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Hi Fellow Passengers,

a few posts further down the line I posted a critique of "Raindrops Falling on My Window".

Okay, I tried to fix these issues and made an instrumental in addition which I submitted to this listing , which was about
"Several INDIE FOLK/POP INSTRUMENTALS are needed by a Music Licensing Company that specializes in music for content creators as well as TV shows and Film projects"

Both listings were screened by the same screener (#419), from whom I learn a lot and who obviously has a very good ear - or two

Here is the submitted song: Raindrops (Instrumental)



And here is the critique:

What I like most about this song
I like the warm tones and organic instrumentation. Pretty heartfelt and melancholic vibe.

I think you could improve this song by
The track is a bit too loose, The acoustic guitars, piano and drums could be more polished and the mix could be cleaner. There are also a lot of pops and clicks which need to be fixed i.e. :21, :60 2:08, 2:11. This could fail QC.

I returned or forwarded this song because
Just missed the cut. The mix, pops and clicks need to be adjusted. The performances, could be tighter.

We can discuss missing tightness (which is on purpose here). The tune is also not played by the click - also on purpose.

Then we come to the pops and clicks. After carefully re-listening to the tune I found out that one could perceive something there. A bit deeper look showed me that this is the attack of the Rhodes which was used.

Is that really a point for q/c?

However, I fixed that by just turning the volume of the Rhodes down for these and some more tones. Here's the link to the fixed version

Thank you, # 419 for your good ears. In all sincerity. Hopefully in one of the next screenings you'll give me a forward

Cheerio/Stefan

I don't think the "loose" comment is about non-quantized... rather, it seems that bass/drum have a different idea where the beat/swing is than the melody instruments. This makes it feel a bit chaotic, where for example the guitar comes just before or just after the base all the time.

It's a really nice tune though, I was imagining some people building a house in a frontline prairie town, starting out anew...

Zaychi wrote: ↑

Thu Jun 10, 2021 2:06 pm

I don't think the "loose" comment is about non-quantized... rather, it seems that bass/drum have a different idea where the beat/swing is than the melody instruments. This makes it feel a bit chaotic, where for example the guitar comes just before or just after the base all the time.

It's a really nice tune though, I was imagining some people building a house in a frontline prairie town, starting out anew...

Cheers for that comment. That surprises me a bit - regarding „alignment“ of bass/drums with guitar.

The history of the song fits to what you perceive. The bass and drums were added later. The original version is without these instruments.

I tried to keep them very simple since the guitar is playing much. I’ll overthink that. Cheers anyway

Nice track, I checked out both mixes. I think the performance is ok, it's a little bit picky for a screener, but that's their job. The clicks are an issue, in my headphones it sounds to me like the kick drum has a click attack. It's most obvious to me at 0:54 and 0:57. The kick at 0:50 sounds fine, so perhaps check the velocity at each of those points to see if something is built into the sample?

Paulie wrote: ↑

Sun Jun 13, 2021 4:43 pm

Nice track, I checked out both mixes. I think the performance is ok, it's a little bit picky for a screener, but that's their job. The clicks are an issue, in my headphones it sounds to me like the kick drum has a click attack. It's most obvious to me at 0:54 and 0:57. The kick at 0:50 sounds fine, so perhaps check the velocity at each of those points to see if something is built into the sample?

Cheers for listening and for your comment.
As I wrote the clicks came from the attack of the Rhodes. Could you still hear them on the fixed track?
Because I thought, I had fixed everything

Now I listened again to the fixed version. What is still audible at some points these are natural "noises" which come from the guitar-picking.....imho

I would lose the percussive hits such as the one @29-30 and any of that amplitude from then on. IMO it offers nothing and distracts the listener from the unity of the instruments and rhythm. I can't work out if that player is playing along to this tune or not. They all seem out of time to me. I feel 100% sure that is what the screener is getting at.

Picardster wrote: ↑

Thu Jun 10, 2021 11:38 pm

Zaychi wrote: ↑

Thu Jun 10, 2021 2:06 pm

I don't think the "loose" comment is about non-quantized... rather, it seems that bass/drum have a different idea where the beat/swing is than the melody instruments. This makes it feel a bit chaotic, where for example the guitar comes just before or just after the base all the time.

It's a really nice tune though, I was imagining some people building a house in a frontline prairie town, starting out anew...

Cheers for that comment. That surprises me a bit - regarding „alignment“ of bass/drums with guitar.

The history of the song fits to what you perceive. The bass and drums were added later. The original version is without these instruments.

I tried to keep them very simple since the guitar is playing much. I’ll overthink that. Cheers anyway

Nice acoustic guitar! I don't think that it is easy to add instruments later to an acoustic guitar track. I think that I get better results personally when I add the drums and some texture tracks first because my ears take into account the rhythm of all of the instruments combined. This might be the reason for some of your issues with this track. I think that the second version of your song is an improvement though.

NMN wrote: ↑

Sun Jun 27, 2021 9:43 pm

Nice acoustic guitar! I don't think that it is easy to add instruments later to an acoustic guitar track. I think that I get better results personally when I add the drums and some texture tracks first because my ears take into account the rhythm of all of the instruments combined. This might be the reason for some of your issues with this track. I think that the second version of your song is an improvement though.

Cheers, that is absolutely true what you say. The organic way is to have the rhythm first.....