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I've lost my objectivity for this track. Any feedback on arrangement, structure, production is welcome.It's kind of like when starting on a project you think you have a great idea, then at some point into the recording you start to wonder if it was such a good idea after all...I sense there might be some potential in there somewhere, but I might have steered it in the wrong direction. Although appropriate for a track such as this, I feel it's a little bit too stiff perhaps?There's no listing for it, so there's time for some heavy tweakingSong doesn't even have a name yet, just called Gmin:http://www.broadjam.com/artists/artist_ ... NDEX=13311

Quote:I've lost my objectivity for this track. Any feedback on arrangement, structure, production is welcome.Nice track... definitely a keeper. My only comment is that it's catagorized in the wrong genre. I would put this squarely in the New Age category and not in the Electronica-Downbeat genre. The background ryhthms have some "downbeat" properties to them but the thick, lush sounds of the music says "New Age". Definitely a more modern New Age and very useful I'd think.

Quote:It's kind of like when starting on a project you think you have a great idea, then at some point into the recording you start to wonder if it was such a good idea after all...I hear ya there. That's usually the point where I hit the exit button on Cubase and go play yahoo pool for a while I like this track a lot, and I could easily imagine in as a backdrop on TV. Nice sound textures, unobtrusive production, nicely produced. Good job

Hey, this is really neat. Definitely new age ambient IMO. I'd tone the piano down just a little (seems just a touch too bright & takes away from the soft texture of the piece), but I really like the feel of the music around it. Nice modulations throughout. I'm suggesting pushing the piano back a little so it sits in the mix a little more, with a slightly softer/darker texture. Nice ending too.I can hear this playing behind a scene in a movie. If you want a suggestion for a title, I'd call it "Carpe diem" (sieze the day). cheersHummin'bird

Thanks everybody for your great and valuable input. I guess sometimes it's just those little details one tends to overlook that needs attention.I wish everything was as easily fixed as the categorization. I will change that to New age, of course. I agree that the piano is not how you'd normally play a pure piano arrangement, so I'm gonna have to think about if the melody should be played by something else (or even sung), or if I should bring more melody into it. Thanks to all feedback, I can think of other tricks to try as well... I'll also have to get some more RAM to my PC so I can use the 'Steinway Dark' patch, because for some reason I can use only the "bright" patch. If I launch another Steinway preset I get a blue screen. I guess 512Mb is not enough for these samples. I also need to be very careful not to load too many instruments in Kontakt player, or Cubase will report that a serious error has occurred, - recommends saving the project under a different name, and close the application. Of course, this does not solve a thing, and the project is lost forever. In General, Cubase 4 and EW doesn't seem to like each other. I don't know if it has something to do with the fact that Steinberg apparently implemented vst version 3 in C4 without any backwards compatibility, and as the Kontakt player is vst version 2, they don't seem to blend very well...This is no excuse for a less than perfect performance, however it does get a bit tedious having to worry about all those little quirks when you're working on something... In any case I'll let you know when I have a new version ready.Thanks again! These boards really make a difference

Quote:512 MB seems quite lean for cubase 4 and sample-based instruments. Absolutely. The max on my computer is 1.5GB which is what I have now and I don't run into any problems. Prior to that, I had 1GB which I thought was enough and it was most of the time, but every now and then I'd run into "issues" because of a lack of RAM. For a virtual instrument based composer/musician, I'd recommend a MINIMUM of 1GB, more if possible.Dave

Quote:Quote:512 MB seems quite lean for cubase 4 and sample-based instruments. Absolutely. The max on my computer is 1.5GB which is what I have now and I don't run into any problems. Prior to that, I had 1GB which I thought was enough and it was most of the time, but every now and then I'd run into "issues" because of a lack of RAM. For a virtual instrument based composer/musician, I'd recommend a MINIMUM of 1GB, more if possible.DaveI used to have 512MB and it was hopeless when it came to mixing more than 6 or 7 tracks, especially if I had efx or VIs running too. Now I have 2GB of ram and it is such a pleasure to be able to work on my 25 track songs without overloading the system. Check it out and see if it's expandable.

PS - one option, I think, might be to isolate the piano track - do a save as, and delete all the other tracks, and then load the steinway dark... and then render a 24-bit wav from that track only. Then go back to your previous version & upload the piano track.(If that doesn't work -- I don't know if there is any way you can render a midi of that track... I could pop it in my system, add the VI, and then render you a 24-bit wav & shoot it back to you.)

I have uploaded a new version. I finally managed to render a Steinway dark patch (after two crashes), but I think it was really worth the effort I will probably drop the flute from this version though, and replace it with something else (but similar).The strings has still some velocity/attack issues that needs to be addressed. Levels might not be exactly where they should sit, but I think it's mostly a matter of fractions of dB's. Anyway, it's best not to mix the same day as tweaking and recording. If you wanna have a listen, you should be able to use the link in my original post, as I just re-uploaded it. And it's now called "Carpe diem", - Thanks Vikki, for the title! I have also ordered 1GB of RAM today. I'm sure this will fix Cubase vs EW's erratic behavior. You are all very kind and helpful. Thanks again for all input!

Oh yes!! The piano now has right texture. I hear what you are saying about the strings. I like the beautiful motifs. You're right about mixing later on -- always seems to be better to mix the next day.