Ysabel's Lament

[ChameleonMusic]

Nicely done. I'm probably never going to be much in the mood for this kind of thing but it sounds really good.
I coveted that piano library for a bit. The cello sounds cromulently cello-y. A nice tone, I see why you did the verb but it does not suit the close piano image in the usual way. I would get really sick of that patch but her *tone* is captured superbly

Thanks for having a listen, Jan...your opinion is always welcome!

I'm probably never going to be much in the mood for this kind of thing

Yeah, it's a tad melancholic!

I coveted that piano library for a bit.

Yeah, Noire is OK...little bit lightweight in some situations, but very playable.

I would get really sick of that patch

Already am! It really 'gets' to you after a few hours mixing and mastering...it's that built in vibrato....grinds you down after many listens!

I really need to get this recorded 'live'....got the mics for it and hopefully still got the skills, but it's been a while now since I did a serious recording session!

[ChameleonMusic]

def better demo for the Tina Guo than whatever I heard when it was a new release

Thank you!

There was one that I listened to that was 'all over the place', but I think it's been replaced now.

[Bansaw]

Intimate and emotional. Well done, sir!
There were a few frequencies in the piano that I would have Gullfossed out, but other than that, excellent.

[justin3am]

Really wonderful work. Sounds like it probably required a lot of detailed programming but also sounds pretty effortless. Very natural.

Thanks for sharing!

[ChameleonMusic]

Quite beautiful stirring up feelings of longing and nostalgia.

Random observations:
* I was a little surprised by the brief pauses which grabbed my attention and also made me a tad uncomfortable.
* I didn't expect it to end where it did. I was expecting a more "conclusive" sounding ending.

Brilliant work as usual!

Thanks Frantz - appreciated as always!

I was a little surprised by the brief pauses which grabbed my attention and also made me a tad uncomfortable.

"In music, silence is more important than sound" - Miles Davis

But seriously...yeah there are a few 'end of phrase' pauses in this one...I do tend to reduce my melodies down as much as possible as I have a natural tendency to over complicate them! MD does have a strong point that the gaps are important in any successful melody..know what he means! Here - are they slightly overdone? Quite possibly for some (no argument from me as they are meant to be poignant 'what's coming next' thinking moments in this context).

If they surprised you and got your attention then for me they worked...not quite so sure about the 'uncomfortable', but that's way better than 'didn't notice them' ?!

I think the pauses are also emphasised even more by the quite extreme rubato tempo...listening back, it does rise and fall a helluva lot...a different interpretation of the music and they might be less intense?

I didn't expect it to end where it did. I was expecting a more "conclusive" sounding ending.

This was all very quick - starting life as a piano improv that I saved and 'reduced' the next day...cello melody following on in a similar fashion...

I had a few different ideas about how to finish it, including a really stupid slow fade out...

Yeah, what I used is unusual in a couple of ways...

1) It sort of loops back to the beginning again as if it's going to all start again...the never ending lament as such...yeah, I'm soooooooooooooooooo deep, I know!

2) Linked to point one...Doesn't end on the tonic chord as would be much more normal...

Last 3 chords on the piano are:

C minor (tonic)
G minor (1st inversion - before Thomas corrects me)
Ab Major 7th - which desperately wants to resolve to somewhere and I just let it hang and fade away!

Again, if you were expecting a more definitive ending, then that's 'good' for me as that was very much the intention here in this melancholic setting...leave the listener very slightly unsettled at the end and wanting more!

Sorry - rattled on a bit again!!!

[ChameleonMusic]

Intimate and emotional. Well done, sir!
There were a few frequencies in the piano that I would have Gullfossed out, but other than that, excellent.

Thanks very much for taking the time to have a listen and feedback, Ian!

New verb 'to Gullfoss' aside...always curious - where were the frequencies that you mentioned?

[ChameleonMusic]

Really wonderful work. Sounds like it probably required a lot of detailed programming but also sounds pretty effortless. Very natural.

Thanks for sharing!

Thank you!!!

Programming - wise, yeah, it could've been a lot of work with a lot of automation lanes etc, but I went down a different route with this one...

Played it 'live' ...piano followed by cello...using the one hand to add motion / rise and fall to the cello part in real time...might've been quicker if I'd done it afterwards!!!

[Jesse Gorter]

I enjoyed this a lot. The piano sounds so good. and the cello sounds kinda real to me. But I am not very good at making the distinction to be honest. The composition is beautifull, the changes, the melody.. I like it instantly and did not take a lot of time to get

[Bansaw]

Thanks very much for taking the time to have a listen and feedback, Ian!
New verb 'to Gullfoss' aside...always curious - where were the frequencies that you mentioned?

