Original Christmas return - feedback, please?

Liked your review? Rave about it! Hated it, let us know!

Moderators: admin, mdc, TAXIstaff

User avatar
ComposerLDG
Serious Musician
Serious Musician
Posts: 1737
Joined: Tue Aug 25, 2015 11:49 am
Gender: Male
Contact:

Re: Original Christmas return - feedback, please?

Post by ComposerLDG » Tue Mar 26, 2019 3:02 am

TuKatz wrote:
Mon Mar 25, 2019 10:56 pm
Hey Loren:

So, I listened to this a couple of times. Frankly (and not meant as a put-down), I feel like the drums are a little "Casio-ish" for this style. I have problems recording this kind of swing with MIDI instuments a lot because it just dosen't feel quite right, there isn't that push and pull in the tempo. Your pattern is almost the same throughout with the exception of changing from the Rim to the Snare (I am not including the Sleigh Bells in this, I actually like them but they may be a little forward as well). If you had a drummer using brushes where you had the drag of the brush against the snare head without the constant 2 & 4, I think that might make this piece flow better.

Maybe the Glock is out there also, but overall with these exceptions I found it an enjoyable piece. I am usually quite impressed with your submissions, they are well recorded, arranged, and sound great, this one just may be a "one-off" deal.

Take my advice for what it is worth and thank you for letting us hear your piece. I hope the next time you knock it out of the park.
TuKatz, thanks so much for taking the time to listen and offer your suggestions. Yeah, everything you said makes sense, so I have some work to do on this track yet. Others have also mentioned about the glock being too far forward. Interestingly, it was further back in the original mix, but I felt it was being swallowed up so I brought it forward....go figure! :)

The good news is, I have plenty of time to rework it in time for more Christmas listings that are sure to pop up. Thanks again, I really appreciate the feedback and constructive ideas.

-Loren
Loren DiGiorgi
Uniquely piano-inspired Orchestral | Tension | Hybrid | Trailer
lorendigiorgi.com
www.taxi.com/lorendigiorgi
www.soundcloud.com/ldigiorgi
YouTube
Instagram

User avatar
ComposerLDG
Serious Musician
Serious Musician
Posts: 1737
Joined: Tue Aug 25, 2015 11:49 am
Gender: Male
Contact:

Re: Original Christmas return - feedback, please?

Post by ComposerLDG » Tue Mar 26, 2019 3:04 am

CTWF wrote:
Thu Mar 21, 2019 4:36 am
ComposerLDG wrote:
Wed Mar 20, 2019 6:03 pm
Now I'm wondering if it sounds out of place bright and clean while the rest of it is kind of a jazzy vintage vibe that's got more reverb.
I listened to it with crappy earphones, but I think that could have been an issue. On the other hand, that is not specifically what your screener wrote...
Very true...back go the drawing board!
Loren DiGiorgi
Uniquely piano-inspired Orchestral | Tension | Hybrid | Trailer
lorendigiorgi.com
www.taxi.com/lorendigiorgi
www.soundcloud.com/ldigiorgi
YouTube
Instagram

User avatar
ComposerLDG
Serious Musician
Serious Musician
Posts: 1737
Joined: Tue Aug 25, 2015 11:49 am
Gender: Male
Contact:

Re: Original Christmas return - feedback, please?

Post by ComposerLDG » Tue Mar 26, 2019 3:06 am

ttully wrote:
Thu Mar 21, 2019 10:21 am
Hi Loren,

You have a nice track....
But here is the problem:
Would try and update those samples sounds to get closer to a more contemporary sounding synch mode
All the examples are using modern sounding drums...yours sound like the 1960's.
Of course...if they were looking for authentic old limey Christmas tracks.... this would probably be a forward.
But if the examples have Ariana Grande in them...they NEED to be cutting edge modern.

My 3 cents,
Tim
Yep, very good point, Tim. When I remix this, I'm going to definitely update those drums samples to something more modern. Thanks for the feedback.
Loren DiGiorgi
Uniquely piano-inspired Orchestral | Tension | Hybrid | Trailer
lorendigiorgi.com
www.taxi.com/lorendigiorgi
www.soundcloud.com/ldigiorgi
YouTube
Instagram

User avatar
ComposerLDG
Serious Musician
Serious Musician
Posts: 1737
Joined: Tue Aug 25, 2015 11:49 am
Gender: Male
Contact:

Re: Original Christmas return - feedback, please?

Post by ComposerLDG » Tue Mar 26, 2019 3:08 am

MBantle wrote:
Thu Mar 21, 2019 4:30 pm


I think the track is great! To be honest they probably did not like the 'percussion' because at least on my Sennheisers HD 650 the Glockenspiel (or whatever you used) is a bit too upfront...Dialing that down might do the trick. The piano seems fine (I guess they simply did not like your EQ choices) but as you know it is always worthwhile playing around with different piano VIs to find the winner for that particular track...Just my five cents... Cheers, Matt
Thanks, Matt! Yeah, the pianos...I thought they sounded pretty authentic, but like you said, it could have just been the overall EQ on the pianos and/or mix. Anyway, it seems there is room for lots of improvement here, so I'm just going to start attacking it with one issue at a time. Hopefully I'll have better luck next time around.

Thanks again!

-Loren
Loren DiGiorgi
Uniquely piano-inspired Orchestral | Tension | Hybrid | Trailer
lorendigiorgi.com
www.taxi.com/lorendigiorgi
www.soundcloud.com/ldigiorgi
YouTube
Instagram

MBantle
Impressive
Impressive
Posts: 499
Joined: Wed Nov 14, 2018 1:12 pm
Gender: Male
Contact:

Re: Original Christmas return - feedback, please?

