| Conquest |   |
This is a project for me to learn multi instrument complex arrangements . Well multi for me.
My goal is to write a piece of music with a lot of variation, with highs and lows etc
Please comment on how all the instruments work together, this is a first for me.
The lead is all improvisation, no need to comment on this part.
Cheers
Denis
My goal is to write a piece of music with a lot of variation, with highs and lows etc
Please comment on how all the instruments work together, this is a first for me.
The lead is all improvisation, no need to comment on this part.
Cheers
Denis
| your amazing! |
sounds really good to me...the whole combitaion of sounds has me hooked..i love the strings in the beginning with the piano in the back...then it slides into a lovely rythem of gutar..and is that a slight brassy sound i hear?...honestly, this is amazing..you should be well proud of this.i love it...will rate high.x
Hi mate, love what you've put together here!
Pro's for me:
The arrangement and general composition, it has a really driving feel and bassline.
The drum sequencing is well done and the beats fit the tune well. Some fills would be nice though.
The creamy 'Santana' lead guitar tone and the general lead playing, it feels pretty good for an improv even if you didn't want comments on that
The use of instrumentation to create a soundscape that isn't 'too' thick. It sounds well balanced to me.
The brass quips also add to the energetic feel of the backing track in this song.
Cons for me:
The synth/string sound is quite shrill and also could use some more variation musically. I'm not sure if you are playing single notes or chords but maybe experimenting with two-note harmonies would improve it, like a real string duet.
The track sounds a little repetitive to me. I guess this is purely because there is no distinct lead melodic or vocal hook, its just an improv. That isn't a criticism per sec, I guess it's just indicative of the fact this is an experiment rather than an entitled composition. It's something some of my tracks exhibit I know lol.
The drums sound, they sound electronic.
The piano sound, it also sounds electronic.
Pro's for me:
The arrangement and general composition, it has a really driving feel and bassline.
The drum sequencing is well done and the beats fit the tune well. Some fills would be nice though.
The creamy 'Santana' lead guitar tone and the general lead playing, it feels pretty good for an improv even if you didn't want comments on that
The use of instrumentation to create a soundscape that isn't 'too' thick. It sounds well balanced to me.
The brass quips also add to the energetic feel of the backing track in this song.
Cons for me:
The synth/string sound is quite shrill and also could use some more variation musically. I'm not sure if you are playing single notes or chords but maybe experimenting with two-note harmonies would improve it, like a real string duet.
The track sounds a little repetitive to me. I guess this is purely because there is no distinct lead melodic or vocal hook, its just an improv. That isn't a criticism per sec, I guess it's just indicative of the fact this is an experiment rather than an entitled composition. It's something some of my tracks exhibit I know lol.
The drums sound, they sound electronic.
The piano sound, it also sounds electronic.
To save re-iteration, I'll begin by saying that I agree with DaveUK for the most part. Here is where we differ:
I find the arrangement, especially towards the beginning, is a little empty. I think this is because I feel the synths are under-developed. There are lots of opportunities for harmony and counterpoint---experimenting with say an ascending harmony in synth against a descending harmony with two competing lead lines for example.
There is far, far, far too much reverb on some of the tracks---the lead guitar strikes out the most.
Great job though, and I love the new steps you are taking musically.
I find the arrangement, especially towards the beginning, is a little empty. I think this is because I feel the synths are under-developed. There are lots of opportunities for harmony and counterpoint---experimenting with say an ascending harmony in synth against a descending harmony with two competing lead lines for example.
There is far, far, far too much reverb on some of the tracks---the lead guitar strikes out the most.
Great job though, and I love the new steps you are taking musically.
| Great Review |
DaveUK wrote…
Hi mate, love what you've put together here!
Pro's for me:
The arrangement and general composition, it has a really driving feel and bassline.
The drum sequencing is well done and the beats fit the tune well. Some fills would be nice though.
The creamy 'Santana' lead guitar tone and the general lead playing, it feels pretty good for an improv even if you didn't want comments on that
The use of instrumentation to create a soundscape that isn't 'too' thick. It sounds well balanced to me.
The brass quips also add to the energetic feel of the backing track in this song.
Cons for me:
The synth/string sound is quite shrill and also could use some more variation musically. I'm not sure if you are playing single notes or chords but maybe experimenting with two-note harmonies would improve it, like a real string duet.
The track sounds a little repetitive to me. I guess this is purely because there is no distinct lead melodic or vocal hook, its just an improv. That isn't a criticism per sec, I guess it's just indicative of the fact this is an experiment rather than an entitled composition. It's something some of my tracks exhibit I know lol.
The drums sound, they sound electronic.
The piano sound, it also sounds electronic.
Dave, excellent observations you have made here.
The Strings & Drums I can deal with, hence my drum machine being an Alesis16R has 49 drum sets, should be able to find a drum set which sounds more authentic, Or I could put is through my analogue mixer???
My keyboard is a relative basic Yamaha PSR280, I recently purchased an Audiophile2496 sound card,
which came highly recommended, to work with midi, unfortunately it pops and clicks. I have contacted tech' support, a guy who had being doing the job for 10 years tried everything and concluded it's my PC at fault, there is no way around it, except get a new PC. Don't want to get a new PC just yet, it's only 2 & a half years old. So, unless I can improve on the sound from my Yamaha keyboard, I guess Could work with the the midi, and try to put up with the pops and clicks?
You didn't mention the rhythm guitar, which is interesting, It's an old cheap Les Paul copy I haven't played for over 25 years or so, the lead was played with my lovely seventies Strat.
