really good man! kind of makes me thing of a weird mix between supertramp(maybe thats just the beginning), pink floyd and a tad of beatles. love that you guys actually used brass in this.
but i think it would be better if it maybe ended on a long note instead of the brass going up and stopping, it feels like the beginning of a hit and then drops off.
but yeah as far as it goes you created something really good.
Author Comments
This took waaay longer than was planned. So many layers full of strings, brass, sound FX!
I finished writing the songs and sheet music beginning of september, and after finding the right people we started recording drums, guitar and bass the 20th of September @ MusyQ Amsterdam.
After that was done, we did the strings at my place, and Samuel recorded all the brass in Montréal, Canada. Big props to all the guys working on this! You’ve been incredible and I love to work with you!
Drums: Tom Rutgers
Guitars and additional vocals: Sander Tijburg
Strings: Niels Hendriksen
Brass Section:
Arranged and recorded: Samuel Hébert (camoshark)
Trumpet - Félix Rheault
French Horn - Alexandre Derguy
Trombone - Jérôme Boisvert
Studio Engineer: Paul (Zutfill) Nieuwenhuijsen
Mixed, Mastered and additional vocals: Bram Juist
Also big props to Alexandre for driving 3 hours to the studio, and Bram for trying to place all of my unorganized tracks together.
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‘Above the Basement’ combines interesting classical harmony with a modern indie rock style, all with smooth voice and an incredibly well-polished production. The melancholic mood of small orchestral arrangements, gentle guitar riffs, baroque keyboards, clean vocal harmonies and borrowings from Jon Brion and Brian Wilson makes it easy to visualize film scenes when listening to the tracks. This is not strange when you know an orchestra of talented international musicians has been summoned to record the songs. ‘Above the Basement’ might be compared to listening winter-songs on a hot summer evening, or listening summer songs on a cold winter night. Either way, after listening these songs you are left with this particular emotion of both hope and melancholy.
Duration: 15 minutes
Year: 2015
Mixed, Mastered, Video and additional vocals: Bram Juist -Studio Engineer: Paul Nieuwenhuijsen - Drums: Tom Rutgers & Jorn Juist - Guitars: Sander Tijburg - Strings: Niels Hendriksen & Naree Park - Brass Producer: Samuel Hebert - Trumpet: Félix Rheault - French Horn: Alexandre Derguy - Trombone: Jérôme Boisvert - Clarinet: Marco Danesi - Artwork: William Hackney. Compositions, vocals + add. instruments by New Hansen.
newhansen responds:
Glad you liked it! We'll be remixing and releasing this, together with some brand new songs within 2 months on spotify ^^
I think this has become one of my favorite tracks on NG. Reminds me of the Beatles in all the right ways!
newhansen responds:
woah! That is so nice to hear! Stay tuned, for there will be a 6 song album released in Q2 with the same style of songs. Thanks for your support ;)
Excellent stuff! There are many good things that can be said about this particular piece: the overal composition, the mixing, the arrangement, as well as the overal 'feel' of the song. Heck, I could even picture this being used in a film!
There are a few minor issues that could be improved upon, though:
1) The ending is a bit too sudden in my opinion. I was waiting for that final last note to come, but it didn't: it remained silent. It's a small thing, but an important one nonetheless.
2) Although the mixing in general is excellent, the vocals are somewhat hard to hear at times, especially during the busier parts of the song.
3) I get the idea that there is a little bit too much compression in some areas. Although it is an interesting effect on its own (and greatly subjective, too), I think it would've been better if the compression were more transparent.
Like I said, these are just small issues in an otherwise amazing song. All in all, a 4.5/5! Keep up the good work!
newhansen responds:
That's a great review you wrote. I'm glad you like it. Some of your points are helpfull to me. If i would record this a second time, i'd probably rewrite the end. I'd have given it a long ending chord in G-minor.
Credits & Info
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Licensing Terms
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