A Work In Progress....

Well, here’s a work in progress. I’ve shown a couple people but they can’t seem to give me pointers on what sounds strange about it. There’s something I don’t like about the way the song is mixed or something, and any pointers on this would be helpful. Maybe I need to use different instruments or something.

This song is not even musically completed yet–I need to add a part C and part D to the song, which is being worked on.

These are also definately not the final vocals. They were recorded just after I came up with the ideas.

http://www.infraxes.com/looking_back_and_now.mp3

First of all …

Awesome progressions, musically most interesting and appealing
to listen to … really like the lyrics too :)

But yeah … something seems odd… may be it’s the piano, it doesn’t
sound as dynamic … lacks a bit in … well… life … especially since vocals
are so alive, giving personality to a track’s sound… but I feel the piano
in its current texture/appearance doesn’t, it needs its own vibe perhaps ?
Alas I lack the knowledge/experience to give you any advice on how
this could be improved … so mayhaps this aint of any use … hmmm
That kinda makes this post pointless …

Oh well … great work already nonetheless !

OMG what a great song… I like the feeling, and the melody shows ur very creative. I mostly just stick to bigbeat, breakbeat and other hightech electronic beat style music. But you’re blessed with a great voice, it shows in your songs. I know i have a good voice too, but i wish I have the skills to use it for singing on music.

Improving the sound:
I think i would make the piano sound more fresh (snappy). I mean EQ the piano for less low freq and a little more mid + high freq. but be carefull not to make it sound too thin.

At 0:55 the 2nd drumbeat (jungle-like sounds) in my opinion sounds a little too complex for this song. Make those snares, blocks or claps sound less random and also you could slow them down a little. Maybe experiment with a drumloop in combination with flanger FX… (All I can talk about is beats) B)

I dont know how to improve the vocals… sounds good to me, but maybe experiment with a short delay…or just keep it as it is.

Hmm the break at 0:39… nice. I think there’s a lot of room there for some earcandy. To keep the listener interested.
There not much going on there in the background… example: a lost reverb low octave kick, metal clashing sounds. <- Of course low volume
But this is all my style of composing. I hope some of it is usefull for this track.

http://www.infraxes.com/looking_back_and_now-01.mp3

Here’s a version with different piano sound. It seems to be a lot better. Thanks for the input on that. I also took out that junge-ish rhythm–the spoons-sounding part that was throwing the rhythm off. There were enough other rhythm layers there that it really wasn’t needed at all.

That really helped a lot.

Thanks.

Does this new piano instrument sound good, and because it was brighter, I had to quantize the piano part a little–is it too quantized now or does it realistically sound like someone could play it live that way?

Yeah, think the piano is a lot better though imho not convincing
enough to be taken for the real thing … Perhaps because it’s too tight … ?
Maybe loosening up the way it was tracked … y’know … build-in mistakes
for the player is only human …
Just an idea…

But damn, this song is great !

Ok–here’s one that crosses both versions of the piano and added more attack at certain points and keeping the original live-played in notes. There were things I liked about the tamber of both pianos, so in this case I mixed the two together–the vst piano and my midi sound module piano. The only thing I don’t like now is this really really slight chorus-sounding effect on the piano because of the mixing of the two pianos, but it’s just so slight that I don’t think others would notice. Is it noticeable, and was this an improvement over the other versions?

http://www.infraxes.com/looking_back_and_now-02.mp3

Music making is difficult but you’re taking this to a whole new level… :D

I love the background earcandy (details) and the drumarrangement is very good.
I’ve listened to all three versions… And yeah the 02 version sounds firmer/stronger @t the low notes …chords attack. because i hear more bass. Did you put in an extra bassline?, song kicks aess when the bassnotes and beat kick in. But version 02 doesnt have that ‘fresh’ high quality piano sound like on 01. Very obvious in the intro. Just listen to the difference in soundquality between 01 and 02 in the intro or especially when the high piano notes are played at 0:20-> I noticed the SQ is lower there, is that the chorus effect you mentioned? What about a 01 version with stronger bass notes like in 02. :wacko: