Jazz Instrumental (Comments please)

[aldicicco]

Hi everyone,Here's an instrumental called "You Shoulda Seen Me Then". It's not targeted for any current listing, so now seemed to be the best time to solicit your comments.I would appreciate any feedback you wish to give.There's a musical story line here (no lyrics). It starts off with a bit of a New Orleans shuffle; some old guy telling the story of his younger days. After his intro, the song turns to his youth and becomes an up tempo jazz tune. Then, near the end, the youthful and old versions do a cross-fade so that the old guy can finish the story... Nothing complicated in my stories.... It's here at www.taxi.com/aldiciccoBest regards,Al

[kitz]

Al,Great Chops!! Great tune - very cool!! Sound and melody great!!Only thing I heard was maybe a little distortion around the 2:50 mark in the overall.Bass is kicking. I'm listening on my computer squeakers (Altec Lansing w/ sub) and some of the frequencies in the bass cause my house to shake but that may just be my setup. This room is definitely not eq'd.Great Work!! Must have taken some time to put this little beauty together??Kitz

[aldicicco]

Hi Kitz,Thanks for the feedback!I'm getting killed on my Taxi reviews for my sound quality. The fact is I am not using computer tools at all at the present time. I'm going straight to CD and, although I try to be consistent, it's almost impossible to achieve the sound I get directly from my instruments. I'm all ears if anyone has suggestions for building a modest tool set-up for editing and mastering. I tend to think that the mastering step is the biggest obstacle I must overcome.It's funny, but I don't get a real bassy sound in my studio. I use KRK V6 monitors and keep my mixing board EQ'd dead center.I'm glad you enjoyed the song. It did take a little time, but not as bad as some songs. Overall I have about 30 hours into it.Sorry about the rumbles. Hopefully there are no angry neighbors or broken art objects!Best wishes,Al

[davewalton]

Nov 18, 2008, 1:43pm, aldicicco wrote:Hi everyone,Here's an instrumental called "You Shoulda Seen Me Then". It's not targeted for any current listing, so now seemed to be the best time to solicit your comments.I would appreciate any feedback you wish to give.There's a musical story line here (no lyrics). It starts off with a bit of a New Orleans shuffle; some old guy telling the story of his younger days. After his intro, the song turns to his youth and becomes an up tempo jazz tune. Then, near the end, the youthful and old versions do a cross-fade so that the old guy can finish the story... Nothing complicated in my stories.... It's here at www.taxi.com/aldiciccoBest regards,AlHey Al,As a purely listening piece, like on a CD or something I think the "three-in-one" thing works fine. For film/tv it's all about setting (and staying) within a mood. Something that starts as one thing, changes in the middle and then again towards the end would have a hard time getting placed in film/tv. Therefore it would have a hard time getting forwarded through Taxi for a film/tv listing. So it's not really about the music.The good news is that you already have three songs! So it's a personal decision as to whether you want to keep it and just do something new or break this up into three songs. I wrote a "three-fer" at the beginning of my Taxi experience and I decided to keep it because I liked it as-is at the time (still do kind of). Hope that helps,DavePS - There's an old style DX7 thing in there. It's OK, you may want to consider something different, but there's a rapid series of notes coming off that thing. Those I would definitely remove as they were a distraction not a real addition to the rest of the piece. I'll sit down and be quiet now.

[mazz]

Al,I think you have a good piece here, although, as Dave says, for library/film/tv usage, it may be a bit too diverse. My first thought was, if you wanted to pitch it for film/tv, losing the intro would be a good place to start and then maybe re-working the ending so it doesn't sound like it fades out. But as a listening piece, it's a cool one!! Nice playing for sure!!My issue as a first impression on small speakers was that the piano was too out front and had too much power in certain frequencies, which robs the rest of the instruments of the punch they need to make it sound more like a live band playing. The issue with this piece, to me, is the mix and the sounds of some of the instruments, particularly the drums.We will discuss this further in the near future, I predict!!Mazz

[aldicicco]

Thank you Dave and Mazz for your replies.Dave - Sage advice. Without customer satisfaction, where will this music go? Nowhere perhaps. Ultimately someone is paying for this work and they better be happy with the product! Thank you very much for this reality check. It isn't the music after all...Also - you picked up on that DX7 sound. It was supposed to be "pixie dust" sprinkled on the song near the end. I guess I'll save it for a doughnut! I've had more than a few debates on this part of the song.AND -three songs! You're right. I'll re-state what I said to Kitz. I only spent ten hours....Mazz - Holy cats! I've been shaken to the foundation here. I really think I've got to make up for about twenty years of music technology!Seriously, I thought this particular work was one of my "keepers". I'm in need of mixing help. I blame this on my lack of mixing and mastering skills because if you heard it "live" in my studio, it simply sounds cool. I'm having trouble making it to the small (and big) speakers. I need to re-think what I'm doing here (not giving up, just re-thinking ).Thank you both very much! I hear you loud and clear. It's a lifelong endeavour, but I'd like to speed it up with your help.Best wishes,Al

[mazz]

Al,I'm listening to this now on my studio speakers and it sounds better mix-wise. I think your drums are in need of beefing up and I think at times the piano is still a bit hot.The tune is cool and the playing is great, I think it just needs a bit of tweaking and updating mix-wise. Making the drums punchier would help a lot. I recommend listening to some more of this smooth jazz stuff and trying to make the drums sound more like what is happening these days.The music is there, just polishing the sound will bring it up to the level of the writing and playing!See you soon!!Mazz

[aldicicco]

Thanks Mazz for this feedback. I hope I didn't come across as too severe here.This is all rather new to me (Taxi-listing-wise) and I'm trying to listen as carefully as I possibly can to the advice I'm receiving.Again, I appreciate your generous reply and look forward to further musical pursuits and discussions with you.Best wishes!Al

[jamesm]

Beautiful playing! I'm in no position to give advice on mixing or production; you've already heard from some of the best here. I just wanted to add a note that it was a pleasure to listen to.James

[jazzstan]

The technical stuff has been well covered, but I'll second the motion on "great chops" and very nice writing, too. It was extremely listenable .. meaning there were no awkward spots to distract at all. Musically I'd say it was zero defect! That's impressive. ~Stan