My New Album - MINAMALISTIC
Re: My New Album - MINAMALISTIC
Two-thirds? You must be kidding. I always thought that at least 95% are copycats
Re: My New Album - MINAMALISTIC
Tony
thanks - I had a good listen to the sound clips.
I listen to an awful lot of music and to be honest there is too much going on in these tracks to sit and enjoy listening to them for anything more than 30 secs. Sorry to sound so harsh but I'm not sure what genere you are aiming at but the tracks are confusing to listen to ..... maybe cluttered is the wrong word but I did not find them easy on the ear at all. Too much going on and too many different sounds mixing together.
It would not be something I would rush out and pay for.
try something simpler in terms of composition and arrangement ?
you certainly have a grip on the fantom ..... but without sounding too negative , the composition and arrangement does not match .
Hope the feedback helps
rgds
Simon
thanks - I had a good listen to the sound clips.
I listen to an awful lot of music and to be honest there is too much going on in these tracks to sit and enjoy listening to them for anything more than 30 secs. Sorry to sound so harsh but I'm not sure what genere you are aiming at but the tracks are confusing to listen to ..... maybe cluttered is the wrong word but I did not find them easy on the ear at all. Too much going on and too many different sounds mixing together.
It would not be something I would rush out and pay for.
try something simpler in terms of composition and arrangement ?
you certainly have a grip on the fantom ..... but without sounding too negative , the composition and arrangement does not match .
Hope the feedback helps
rgds
Simon
Re: My New Album - MINAMALISTIC
Tony i do agree with you on many different melodies put together counteracting each other can make for a great song. I would be int interested in hearing more of some of these songs as i find that if you just take five melodies and play them at once it can be overwhelming but if you add them individually to the mix then the brain takes the new melody as the primary melody and doesn't focus on the rest so much.
I don't know what kind of style your going for here but i would try for a bass line that stands out in the mix better.
I don't know what kind of style your going for here but i would try for a bass line that stands out in the mix better.
Re: My New Album - MINAMALISTIC
May be Tony have to take a look at Don Sebesky book on arrangement. There are a lof of interesting stuffs like balance, economy, and focus
Re: My New Album - MINAMALISTIC
Hi Tony,
Just wanted to give my feedback, as to have a full album's worth of songs is certainly an achievement worthy of commentary.
At times, as has been said before, you're stacking too many discordant themes and it sounds cluttered. However, I agree with you that this is not the case in many of your recordings, just some of them. Hard to tell about the overall narrative structure of the songs with just 30 seconds however; so the discontinuity that others noticed on the clips could either be exacerbated or mediated by the flow of the larger work.
I'm going to disagree with some of the earlier statements that the Amiga-type sound is not the work of the Fantom... Fantom-G synths just have a characteristic 80s sound, as has been said in other threads on the forum. The out-of-the-box sounds for techno-style music are prone to sounding like 80s music without doctoring. Artemiy's tweakbook is a great resource for playing around with synths in order to contemporize them.
In particular your piano sounds should be played with; they're just not strong enough. And any sax/horn sounds are absolutely corny - but I stay away from that section within the Fantom's presets, as it detracts from any song I've tried to place it in. (Note: I don't have the ARX Brass board.) I would suggest for horns that you get the free demo of Wallander Virtual Instruments, which includes Sax, Clarinet, and then a bunch of orchestral stuff, then set the recording space to Studio. This will allow you to create realistic horn bits within your music.
Also I'm not usually a spelling stickler, but the album title's misspelled: should be "Minimalistic".
At any rate best of luck in your music, and keep us posted with your continuing work!
Just wanted to give my feedback, as to have a full album's worth of songs is certainly an achievement worthy of commentary.
At times, as has been said before, you're stacking too many discordant themes and it sounds cluttered. However, I agree with you that this is not the case in many of your recordings, just some of them. Hard to tell about the overall narrative structure of the songs with just 30 seconds however; so the discontinuity that others noticed on the clips could either be exacerbated or mediated by the flow of the larger work.
I'm going to disagree with some of the earlier statements that the Amiga-type sound is not the work of the Fantom... Fantom-G synths just have a characteristic 80s sound, as has been said in other threads on the forum. The out-of-the-box sounds for techno-style music are prone to sounding like 80s music without doctoring. Artemiy's tweakbook is a great resource for playing around with synths in order to contemporize them.
In particular your piano sounds should be played with; they're just not strong enough. And any sax/horn sounds are absolutely corny - but I stay away from that section within the Fantom's presets, as it detracts from any song I've tried to place it in. (Note: I don't have the ARX Brass board.) I would suggest for horns that you get the free demo of Wallander Virtual Instruments, which includes Sax, Clarinet, and then a bunch of orchestral stuff, then set the recording space to Studio. This will allow you to create realistic horn bits within your music.
Also I'm not usually a spelling stickler, but the album title's misspelled: should be "Minimalistic".
At any rate best of luck in your music, and keep us posted with your continuing work!
