OS Electro in 5/4 - New mix up!

[emdot_ambient]

Sorry it's taken me a while to get around to commenting. I listened when it first went up but didn't have time to comment, and wasn't really sure what I wanted to say. The updated track sounds better and after listening to it 4 or 5 times in a row, I have a handle on how to critique it.

This track reminds me of one of my first attempts to integrate my analog and MIDI gear. I found a (complicated) way of sync'ing some pre-MIDI gear with a hardware MIDI sequencer. I got obsessed with that ability and came up with something quite like this, though not quite as good.

Unfortunately, though--and you really must take all critique as subjective opinion--both my old track and this one suffer from the same illness...they are too rhythmically even over the whole piece with too little melodic drama. The pulse never lets up, never substantially changes and there's not enough to capture the ear and make the listener feel like they're being propelled along a determined musical course. In short, it sounds very mechanized and static. True, there's a break in the middle and a nice key change, but it all sounds very programmed rather than determined.

Don't get me wrong, I really like what you have here; the sounds are very nice, the mix is wonderful, there's an incredible sense of energy and tension. But it feels like you've got the structure of a piece done, not a complete thought. To correct/finish it you can't really change the existing parts of the piece, but rather would have to add extra parts on top of all this (in my opinion, of course). That could be a lot of things (guitar solos, keyboard solos, synth bass or SFX that are non-percussive but rather used to induce some melodramatic punctuation, etc.)...but the main thing is that they not be rhythmic and should sound like they're played live by a human, or used to accentuate the structural landscape of the track--like the reverse reverb/piano accents in .

Now...after saying all that, the only way I can hear this track as a complete piece is to imagine it as the soundtrack to an action scene in a movie, where the additional tracks I mention would actually be a hindrance, stealing attention away from the visual elements. The track's perfect as a chase scene soundtrack.

Cheers!

[Locus M]

Hi Emdot. Thank you very much for dropping by...and for chosing your words carefully because they ARE going to change things, you know!
I do work after the KISS principle, that is: Keep It Simple, Stupid and therefore I try to use as little elements as possible that can get a tune going for 4 + minutes. However the price can be monotony and I can follow your points about the lack of melodic drama (variation, I would say). Actually there is only one real melody,namely the plucked lead. The electric lead is more a rythm, which actually constitutes a figure in 4/4 across 4 bars of 5, ending up in the polyrythmic structure of 4 against 5. The tune might therefore need an additional melody and it does sound a little boring to me too in the end, like it is just waiting for an excuse to end.
I will look into that for sure and in addition my new electrostudio synths synths to a high degree invite to some experimentation with sound effects too. Further, maybe some pads could fill out the somewhat empty space between the electric lead and the bass rythms now and then too. However, when you say static, I do not hope you think that my drum-N-percussion is static though?

Now...after saying all that, the only way I can hear this track as a complete piece is to imagine it as the soundtrack to an action scene in a movie, where the additional tracks I mention would actually be a hindrance, stealing attention away from the visual elements. The track's perfect as a chase scene soundtrack.

Maroon Hunt is actually an old discipline in which an estate owner invited his friends to a kind of "party hunt" after run-away-slaves. I chose the title with my old kind-of-nutty percussion teacher in mind. You can read about him somewhere in this thread and you probably understand why I would do such a cruel thing.

All the best and thanks once again, I'll return when I am done.

[emdot_ambient]

However, when you say static, I do not hope you think that my drum-N-percussion is static though?

Well the percussive density of the piece changes, but it does keep bubbling along. It's nice stuff if there's other things to focus your attention on along the way. In my own work, when I've done more rhythmic songs, I find I sometimes get excited about what I'm doing but then later realize that I've built up a good rhythmic buzz, but that it doesn't seem to go anywhere. That's what I was trying to describe here. It's hard to define because I know songs with very repetitive beats that still seem to work.

One thing I've done in the past that sometimes helps is to take the MIDI file of one beat and apply it to a different sound somewhere else in the composition...swap parts. Old swing musci used to do that in arrangements a lot: trumpets taking up the sax's lines and vice versa. It alters the texture without actually changing the beat.

[Locus M]

Well the percussive density of the piece changes, but it does keep bubbling along....


....One thing I've done in the past that sometimes helps is to take the MIDI file of one beat and apply it to a different sound somewhere else in the composition...swap parts. Old swing musci used to do that in arrangements a lot: trumpets taking up the sax's lines and vice versa. It alters the texture without actually changing the beat.

OK, so it is the monotony but not the main rythm in itself there is the problem and need to be changed, is that correctly understood? If that is the case, I can try vary with more fills, since there is only one coming in occasionally and I can even try make a slight variation of the main rythm for an exchange now and then. However, I am afraid that I can not change the sounds of the toms without changing the entiry hook of the rythm: To me it is like they are the corner stone of everything else happening and that they kind of play a "melody" due to their tuning, which is very hard to keep with new sounds. Maybe I can swap all other though - the snare for a clap - the 909 hats for some 808 and maybe even the BD?

Hmm, hmm ,hmm! Seems like there is some work to do here.

[emdot_ambient]

Well you don't have to change everything on my account! You'll never end up pleasing everybody.

Not even sure it would work, but I did sometimes play around with swapping a bass sound for the kick drum...works great to shake things up and doesn't mess with the rhythm if the two parts are already hooking together.

Of course it's easier for me to give ideas than it is for you to successfully make changes. Sometimes you'll just have to listen to critique by people like me and say, "okay, I see where he's coming from, but I disagree."

[Locus M]

Sometimes you'll just have to listen to critique by people like me and say, "okay, I see where he's coming from, but I disagree."

Well problem is when you recognize the basis of the critique in your tune, then it is impossible not to take serious as hell. I will probably not change everything said, I'll just deconstruct a little and find a new "code", in which the basics of your critique are incorporated. It is OK for me, but man, when I am finished, you are obligated to leave a comment or I'll spam you with PMs until you do

Thanks again. It is really appreciated!

[emdot_ambient]

...but man, when I am finished, you are obligated to leave a comment or I'll spam you with PMs until you do...

***opens mouth to make some smart-ass remark***
***realizes there's nothing he can really say***
***nods his head in agreement and concedes the point***

[Locus M]

...but man, when I am finished, you are obligated to leave a comment or I'll spam you with PMs until you do...

***opens mouth to make some smart-ass remark***
***realizes there's nothing he can really say***
***nods his head in agreement and concedes the point***