In a desperate attempt to at least get something out again I decided to finish this one off. Personally I find the arrangement rather average, but I felt I just had to finish a mix again because the amount of ‘idea’ projects is rising steadily but nothing ever makes it past an interesting loop in my case. I feel I can do a lot better than this, but at least it’s something
edit: for some reason unknown to me the hihats are panned full left. That’s not intentional
Listening to it here it also sounds like the guitars can come up quite a bit. Guess I got something out of it without anyone replying yet, nice going
Haha, I’m exactly the same as you with the amount of ‘ideas’ projects I have in my ‘current projects’ folder. But about the composition, even though it is intended to start off thinner and build up it it just sounded too bland to me until the guitars came in. Which I usually complain about anything less than absolutely perfect electric guitar playing, but I really liked that messy sound of notes running into each other ;D
I think overall the piece could slightly build in tempo before and during sections, just slowly so it’s barely noticeable but big enough to make a difference. Same with the volume of instruments, instead of an overall volume, have gradual expression rising and falling for some bits.
At 1:48 I think the melody instrument could ascend to the octave above the note it lands on there, just sounds too repetitive when it repeats and ends on the same note for each repeat. Also, after that repeat I think it’d really benefit from a counter-rhythm part panned to the left. These are just my thoughts of, but as a listener those are some of the things I thought of that I’d like to have heard
What I’d like to know though, is the high pitched instrument that comes in at 1:35. Firstly, what is it? Secondly, are you playing the rhythm of that in all the way via keyboard, or playing it once and looping, or did you write the notes in with the mouse? Or is it like some of the instruments in Halion Sonic where you hold the key and it plays a rhythm automatically? Regardless of which it sounded cool, rhythmically and the sound of it. I’m fairly new to electronic stuff, as a listener and composer, so pretty eager to get into it and learn it Congrats on finishing one of your ideas though, good effort so far!
Yes, sometimes you just have to push one to the finish to break a jam. We all must have bits and pieces recorded waiting for more ideas! Musically, I think this one needs to decide where its melody is and where the melody is going. Might lead you into some key changes or drama of some sort. Just something I struggle with and sounds like you did too. Anyway, I enjoyed it.
liked the beat and build, the snare sounded better as the piece progressed. maybe filter the drums in at the beginning, sort of like coming in from the distance. the guitar was cool, maybe make it wider and bigger because its a big part of the overall sound. the synth stabs were also nice, I thought a lead there would complete the build up. I thought the whole piece could keep building and building right to the end of the arrangement. I think its a great start to something neat, keep at it.
Thanks all, much appreciated! Got a good few ideas from your fresh ears which is exactly what I was after
What I’d like to know though, is the high pitched instrument that comes in at 1:35. Firstly, what is it? Secondly, are you playing the rhythm of that in all the way via keyboard, or playing it once and looping, or did you write the notes in with the mouse? Or is it like some of the instruments in Halion Sonic where you hold the key and it plays a rhythm automatically? Regardless of which it sounded cool, rhythmically and the sound of it. I’m fairly new to electronic stuff, as a listener and composer, so pretty eager to get into it and learn it
I’m not really sure which specific sound you mean.
The guitar is playing a simple rhythm line. This is, like the main guitar riff, a slightly modified arpeggio from my Yamaha keyboard.
Then there is the pizzicato kind of sound which is an (If I remember correctly) untweaked preset from Steinbergs new synth Padshop. I played that myself from my keyboard, with just some quantising afterwards.
The higher pitched synth stabs are from Retrologue, also played that myself. There is some echo on that sound so it might sound more complicated than it really is
For repetitive stab-like parts like the last 2 I mentioned, I usually record it all the way through, because that gives me a bit of freedom to change the expression of the part throughout the arrangement. After recording I generally pick 2 or 3 good parts from it and loop those. That way I get a good performance while still keeping a bit of variation in it. I can’t reliably play a part like that 100% right for a long duration
Little update. I greatly improved the mix (in my opinion anyway ) from your suggestions. Seeing as we have the master of ‘soupy’ in this topic, I figured I could try that on the drums in the intro. The result is errrm, interesting
For some reason the hihats were recorded in the left channel only. Really strange because the panning on the drumkit is dead center.
Once I rerecorded that I’ll update the first post with a new link. I very much struggle to find a good melodic hook to the song. Both Bob and Early mentioned it and it’s something I had been tinkering with already. I certainly agree that it’s something that the song lacks though, so I’ll just keep trying.
Hey strophoid,
I’m not sure what you’re intending this to be - a foundation to be expanded on with a melodic theme added,
or left more or less as is like a soundtrack piece. If it’s the latter, I think there’s still room for more subtle ornaments.
The only thing that bothered me was the drum sound for the first minute or so - especially the snare.
The pad and the bass are so warm sounding and draw you in - but the snare is so brash sounding that it takes away from the warm vibe. I’m not sure what your intent is there.
Thanks for listening Lenny. I completely see all your points. The intro I have already reworked (just not uploaded) to fix exactly that.
What I intend the track to be will remain a mystery for now on, as I wouldn’t know myself.
I’ve been looking for a good melodic hook or vocal, but I really can’t pull it off on this one. It’ll probably stay a soundtrack kind of track, so I’ll experiment with ‘subtle ornaments’
Now with:
*Less filtering on the drums
*center hihats
*more reverb in intro
*bass sidechained into pad compressor
*MOAR guitars
*slight alterations in melody lines as suggested by Jonathan
*Some vocal fx thingies which are just the result of me doing random stuff with microphones and RobPapen delay. Those are not quite finished though
*and some other minor tweaks
original mix is still available from the link in the OP, if you want to compare.
Sounding even better. The only thing that, as you said, needs a little work is the vocal parts. I’m not sure exactly where you’re trying to go with these, but check out the flexphrase vocals here.
You’ve probably heard those already, but if you could get in some kind of flexphrase effect like that on them, I think it might be a move in the right direction. Maybe this could be acheived by the delay you speak of.
the 2nd time the vocal came in its really cool how that folded into the lead sound. the seq stabs are nice, maybe a bar or 2 of variation on that theme cause I found myself getting a melody line from that.
the changes to the next version were great. I want to hear how you expand on the vocal, keep messin with it.
Mix2 sure is different… changed the atmosphere quite a bit - for the better.
The fundamental components of this are really cool, just needs a little more cohesion. 1:36 - 2:08 - I reckon more stuff needs to be happening here, building to a climax, so that the next section feels more like a breakdown/bridge section, then build it up again at 2:32…to the end, maybe…?
I didn’t take the time to read all replies, bit busy so maybe I say things that are already said.
What I mis is movement, filtersweeps and drumbreaks etc. Not that it’s a rule to do so but to keep it that minimal
it’s hard to draw attention from the listener.
for instance If you just slowly sweep the synth over a 4 bar period and drop the beat for one measure you can build some anticipation.
I always split the piece in three stages, composition, arrangment and mixing.
This piece to me is a mixed composition without the arrangments.
Thanks guys
You’re right on Dylan, it’s the arrangement that’s lacking most and I’m well aware of it. That’s also mostly the reason why I said in the OP that I just wanted to finish something because I couldn’t get a single proper arrangement down and wanted to at least finish something.
I appreciate all the feedback!
Congrats on finishing one of your ideas though, good effort so far!
changed the atmosphere quite a bit - for the better. 