by
D.Ipsum » Fri Oct 27, 2017 7:40 pm
Before giving you my appreciation, I want to specify that I do not have a deep theoretical knowledge of music, I am even strongly limited.
I downloaded your 17 tracks published on Soundcloud via a site that converted them to .mp3. I listened to all the tracks once, one after the other, following their order of publication. The oldest track was released 6 months ago, which is a relatively short time to appreciate your progress
What caught my attention is that your 17 tracks have a strong homogeneity between them:
- a similar tempo, rather slow;
- a similar "mind", rather calm, generating in me a rather limited range of emotions;
- similar instrumentation, with emphasis on the "piano", or more elongated "piano" pads;
- a similar pianistic phrasing, descending slightly in the low, rising little in the high;
- a similar rhythm, with drums consisting mainly of samples, some of which are used on several tracks (e.g. the snare);
- a spectrum of frequencies favoring the bass (below and around 100Hz), with slopes of amplitude which decrease strongly well before 1kHz, and beautiful holes around 2kHz (it is related to the samples of drums), and sometimes bumps between 5 and 10 kHz;
- rather few variations in the second parts of the tracks;
- an outro often cut off (when exporting the track, the long amplitude releases, the tails of reverb and other effects are cut before reaching silence. I advise you to place an empty pattern of BBEditor at the end of the track. In general, 4 bars of silence are enough);
Now, I would categorize these 17 tracks into two groups:
- Group 1 (the old tracks) : Revision, Intentions, Your Eyes, Seeing Is Believing, Next Part, Always Counting, Souls Are Made Of, Esoterica, Levels, Honos.
- Group 2 (the new tracks): Flow, Vigil, Just History, Better Off, Landlocked, LeadSoul, Houston.
The "critical" observations mentioned above are mainly for group 1.
Group 2 partially answers these "criticisms". The improvement of the quality of your tracks is perceptible if we compare these two groups. In group 2, I noticed a highlight of other instruments than the piano: the timbre of the bass and other lead synth is much more worked, more textured, and they compete to capture my attention with the "piano ". The general spectrum of this group has improved (new mixing techniques?). In some tracks, the timbre of the drums seems more worked and sounds different compared to the tracks of the group 1. In two tracks, there is also a change of tempo, or at least rhytmic accelerations and slowdowns. This group also plays more with voice samples (voices of men and women). Etc.
So, to answer your question: yes, I hear an improvement in the quality of your tracks. The tracks of group 2 give me the impression that you are gradually leaving your comfort zone, that you start attaching more importance to certain aspects of your compositions.
I can not be much more relevant in my analysis.
If I can give some advice:
- Do not neglect any instruments! They are all important!
- Drums: diversify the stock of samples, and/or synthesize your drums, diversify rhythms;
- Tempo: diversify tempi?
- Synth: continue your experimentation on textured bass and lead synth, diversify your palette of timbres;
- Use the right part of your keyboard, the high notes, from C5 to C8;
- Continue to explore the use of voice samples;
- Continue to develop your mix techniques;
- Make sure to balance your frequency spectrum;
- ?
That's it, I do not see what else I could say. I guess you were already well aware of what I said. In the best case, it would be a confirmation of your own observations.
What do you think?