Sorry about the noun-to-verb thing. I've lived in the U.S. for a number of years and picked up that habit over here.
Do you have Gullfoss? I think there are some resonant freqs in the piano.

[ChameleonMusic]

Thanks very much for taking the time to have a listen and feedback, Ian!
New verb 'to Gullfoss' aside...always curious - where were the frequencies that you mentioned?

Sorry about the noun-to-verb thing. I've lived in the U.S. for a number of years and picked up that habit over here.
Do you have Gullfoss? I think there are some resonant freqs in the piano.

Noun to verb...we all do it, I wasn't being serious!

Gullfoss - nope! Tried the demo...it was pretty decent...but wasn't hugely impressed for the money...deleted it. It can definitely add a certain 'something' and was quite effective on the more dance oriented material that I tried it on, but I felt that it lacked a certain subtlety for my more classical / gentle tracks and didn't give me the fine-tuned control that I was used to with Ozone and Neutron etc...I suppose, for me it simply didn't do anything beyond what I could do already is what I probably mean...Ozone and Neutron are pretty flexible and can do so much in the same area as GF.

But back to the resonance you heard...that's always something that's easy to miss...especially with my old ears! If I spot it I can certainly tame it in Ozone...probably start with the Spectral Shaper module...what freq band (roughly) was it in? I've swept through the piano's freq spectrum with an EQ whilst adjusting the Q factor etc, but I can't pick up anything very much at the moment...but it is one of those things that is very easy to miss when you've listened to a track over and over again!

[Frantz]

If they surprised you and got your attention then for me they worked...not quite so sure about the 'uncomfortable', but that's way better than 'didn't notice them' ?!

This reminds me of the decision to add "comfort noise" (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comfort_noise) to phone networks when they switched from analog to digital. People find complete silence disquieting and so engineers add artificial background noise to digital lines to fill in the silent gaps. I guess my ear was looking for a fairly quiet "comfort pad" to maintain the chord when the other instruments stop.

Ab Major 7th - which desperately wants to resolve to somewhere and I just let it hang and fade away!

Yes, exactly.

[tomtom1]

C minor (tonic)
G minor (1st inversion - before Thomas corrects me)
Ab Major 7th - which desperately wants to resolve to somewhere and I just let it hang and fade away!

hm... the name... that is a coincidence, isn't it? how many of them are around here? at least 3 to 4...

BUT: because voice guidance problems are not to be trifled with (just imagine what can happen when you go from G minor (root) to Ab 7th ... sacrilege !!! i have to agree with that boy...

I remember that after I had to harmonize a hymn (ad hoc) during my studies, suddenly there was silence in the room... and then: didn't you hear the parallels of the fifths? all over again!

so always be careful ... with root positions and inversions!

[tomtom1]

Thanks very much for taking the time to have a listen and feedback, Ian!
New verb 'to Gullfoss' aside...always curious - where were the frequencies that you mentioned?

Sorry about the noun-to-verb thing. I've lived in the U.S. for a number of years and picked up that habit over here.
Do you have Gullfoss? I think there are some resonant freqs in the piano.

Noun to verb...we all do it, I wasn't being serious!

Gullfoss - nope! Tried the demo...it was pretty decent...but wasn't hugely impressed for the money...deleted it. It can definitely add a certain 'something' and was quite effective on the more dance oriented material that I tried it on, but I felt that it lacked a certain subtlety for my more classical / gentle tracks and didn't give me the fine-tuned control that I was used to with Ozone and Neutron etc...I suppose, for me it simply didn't do anything beyond what I could do already is what I probably mean...Ozone and Neutron are pretty flexible and can do so much in the same area as GF.

But back to the resonance you heard...that's always something that's easy to miss...especially with my old ears! If I spot it I can certainly tame it in Ozone...probably start with the Spectral Shaper module...what freq band (roughly) was it in? I've swept through the piano's freq spectrum with an EQ whilst adjusting the Q factor etc, but I can't pick up anything very much at the moment...but it is one of those things that is very easy to miss when you've listened to a track over and over again!

I am not very familiar with the frequency problems in terms of technology, but I am familiar with the basics (does it actually have to do with how loud you listen to music? - I haven't heard any harsh resonances - and would claim that my ears are still comparatively good - however, I always hear music relatively quietly). but i find the tendencies in which music technology is going, sometimes really questionable (from the point of view of a classical live musician ...). sound simply consists of resonances and Gullfoss (I also watched the demo) always finds something. Even with pieces and tracks that high-end professionals have mixed. I put a couple of tracks of CDs in front of the thing for fun. After it, they just sound the "same". Super soft but somehow without "bite" or "character".

[tomtom1]

i hate the comment function... i am to silly to use it....

[Jesse Gorter]

who is ysabel?