Jazz Guitar/Nu Jazz? Faux Jazz?

[any1particular]

The KVR community has really been a help on other posts.

Here's a work in progress.

Does it Suck or is it cool?

I could really use help with the mix-suggestions.

I'm never happy with my low end-especially kick/bass.

The track is original and was performed by me with a Fender Stratocaster and Roland's GR-20 guitar synth.

I use the GR-20 as my midi controller. I can trigger the VSTs with my guitar.

In case anyone's interested my DAW is Ableton's Live 8, drums-GURU except for the hi hats & cymbals-Chocolate Audio from Ableton, Bass is Spectrasonic's Trilian, Pianos-Kontact 3, the arpeggiated intro/outro-Massive.

Just In Time:

http://www.opendrive.com/files/5866426_ ... %20mp3.mp3

If that doesn't work this should:

https://www.opendrive.com/files?5866426_yUokR

[thenumber23]

It's cool! Definitely fits in smooth jazz category. Nothing sounded forced, everything sounded real. Even the synthetic parts (like the gated voice pad) fit right where they belonged. Keeper!

I listened at low volumes, so I can't comment on the mix.

Brian

[core]

Definitely cool! I really dig your guitar play & sound. Lovely melodies, very nice vibe.

I don't have much to say about the mix (listening on earbuds, sounds good).

[Pippuz]

I like it!!Cool!

Very interesting!

[markkuja]

Great track... nice arrangement and cool jazzy mood... sounds good..

[taotekid]

very cool track

the mix sounds good to me,
I only heard that the last piano part is quite loud in the mix ...
& maybe the drums & bass could work better together with less reverb on the drums,
the bass (& the synth) sounds very close (& dry) while the drums sound more distant (& roomy),
maybe you could try to wrap them both (even the whole mix) in the same reverb,
even if just a tiny bit, it could bring cohesion to the ensemble.

& prehaps you could try Addictive Drums demo,
it only has 1 kit (1 snare, 1 bass-drum, 1 hi-hat & 1 crash)
but that's the only limitation,
it really sounds great & it might compliment your music nicely

anyway, keep it up ! great work once again !

[K-Bee]

Most excellent as always. Nice intervening with the different instruments as well. I'd probably make the kick drum a bit more punchy though but that's always a matter of personal taste.
Rather complex arrangement too with lots of counter melodies going on.
I'd call this more fusion than smooth jazz though

[bobbybland]

Very smooth! Love your stuff

[annode]

Well done.
Only listened once so far. The tempo, overall I thought, was too hurried. I'd suggest a slightly slower tempo for the chorus/bridge like sections, and for soloing parts/verses. Maybe experiment with a few tempo curves.

This could give it more of a human "interaction" feel and a more soulful feel.
Using different tempo curves on each instrument would be ideal.It's not that tricky.

Will listen to it some more.

Oh...just for an example and a bad one at that...I used media player to slow it down some...did'nt get anal about it...think it's a good moderate tempo now. You get the idea.Some parts drag and some sound right. That's where i'd adjust with tempo curves. The need for midi note edits become apparent now that it's slower.

http://home.comcast.net/~newdabranck/mu ... slower.mp3

These are just my feelings. If you don't agree with me, i'm ok with that.:^ )

[Jazzyspoon]

The mix sounds fine and the arrangement is pretty straight forward. A lot of talent went in to this and it sort of sounds like something they would play on the weather channel.
Keep doing what you do.

[tomg]

Nice! There are a few things I would have done differently but overall it's very good. Personally I would have preferred a real guitar tone and not used a guitar synth. It's almost got that all in one box, Sound Canvas demo sound where the instruments are a little cheesy.

I'm not going to pick this apart because you don't need it. The song is good, the playing is good. The bass could be more bassy but there is nothing wrong with the mix. IMO you could use some better sounds, a mastering engineer and a nice little low pressure 3 album recording deal.

[jopy]

another really well done track, very well composed and produced. there was a completely logical flow to all the parts, the melodies were interesting, and there were enough changes to keep me guessing what would come next. some of the synth sounds weren't quite to my taste, but they were all mixed well and the guitar playing is clearly top drawer.

[jcrisman]

The KVR community has really been a help on other posts.

Here's a work in progress.

Does it Suck or is it cool?

I could really use help with the mix-suggestions.

I'm never happy with my low end-especially kick/bass.

The track is original and was performed by me with a Fender Stratocaster and Roland's GR-20 guitar synth.

I use the GR-20 as my midi controller. I can trigger the VSTs with my guitar.

In case anyone's interested my DAW is Ableton's Live 8, drums-GURU except for the hi hats & cymbals-Chocolate Audio from Ableton, Bass is Spectrasonic's Trilian, Pianos-Kontact 3, the arpeggiated intro/outro-Massive.

Just In Time:

http://www.opendrive.com/files/5866426_ ... %20mp3.mp3

Nice work.

The synth fretless bass is a nice touch that carries the song without crowding the guitar work.

About two-thirds into the song my mind was beginning to wander. Would the last third of the song be better in the middle since much of the first two thirds of the song is pretty much the same bass riff? I think this would give the composition a "bridge" that offers a change, but then would segue easily back into the first section of the song (which would give the composition more continuity--sort of a like closing paragraphs tie up or paraphrase an introduction in an essay).

I love your choice of instruments and timbres in this piece, including how you orchestrate different instruments trading off phrases. Part of me thinks that the hi-hats and ride/bell cymbals should be a bit lower in volume and those that are panned extremely to one side should be brought to a 9:00-11:00 or a 1:00-3:00 position to give it more of a natural live feel--but that's merely my personal preference. (I feel like I'm becoming the anti-"more cowbell" guy. lol)

Overall it a good composition, and I think you have your guitar tone nailed. I always like to hear talented guitar players who choose to play musically instead of shredding over generic instrumental accompaniments.

[forw]

I can hear metheny in that (sound at 1:25 is soooo metheny-ish )rippingtons, benson (6.32 is sooo benson-ish, though of course hes not the only one doing it)..

what came to my mind:

- At 4:48 the melody was played often enough, I started to stop listening and think about sth. else.

- Piano- and organsound are alright, but not "great", the drumsounds are not cool.pretty much artificial and sound like only one velocitysamples.(Like in your last piece) the neverending crashkicks in the first 30 seconds are strange to me.

- In the piano-solo part some notes are cut in the end which make it sound like you recorded it on the fly and were not sure were to go next.

- Great soloing ! melodies that really make sense and flow through the changes!
At 6:43 it's less "melody creation" than the "etude"-approach. There were loads of 16th
notes before, this could be a great spot to play s.th. different, different rhythms, syncopation etc. ..

- slowing down the whole thing a little would make it even better, I guess.

hope this helps,
forw

[annode]

SCRUBBED. His album "Cognizance" clearly shows he needs no tricks to pull off some mighty fine licks.