This was an attempt I made a few years ago towards something a little more “modern and mainstream” than some of the things I was writing and recording at that time.
It’s really just a snippet of an idea that I played around with by adding some real fretless electric bass, acoustic guitar, and an electric slide guitar to a couple of Groove Agent ideas plus a Halion track or 2 (one of which is surely the sitar sound). In some ways the composition is like a round at a few points.
The older people I played it for said things like “EDM meets Shakti” and the younger people said it sounded like something in “a hotel lobby, or hotel bar”. I actually threw the electric slide guitar part in from an inspiration drawn from David Gilmour on A Pillow of Winds from Pink Floyd’s Meddle album.
In any case, it was fun to do and it probably comes from 3-4 years back and whatever version of Cubase Artist that may have been current then. I should probably now re-title it “A Nod to Then”.
As always, hoping that anyone giving it a listen will enjoy what they hear. Thanks for listening, if you do.
Hi swetch, nice one! I like the “round”-ness of it. It may be a snippet, but it makes enough changes to keep my interest. Some of the instruments (drum, sitar) are in one channel only, which makes them stand out, maybe more than you want. You could move them more to center, or maybe better, just send a copy over to the left with a short delay and reverb, and then raise up the volume until you can just hear them. Just an idea. Definitely not hotel lobby! I do like the “EDM meets Shakti” comment!
Thanks, Early, for the advice on the mix. In a one man project like this one, it’s always helpful to get another set of ears “view” of where things sit. By the way, there are 2 separate drum tracks and patterns on this piece. I’ll play around with your idea. Thanks, as always, for the listen and taking the time to weigh in with some thoughts.
Hi Swetch,
Thx for this one. I have 3 small remarks to make it more appealing (only from my point of view)
1: I do agree with Early, I think the drums in particular should be at the center, just like the bass. You can still distribute the other instruments on each side with the amount you want; and even change the sides from time to time.
2: I think the “acoustic guitar” should be more loud. in fact I think you should play with volume automation to get the instruments more in front alternatively. Our ears will still be accustomed after they heard the rhythm couple of times at the beginning.
3: Add some Congos/Bongas before introducing a new guitar entrance.
Thanks for the listens and comments to both Stephco and slipstream02. Always helpful to get things before other ears and see how our work might be heard by someone else.