Completed demo -- CONCERTO FOR A DYING SUN (prog, orchestral)

[TwilightOdyssey]

Re: Completed demo -- CONCERTO FOR A DYING SUN (prog, orchestral)

I'll give it some spins through my monitors and let you know later this week.

I appreciate it here; the final rough is here, https://drive.google.com/open?id=1j9MDZE20y3cgYrDdwxpfbsqL0dLhKAD2

 

[AmirH]

Re: Completed demo -- CONCERTO FOR A DYING SUN (prog, orchestral)

I appreciate it here; the final rough is here, https://drive.google.com/open?id=1j9MDZE20y3cgYrDdwxpfbsqL0dLhKAD2

Thanks for providing an uncompressed version. Soundcloud and YouTube compression creates horrible phasing through both sets of monitors -- I can even hear it on pro recordings. Notes as I listen:

The synth part at the beginning sounds good. Your drums, when they come in, are a little low for my tastes, especially the cymbal crashes on the left. Rhythm guitars sound fantastic -- I really like how they sit with the other instruments and give that keyboard line room to breath. The cymbal hits on the left generally feel a bit out of place around 3.23 -- not sure if it's just because they're too low or a little too frequent. Synth transition at 4.14 sounds super solid. Drums at this part are more where I would expect them levels wise. Guitars around 6.15 are a little low, and yes, you're right -- that lead bit is too loud in comparison. See how it sounds after raising the rhythm part, but it might indeed need to come down a bit. Love that new tone though. Not sure how I feel about that second layer of synth fading out later than the louder layer at 8.19, though I assume that was intentional. The pulsing synth sound could come up a wee bit, though that's a matter of taste. I hear some glitches in that part before drums come in -- not sure what that is. The high synth around 9.45 is a little grating, and the guitars sound comparatively thin when they come in. I don't hear bass in that section and suspect that's the culprit. Around 11.36 that cymbal sound on the left comes back -- I think part of what's happening is you need a wider variety of samples for that sound, since a cymbal sounds a little different each time you hit it. The rest of the drums sound realistic, but that sound is a giveaway. I found myself wanting more lows and low mids throughout the entire last movement of the song. Hope that helps!

 

[TwilightOdyssey]

Re: Completed demo -- CONCERTO FOR A DYING SUN (prog, orchestral)

Thanks for the feedback! I'm not going to be revisiting this until final mix, this is basically a zero fader rough. Can you give me a timestamp for the glitches you hear? I'm curious as to what you're actually hearing there. The third movement doesn't really have a bass line, it has a single pulsing 8th note which never changes pitch or rhythm. That movement is an experiment to see how many chords I could pile on top of a single note and still have it sounds like it have changes.

 

[AmirH]

Re: Completed demo -- CONCERTO FOR A DYING SUN (prog, orchestral)

Thanks for the feedback! I'm not going to be revisiting this until final mix, this is basically a zero fader rough. Can you give me a timestamp for the glitches you hear? I'm curious as to what you're actually hearing there. The third movement doesn't really have a bass line, it has a single pulsing 8th note which never changes pitch or rhythm. That movement is an experiment to see how many chords I could pile on top of a single note and still have it sounds like it have changes.

So it wasn't my imagination about the bass, haha. Listening on headphones, I can't hear the glitching. I can check again tomorrow -- I heard a crackling sound, but now I'm wondering if it was from the stream. Also, I'm noticing different things through headphones. The shaker sound at the end of the second movement sounds hard panned and a little choked off from the rest of the mix.

 

[TwilightOdyssey]

Re: Completed demo -- CONCERTO FOR A DYING SUN (prog, orchestral)

That’s 8 bit noise from the AY3. it will never be as expressive as a shaker lol.

Thanks for the continued feedback, it keeps me listening with a fresh perspective.

As for sounding closed off my guess is because, aside from the snare, there is no reverb on the percussion instruments. This is a conscious decision/stylistic choice. Feature, not bug.