Flamenco

[Paulieworld]

Created on an iPad Pro using Cubasis 2.0 DAW, and a few inexpensive apps.

https://soundcloud.com/paulieworld/flamenco

[BlitBit]

That sounds really good! Are the acoustic guitars synthesized or recorded guitars?

Only thing I'd change is to remove the heavy guitar starting at around 1:40. It clashes with the rest of the instruments and is not enough in the background to not distract but also not enough in the foreground to play a distinct "role" in the song. It also appear for a rather short time and therefore sounds like something you just wanted to get in somehow.

Really like the vocal elements and the whole feel of the song.

[Paulieworld]

That sounds really good! Are the acoustic guitars synthesized or recorded guitars?

Only thing I'd change is to remove the heavy guitar starting at around 1:40. It clashes with the rest of the instruments and is not enough in the background to not distract but also not enough in the foreground to play a distinct "role" in the song. It also appear for a rather short time and therefore sounds like something you just wanted to get in somehow.

Really like the vocal elements and the whole feel of the song.

Thank you very much! The guitars are a combination of both. I used an app called StrummerFX. It's default acoustic guitar sound seemed pretty realistic to me. (Real guitar players may disagree.) However, the app was less than lunch money and easy to use. The alternative would be an expensive acoustic guitar, microphones, and many years of practice. I also used some sampled guitar loops from an app called Blocs Wave. When played together they sounded good enough for government work.

You are not alone in your comment about the heavy metal guitar. Two other people said... WTF, what's that all about? Maybe I was just trying to add some "conflict". Like pouring ketchup on a nice steak. I've done that before and will probably do it again. If somebody wants to use this in a commercial $$ production, I'll be happy to take it out.

Thanks for commenting. I don't get many of those on this forum. I also post regularly on the Loopy Pro Forum (formerly Audiobus Forum). They are a very talkative bunch. They are primarily iOS based musicians and composers using iPads. There are also quite a few using desktop Macs and PCs. We often collaborate and come up with some "interesting" music. Check it out sometime. I'm sure they would be happy to have you. Have a great day!

[Alatar]

Sounds nice.
But for my taste there is a bit too much reverb on the guitars.
And I would love to see more melodic variation in the middle of the song.

[LCM51]

I´m a Flamenco fan. To be honest, I really strugle to see any Flamenco trait in here. Regarding the mix: too much reverb clashing each other and no bottom end, lacks some meat. No problem about the electric guitar: there is a lot of evolved Flamenco with whatever you want (distortion, electronic...), this is not the issue for me. Sorry if I sound rude.

[ChameleonMusic]

There are some nice touches in there and it was an interesting listen...enjoyed it.

But...

It simply isn't flamenco at all. I've taught the history / musical elements of Flamenco (along with many other musical traditions from around the world for over 3 decades) does not have the key components needed to be put under that term in even the broadest sense for me...Cante / Toque / Baile / Palmas / Jaleo / Pitos / Cajon etc

The feel of some of the guitar rhythms is at times vaguely 'Spanish'' sounding...that's it.

Musically, as I said at the beginning, it has some really nice ideas, but for me the whole thing simply does not gel in a fully cohesive way...rhythmically all the parts should work together (or against each other) to form an overall groove of some sort and here they just don't do that 100% successfully to my ear. It sounds a little bit like a lot of preset loops that have been dragged together with not quite enough thought into exactly how they'll interact?

Mix-wise it is very listenable but does have a couple of significant issues - 1) the huge washes of reverb on so many different layers (one or 2 might be Ok if everything else was a little drier as such?) 2) some of the quite wild movement across the stereo field at times...quite disorienting.

It's got potential, but not the finished article for me, I'm afraid...and I might change that title to avoid any insult to actual Flamenco artists?

[Paulieworld]

I´m a Flamenco fan. To be honest, I really strugle to see any Flamenco trait in here. Regarding the mix: too much reverb clashing each other and no bottom end, lacks some meat. No problem about the electric guitar: there is a lot of evolved Flamenco with whatever you want (distortion, electronic...), this is not the issue for me. Sorry if I sound rude.

