PROJECT LOG: "No More Time Machine"

I know I said I'd write bilingually last time, but I feel like I left out a lot of complex details due to my level of Japanese still only really being conversational/lyric-translation level. @.@;;;;

So, it will be 100% from here on out! 8'D

For this post, I'll be going over the production notes for "No More Time Machine".

You can find prints (digital and physical) on my Storenvy and Gumroad!

＊THE TRANSLYRICS:

The reason why I chose to cover this song in the first place was because I related to the songs a lot. In my personal life, I was stuck in a situation where a group of friends I used to be friends with in high school still wanted to be friends with me, while I wanted to move on. Because, in reality, they weren't good friends, and I always felt like a third wheel around them. It wasn't until I met the famiglia that I actually realized that those friends weren't really friends at all. The final push to cut things off with them for good came with the help of Kagami and Kirby-senpai, who not only listened to my rants, but also gave me valuable advice on how to effectively respond.

With this song, I wanted not only to send out the feelings of "we don't need to go back to the old days to be happy" to my high school friends, but I also wanted to send that message onto other people who might be going through a similar experience as a form of encouragement: it's okay if you don't agree with your old friends anymore. Life happens, things change, and sometimes, you need to make changes in your relationships in order to have good things happen. It will be hard and painful, but the end result would be worth it.

＊THE ILLUSTRATION

The cafe setting in the illustration is roughly inspired by a small cafe where I had my final face-to-face meeting with one of my high school friends, whom the others of the group had elected as the mediator. It wasn't a pleasant experience, but it wasn't a totally bad experience. I still love that cafe: I was the one that suggested it, and I will still continue to go to it when I want a good cup of Americano, but there was a kind of mood from that experience that I wanted to portray with this song that I would like to move on from. I changed some details, but those who go to the cafe locally should be familiar with where it is.

It's supposed to show the cafe during the early hours of opening, when the staff are in the back, and the character is the only one in the room, reminiscing and eventually moving on.

＊THE MIX

This time, it was okay o u o)b

The project was not very intense, seeing as it was a simple soft-rock song. However, I tried to put in more ambient choral parts in some parts of the song as well, while also trying to follow along with the original arrangement by LiSA's producer, Yashikin. (I feel like I was off-key at some points, though...)

*VSTs USED: 

(if presets were used, names are in ( _ ))

*MAIN x HARMONY VOCALS:

• Sonitux:Fx Equalizer
• Cakewalk Compressor/Gate (Breathe)
• Sonitus:Fx Compressor
• Cakewalk Multivoice/Flanger (diff. settings)
• Cakewalk Studioverb (diff. settings)

*CHORUS VOCALS:

• Cakewalk Compressor/Gate (Breathe)
• Sonitus:Fx Compressor
• Cakewalk Multivoice/Flanger (6-Voice Chorus)
• Cakewalk Studioverb (Bright Cathedral)

*MASTERING:

• CS12M Master Equalizer (Mastering + adjustments)
• Cakewalk Compressor/Gate (Mix Compression)
• DigitalFishPhones' dominion v1.2 Signal Modelling Device
• DigitalFishPhones' Fish Fillet BLOCKFISH Channel Compressor
• DigitalFishPhones' Fish Fillet FLOORFISH Expander/Noise Gate (adjust. @ 12k freq.)

＊FINAL THOUGHTS

I feel like I rushed this song too much, especially since the lyrics I wrote this time around were quite difficult. (The translation was hard, too OTL) Some time in the near future, I would like to try singing this song again, when I have more time to work on it better.

Concerning the mixing, though, I really like how it came out. It's not perfect, but it's the cleanest mix I've done so far. The new microphone (Audio-Technica AT2020 (XLR)) really helped. o uo I didn't have to put the settings up so high on my audio interface to get the different frequencies.

If you have any more questions, feel free to post them in the comments below! I'll do my best to answer with the limited knowledge I have. ^^;;

And for those who saw my video before coming here, thank you so much for listening! <3