Feedback For Modern Sad Strings and Piano

[NMN]

Hi, I just listened to v3 and v4 of your song. v3 sounds better to me overall. In v4 the piano doesn't blend as well with the strings. My thought would be to try to think about the room that the piano would be in rather than velocities. It sounds like the kind of song where you would hear a grand piano in a large, lonely hall and each note has significance. I would want to capture more of the atmosphere of a dampened piano (the sounds of the keys, pedals, the reverb of the entire simulated room, etc). I am somewhere between novice and intermediate level so take it for what its worth but this is where I would start.

[irthlingz]

Thank you, NMN, we will take a look at that.

Meanwhile (before we heard from you, NMN) we created a V5 where we "softened" the piano sound with a low pass filter. Would love to get some ears on that ...

https://sharmuse.com/nwit.html

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Sharon & Michael

[NMN]

Hi Sharon and Michael. I just listened to v5 and I think that the piano blends much better with the strings starting at 1:00. The bass notes after that 1:00 point sound too "synthy" to me though. I don't notice it with the higher notes and I think that they blend well.

When the C# and A notes are played in succession on the piano is where I hear the most issue. It sounds too mechanical and MIDI to my ears. I think this is a track that doesn't need to keep exact time in certain places, especially at the beginning. Try to play those notes with a varying tempo; each time that you play the C# or A, slow your tempo just a bit and soften it just a bit. Most phrases of the beginning piano part seem to me like they should come to a gradual halt. But also I still think that those notes will work best if there's a lot of sustain, simulated room reverb and piano noise around them.

[irthlingz]

Thank you, NMN, we will look at all that!

BTW, it looks like rolling off lows is standard for making cues more "background-friendly." See my post in the "Technology, Recording and Production" forum:

those-nasty-mid-frequencies-t147752.html

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Michael

[rpeckyno]

I love the "Americana" vibe - very neat way to go with this call. I really like it from 1:00 on.

The high sustained violin note that comes in at around :10 and sustains till the 1:00 mark is a bit too much for me. It fills the space almost too much - I'd love to have a 'breath' in there or something to compliment the piano melody wise. That said, like everyone else, very jealous of the violin sound itself - very authentic!