Not at all! I appreciate serious criticism and always take away something from it. I agree about the reverb. It was already baked into a sample that I used, so I couldn't do much about it. I think I used Flamenco as a generic term, sort of like "rock". My mistake. I listened to some real Flamenco at the time. It is very complex and structured, not at all like the simple stuff I churned out here. I probably should have called it "Something Resembling Spanish Guitar Music", but that wouldn't get many listens. Thanks for commenting. Have a great day!

[folderol]

Too much going on in the same musical 'space'. No clarity at all.

[Paulieworld]

There are some nice touches in there and it was an interesting listen...enjoyed it.

But...

It simply isn't flamenco at all. I've taught the history / musical elements of Flamenco (along with many other musical traditions from around the world for over 3 decades) does not have the key components needed to be put under that term in even the broadest sense for me...Cante / Toque / Baile / Palmas / Jaleo / Pitos / Cajon etc

The feel of some of the guitar rhythms is at times vaguely 'Spanish'' sounding...that's it.

Musically, as I said at the beginning, it has some really nice ideas, but for me the whole thing simply does not gel in a fully cohesive way...rhythmically all the parts should work together (or against each other) to form an overall groove of some sort and here they just don't do that 100% successfully to my ear. It sounds a little bit like a lot of preset loops that have been dragged together with not quite enough thought into exactly how they'll interact?

Mix-wise it is very listenable but does have a couple of significant issues - 1) the huge washes of reverb on so many different layers (one or 2 might be Ok if everything else was a little drier as such?) 2) some of the quite wild movement across the stereo field at times...quite disorienting.

It's got potential, but not the finished article for me, I'm afraid...and I might change that title to avoid any insult to actual Flamenco artists?

I posted a detailed reply to this, but it didn't show up for whatever reason. I agree that the title is not a particularly good choice. Ironically, I changed the original title because I thought some might take offense to that. I treated Flamenco as a generic term much like "rock". In hindsight, it wasn't a good choice.

I think many of my shortcomings are due to the restrictions I have imposed on myself. I use only an iPad and a stylus. No external keyboards, guitars, microphones, etc. On the flip side, it also allows me to take my 'studio' anywhere at any time. I have done that and it has been delightful.

I agree that there is too much reverb. It was already baked into the samples that I used. I could have tried a different approach, but I wanted to move on to something else.

Anyhow, thanks for listening. I always appreciate constructive criticism and take away from it whatever I can.

[Paulieworld]

Too much going on in the same musical 'space'. No clarity at all.

I wholeheartedly agree. I can do better. I have in the past, and will continue in the future. I have over 300 pieces on my SoundCloud page. Most are much better than this. I think this one was sort of a novelty that I tried out of curiosity. Thanks for listening and commenting.

[Chr!s]

I agree with the other posts.

It's got some good ideas, but the things that bother me are:

The stereo field is very wonky. I'm not sure exactly what's going on, but parts of it to my ears sound very mono whereas others don't. Perhaps it is due to the reverbs and delays.

The other thing is, the electric guitar part feels out of place with it, and its tone is a little too gainy

[Paulieworld]

I agree with the other posts.

It's got some good ideas, but the things that bother me are:

The stereo field is very wonky. I'm not sure exactly what's going on, but parts of it to my ears sound very mono whereas others don't. Perhaps it is due to the reverbs and delays.

The other thing is, the electric guitar part feels out of place with it, and its tone is a little too gainy

I would have to agree. There were some unusual things going on in that guitar sample. I probably could have figured out something, but I just didn't feel like working that hard! Some things just turn out better than others. Thanks for listening and commenting. Have a good one!

[JMTee_]

Nice work, interesting guitar parts, I don't mind the heavy electric guitar part, interesting vocal samples too, was that recorded live or were the vocals a sample?

[gullfo]

for a reference, check out Carlos Montoya as he virtually created modern flamenco guitar... https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carlos_Montoya saw him perform live around 1981 or so. totally impossible for 99.999% of humans to replicate the skill he possessed. https://youtu.be/rMXQtOl8sM0?feature=shared

[Paulieworld]

Nice work, interesting guitar parts, I don't mind the heavy electric guitar part, interesting vocal samples too, was that recorded live or were the vocals a sample?

Thank you! The vocal parts were probably samples from the Blocs Wave app. They have some decent stuff for the iPad at a great price. All without royalty payments. I'm not holding my breath for that scenario. Have a great day!