Just read the notes by Patrick. Think I covered everything except tuning the vocals. I like the vulnerability of the untuned vocals though, so that's cool. The untuned vocals are reminiscent of many 80's tracks to me, which fits the pop/jazz/rockabilly crossover feel.
I took some production choices, seeing as the MIDI was included. I replaced the piano, Rhodes and drums. For the piano, I shortened all the notes and used the sustain pedal instead of just holding the keys, using the Pianoteq upright model, slowly brought up the velocity over the course of the song, and added some humanization. I swapped the Rhodes for a Wurlitzer (Arturia), using a trick I stole from Zappa by having hard L/R versions with different settings, as well as humanizing the MIDI differently. The drums I replaced with Superior Drummer Roots Sticks (very glad the MIDI mapping was according to SD!) and played with the velocity of different kit parts (but relative velocity and timing was kept as-is).
Everything slotted in quite nicely, except the horns, so it was just a case of rounding-off the edges to give a more analogue-esque sound and automating gain. The vocal becomes more reverberant in the later sections, but other than that it's all pretty simple; no minute fader riding.
Anyway, as ever, all comments welcome
I took some production choices, seeing as the MIDI was included. I replaced the piano, Rhodes and drums. For the piano, I shortened all the notes and used the sustain pedal instead of just holding the keys, using the Pianoteq upright model, slowly brought up the velocity over the course of the song, and added some humanization. I swapped the Rhodes for a Wurlitzer (Arturia), using a trick I stole from Zappa by having hard L/R versions with different settings, as well as humanizing the MIDI differently. The drums I replaced with Superior Drummer Roots Sticks (very glad the MIDI mapping was according to SD!) and played with the velocity of different kit parts (but relative velocity and timing was kept as-is).
Everything slotted in quite nicely, except the horns, so it was just a case of rounding-off the edges to give a more analogue-esque sound and automating gain. The vocal becomes more reverberant in the later sections, but other than that it's all pretty simple; no minute fader riding.
Anyway, as ever, all comments welcome