Life *remixed*

[Larry T.]

Greetings All. Here is a piano and percussion song called "Life". Nits and crits welcomed????

*remix* link:  https://larryterrano.bandcamp.com/track/life

 

 

 

DAW: Cakewalk by Bandlab

 pc: windows 10, i7-4770 CPU @ 3.40 GHz, 8GB ram,  arturia minilab mkII, arturia analog lab 5 lite, CbB SI Drums, CbB Sonitus Delay

reference speakers: M-Audio BX3

Edited August 24, 2023 by Larry T.

[mark skinner]

 A Very enjoyable listen Larry ..     

Production wise ..   I feel like your piano could be widened a good bit , with some longer tailed High freq. reverb.   Just my first analytical impression.                    Very Nice ..        mark

[bjornpdx]

It really is only piano and percussion. Really like the panning and delay fx of the percussion.  Very well done.
-Bjorn

[jack c.]

drums are not lining up with other parts.jack c

[Larry T.]

20 hours ago, mark skinner said:

 A Very enjoyable listen Larry ..     

Production wise ..   I feel like your piano could be widened a good bit , with some longer tailed High freq. reverb.   Just my first analytical impression.                    Very Nice ..        mark

Thanks Mark. First song I did completely on piano, using piano roll. Since it's just piano and percussion I eq'ed the left hand of the piano a bit high to have some low end presence. In doing so I forgot to give enough listening to the right hand. Will see about doing some re-eq'ing????

[Larry T.]

18 hours ago, bjornpdx said:

It really is only piano and percussion. Really like the panning and delay fx of the percussion.  Very well done.
-Bjorn

Thanks Bjorn. The vst for the percussion is the Sonitus Delay, one of the presets....rhythm #1 I think????

[Larry T.]

3 hours ago, jack c. said:

drums are not lining up with other parts.jack c

Thanks for listening Jack. I'll give it another listen ???? 

[Larry T.]

On 8/20/2023 at 4:15 PM, mark skinner said:

 Production wise ..   I feel like your piano could be widened a good bit , with some longer tailed High freq. reverb.  

Mark, I added the Cakewalk plug-ins Depth and Channel Tools and a bit of re-eq'ing to widen and, hopefully, improve the piano. Thanks for the listen????

On 8/21/2023 at 9:48 AM, jack c. said:

drums are not lining up with other parts.

Jack, I don't hear where the drums are misaligned. If you have the time let me know exactly where you hear this. Thanks for the listen????

[mark skinner]

 Hi Larry , I think your piano sounds Much better. It seems to be wide enough and has a lot more depth.

I'm also hearing the mismatch between the drums and piano as @jack c. stated. It's more obvious on the intro but there are several spots where the piano stabs aren't lining up.  Maybe solo the piano against a metronome and then the percussion against the metronome to narrow it down a bit. I'm feeling like it's the piano though.

I used to do a piano in piano view with mouse clicks. It can get real tricky keeping a good flow and not sounding robotic.  Maybe a loose quantize would clean it up ?    Not a deal breaker ..            Still sounds good .             mark

[Larry T.]

4 hours ago, mark skinner said:

 Hi Larry , I think your piano sounds Much better. It seems to be wide enough and has a lot more depth.

I'm also hearing the mismatch between the drums and piano as @jack c. stated. It's more obvious on the intro but there are several spots where the piano stabs aren't lining up.  Maybe solo the piano against a metronome and then the percussion against the metronome to narrow it down a bit. I'm feeling like it's the piano though.

I used to do a piano in piano view with mouse clicks. It can get real tricky keeping a good flow and not sounding robotic.  Maybe a loose quantize would clean it up ?    Not a deal breaker ..            Still sounds good .             mark

Thanks Mark. Appreciate the help.

I'll try to explain. I'm playing syncopation on the piano, going off beat deliberately. The piano is not meant to stay on beat. My thinking when doing the piano was the loops aren't going out of time, they're quantized. So the piano is going to try some syncopated melodies. Like the riff at 00:17 seconds. Think of Jimi Hendrix's Woodstock version of the Star Spangled Banner. I know some folks who can't listen to it as his playing is mostly all syncopated, but I get the feelings and emotions he's playing.

Looks like I went too far as well as I'm hearing the melodies in the  context I intended but they're not being heard the way I intended or hear them. 

Sorry to take so long on this. Thanks again Mark and Jack for your valuable input????

Edited August 24, 2023 by Larry T.

[jack c.]

14 hours ago, Larry T. said:

Jack, I don't hear where the drums are misaligned. If you have the time let me know exactly where you hear this. Thanks for the listen

i get back to ya soon.jack c

[hsmusic]

For myself it sounds like the piano isn't tight against the delay which i assume is keeping strict time. Maybe try starting with the drums / delay first to set up the time, then add the piano..Nice ideas in there.

[Larry T.]

5 hours ago, jack c. said:

i get back to ya soon.jack c

Hi Jack. It's OK, no need to waste valuable time on this.

The problem is I'm trying to write syncopated piano on the piano roll. To me, since i wrote and have been  playing this piece for the last 35 years, it all sounds good to me. But, to more discerning listeners, certain instances are being heard as misplayed. So, I'm just going to leave this one alone as I'm not hearing the misaligned drum loops/piano sections at all and therefore can't correct what I can't hear. Cheers!!

3 hours ago, hsmusic said:

For myself it sounds like the piano isn't tight against the delay which i assume is keeping strict time. Maybe try starting with the drums / delay first to set up the time, then add the piano..Nice ideas in there.

Thanks so much for the listen. Appreciate the kind words.

The problem is I'm trying to write syncopated piano on the piano roll. To me, since i wrote and have been playing this piece for the last 35 years, it all sounds good to me. But, to more discerning listeners, certain instances are being heard as misplayed. So, I'm just going to leave this one alone as I'm not hearing the misaligned drum loops/piano sections at all and therefore can't correct what I can't hear. Cheers!!

 

Edited August 24, 2023 by Larry T.
clarity