solo nylon string for Thursday -- ruff cut

[teleblaster]

I've had this idea kicking around for a bit, sat down and tracked it last night. Thought I might toss it at the listing due on Thursday. This is a rough take, I'm interested in opinions on the composition, specifically how if fits the listing (if it does at all). Thanks

The track
http://www.soundclick.com/player/single ... i&newref=1

The listing
SOLO GUITAR and SOLO PIANO INSTRUMENTAL TRACKS are U-R-G-E-N-T-L-Y needed for a Compilation CD TAXI will be personally handing to a VERY BUSY MUSIC SUPERVISOR at our upcoming meeting with him. The Supervisor uses TONS of Instrumental Tracks that you'd often hear on some really big REALITY SHOWS. For this Compilation we'd like to feature SLOW, SOLO INSTRUMENTAL TRACKS, done on Gut or Nylon-String Acoustic Guitars, or Acoustic Piano. We'll need tracks that are at LEAST 2 minutes long, and have buttoned endings - NO fades, please!

Please submit tracks that sound emotionally ROMANTIC, INTROSEPCTIVE, or HOPEFUL. TAXI TIP: Do NOT try to show what a musical virtuoso you are, so much as creating melodies that create a mood and support an EMOTION! Keep it simple!!! Could your track be used in a scene where somebody is falling in love? Send it in! Could it support a close up shot of somebody who appears to be having an introspective moment? Send it in! Could it be used in a scene where somebody just solved his or her big problem of the day, and hope is on the horizon? Yeppers... send it in, because that's what we need to show this Supervisor our members can do incredibly well!

BUTTONED ENDINGS PREFERRED. Instrumental presentation must be top-notch, and your guitars and pianos should sound REAL! Broadcast Quality is needed (excellent sounding home recordings are fine). You must own 100% of your master and composition, and your submissions can NOT be in any other catalog or library. If the Supervisor hears anything on our compilation that he'd like to license, he's only going to want to use material that will be easy to clear. Please submit one to three Instrumentals online or per CD. All submissions will be screened on a YES/NO BASIS - NO FULL CRITIQUES FROM TAXI - and must be received no later than THURSDAY, February 28th, 2013, at 5:30pm (PST). TAXI # U130228IN

[andygabrys]

sounds good - a couple edits in the composition would help. couple of sequences of 6ths sounded a little unfocused.

the chord changes and rubato feel at 0:18 felt more natural than the similar passage later on.

style wise, its a little more on the pseudo classical end of things - hard to say whether that is what they are wanting or more of a flowing, less traditional sounding piece.

EDIT: I see that you asked only for compositional feedback. sorry.

performance and mix wise (take this with salt, as I play nylon-string guitar and can relate to how hard it is to get a really clean recording without squeaks etc):

there are a number of bass notes that end when a finger slips off the string.
the high end in general was a little pingy - some judicious eq cuts could soften that, or maybe a little dynamic eq / multi-band to soften it a touch.
a long string of 6ths near the end was a little detached for my taste.
i hear some 'verb in the recording, it sounds like it could be a little more lush without being ridiculous. Probably a mix of short room verb, mid sized, and a very long verb is going to help put that guitar in a nice space (not much of each, but enough to blend a little).

Good work so far.

[RichV]

I like the recording here of the nylon stringed guitar. While the track does have a introspective and romantic quality, I am also hearing sadness here, as far as the mood goes. Nice track.

[Robtoons]

Nice piece, composition wise. If you can get it to flow a bit more it will be great!
I think Andy's right about the reverb.
Cheers -Rob

[mladendomic]

Rob,
this is a beautiful piece.
I'm afraid it's more 'sad' than 'romantic' (although romantic has some sadness, I think) or 'introspective', but whatdoIknowaboutanything (TM).
If it reaches the 'very busy music supervisor' it could find a place in some future scene.
I like it, anyway.

[mladendomic]

Ups,
I should say: teleblaster, not Rob

[2lane]

Beautiful piece Erich,
To me it sounds more "reflective" than anything, but there's a fine line between sad, romantic, reflective I think?
Andy's right about a couple of the bass notes need cleaned up, but it's damn fine guitar work.

Steve

[rpittelman]

Nice piece!

I think that it could work for this listing. Here are my 2 cents...

I think that the melody needs to breath a bit more. I know that its not quantized but it kinda felt like it was. Almost like it was recorded to a click track. Its a very haunting melody but I feel that the timing needs to be much freer. Let it accelerate in places and then let it rest and just hang out before saying the next phrase.

Nice work

-Robbie

[teleblaster]

Thanks all for the great input and help. I should be bringing up the final take soon.

[coolhouse912]

Hi Erich,

Sounds good at this stage. It does have a tinge of melancholy and I don't have a single clue whether that will be a problem or not. I'm looking forward to the final track.

Good luck,
Mike