitHatSteve]

I'm late and listening only to the latest mix, so of course you've hashed things out by now. It sounds great. The one thing I would say doesn't sound scary is your vocal. That trademark VHS vocal that sounds perfect for everything you do doesn't quite meet your stated goal for this track. You sound too friendly. I feel like you need some kind of "Halloween costume" on your voice, whatever that might be. I know auto tune scares the shit out of Bubba. That's one possibility to give it an inhuman sound, if you can do it without sounding like all that pop and mumble rap bullshit we're all so sick of hearing. Maybe some layered vocals in other octaves, either through manual tracking or pitch shifting. For my Nirvana cover I did this with manual tracking, one an octave below and a screamer up high. I tuned the bass vocal for that inhuman sound, and left the other two natural. Something along those lines could work great for this.

It's a bit late in the month now, but I feel like "Scary Songs" is a recording challenge we should do.

Lol! I like the halloween costume idea. I'll hang onto that for the next scary songs I do.

The scary song challenge could be cool, yeah!

[TheTestingYak]

good choon brav