Lifespan (In loving memory of Sydney)

The acoustic doesn't sound bad at all, it sounds nice and be warned, electro-acoustics sound electric and to get a decent sound you need to mic up aswell as the DI.
This sounds great and isn't struggling because of the strings (it's how you mix them in). I guess you can get better string sounds but it's going to leave you with a leaner wallet and this tracks coming across really well as is. Really excellent stuff as usual, sounds great...bloody quiet though.
Can't advise you on which sounds to buy, i gave up on trying to get hold of realistic sounding orchestral instruments ages ago.
Looking forward to hearing this finished.

I really like the opening, but once the piano joins in the aural context changes. My first impression is that it's due to the sounds. Same with the strings and percussion. The guitar sounds so nice, but its particular timbre doesn't seem to be fully complimented by the other instruments.
Things felt a little out of step prior to the three minute mark, and I'd have to listen again to see if I liked that.
Maybe re-orchestrating the piano part into more discrete bits, or just trying different sounds would work.
I just liked the atmosphere you started with so much that I wish you'd stay on that plane.

Thanks for the feedback gnie. I thought the same thing about the piano part and thought it was different but when I started listening it grew on me so I left it in. It changes the feel a bit and I liked them together. I agree with the sound of the guitar not quite right for everything, but there's certain frequencies I need to cut down a lot or else it just sounds like it's resonating at the earths frequencies! As to the "out of step", are you sure it's not just the syncopated drum hits?

The initial acoustic guitar is bright...the second tone is a bit middle. The third tone sounds good, and cuts through the other instrumentation at times...when it does it lends the music a gutteral quality. I think it should cut through more.

What did you use for drums?

The synth instruments don't sound too bad to my ears, but I don't have too much descrepancy when it comes to that. I guess you can hear the synthetic nature for want of a better word.

Anyway, it's a big song, finishing on the bright tone. Very interesting.I don't really know how to describe it.

ORIGINAL: zeypxun

Thanks for the feedback gnie. I thought the same thing about the piano part and thought it was different but when I started listening it grew on me so I left it in. It changes the feel a bit and I liked them together. I agree with the sound of the guitar not quite right for everything, but there's certain frequencies I need to cut down a lot or else it just sounds like it's resonating at the earths frequencies! As to the "out of step", are you sure it's not just the syncopated drum hits?

I actually meant having the song play to the aesthetic of the acoustic guitar's sound. Something like making the strings colder, the piano warmer and more distant, the drums less harsh sounding.
After listening a second time I like how the drums cross step into the next section around 3:00.
It's a really nice tune.

montezuma, you're very correct. It mostly had to do with how close and what angle to the mic I was, because I did those 3 basic parts at 3 different times, I never sat in the same exact position or angle. Mostly I guess the mic is real finicky. Also when I played lower it sounded better on this mic, I have some really old strings on here. I liked the 3rd sound the best too. It also was mono after everything kicked in, so I think that helped it seem to cut through. The drums were a combination of EZD DFH and FL 5 stuff.

lhansen, thanks for the listen. I think it is not bad to expand on ones own musical horizons as long as you realize what you can and can't do. That doesn't mean you can't get better, but sometimes I hear people on these unsigned band sites (and even some signed, popular artists) who obviously aren't looking honestly at what they are doing. I think that not everyone has musical capabilities, though there are a lot of people in this forum who do. Just look at American Idol! I think it would definitely not be a good fit for me to try and branch into a boy band! That being said, it is definitely a good thing to challenge yourself and try to strengthen your weaknesses.

gnie, sorry, I wasn't sure which way you meant that, but I think I could have concentrated on making the piano and strings sound familiar to me too much, and didn't quite fix it when compared to the guitar. Since it's my first try with strings and piano, I'm sure it will take me a while before I get that down. I couldn't even figure out how to add reverb or an EQ to the synth strings without recording the midi using "what you hear"!! But the drums are definitely a preference for me, I like to hear the drums and I like the way this drum kit sounds from DFH. There are parts however where I wish I had some orchestral percussion.

Zey, I really enjoyed this new piece of yours! I really did. Very smooth, very gentle, very inspiring. Closing my eyes, first thing that came to my mind was - philosophy. Ancient thinking; thinking our fore-fathers have done for us. This song has no angst in it, but it does remind us - remind us to things we might have forgotten already. Things we should pick up again we've long lost.
Oh well - here I go ....
Anyways, great tune - I loved every single second in it. To answer one of your questions: I own Garritan Personal Orchestra and can full-heartedly recommend it to someone who wants to get involved in serious orchestration. It's highly realistic, but it comes with quite a steep learning curve, plus (as Nick mentioned) a rather high price; but it's worth it, imo.
Heinz.

Thanks marcos69, I definitely prefer a good acoustic pickup to a mic, I think it sounds better. I would not record with a mic either if I had a choice! I gotta check out that pickup, thanks!

airmeki I'm glad you got that much out of it! It is really similiar to what I felt while writing it, which is why I called it Lifespan. I thought about things I used to try and intensively hold on to, where I have failed, what I have experienced, learned and accomplished in my life.... well now here I go! Thanks for the recommendation also, I will have to check that out.

ToneCarver thanks for the kind words, I'm glad that it seems that for the most part the acoustic just got the point across.

zeypxun,
Nice playing, programming (drums and synths I assume) and mixing. A nice addition to your lineup.

+1 to heinz for his take on the mood. Wouldn't have thought of that myself but it fits once mentioned.

Thanks DuRod, I'd like to think that too, but who knows? Glad you liked it.

CreatingNoise that was the intended feel of the song, but there's always more than one interpretation. Thanks for the listen.


Joe Bravo, sorry about that, the windows plug in is actually a video I embedded on myspace, not the songs though. You can embed anything you want into myspace, you just need to know html or css scripts, or one of those sites that can generate them for you. I uploaded the song on www.reverbnation.com/zeypxuntomlittle so if you want to try again it is there and hopefully it won't crash your browser. The reason your browser is crashing could be because either your windows media player is malfunctioning for some reason or IE6 may have become out of whack, but it is hard to say.

Tom, I really liked it. It started out so quiet I had to turn up my sound just to make sure it was there............until 2:40 or so. I thought the acoustic sound was fine in context. I couldn't help but feel you forgot to record the vocals, though, listening for lyrics that just naturally seemed they should be there. An interesting departure that worked out well.

about the strings:I'm having the same problem, but but with brass. It's too expensive to truly emulate them, especially as I don't compose MIDI much.
Mark

I didn't think when I wrote this song in July that 4 months later I would be dedicating it to one of my best friends. Sydney Diller was killed Nov. 18th 2007 in a car wreck and she was only 26. I know this isn't that much but it's my wish that whenever anyone, especially my friends, hears this song that they think of her. I'm not trying to bring you guys down but I felt like I could share this with you guys in her honor. She was a beautiful person inside and out. I took her for granted and this is a horrible lesson to learn the hard way. Maybe in some way this will help others to remember how special your true friends are.


I took this pic and it's one of my favorites. I love you and miss you Syd. I will see you again.