Re: My New Album - MINAMALISTIC
Nik83,
Thank you for your words - what a great assessment. I think I have now taken on board the fact at times I could ease back with the amount of sounds/tracks that I am using. I have found it fascinating that over the years how one person hears music to another - it can be compared with how people see colors differently.
Some people seem to have this need for a sax sound to sound exactly like a sax. As an acoustic drummer for many years, I now find how much I like the idea of drums not sounding like drums. When I recorded the first track Minamalistic the sleaziness of the female vocal seemed to work so well with the corny brass and brass falls that I did think for one minute that this brass sound was not either good enough or realistic enough - but that it was the right sound for the job that it was doing and to be completely honest I don't think I would change it. To my ears the song sounds the way it is because of those factors. I will however take your advice and have a listen to the demo of Wallander - thanks for this.
I totally agree with you on the 80's sound. I think any one-man band like me with hardware synths will struggle to get a sound that cannot be compared to the 80's somewhere because it is essentially synths that are being used. I think guitarist are so lucky - if you record a song with an acoustic guitar it is sometimes hard to date-stamp. It is certainly harder than if you record with a Synth.
I have had a few comments from people that I have sold my CD to that "yes it is a bit 80's - but the 80's sound is in at the moment" I do not know how true this is but if it helps me along at this point in time then I'll go with it.
I found your comments on my piano sound intriguing. Again I am sure that everyone has different ideas about how they want things to sound. The decisions I made at times were deliberate so that the piano was there in the mix but not necessarily at the front of the mix. I am sure everyone on this forum would make their own individual decisions on which parts they wanted to stand out more than others. As to the quality of the Piano Sound, the piano sounds on the Fantom G are the best I currently have. I quite like the new piano sound on the Yamaha S70XS that I tried the other day and I am seriously considering getting one for sound and portability for live use. The screen is a bit disappointing though.
Finally, the name - no it was not a spelling mistake it was deliberate. I changed my mind so that I could have some form of slogan, possibly generate some discussion and have a unique word. The word is a made up name from the word MINA (a greek word meaning weight) and MALIS (an urban word meaning to role dice in such a way to achieve your desired outcome). So as a combined word it is very much like "Weighted Dice" .
Once again, thank you for your comments and advice and indeed everyone else who has given me a listen. I am listening to what you are all saying and I am trying to put it all into perspective with my own known strengths and weaknesses. It is a bit like listening to your own mum and dad - they tell you stuff but you still go away and do your own thing but some of what they say sticks with you.
Best Wishes
Tony
Thank you for your words - what a great assessment. I think I have now taken on board the fact at times I could ease back with the amount of sounds/tracks that I am using. I have found it fascinating that over the years how one person hears music to another - it can be compared with how people see colors differently.
Some people seem to have this need for a sax sound to sound exactly like a sax. As an acoustic drummer for many years, I now find how much I like the idea of drums not sounding like drums. When I recorded the first track Minamalistic the sleaziness of the female vocal seemed to work so well with the corny brass and brass falls that I did think for one minute that this brass sound was not either good enough or realistic enough - but that it was the right sound for the job that it was doing and to be completely honest I don't think I would change it. To my ears the song sounds the way it is because of those factors. I will however take your advice and have a listen to the demo of Wallander - thanks for this.
I totally agree with you on the 80's sound. I think any one-man band like me with hardware synths will struggle to get a sound that cannot be compared to the 80's somewhere because it is essentially synths that are being used. I think guitarist are so lucky - if you record a song with an acoustic guitar it is sometimes hard to date-stamp. It is certainly harder than if you record with a Synth.
I have had a few comments from people that I have sold my CD to that "yes it is a bit 80's - but the 80's sound is in at the moment" I do not know how true this is but if it helps me along at this point in time then I'll go with it.
I found your comments on my piano sound intriguing. Again I am sure that everyone has different ideas about how they want things to sound. The decisions I made at times were deliberate so that the piano was there in the mix but not necessarily at the front of the mix. I am sure everyone on this forum would make their own individual decisions on which parts they wanted to stand out more than others. As to the quality of the Piano Sound, the piano sounds on the Fantom G are the best I currently have. I quite like the new piano sound on the Yamaha S70XS that I tried the other day and I am seriously considering getting one for sound and portability for live use. The screen is a bit disappointing though.
Finally, the name - no it was not a spelling mistake it was deliberate. I changed my mind so that I could have some form of slogan, possibly generate some discussion and have a unique word. The word is a made up name from the word MINA (a greek word meaning weight) and MALIS (an urban word meaning to role dice in such a way to achieve your desired outcome). So as a combined word it is very much like "Weighted Dice" .
Once again, thank you for your comments and advice and indeed everyone else who has given me a listen. I am listening to what you are all saying and I am trying to put it all into perspective with my own known strengths and weaknesses. It is a bit like listening to your own mum and dad - they tell you stuff but you still go away and do your own thing but some of what they say sticks with you.
Best Wishes
Tony