I think I may just use some of ideas in this song to make up another, with vox too.
If you can suggest of anyways on improving the keyboard sound, would appreciate it
Cheers
Denis
avinashv wrote…
To save re-iteration, I'll begin by saying that I agree with DaveUK for the most part. Here is where we differ:
I find the arrangement, especially towards the beginning, is a little empty. I think this is because I feel the synths are under-developed. There are lots of opportunities for harmony and counterpoint---experimenting with say an ascending harmony in synth against a descending harmony with two competing lead lines for example.
There is far, far, far too much reverb on some of the tracks---the lead guitar strikes out the most.
Great job though, and I love the new steps you are taking musically.
Av, you too have some great observations as usual.
I should have recorded the keybord sounds Dry then mixed, hence I cant adjust the reverb now.
I like the idea of harmonies, this should fill out the sound more.
This is great.
Cheers
Denis
| re: your amazing! |
paganscradle wrote…
sounds really good to me...the whole combitaion of sounds has me hooked..i love the strings in the beginning with the piano in the back...then it slides into a lovely rythem of gutar..and is that a slight brassy sound i hear?...honestly, this is amazing..you should be well proud of this.i love it...will rate high.x
Thanks for listening
Cheers
Denis
tavi wrote…
The arrangement is good, maybe for a better crescendo to cool the drums down a little bit between 30s and 1m. But for one thing I have to protest vehemently: where is your acoustic guitar !? A little respect, you unfaithful, it should find a place there on a track! ;)
Nice thought about the drums, my drum machine has touch sensitve pads, but are very hard to work with, hence I just use a preset volume, the pads are only about 1cm square and to get the full volume you have to hit them with all your might LOL.
However, I could simply adjust the overall volume, which I will try and do.
Oh and about my acoustic, I suppose the only reason why I did not include it was beacuse my daughter,
has recently got addicted to MSN and always in my bedroom where all my stuff is set up, I must save and get her a lap top. Anyway that's just an excuse, I can always organise time to record my acoustic, infact I have tuesdays off work.
Thanks for your obsevations, this is great
Denis
The synthetic drum is not much of a problem, but yeah the begining is too empty. Also what dave said use 2 notes or more for the string they feel so... lonely. Having 2 different harmonies in the string makes it perfect for the track and that makes it more fuller. I think I heard an error in time in the brass in 1:13. Hope to hear another take on this. Good job.
Nice tune, Denis! The drum sounds dont bother so much as the arrangement. It could use a little more variation to give a more organic feel. The synths could a little more work to give them a warmer feel. Hey about your soundcard, have you tried increasing your buffer settings? I know i had pops and clicks until I had sufficiently raised the buffer... Rated and Reviewed!
Hmm no offense to the guy if you know him, but if he's really been sat on the same tech support helpdesk for 10 years he cant be that good LOL
Seriously, "it's your PC" is tech support guy language for "sorry mate I don't have a fucking clue whats wrong".
That sound card should be perfectly fine for MIDI work with anything but the most ancient PC. When you say you are experiencing pops and clicks, is this using the onboard synth in that sound card or are you using a software synth?
What quality is your sequencer set to (eg 96khz 24bit)?
What sequencer are you using?
What OS do you use?
Have you updated your drivers for the card?
Have you selected the card's native ASIO drivers from the sequencer instead of the ASIO Multimedia one?
Have you tried different buffer sizes?
Seriously dude people connected keyboards to Atari ST's for MIDI sequencing so I'm quite confident we can get your PC sorted
Seriously, "it's your PC" is tech support guy language for "sorry mate I don't have a fucking clue whats wrong".
That sound card should be perfectly fine for MIDI work with anything but the most ancient PC. When you say you are experiencing pops and clicks, is this using the onboard synth in that sound card or are you using a software synth?
What quality is your sequencer set to (eg 96khz 24bit)?
What sequencer are you using?
What OS do you use?
Have you updated your drivers for the card?
Have you selected the card's native ASIO drivers from the sequencer instead of the ASIO Multimedia one?
Have you tried different buffer sizes?
Seriously dude people connected keyboards to Atari ST's for MIDI sequencing so I'm quite confident we can get your PC sorted
Denis. I like. I think you've got a good direction, for an experiment such as this. Igonoring the fact that the drums are synth and that the midi card is popping at you, the art of the composition is excellent, in my opinion. Learning from the comments posted here (and merging their views of your song with your own) will help you make bigger badder stuff in the future! I'm not seeing this as the final product, but rather the stepping stone to get a great final product out of your future songs.
Good stuff I like your acoustic, but there comes a time when we must all experiment and do something else for a song or two :P (There also comes a time to buy a new PC, but you're right-- 2 and 1/2 years deserves some more usuage before it retires.)
TLS
Good stuff
I like your acoustic, but there comes a time when we must all experiment and do something else for a song or two :P (There also comes a time to buy a new PC, but you're right-- 2 and 1/2 years deserves some more usuage before it retires.)TLS
DaveUK wrote…
Seriously, "it's your PC" is tech support guy language for "sorry mate I don't have a fucking clue whats wrong".
Absolutely. I was just about to post and say that the guy doesn't seem to know what is going on and pawning it off on the easiest place to do so: you.
Edit: Actually, good thing you didn't take his advice and waste money on a new PC that you most likely don't need.
I had trouble when my relatively cheapo audio interface recorded sound on different bitrate and frequency than my audio software thought it was taken.
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