Post by MBantle » Tue Mar 26, 2019 11:55 am

ComposerLDG wrote:
Tue Mar 26, 2019 3:08 am
MBantle wrote:
Thu Mar 21, 2019 4:30 pm


I think the track is great! To be honest they probably did not like the 'percussion' because at least on my Sennheisers HD 650 the Glockenspiel (or whatever you used) is a bit too upfront...Dialing that down might do the trick. The piano seems fine (I guess they simply did not like your EQ choices) but as you know it is always worthwhile playing around with different piano VIs to find the winner for that particular track...Just my five cents... Cheers, Matt
Thanks, Matt! Yeah, the pianos...I thought they sounded pretty authentic, but like you said, it could have just been the overall EQ on the pianos and/or mix. Anyway, it seems there is room for lots of improvement here, so I'm just going to start attacking it with one issue at a time. Hopefully I'll have better luck next time around.

Thanks again!

-Loren
I think that is one of the coolest things about DAWs that you can revisit 'returns' after a couple of weeks (or for another listing) and then - with fresh ears - make improvements. I personally think that solo piano tracks are very difficult to mix, depending on the composition the piano just covers so much ground in terms of frequency spectrum and in a solo piece EQ, compression and reverb for me are real challenges (in particular balancing sustain pedal and reverb is still something where I fiddle around forever to get it sound natural).
Cheers,
Matt

User avatar
cassmcentee
Serious Musician
Serious Musician
Posts: 3513
Joined: Wed Apr 03, 2013 10:40 am
Gender: Male
Contact:

Re: Original Christmas return - feedback, please?

Post by cassmcentee » Tue Mar 26, 2019 10:34 pm

MBantle wrote:
Tue Mar 26, 2019 11:55 am
I think that is one of the coolest things about DAWs that you can revisit 'returns' after a couple of weeks (or for another listing) and then - with fresh ears - make improvements.
Write Submit Remix Repeat :P
Robert "Cass" McEntee
"Making music on a spinning ball of Magma"
https://soundcloud.com/robert-cass-mcentee
https://www.taxi.com/members/DosPalmasRecordings

User avatar
ComposerLDG
Serious Musician
Serious Musician
Posts: 1737
Joined: Tue Aug 25, 2015 11:49 am
Gender: Male
Contact:

Re: Original Christmas return - feedback, please?

Post by ComposerLDG » Wed Mar 27, 2019 3:25 am

MBantle wrote:
Tue Mar 26, 2019 11:55 am
ComposerLDG wrote:
Tue Mar 26, 2019 3:08 am
MBantle wrote:
Thu Mar 21, 2019 4:30 pm


I think the track is great! To be honest they probably did not like the 'percussion' because at least on my Sennheisers HD 650 the Glockenspiel (or whatever you used) is a bit too upfront...Dialing that down might do the trick. The piano seems fine (I guess they simply did not like your EQ choices) but as you know it is always worthwhile playing around with different piano VIs to find the winner for that particular track...Just my five cents... Cheers, Matt
Thanks, Matt! Yeah, the pianos...I thought they sounded pretty authentic, but like you said, it could have just been the overall EQ on the pianos and/or mix. Anyway, it seems there is room for lots of improvement here, so I'm just going to start attacking it with one issue at a time. Hopefully I'll have better luck next time around.

Thanks again!

-Loren
I think that is one of the coolest things about DAWs that you can revisit 'returns' after a couple of weeks (or for another listing) and then - with fresh ears - make improvements. I personally think that solo piano tracks are very difficult to mix, depending on the composition the piano just covers so much ground in terms of frequency spectrum and in a solo piece EQ, compression and reverb for me are real challenges (in particular balancing sustain pedal and reverb is still something where I fiddle around forever to get it sound natural).
Cheers,
Matt
For sure! I can't imagine recording without a DAW now. I think back to the 90s when I was using a Yamaha MT-120 4-channel cassette for tracking and I wonder how I did it. I totally need the visual element now and all the tweaking that can be done after the recording!
Loren DiGiorgi
Uniquely piano-inspired Orchestral | Tension | Hybrid | Trailer
lorendigiorgi.com
www.taxi.com/lorendigiorgi
www.soundcloud.com/ldigiorgi
YouTube
Instagram

User avatar
ComposerLDG
Serious Musician
Serious Musician
Posts: 1737
Joined: Tue Aug 25, 2015 11:49 am
Gender: Male
Contact:

Re: Original Christmas return - feedback, please?

Post by ComposerLDG » Wed Mar 27, 2019 3:25 am

cassmcentee wrote:
Tue Mar 26, 2019 10:34 pm
MBantle wrote:
Tue Mar 26, 2019 11:55 am
I think that is one of the coolest things about DAWs that you can revisit 'returns' after a couple of weeks (or for another listing) and then - with fresh ears - make improvements.
Write Submit Remix Repeat :P
Lol Cass, I need to get that tattooed on my forehead.
Loren DiGiorgi
Uniquely piano-inspired Orchestral | Tension | Hybrid | Trailer
lorendigiorgi.com
www.taxi.com/lorendigiorgi
www.soundcloud.com/ldigiorgi
YouTube
Instagram

MBantle
Impressive
Impressive
Posts: 499
Joined: Wed Nov 14, 2018 1:12 pm
Gender: Male
Contact:

Re: Original Christmas return - feedback, please?

Post by MBantle » Wed Mar 27, 2019 1:22 pm

cassmcentee wrote:
Tue Mar 26, 2019 10:34 pm
MBantle wrote:
Tue Mar 26, 2019 11:55 am
I think that is one of the coolest things about DAWs that you can revisit 'returns' after a couple of weeks (or for another listing) and then - with fresh ears - make improvements.
Write Submit Remix Repeat :P
Exactly...and I would add "...and revisit from time to time" :D

Post Reply

Who is online

Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 6 guests