May I ask you to listen?

[flood]

I am new here, and certainly do not mean to presume.I am gearing up to get my Taxi membership as soon as ASCAP approves my application. Should be any day now.I have spent the last few weeks working on fine tuning my mixes-I have mixed many promos for tv and radio, but always from a post production perspective. I am working on getting my music up to snuff for use in libraries and so on, and would very much appreciate your thoughts and criticisms on this, particularly with regards to the balance of the mix and overall sound.http://soundclick.com/share?songid=6921459The song form is a bit unusual, and the lyrics have been written but not recorded.Bearing that in mind:I am wide open and welcome even the harshest of critiques. It is my desire to make sure my quality is up to the current standards and I do NOT want happy thoughts if you think this deserves none.I thank you for your time reading this, and, hopefully, listening to the song.

[anne]

Hi Flood, I'm listening on my Mac laptop with the built in speakers, so this is not a really in-depth review. The first thing I noticed is that the drums are really way too up front. The snare especially. But more importantly, the samples.Secondly, did you use Band in a box? Nothing wrong with that program at all - it is an excellent one for working out ideas and generating new ones, but the samples in it aren't broadcast quality - very synthy sound to them. However - there is a simple step I do to start working out songs made with BIAB to bring them to b'cast quality. I've used B.I.A.B. to get the basic drum beat or piano part written (those are the two that stump me most). I then bring that midi file into my DAW and used better sounding samples. Then I perform some tweaking of that midi file to add dynamics or variance - and bingo! I quickly see where I can take that part and generate a b'cast quality track for my song. The piano or drums built into garageband, or logic, for example sound much more realistic than those in BIAB, and you will be surprised at the difference in sound. That will get you well on your way Now please don't be offended by my assumption, above, that you have a DAW and other samples. If the program you generated this file with is all you have to work with right now that is fine. You can still get the basics of balancing everything out nicely to bring your song to life. In this song particularly, I'd bring that snare way down from where it is. It cuts (nicely) right through the mix, but due to that it is far too "loud" in the song. The drums in general are way out front in the mix. The guitar should be much more present, since it is carrying the melody. I have to listen again to go further on helping on the mix, so I will give it a listen later today - right now I have just been up most of the night and am probably not in the best "critical listening" state

[geo]

Hi Flood....How you doing? I'll give you my thoughts using comments I have gotten from screeners and other much more accomplished members than myself as a guide....This works as a sketch but needs some further development before submission IMHO..... if you pop over to the "Forwards" section of the forum there are many examples of mind blowing stuff people are getting forwarded....Drum loops .... need to vary more.... sectional difference is a comment I've gotten lately (and adopted as my new mantra).... even when you add vocals you're going to want to break up the sections more.... feel wise.... the fills sound like they're tapped over the loops and feel awkward....Bass .... a little too forward in the mix and need to vary more... melody wise..... and to be honest I hate the sound... sorry...Keys ..... sounds like some good playing going on... but piano is buried in the mix.... use the alternative keyboard melodies to help with your sectional difference....Guitar .... tell ya.... I like the guitar riff 0:10 - 0:40... which surfaces throughout the tune....nice..Overall .... the rhythm section sounds canned which makes the mix sound disjointed... nothing sits together well.... as an instrumental it's too long.... most subs in this category run around 2 mins...... you want to hit them with your main melody (guitar part) .... go to a feel change (keys) .... and then outro it with your main melody maybe accented with the keys .... that type of thing....My best advice.... check out the "Forwards" section and then poke around in the technology section .... see what other people are using for drums (Styllus is popular) and samples, etc...Don't be discouraged by this .... my songwriting and recording techniques have increased greatly over the last year with the help of this forum ..... I look forward to hearing your next posting!Welcome aborad,Geo

[flood]

Appreciate your thoughts and suggestions. I will be listening to this piece again intently.No band in a box, but I used an auto-accompaniment program called Harmony Assistant, from a French company on the drums and bass. That may be what is causing this to sound a bit canned. I worked those parts up in the program, then shifted them to Acid. I also have Pro Tools, but don't use that for music much.There will be vocals, already written, not yet recorded, and that will probably smooth it out some, but I will be changing up the sore spots, and appreciate you pointing them out to me.I am working in Sony Acid for the most part, and the drum samples are EZ Drummer. I wonder if I should switch to a different program. I have heard a couple times, that the samples sound synthy. Maybe it's the lack of compression and eq. I don't change things much with those tools, and may need to reconsider.Funny thing about the mix. I mixed with headphones in mind, as the screeners listen on headphones. Sounded good on my phones, but clearly needs some work to be listenable on other systems.You've given me a bit to think about. Thanks!

[threefaces]

Hi Flood,Just had a listen to the track. I compose pop songs, so I'm probably not the best placed to comment on soundtracks, but I'm happy to give my views.I think you've written some great melodies here. I like the interesting timings and chord changes, some fresh ideas. The guitar also stood out as very strong.I found the opening bars very confusing, like I'd been thrown into the middle of a track. I think it needs to either build up or start with a bang with the main theme. I agree with some of the points about structure - there is a main theme there but it seems to emerge and die away at odd times - my ears were crying out for a more identifiable structure with chorus/verse phases. Finally, although I liked the drum sounds, the drums were too dominant, this was mainly because of the constant fills - I felt these were distracting and taking attention away from the melodies.You've definitely got a great deal of talent. I hope these recommendations are useful.Rob.www.soundclick.com/threefaces

[stevebarden]

Hey fllood, what strikes me the most about the tune is the drum pattern. It doesn't groove with a back beat. In fact, the snare pattern is playing what would normally be a kick drum pattern. Even in 12/8 the snare should fall on the 2 and 4 beats (of a 4/4 equivalent).Maybe a drummer on this forum could better explain it.Steve

[flood]

Steve,Rob,Thanks both for your thoughts. Most of what I write, thus far, has been for theme parks and similar attractions. This is one of a handful of popular songs I am working on, with varying degrees of success.I programmed the drums myself, which I am learning, is probably a mistake. I use an auto accomp program, but tried it by hand, as well. I am going to rework using some of the generic patterns from EZdrummer and use that as a starting point.Not being a drummer, you are right on. I need to understand the mechanics of real drumming before I try to set out on my own, especially in a popular or commercial type of song.I am having fun working on these though, in addition to the other stuff that actually pays me money (at least occasionally! and appreciate your comments.Thanks