Island thing

[grandsoul]

Well, I listened to the entire tune- it's a nice idea. I love steel drums, and the Caribbean, for that matter. It does sound a bit muddy, however. I'm not sure where you are going, and yet you chose a big finale - which is fine, but a line from one of my conductors comes to mind. "Never louder than lovely." Now the term "lovely" can mean different things, but take it for what it's worth. I found myself reaching for the volume knob.

For starters, I'd strip out the MIDI beats that don't make music sense, and highlight the steel drums by complimenting them instead of contradicting them. Then, I'd figure out where I want to go with the piece as a whole.

For what it's worth, I've been to the Caribbean many times. I've listened to many steel drums. Sometimes being simple makes a better statement.

That being said, don't forget the Margaritas!

~wings~

Thanks for giving my music a listen. I really appriciate it .

There are many who would consider this melody as "Simple" (compared to an orchestral symphony ).

A good description would be "not too busy". It has to have that drive in tt, otherwise, it would sound weak, and anemic. You can have a relative simple melody, but there can be a lot of musicial activity going on behind it to give it a musicial backbone.

Samba, ramba, samba.


http://www.reverbnation.com
http://www.youbloom.com/web/luciusaustin
http://www.myspace.com/luciusaustin

[grandsoul]

I'm going to venture a guess that it's the overly mechanical percussion loops that make the "looser" parts feel out of the groove, like the steel drums. It doesn't feel organic, like a real island band all grooving together. It sounds like what it is: A MIDI concoction. It takes a lot of time to make a MIDI band that can fool the ear. I used to put on loops and jam to them but I eventually found it more satisfying to dig in and make the pieces more cohesive and "musical". I also found it much more lucrative as well.

Cheers!

Mazz

"You have to excuse me for not having easy access to a steel drum section as well."


The thing is, with the availability these days of excellent sample libraries of just about any instrument known to man, there's no excuse for using acoustic samples from a workstation that were designed with memory constraints. If one has acoustic samples that aren't great, then it would be better to not use them and write for what strong sounds one does have. Unless the composer doesn't really care if their music gets forwarded or not, then it's really just an experiment or a hobby, IMO.

I've made a significant investment in sample libraries and spend a ton of time attempting to make them sound "live" and "real" so that I don't have to make excuses for my music. If a sound I want to use isn't cutting it, I either use a different sound or move on to a different idea or scrap the piece and write one for the strong samples I have. Like you, I'd love to write for a real string section, and I work intensely on my music and sounds so that I can land a gig where the producers are paying for the string section!!

IMO your Korg has outlived it's era when it comes to sampled acoustic sounds. It may still be a viable synth, but if you really want to be competitive in the marketplace and not have to make excuses for your sounds, then an upgrade to more modern sounds is in order, unfortunately.

Mazz

So what you're stating is, if I upgrade to the newer gear, I may get that better (brake drum) chorale thing

I can still do a lot of creative loops and patterns On the N264 that I can't donon the newer things.
I tried some of those so called "new" programs, and they have the tendency to be creatively stiffiling (PT8).

Remember when a lot of folks went out and mothballed their old Moog and Arp gear, citing some saying it was old and outdated? Turns out a lot of people were sampling those sounds from this grand wonderful gear (and the Mellotron was a sampler as well {and a lot of people sampled sounds from that as well }) .

It will always still be how you use it.

Grandsoul

www.reverbnation.com/luciusaustin
www.myspace.com/luciusaustin
www.youbloom.com/web/luciusaustin

[mazz]

Well yes, it will always be how well you use it! I was talking more about libraries that make sounds and relating it to your Korg workstation, not a DAW like Pro Tools which doesn't make any sound on it's own, it's just a recording tool.

I have an old Oberheim OB8 which I bought new in 1984. As much as I love it, it's much easier to use a great sample of it in Omnisphere or something, plus if I set it up, it takes up a lot of floor space in my studio.

So to relate back to your original question of the thread which was "what do you think?", I have to say that in this case, I think the Korg wasn't used all that well compared to today's standards of broadcast quality. It is possible in the right hands it could be used effectively, but in this case, you missed the mark.

Just my opinion and you asked.

Mazz

[grandsoul]

Well, I listened to the entire tune- it's a nice idea. I love steel drums, and the Caribbean, for that matter. It does sound a bit muddy, however. I'm not sure where you are going, and yet you chose a big finale - which is fine, but a line from one of my conductors comes to mind. "Never louder than lovely." Now the term "lovely" can mean different things, but take it for what it's worth. I found myself reaching for the volume knob.

For starters, I'd strip out the MIDI beats that don't make music sense, and highlight the steel drums by complimenting them instead of contradicting them. Then, I'd figure out where I want to go with the piece as a whole.

For what it's worth, I've been to the Caribbean many times. I've listened to many steel drums. Sometimes being simple makes a better statement.

That being said, don't forget the Margaritas!

~wings~

Thanks for giving my music a listen. I really appriciate it .

There are many who would consider this melody as "Simple" (compared to an orchestral symphony ).

A good description would be "not too busy". It has to have that drive in tt, otherwise, it would sound weak, and anemic. You can have a relative simple melody, but there can be a lot of musicial activity going on behind it to give it a musicial backbone.

Samba, ramba, samba.


http://www.reverbnation.com
http://www.youbloom.com/web/luciusaustin
http://www.myspace.com/luciusaustin

The idea was to give it a "like being there" feel. You hear the music from a distance, you come closer. You observe the source of the sound. People gather around and join in the festivities. And they go all night in that region as well. That 7:32 seconds is considered short for them .

[grandsoul]

Well yes, it will always be how well you use it! I was talking more about libraries that make sounds and relating it to your Korg workstation, not a DAW like Pro Tools which doesn't make any sound on it's own, it's just a recording tool.

I have an old Oberheim OB8 which I bought new in 1984. As much as I love it, it's much easier to use a great sample of it in Omnisphere or something, plus if I set it up, it takes up a lot of floor space in my studio.

So to relate back to your original question of the thread which was "what do you think?", I have to say that in this case, I think the Korg wasn't used all that well compared to today's standards of broadcast quality. It is possible in the right hands it could be used effectively, but in this case, you missed the mark.

Just my opinion and you asked.

Mazz

The OB8 is easy. (The Matrix 6 was one of my favorites).
I did have a Rhodes electric piano once. Now I wish I would not have sold it. It's worth holding on to.
I found one I really did like, but someone beat me to it
(Does that Omnisphere have a brake drum sample in it? WIll need that for a future project .



www.youbloom.com/web/luciusaustin
www.reverbnation.com/luciusaustin
www.myspace.com/luciusaustin